“Spectacular!” said Martin with satisfaction.
I gave Clarissa a thumbs up sign and she smiled happily back at me. I was surprised she didn’t topple over.
“They are something, Clarissa,” I said shaking my head in amazement. “You know, if I wanted to wear those, I’d have to cut the whole heel off. I could never balance in that.”
Martin gave me a strange look and shook his head. “But you can’t cut the whole heel off of shoes like that, they’re not designed for it. They would be terribly uncomfortable if you did.”
They would be terribly uncomfortable if I didn’t, I thought.
“I’ve never heard of anyone doing that,” said Clarissa with a little shake of her head. The very idea of ruining shoes like that was completely alien to her. Wearing shoes like that was completely alien to me.
You wouldn’t get far going across the cornfields wearing those, I thought to myself.
“But you know what?” said Martin, now tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I did hear of a certain lady you may have heard of—Marilyn Monroe—cutting part of a high heel off to improve the swing of her hips.”
“Wait, really?” I asked.
Martin nodded. “Oh, yes. Apparently it was how she got the sexy wiggle into her walk. Amazing, isn’t it?”
“But of course no pageant girl would ever do that,” said Clarissa knowledgeably. “When we walk across the stage, we need to focus on our poise. You get docked for trying to do too much of a sexy wiggle, don’t you, Martin?”
“That’s right, Clarissa. More than that, it could be seen as an illegal costume variation as well.”
The two of them nodded thoughtfully, as they mentally ran through the ramifications of chopping off part of a high heel. I never could have imagined that there was so much to it.
“I’m sure it’s nothing that anyone here would try, anyway. Us judges would spot it in an instant,” said Martin firmly. “Now, you must tell me where you got those shoes, and how much they cost.”
Clarissa leaned into Martin, and I knew this conversation wasn’t going to end anytime soon. I would have to find out about Rolf’s history with pageant girls another time, or another way.
Bored with the conversation about shoes, I left them to it.
Chapter 12
The next morning I was sitting in the staff mess, enjoying a delicious breakfast. In an ideal world that’s what I would have been doing, anyway. In reality, I was sitting at the hard, orange plastic picnic-bench tables consuming the rubbery eggs that always seem to be served there.
The coffee was passable though, and it filled the room with a rather enticing aroma.
I had left Sam behind in the room to shower and get dressed. She was going to catch me up. I was the early bird today. Chewing thoughtfully, I stared at my phone screen as I swiped through the pictures I’d taken on this cruise so far.
The day before had been a bust in terms of my investigations. Despite spending almost the entirety of it with the beauty pageant contestants, I never got much further than conversations about lipstick, hair, high heels, walking, and other topics of no interest whatsoever. Whenever I tried to swing the conversation to something more useful, I got brushed off or ignored. But today was going to be different. I was sure of it.
I just needed more information.
The pictures I had taken were good, but no better than the ones that the beauty pageant contestants themselves were taking and sharing. As I swiped backward, going back toward the start of the cruise, something caught my eye.
It was a picture of Diana, before she had taken to the stage and been assaulted by Ruth Allen. She was wearing a pair of dark blue high heels.
I stared at it. Maybe this was all going to make sense.
“Hey,” said Sam, slipping down across from me putting her own plate of rubbery eggs and soft bacon onto the table. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve got a question for you,” I said with a little smile.
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“I bet you don’t know what this is.”
Sam looked intrigued as I fished in my pocket and pulled out the small disc I had retrieved from Kimberly Dawson’s trash box. I held it up in the air between us, between my thumb and forefinger, so that Sam could examine it.
“Oh. That looks like you’ve cut off a little bit of a high heel. Why did you do that?”
Disappointed, I stuffed the little piece back into my pocket.
“How did you know that?”
Sam shrugged her shoulders. “I just looked at it. It was obvious, wasn’t it?”
I glared at her. “No. It was not obvious.”
Sam giggled, amused at having won my little game.
“But seriously, why do you have it? Is it a… clue?” She said the final word quietly, so that no one else could hear.
“Actually, yes, I think it is. Take a look at this.”
I spun my phone around on the table so that it was the right way up for Sam, and I pointed at the picture on the screen.
“Well?” I said.
Sam shrugged. “What?”
With a satisfied smile, I zoomed in on the important part. This time, Sam wasn’t ahead of me.
“Look, do you see?” I fished in my pocket and pulled out the little disc again, and then pointed my finger at the screen, which was now zoomed in on the shoes Diana had been wearing. “It matches. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, maybe. Is that evidence though? Couldn’t it just be a coincidence?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s a start. When you get enough little coincidences all at once, it usually means something.”
“Good thinking.”
Then I remembered something else.
“Say, they found something strange with the body yesterday.”
“What?”
“Along with Diana’s clothes, sash, and crown, was a Millie And Me Choc-Orange bar.”
Sam looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember something.
“A Millie And Me Choc-Orange bar? You used to love those, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I did used to love them. Until…”
Sam winced as she realized what I was referring to. When she spoke, her voice was subdued.
