by Ivy Dawson
He was nothing more than a high-ranking bully. Everyone onboard accepted the treatment because he could fire them or dock their pay. She wished she could stand up to him more effectively, but he was an intimidating man.
“There you are,” he sneered when Shae opened the door and walked in. She looked up briefly at the captain whose face was set like stone. He usually was quick to defend her or put Mark in his place. Today, he said nothing. This set off warning bells in Shae’s head, and she said nothing.
“What’s going on?” she asked cautiously, sitting down carefully, trying to appear calm.
“I want to say that I’m grateful for your help with the last murder,” Captain Tim said, his voice grim. “If it weren’t for you, then I don’t know what we would’ve done.”
“There’s no need to thank me,” Shae said in confusion.
“But,” the captain continued, and Shae realized that she’d accidentally interrupted him. She blushed bright red and looked down in embarrassment. “That was in the past. I told you to leave this one alone. We don’t need more of a scandal on our hands. Do you know what will happen if people stop going to clubs because they’re afraid of getting shot?”
He paused expectantly, and Shae realized that he wanted her to answer the question.
“It would be bad for business,” she said dutifully.
“We’d all find ourselves without a job!” he said emphatically. “Everyone. All of us. They’d have to scrap the Princess. This isn’t just about some rich boy with a grudge, it’s about hundreds of us trying to make a living.”
“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs.”
“Then why are you still investigating?” Mark asked, his expression livid. “You were told to stop.”
“If people see that something is still going on, they’ll panic. Right now, we’ve got the murderer safely locked away and we’re going to get rid of him at the next port.” The captain got out of his chair and paced up and down while he ranted. “What’s going to happen when they see that our employees are still trying to investigate the murder?”
“How did you know?” Shae asked in surprise. To her mind, she’d been very discreet about the whole thing.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mark told her imperiously.
“Mark bribed a bartender to tell him what you were talking about,” Captain Tim said casually. He was still pacing up and down, his expression troubled.
“Excuse me?” she asked in shock. She glared at Mark, who didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed of himself. “So you followed me around? What’s wrong with you?”
“I was right, you were up to no good,” he reminded her.
“I don’t care!” she was trying to keep her voice down, but it was more difficult than she’d anticipated.
“Stop overreacting,” he told her harshly. “You can’t try and play the victim now. I knew you wouldn’t give this up, so I kept an eye on you.”
“You can’t do that,” she protested. “This isn’t a police state. What’s next? Secret police?”
“That’s enough,” the captain snapped, glaring between the two of them. “Both of you need to calm down. I won’t have fighting on my ship. Shae, stop investigating the incident. Or you’re fired. Mark, stop spying on the employees. It’s creepy. Get a hobby or something.”
“You can’t be serious,” Shae said incredulously. “That’s it?”
“Excuse me?” Captain Tim said, narrowing his eyes dangerously. Mark, who was offended by the captain’s command, suddenly looked smug. He knew what was coming next, and it excited him.
“He’s been spying on me, paying people to eavesdrop on me. Forget the murderer, he’s the real psycho here.”
“I’ve dealt with it,” Captain Tim told her. “Now leave.”
“Fine,” Shae said, getting up. “I’ll stop. But what happens if I’m right? What are you going to do if the real murderer kills someone else?”
She didn’t stop to wait for an answer. A part of her wanted to slam the door shut and walk off feeling victorious. A larger part of her understood that she shouldn’t test the captain’s patience any further.
As she walked down the corridor, she wrestled with the enormity of the situation she now found herself in. Malcolm was in jail for a murder that he probably didn’t commit.
The lights in the club were distracting, and it was possible that the witnesses mistook a tiger for some other design. Malcolm didn’t have a motive, and how would he have gotten rid of the gun so quickly?
It didn’t make sense. If she stopped looking, then she’d never find the truth and they’d just let a murderer walk off. Would she willingly let a murderer escape just to keep a job?
If she lost her job, then she’d have to go home with her tail between her legs. She’d already given up her apartment and sold her business. Losing her job wasn’t an option, but neither was ignoring the facts. Too many innocent people suffered when others closed their eyes to the truth.
With that disturbing thought, Shae quickly checked the time and decided that she had enough time for a quick task before she had to show up for her shift. She quickened her pace, filled with a renewed determination and energy.
Her father’s voice came back to her as she hurried down the corridors.
“None of this is easy, Shae-by,” he sighed, combing through her wet hair as they sat and watched the cheap motel television. “Sometimes it’s the worst job in the world.”
“Then why do it?” Little Shae asked, hugging her knees to her chest as she watched the old black-and-white movie. “Can’t you get a different job or something?”
“I can’t switch my conscience off,” he admitted. “I can’t turn away when something bad happens. There are enough people who do that. And look at what happens when they do.”
Little Shae grumbled unintelligibly and glared at the television. She would’ve given anything to have a normal father. It wasn’t until years later that she finally understood what he meant.
Shae walked into the jail, making her way to Malcolm’s cell. She gasped in fright at what was waiting for her when she got there.
