A Cruise to Murder

by Dawn Brookes

  He had taken this job on the back of a kill in the Alps that he had made look like a skiing accident. Delighted with the result of that job, he smiled as he remembered it. It had been successfully completed on the second day of the trip, and he had enjoyed a holiday as soon as it was over.

  Luck had been with him that day. He’d heard his target storming out of the hotel early in the morning after a violent row with his wife, and had no qualms about killing the man. In fact, he was looking forward to it as he couldn’t abide men who hit women. Anyway, killing them was different, killing was business, nothing personal, and he killed cleanly. He was not into torture or anything of that kind.

  He’d followed the man, who had made his job even easier by going off-piste to ski. It had been a beautiful morning. Luckily no-one was around as they were obeying the danger signs that were posted along the run. He prided himself on being an excellent skier, so once his target took off from the top of the slope, he seized the opportunity and followed him.

  He saw the edge of the ravine coming up, and before the man got the chance to turn, he nudged him, sending him flying over the edge. Stopping momentarily to check, he knew his target would not survive the fall.

  He had enjoyed the rest of the holiday while being paid a handsome sum for the job.

  If only similar luck were with him on this trip. He had hoped for a repeat and looked forward to enjoying the cruise, but it wasn’t to be. Not every job was easy, but he had planned this one in great detail, and the woman should have died in Lisbon. Instead, she was very much alive and inadvertently dodging his every move.

  He was determined not to fail this time.

  Chapter 22

  Rachel felt truly happy for the first time in weeks, pleased that she and Carlos could be friends without the pressure of anything more. She was sure that she could control her feelings for him with only three days and four nights of cruising left. Adding the finishing touches to her makeup, she made her way down to deck four for dinner.

  Carlos was waiting for her outside the dining room and he flashed one of his most disarming smiles at her. She felt her heart miss a beat at the sight of him and took a deep breath before taking the arm he offered her.

  Yep, really under control!

  Dinner was enjoyable as always, and Rachel noticed that Marjorie was seated at her usual table with an elderly man. She seemed happy and they were engrossed in conversation. Rachel smiled at her and Marjorie waved.

  After dinner, Rachel and Carlos were the last to leave the table as usual. Marjorie was enjoying something that looked like a coffee liqueur, and Rachel was floating on air that all was well again with her world.

  “Where to this evening, ma’am?” Carlos joked.

  “Let’s go and listen to the string quartet in the atrium, shall we?”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  They left together, Rachel remembering that she had one more thing she needed to do before she completely forgot about the Marjorie thing.

  She turned to Carlos. “Will you find us some seats? I just need to go and get a shawl from my room so that we can enjoy a walk outside later.”

  For once, Rachel took the lift up to deck nine and made her way along the corridor. Relieved to see that Josie was back on stateroom duties, she headed towards her.

  “Good evening, ma’am Rachel,” said Josie, smiling.

  “Good evening, Josie. Is your hand alright? I understand you burnt it.” Rachel looked at the neatly bandaged hand.

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s feeling much better. The Doctor fixed it up nicely for me and the nurses will be changing the dressings each day to stop it getting infected.”

  Rachel wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject. “Did you finish early last night?”

  “No, ma’am, I always finish my work.” She looked alarmed as if she might get into trouble.

  “Of course you do. I wouldn’t have thought otherwise. I saw Daniel last night, though, working along our corridor and leaving my room,” she lied. “It is normally you I see, so I was a bit worried about whether you had been seriously hurt.”

  “No, ma’am Rachel, I got waylaid with one of the guests who was having trouble sleeping and I had to go to housekeeping to get new pillows for him, so Daniel finished the last few rooms down your end. Housekeeping don’t like the assistants going down there for items.”

  “I see,” said Rachel thoughtfully. “So you didn’t do Lady Snellthorpe’s room last night?”

  “No, ma’am.” Josie was looking more concerned. “There wasn’t a problem with the room, was there, ma’am Rachel? No-one said.”

  “Oh no, Josie, nothing like that. I missed you, that’s all. I’m really pleased to see you back. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, ma’am Rachel.”

  Rachel went into her room and struggled to breathe. She hadn’t been imagining things after all, and if Josie was to be believed, it had not been her in Marjorie’s room. The cobwebs fell away from her brain and she sprang into police mode.

  Marjorie is in danger. I need to find her.

  She changed into comfortable shoes and then marched rapidly along the corridor, almost knocking a tray out of Daniel’s hands.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, but didn’t stop. She ran down the stairs towards the restaurant, forgetting all about Carlos, and walked straight through to Marjorie’s table. Second sitting dining had begun and there was a young couple seated at the table.

  Stavros turned towards her. “Did you forget something, ma’am?”

  “No, Stavros, I wanted to ask Lady Snellthorpe something. Do you know where she went?”

  “No, ma’am. Sorry.”

  “I heard her saying she was going for a breath of air.” Geraldine had been taking orders nearby and obviously overheard the conversation.