“Oh. I see. Yeah.” Sam was the only other person on the ship who knew what had happened to me when I was kidnapped. And she was the only one who knew I’d been fed that particular candy bar. Except maybe now she wasn’t the only person. Could the person who killed Diana also know?
“You don’t think the person who’s been stalking you is the same person who killed Diana, do you?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
I turned the phone screen off and put the disc back in my pocket once again. It was good to have someone to talk to, but I knew neither she nor I had the answers.
“Good morning, guys!” said Kelly Cline cheerfully as she sat down beside Sam.
We both greeted her with smiles. I’d never run into Kelly at meal times before. I suspected it was because she was normally too busy and just ate something light in her office. Or maybe she ran on sunlight and sea air. She was tiny enough it almost seemed plausible.
“I expect you’re talking about the murder,” said Kelly.
She said it so brightly, and with such a light tone, it seemed quite incongruous considering the topic. But that was the thing about Kelly. She always seemed bright and cheerful. Except when she was running away from conflict.
“Of course we were,” said Sam. “After all, Adrienne is the best investigator on the ship.”
I glared at her. “I did manage to solve a couple of little mysteries, yes. But it’s not my job.”
“Well, let’s hope you can solve this one quickly,” said Kelly nodding to herself as she began to spoon some of her own eggs into her mouth at an almost alarming rate.
It seemed like everyone was expecting me to try and solve the murder. If they were, perhaps I should play the part. Maybe as the ship’s investigator, I coul
d ask Kelly for a pay raise.
“Kelly, what do you know about Diana’s past?”
The cruise director held up a finger to wait while she finished her current mouthful. Even while she was eating, she did everything at double speed, her jaw working up and down like it was being paid for efficiency. She quickly swallowed before answering my question.
“I don’t know much, I’m afraid. I’ve heard some things, but those people gossip about each other so much it’s hard to figure out what’s true and what’s rumor.”
“You’ve heard something?” asked Sam.
“From what I know, Diana, Autumn, and Martin all have history together. They go way back. Back to the days when Diana and Autumn were competing against each other. They were big rivals apparently.”
“Are they—or were they—still rivals? Was there some kind of bitterness between them?” asked Sam.
“I don’t know about that. Perhaps you should ask them directly.”
Yeah, that would go over well. If they were guilty of murdering her I’m sure they would be enthusiastic to tell me how much they hated her.
“Oh, look,” said Sam. “We’re being graced with the presence of the bigwigs.”
I looked over my shoulder, and to my surprise I saw the captain entering the staff mess.
It was the first time I’d seen him in here. Usually he ate in the public dining facilities. Passengers loved to see the captain interacting with them, and eating dinner at the captain’s table was of course a big privilege. The passengers also had better food than we got in the staff mess, so it was a win-win for the captain and other senior officers, like Ethan.
The sight of the captain reminded me of something.
“You know him, right?” I jerked my head back toward the door.
Kelly had already vacuumed up more than half the contents of her plate and was just swallowing another mouthful. When she was done, she gave me a little nod.
“Yes,” she said tentatively. “Before I worked at corporate HQ, I was on another ship with this captain. But you shouldn’t listen to the gossip.”
While I was nodding calmly, in my head my thoughts were flying. I hadn’t mentioned anything about gossip. Apparently, Kelly had heard about some kind of rumor though.
“Gossip? I was just making conversation. Is there gossip about the captain?” I asked innocently.
During our last cruise I had run across a file which indicated that our captain was on his ‘last chance.’ And more than that, from the way that Ethan reacted toward him, I knew there was no love lost between them. I didn’t yet know what it was that was in the captain’s past though. What was the cause of the gossip? And why had he been on a final warning?
“No, no, no, no. No gossip. There isn’t any.”
Sam and I exchanged surprised looks. Kelly clearly wasn’t very good at lying. It only made me more determined to find out what the gossip actually was.
I looked over my shoulder again at the captain. He was still standing by the door, scanning the room as if looking for someone. Giving up, he gave a little shrug and left again.
“I guess it didn’t meet his high standards,” said Sam, poking at her own plate of eggs.
“Really? I thought it was great,” said Kelly, staring down at her own plate, now empty. “Got to go! I’ve got two trillion things to do. Have a great day!”
“Bye, Kelly,” said Sam.
“See you, Kelly,” I said with a little wave.
“And remember, no gossiping,” Kelly wagged her finger at us before departing. I wasn’t sure if she was being cute or serious. On second thought, with Kelly, they both seemed to be the same thing.
“No gossiping? That’s no fun,” said Sam in amusement.
“Yeah, well, I’d like to see her enforce that rule on this ship,” I said with a laugh. “Even without the whole gaggle of beauty queens, the staff alone can’t go more than two seconds without gossiping.”
“Right. Is that what you call a group of beauty queens? A gaggle?”
I grinned at her. “It’s what I call them. Any better suggestions?”
Sam wrinkled her nose in thought. “How about a coven?”
