She looked at the sheet. “Yes, they are. All barely out of school.” She read for a few minutes. “So other than the cousin, the common denominator is college.”
“You’re quick to catch on.”
“So what? You even said they happened to be playing cards with Alan, and then they all went to the bar.”
“Alan graduated from Ohio State,” I said, triumphant.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Either way, he’s several years older than them. They wouldn’t have been in school at the same time. Were they in the same fraternity?”
“No, there’s no connection. It’s just a very small world, and I’m sure that’s how they bonded. If you met someone who went to Hartnell College, wouldn’t you have a nice chat about the classes, campus, and teachers you may have had in common? And how many football players you schtupped?”
“Sure, it would be great fun to commiserate. Oh, and I’d be sure to name the guys I had sex with and go into every detail with a complete stranger.” Mimi rolled her eyes.
“So that’s the connection, albeit a loose one. The cousin worries me, though.” I printed out another sheet of paper.
Mimi looked at the new printout. “Warrants? How on earth was he able to leave the country?”
“I’m not sure. I’d say fake I.D., but he is who his identification says he is, at least according to all my research, which isn’t a lot. I just wanted to look at their backgrounds to find out more about them before we question them.”
“Question them?” Mimi asked.
“Yeah, I’m going to talk to Marvin and Clay. I want you to talk to Cal.”
Mimi’s chin tucked back against her neck, and her brows raised. “I get the thug?”
“My way of thinking is that he’s not going to talk to a guy, especially not someone as intimidating as me. He’ll fancy himself a ladies’ man, and being seen talking to you will boost his stud meter.”
“Stud meter? Where do you come up with his crap?” she laughed.
“I’m just that clever. Now, the big thing is going to be finding them alone. These three seem to run as a pack.”
“What about the other two?”
“We’ll chat with them too, after we get the story from these three. They weren’t playing cards or in the bar, so I’m not sure they’re a part of this.”
“Don’t assume,” Mimi said. And she was right, I shouldn’t assume.
“So, get yourself cleaned up, put on some makeup and your shortest skirt, and let’s go find these guys.” I got up from the desk and walked over to the bed.
“What you just said is so sexist,” Mimi said.
“I know.”
13
Mimi
Since I only had to track down one of the frat boys, and mine wasn’t even a high school graduate, much less a frat boy, I asked Charles to run backgrounds on Alan, Kendra, Georgia, and Bruce. And while we were at it, Emily.
“There are a few revelations here,” I said.
“Some things Kendra forgot to mention. Let’s see if it comes up in conversation.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
Charles looked at his watch. “Okay, I’ll give you twenty minutes to pretty yourself up, then we will make plans to meet back in two hours. Do you think that’ll be enough time to question at least Cal and maybe the Wallis couple?”
“Let’s hope so,” I said.
Charles left me in peace, and I locked the bathroom door while I showered and made myself presentable. With the cabin door disabled, I didn’t want anyone walking in on me. I didn’t put on a short skirt, but I did slip into a fashionable dress, the hem well above the knee. I assessed myself in the full-length mirror. I really needed a tan! The self-tanner from the previous night had already begun to fade in spots, and my skin looked splotchy.
Armed with the pages Charles printed, and the cabin numbers of the people we needed to chat with, I hung my oversized beach bag on my shoulder and left.
The problem now was how to find my target on this massive ship. I decided to do it the easy way and go to the cabin where Cal and the boys slept. I say slept, because I doubted they did much more than that in there.
I took the elevator to the correct floor, then strolled down the hall as if headed to my own room. I wanted to look casual in case I ran into any of the guys, not look like a woman on a mission.
I paused outside the door to their cabin, took a deep breath, then knocked. From inside, I heard a grumpy, “What?”
I almost said, “Housekeeping,” but that was so cliché. In my sexiest voice, I said, “I’m looking for Cal.”
About thirty seconds passed. I heard some movement, but I couldn’t make it out. When the door opened, a fit man with straight brown hair and dark eyes stood close to the door frame with the door opened only inches. According to his description in my papers, this had to be Ken.
“Who are you?” Ken asked.
“I’m Mimi, and you must be Ken.”
He opened the door wider to reveal a toned upper body and plaid boxer shorts. “Do I know you?”
I smiled and winked, and immediately felt like an idiot. “Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll get to know each other before the end of the cruise.”