  “Thank you, Geraldine.” Rachel turned so quickly she just missed Grigor, the wine waiter, who was bringing wine to the young couple at Marjorie’s table. “I’m so sorry,” she spluttered and marched out of the restaurant at break-neck speed. A sense of urgency was building up in her. Although she was aware of the looks she was getting as she half-barged past people in her hurry to get out, she didn’t care.

  She opted for the lift, deciding to start on deck fourteen and work her way up from there. There were queues of people waiting for the lifts and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the frustration built. In spite of there being six lifts, they were all full with people going out for evening entertainment. Finally one stopped that she could get into, but just as she was pressing the ‘close doors’ button, someone else pressed the ‘open doors’ one. She glared at the man who was holding the lift open, obviously waiting for someone.

  The man’s companion eventually arrived, but then the lift stopped at every floor on the way up to deck fourteen. Rachel was beginning to curse herself for not taking the stairs, but she had a full stomach and it would have been counter-productive.

  At last, the lift stopped at the right deck. Rachel decided to take a clockwise walk from her starting point, searching around the deck. She walked more slowly now, not wanting to miss Marjorie, and she noticed that the deck was eerily quiet. Most people were eating or enjoying shows, and apart from the bow where the outdoor cinema screen was, there were not many people around.

  Having circled the front of the ship, she was heading to the rear when she thought she heard footsteps behind her. Looking round anxiously, she saw a drunken man making his way towards one of the doors leading inside. Rachel continued walking, and now all she could hear was the sound of distant music and the ship forcing its way through the waves.

  The tension was building in her head and in her temples, and she was beginning to feel the night-time chill as she hadn’t put on a shawl or jacket. Goose bumps were building on her shoulders as she turned the corner at the back of the ship.

  Suddenly, she heard a scream and turned to see a body hurtling down the stairs towards her. She managed to run up the stairs just in tim
e to catch the woman in her arms, and they both fell backwards. Rachel felt a searing pain as her left foot caught underneath one of the steps as she fell.

  It took a while for her to get her breath back, but she knew immediately it was Marjorie lying on top of her, moaning.

  “Marjorie! Are you alright?” Rachel managed to move slightly and shift the weight.

  “I think so.” Rachel was so relieved to hear her voice. “Thanks to you.”

  At that moment, a couple arrived as a good-looking man came down the stairs in a black dinner suit. His manner was reassuring, and he sent the couple away to find a crew member.

  “What happened? Are you both alright? Does anything hurt?” His deep English voice filled the evening air. As Rachel was starting to feel agonising pain in her left ankle, everything looked a little hazy, so she tried to focus on the man’s eyes. He looked away and glanced around, as if unsure what to do next, but he didn’t need to decide as an officer appeared on the scene.

  “Medical team are on the way, don’t move, ladies.”

  Rachel just managed to ask the Italian officer to look after Marjorie, who was now shaking, before she passed out.

  Chapter 23

  Sarah was on call, catching up with paperwork in the medical centre, when the emergency bleep went off.

  “Two passengers injured deck fourteen, stern.”

  She called Brigitte to join her with the stretcher.

  “Can you track down Dr Bentley and ask him to join us?” she asked reception, putting the phone down. On her way out of the medical centre, she saw that Alex was still there.

  “Accident, deck fourteen. We might need you,” she said as she pulled the hefty emergency bag along behind her. He finished whatever he was drinking from a mug and followed her. Brigitte ran in, and seeing that Alex was already carrying the stretcher, she followed them.

  The medical centre was midships on deck two, so it was a long way to race up to deck fourteen. They took the crew lift and then ran along the deck to where they had been told the incident had occurred.

  Sarah was shocked and horrified to see Rachel and Lady Snellthorpe lying on the floor. A small crowd had gathered around. “Clear the scene, please,” she instructed the officer. “But keep hold of witnesses. Rachel!” Sarah called her name. “Rachel!”

  The officer explained that Rachel had fainted shortly after he’d arrived, then she had come to only to pass out again.

  Rachel opened her eyes and tried to smile. “Marjorie?”

  “She’s okay, Doctor Romano is seeing to her. What happened?”

  “Not sure, Marjorie fell, caught, landed …”

  She passed out again.

  Graham arrived and took over the assessment of Rachel’s injuries.

  “Did anyone see what happened?” Sarah asked the officer.

  “No, but this gentleman was on the scene when I arrived.” He turned to his right, but there was no-one there. “Sorry, looks like he’s gone. He was dressed in a tux so may have been on his way out. He did tell me that he arrived after another couple and they didn’t see what happened, either.”

  Graham carried out his examination.

  “Left ankle is badly swollen, probably broken. Right arm is cut up – she’ll need a bit of glue, but I think she managed to land without hitting her head. No lumps or contusions.” He proceeded to feel each vertebra along Rachel’s spine, assessing for pain and asking Rachel if it hurt. Rachel was mumbling negatives. “Let’s get her to the infirmary and do a full head injury assessment there. Try to wake her up, Sarah, and keep her awake. Put her in a collar and use the spinal stretcher until I have assessed her properly. Right, team, let’s get on with it.”

  Bernard arrived with a spinal stretcher, and after applying a neck collar for support, he and Sarah moved Rachel on to this. Sarah knew that Graham needed to rule out spinal fractures, but according to the officer who had attended the scene, Rachel had been moving all of her limbs around before passing out.