“Good one. Or maybe a herd, like sheep.”
“Yeah, or how about a murder, like with crows?”
We both paused. A murder of beauty queens. While it had a ring to it, in the circumstances it was entirely inappropriate.
“I’ll stick with gaggle for now,” I said. I was about to ask Sam what she had going on today, when something caught my eye. Or someone, rather.
Two rows back from Sam, walking between the tables, was the mysterious housekeeper who Cece claimed didn’t exist.
He’d finished his meal and was on his way toward the door. For a nonexistent person, he was certainly pretty darn visible. What was the story with him? Was he a stowaway—he wouldn’t be the first—or something else? Or had Cece simply forgotten all about him?
Whatever it was, he was getting away and I didn’t have time to explain it all to Sam.
“I just remembered I was supposed to help Cece with something.” I was standing by the time I’d finished the sentence. “Catch you later!”
I left Sam with a mild expression of surprise on her face as I hurried off after the very much real housekeeper who didn’t exist.
I didn’t know if he was connected to the murder, or to the captain’s past, or even to my stalker, but this was one little mystery I could solve right away. I just had to catch him.
Chapter 13
As surreptitiously as I could, I began to follow the man through the bowels of the ship to see where he was going.
As when I’d seen him before, he was wearing a housekeeping uniform. With his thick, wavy hair and beard, he was a memorable looking man. Some would even say handsome.
It seemed strange that Cece would forget him. Beyond strange in fact. Unbelievable.
Walking carefully, I tried to stay a safe distance behind him, so that it wouldn’t be obvious that I was following him. But I also tried to keep him just about in sight at all times. I didn’t want to lose him.
We were making our way forward through the ship, and we passed most of the crew quarters before he changed direction. He headed up a set of internal stairs that I knew from experience would take him up to a passenger-facing portion of the ship.
The mystery housekeeper entered the stairwell ahead of me, and I waited outside until I could hear that he had already ascended a couple of flights of steps. His heavy boots clumped up the metal stairs, sending ringing echoes down the stairwell.
When I felt that he had ascended a safe distance, I followed, making sure to stay one or two flights of stairs behind him as I went.
I could tell when he’d reached his target floor, because the footsteps stopped and there was a thunk as a heavy door was opened. Almost all the internal doors of the ship were big and heavy, so that they could be sealed should the need arise.
When he had exited out into the hallway beyond, I quickly hurried up the last couple of flights of steps. I opened the same door that he had, noting the STAFF ONLY sign on the other side, and surreptitiously slipped out into the plush hallway beyond.
Peering to the left, then the right, for one panicked moment I thought I had lost him.
There!
The man had almost escaped. He was already near the end of the hallway, which ended in a T intersection. He turned to the right, and I set off quickly behind him.
We were near the International Buffet restaurant and despite just having finished breakfast the tantalizing smell of the foods within was tempting me.
I smacked myself on the leg as I hurried. Don’t think about food now, Adrienne! Focus!
After hurrying to the end of the hallway, I slowed to a more natural pace. Putting my hands behind my back, I strolled around the corner so that if he was looking, it would appear that I was just casually going about my day.
Nothing to see here, buddy, just a hard-working gal going abou
t her business. Definitely not following anyone, not me, nuh-uh.
The hallway we were following would eventually lead to the Grand Atrium. The section we were on had a couple of shops leading off it further down, but otherwise was relatively empty. On the other sides of the walls where I was currently walking was the casino on one side, and the large buffet restaurant on the other, though their entrances were all in the Grand Atrium.
The housekeeper was walking toward the large, open part of the ship and I followed along behind. Just as I was passing a small gift shop, the man stopped. I froze, too. Then he began to move his head to look behind him, as if he was suspicious.
With the adrenaline and excitement pumping at having successfully followed him so far, my brain jumped to the conclusion that I had been made: he knew he was being followed!
So my body jumped too.
Right into the gift shop.
I’m not sure what the supposed-housekeeper thought of that, because I found myself with a whole new set of things to worry about.
Like the fact that my sudden entrance into the shop put me off-balance, and I ended up falling right into a display of feather boas.
And the man who’d been busy admiring them. A man that I already knew, as it turned out.
“Oh!” I wailed, crashing into both the man and the display, my left hand shoving the man in the stomach, while my right tried to latch onto something. Instead, I pulled a whole rack of feather boas and the railing that was supporting them down onto the floor.
The man, winded, bent over, crashing into me. I finished my disastrous entry into the shop by collapsing onto the floor, boas strewn around me, while the shocked and rapidly angering man glowered down at me.
“What are you doing?” asked Rolf Monteith, because it was him that I now saw I had crashed into.
“Sorry!” I shouted up at him. He was clutching his stomach and trying to breathe in deeply while maintaining a look of disbelieving anger.
With all the grace I had left in me, I clumsily climbed to my feet. Rolf did not offer me an arm.
“What happened?” he said, staring at me in disbelief.
Beauty Queens and Cruises: A Humorous Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 4) Page 8