Chapter 6
“I’ve just had the most amazing time,” Carey announced dreamily as she waltzed into her room. She ignored the way Shae was staring intensely at the screen in front of her. Shae, in turn, ignored her lovestruck friend and continued typing furiously on the computer.
“He’s charming, and he loves all the same things I do. I swear, I think I’ve found my soulmate. How romantic would that be? We’re meeting up again tonight. I can’t wait. I think I should call him now. I miss him already.”
Shae continued ignoring her, as she stared at the screen and bit her finger.
“Shae,” Carey said in annoyance, snapping her fingers in front of her friend’s face. “What are you doing?”
“What?” Shae looked up, a confused expression on her face. “Oh, you’ll never guess what happened. Malcolm is dead.”
“Dead?” Carey echoed in shock. “What happened? How did it happen? Why are you in my room?”
“Your room has a better internet connection,” Shae explained quickly, waving dismissively. “I went in to talk to him, but he was dead. The doctor’s busy examining him now. I told them this would happen! But they didn’t listen.”
“Shae,” Carey said slowly, “you’re acting like a crazy person. Please calm down and talk to me normally.”
“You’re right,” Shae realized, turning to her friend with a sheepish expression. “After you left, the captain called me in and told me to stop investigating.”
“What?” Carey gasped. She sat down heavily on the bed and clasped her hands between her knees. “That’s serious. What did he say?”
“Well, he told me to stop investigating or he’d fire me.”
“And you didn’t listen,” Carey summarized. “Aren’t you afraid of losing your job? What happened to you? You were always so responsible.”
&
nbsp; “I can’t just switch my conscience off,” Shae defended. “I don’t want to lose my job, and I don’t want other people to lose their jobs either, but I can’t just look away.”
“Well, maybe you should,” Carey said angrily. “Do you know what will happen if you lose your job? Do you want to go back and face everyone? After everything that happened to you back there?”
“But I was right,” Shae pointed out. “I told the captain that this would happen again, and it did. He won’t fire me now. He’ll want me to look into all this.”
“You’re not thinking clearly,” Carey warned her. “This won’t end well. Please stop. You have to remember how bad things were for you. You need this job.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Shae assured her. “Come sit here. I want to show you what I’ve found.”
“You’re not going to listen to me, are you?” Carey said with a sigh. Shae grinned mischievously and Carey let out a little chuckle and went to sit next to her.
“Look,” Shae pointed at Malcolm’s social media profile, “he recently started his own investment firm. I don’t think he had a lot of money to spare, he only opened it about a month ago.”
“Wait,” Carey said, quickly clicking around. “Look, Emmie’s one of his clients. Emmie Nadal. Why does that name sound so familiar?”
They quickly searched Emmie’s name, and Carey’s eyebrows skyrocketed immediately.
“I guess you were right,” Shae said, shaking her head at the figures in front of her. “When someone says their family is comfortable, they actually mean rich. How is it possible to be so young and have so much money?”
“Have rich parents,” Carey said matter-of-factly.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t think his business is doing so well if his girlfriend is his only client. It says here that he worked for Whitman’s Investment Firm for three years. Shouldn’t he have brought clients over from his old job?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Carey sang, she took out her phone and handed it to Shae. She quickly dialed the number for Whitman’s and waited impatiently for someone to pick up.
“Good morning,” Shae said quickly, “may I speak to…” she quickly scanned the company’s information page, “Brent Whitman?”
“Please hold,” a woman said, sounding bored. A generic little tune played, and before long, Brent picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi Brent, my name is Alicia Fields,” Shae lied smoothly. “I’m calling from Kronos Investment Banking. We’re looking to hire a man named Malcolm Kray, and I see that he was connected to your firm in the past. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”
“So, little Malky is looking for a new job, eh?” Brent crowed, his voice sounding smug. Carey gestured frantically for Shae to turn around. Shae ignored her so Carey tried to press her ear to the other side of the phone. Shae sighed in frustration and quickly put the phone on speaker.
“Yes, it would appear so,” Shae said smoothly, shaking her head at Carey in annoyance. Carey shrugged and gave her an innocent smile.
“I guess he finally blew through his girlfriend’s inheritance,” he said triumphantly. “I mean, it was only a matter of time. Last week he lost over a million dollars. I don’t think she wanted to be connected to him after that.”
“A million dollars,” Carey mouthed, her eyes wide. She quickly checked Emmie’s figures online again. Emmie was rich, but she couldn’t afford to throw away a million dollars.
“Look, I’m going to do you a favor,” Brent continued. “That little punk blew it here. He’s lazy, and I don’t care who his uncle is. He’s trash. Hire him if you want to lose half your clients in one day.”
“Thank …” Shae was cut off when Brent put the phone down, obviously done with the conversation. Shae looked at the phone in surprise. “Well, he’s obviously a jerk, but it sounds like he’s telling the truth.”
“Oh, man,” Carey shook her head in disbelief, “if I lost a million dollars in one week, I’d want to kill myself. Can you imagine that kind of responsibility? I wonder what Emmie said. Or if she even knew about all that. If I were him, I’d want to keep it a secret.”