  Alex and Brigitte had already left with Lady Snellthorpe on the first stretcher. Sarah was concerned for Rachel and held her hand, speaking to her all the way to the infirmary and exchanging worried glances with Graham. Sarah knew they were both thinking the same thing: it looked very much like Rachel had been right all along and that there really was a threat to Marjorie’s life. It was hard to believe that anyone would want to harm this sweet old lady, but obviously, someone did.

  Before he left, Graham asked the officers to get the names of everyone present and find out if anyone had seen anything.

  “I want to see security later, but for now, I need to make sure these passengers are assessed properly.”

  Once they were in the infirmary, he made a full assessment of both patients. Lady Snellthorpe had a few bruises to her right arm and chest, but other than being severely shaken, she was not seriously hurt.

  X-rays of Rachel’s back, ankle and knee were taken and it was established there were no spinal fractures. The X-ray confirmed her ankle was broken, but it was a simple fracture. Rachel had become more alert, but was clearly still in pain. Lady Snellthorpe was in the bed next to her, looking concerned.

  “Are you alright, my dear? I was so worried about you.”

  Rachel tried to smile, but Bernard was shining a torch in her eyes and she flinched instead.

  “Apart from feeling like I’ve been in a boxing ring, I feel fine.”

  “You’ve got a broken ankle,” Sarah explained. “We can’t give you any painkillers until we’re sure you haven’t got a head injury. Can you remember what happened?”

  “I had found out that the person I heard in Marjorie’s room last night wasn’t Josie, and so I went in search of her, fearing the worst.” Rachel looked apologetically at Lady Snellthorpe, but continued, “I went to the dining room and one of the waiters said that she had headed out for air, so I started my search on deck fourteen. I searched from midships portside and went in a clockwise direction. When I got to turn to the stairs on starboard, rear, I heard movement. That’s when I saw Marjorie and I just reacted by running up a few steps and catching her as she fell. I think I caught my left foot under the step as I fell and I landed on my right side. I didn’t bang my head, and most of the fall was broken by my right hand and elbow. I think catching my foot helped me to support Marjorie.”

  “Did you see anyone else?” asked Graham.

  “I saw a shadow at the top of the steps, but it was too quick. After I fell, a couple arrived, and then a good-looking man in a tuxedo appeared and helped. He may have seen who it was at the top of the steps.”

  Rachel tried to get up.

  “Stay still, Rachel,” said Sarah. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “No, young lady. Bernard is going to put you into a back slab, and then you will need to go the hospital in Gibraltar tomorrow to see the orthopaedic surgeon, who will probably put you in a walking plaster as the break seems to be a simple one. Now we know you didn’t bang your head, you are going to have a pain killing injection and get some sleep.”

  Rachel turned to Lady Snellthorpe. “What do you remember?”

  “I remember walking along the outside of deck fifteen, enjoying the evening air. Ralph and I always took a walk after dinner, so it’s force of habit. I was looking at the stars and I could hear the waves crashing against the ship’s side, as if they were objecting to this monstrous beast daring to break their rhythm, when I felt there was someone there. I turned to see and felt a shove in my back, and the next thing, I felt myself falling. Then I saw you were there, Rachel, catching me. As I lay on top of you, I thought you were dead and I went into shock, but then you spoke to me. You saved my life, dear.”

  Graham explained that he had called security and would explain to them what had happened, but he didn’t want either Lady Snellthorpe or Rachel to be interviewed until the morning.

  “You both need a good night’s sleep. Bernard, please give a sedative to Lady Snellthorpe and Pethidine injection to Rachel. Sar
ah will stay with you and a member of security will be outside the door.”

  He smiled at them both.

  Sarah was pleased to be left alone with Rachel and Lady Snellthorpe. Bernard had given Rachel an injection and she was already looking quite woozy while he was putting on the back slab plaster.

  “What is a back slab anyway?” she asked.

  “It’s a slab of plaster, left open at the front, that will support the break while allowing the limb to swell up underneath. Once the swelling is done, a proper plaster can be applied.”

  “Sorry about the apes.” Rachel turned to Sarah.

  “You did warn me you didn’t want to see them, but I didn’t realise you would go to this much trouble to avoid them,” Sarah replied. “I am just pleased that you and Lady Snellthorpe are not seriously injured.”

  Rachel smirked at her friend.

  “I’d hate to know what you consider a serious injury.”

  Chapter 24

  The next morning, Rachel woke up feeling like she had been mauled. It took her a while to register where she was, but soon the events of the previous evening came to mind.

  She managed to sit herself up in the infirmary bed. Her left ankle felt sore but supported, and she noticed the cuts to her right arm had been dressed. Her ribs felt tender where Marjorie had landed on her right side. Sarah was asleep in a chair at the side of her bed and Marjorie was lying awake in the bed to her right, looking shaken.

  “Good morning.” Rachel smiled at the old lady.

  “Good morning, my dear.” Marjorie sounded as low as she looked. Rachel noticed a tear falling down her face. “I’m so sorry you have been injured because of me.”