“A secret that big would eventually get out,” Shae said. “I wonder if that’s why someone killed him. Maybe they found out that he lost all that money. I mean, I think that’s enough motive for murder.”
“Yeah, but why kill Helen?” Carey asked curiously.
“The club was really busy that night, maybe they were aiming for him but missed. It would fit in with Emmie’s theory that someone was following them all night. We’ve been looking for a motive, and now we’ve got one.”
Carey was about to reply when Shae’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She quickly took it out and noticed a message from the ship’s doctor. He was an eccentric man named Dr. Zooberg, and Shae enjoyed working with him.
He was crazy, but he was a lot of fun too.
“The doctor knows what happened,” Shae said excitedly. “Come on, let’s go.”
They walked in silence for a bit, and Shae noticed that Carey looked distracted and slightly upset. She felt a twinge of guilt go through her. This wasn’t what Carey was expecting when she booked the vacation.
“How was your date?” Shae asked curiously. “Do you really think he might be the one?”
“He was so fantastic,” Carey said dreamily. “I loved every minute of it. We talked and talked about everything and nothing. He was so caring, and he honestly listened to what I had to say.”
“I can’t believe you just met this morning,” Shae said with a laugh, “it sounds like you’ve got such a deep connection.”
“Oh, well,” Carey said, laughing too, but there was a slight edge to it. Shae worried briefly that she had somehow offended her friend. She’d forgotten how easy it was to offend her friend. Carey was more sensitive than she appeared, and that often led to various arguments.
“It’s love at first sight,” Shae sang sweetly, causing Carey to laugh at her antics.
“It does happen, you know,” Carey defended, blushing slightly. “I know it sounds silly, but I honestly believe that it exists. You’ll see when you’re at my wedding.”
“Wow,” Shae teased, “you’re already planning the wedding? I wonder what’s going to happen after your second date. Are you going to name the children?”
“I’ve already named them,” Carey teased back, laughing happily. Shae felt a flood of relief. She hated conflict and didn’t want to fight with her old friend when they had so little time to spend with each other.
“Shae!” Dr. Zooberg called out happily. “You’re here. Thank the heavens. I need you to come with me.”
“Dr. Zooberg,” Shae greeted him, confused as to why he was waiting for her outside his office. He loved his office and tried to spend as much time as possible in it. He claimed that his office radiated good energy.
He was insane, but he was good at his job. Or at least, he got the job done. Not many qualified doctors wanted to live on a cruise ship.
“My office has been invaded,” he explained conspiratorially, leading her into his office. His warning wasn’t much help, because Shae was completely surprised when she walked in to face Mark and Captain Tim.
“Oh, great,” Carey squeaked, jumping to hide behind Shae. “You’re going to get fired.”
“Captain,” Shae said civilly, ignoring Mark. “I’m so glad you’re here. Maybe now you’ll believe what I say.”
“All I believe is that you’re making a nuisance out of yourself,” he growled. “Didn’t I tell you to stay out of this?”
“I’m sorry,” she said in shock. “What was I supposed to do? Leave him there until someone else found him? Can’t you at least admit that I was right? We had the wrong guy in there, and now someone else is dead.”
“You’re a joke,” Mark scoffed. “You just can’t let go of your moment of glory, can you?”
“What are you talking about?” Shae asked, genuinely confused.
“It’s my belief that this man killed himself,” Dr. Zooberg said, clearing his throat abruptly.
“What?” Shae asked in shock.
“He died of an overdose. We found these prescription strength pills in the cell next to him.”
“He chose the coward’s way out,” Captain Tim said, shaking his head sadly. “I suppose he couldn’t live with what he’d done. Or maybe he didn’t think he’d get caught.”
“How did he get these?” Shae asked curiously, putting a glove on and taking the bottle that the doctor held out to her.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “These pills are used to help with the symptoms of cancer. In fact, this type of medication would only be used for patients with terminal cancer. They’re experimental and very expensive. He shouldn’t have had them.”
“Yeah, he didn’t have anything with him when they arrested him,” Shae pointed out, “and I don’t think that he’d take pills with him to a club.”
“Unless he was planning this all along,” Mark pointed out. He crossed his arms, looking quite proud of himself. “Maybe he wanted Helen gone, but couldn’t think of a way to get out of it.”
“Then why did he wait so long to do it?” Shae asked. “Why didn’t he do it immediately?”
“Maybe he wanted to see if he could get away with it first,” Mark suggested. “Then when he got caught, he decided to off himself.”
“I mean, he did lose all that money,” Carey said softly. Mark’s expression turned gleeful and he nodded vigorously.
“There,” he crowed, “that’s enough reason. Maybe Helen was part of it, or something. Mystery solved, let’s all move on.”
“Where did he get the pills in the first place?” Shae asked curiously.
“It doesn’t matter,” Captain Tim said firmly. “He had problems, and this is the sad result. I’m going to make an announcement that everything is taken care of. And Shae, remember, I’ll fire you if you continue.”