He ran his fingers through the top of his hair. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”
Ouch, that stung a little. Maybe I hadn’t put enough into it, or maybe I’d lost my touch. I hadn’t gone out on decoy gigs for months. We weren’t getting calls to catch cheating husbands in the act as much as we were getting calls to catch cheating wives. Much harder gig.
“Is Cal around?” I asked, taking a step forward, but not quite in the door.
“He’s in the crapper.” Ken stepped back to let me in the cabin. “I’ll tell him you’re here. I already told him a chick was at the door.”
Maybe Ken didn’t like girls? He didn’t even look at me, I mean really look at me.
I stepped into the main room. The stateroom looked to be a suite with two bedrooms, a living area (with a pull-out bed someone used last night), and a full kitchen and dining area. Larger than the one Charles and I shared. The pull-out bed hadn’t been made, the sheets and cover in a tangle. Beer cans littered the room, as well as dishes and trays from room service. I could smell stale beer, old food, men’s body odor, and a hint of vomit. I wished I had a bottle of room freshener.
“Class reunion? I asked.
Ken flopped down on the club chair, his legs spread wide, as if he weren’t dressed only in boxers. I thought he might be sizing me up. Not as a girl, but for how much I could handle. He popped the top on a can of beer and offered it to me. “Beer?”
I waved him off. “No, I’m good. I already had a Bloody Mary for breakfast.” Not true, but it gave me street cred, or so I hoped.
“Suit yourself.” He chugged from the can, then yelled, “Cal, pinch it off. I’m not here to entertain your one-night stands.”
I choked back a laugh. As crude and unbecoming as he tried to be, Ken oozed handsome from every pore.
“Where are the rest of the guys?” I asked.
“Why, you do them, too?” Ken leaned forward and gave me a good once over. Finally, but for the wrong reason.
“Ha, that’s funny. I’m married, but thanks for the assumption.”
“Yeah, I’m married too, but what happens on the high seas…” He leaned back in the chair again.
I knew from his history he was not now, or had he ever been, married. If he’d been engaged, I didn’t know, but that wasn’t really the point now, was it?
“Lucky wife,” I said.
“Who’s here for me?” Cal groaned.
I turned just in time to see him scratching his balls. Oh, to be so young and crass, I thought.
“Hey, Cal, how are you feeling this morning? Last night was a doozy, wasn’t it?” I tried not to cringe.
Cal had an appeal I bet girls found hard to resist. Looking past the scratching and yawning, he looked like the “All American Boy” every mom wanted
to see her daughter bring through the door for dinner. If they only knew.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Don’t you remember? Wow, how embarrassing. You gave me your cabin number last night and told me to meet you for breakfast.” I turned to leave, like I’d really been embarrassed.
“Hold up, what? I don’t remember meeting you last night. What’s your name again?” He ran his ball hand through his hair. Lovely.
“Mimi, but don’t worry about it.” I pulled my key card from my beach bag and accidentally dropped it on the floor. Bending over to retrieve it, facing away from Cal, I said, “I should have known you were three sheets to the wind and wouldn’t remember. You could barely remember your cabin number. Marvin had to remind you. And right after that, you left with Marvin, Clay, and that guy who got smacked by that lady.”
“You know Marvin and Clay?” His face still scrunched, trying to remember, and his hand grasping the top of his hair.
“Not really, we all met at the bar last night.” I didn’t know how much more I could say. “Look, I’m starving, so I’ll just head to the breakfast buffet. Thanks for nothing.” I walked down the short entryway to the door.
“Dude, take her to breakfast. It’s a free date, and we know that’s about all you can afford,” Ken said.
“Wait,” Cal called after me. “Give me a minute to shower.”
And boom! I still had it. I walked back into the room, considered sitting, then thought better of it. “I didn’t see you out with the guys last night.”
“So?” Ken said, watching the cruise loop on the TV as if it were interesting.
“I just wondered why you weren’t hanging out with the rest of the guys. It’s apparent you’re sharing a room.” I leaned my hip against the kitchen counter.
“I had other plans, okay?” He continued to watch the screen.
I wondered if maybe he might be a little slow, or maybe a little high. Did some people get angry when they got high? And who would dare to bring weed onto a cruise ship? Was it okay to do that now that marijuana was legal in California? I’d have to look into it, even though I had no plans to use the substance any time soon.
“Sorry to bother you.” I looked around the room, then back at Ken. “You’re not really married, are you?”
He tore his gaze from the TV. “What makes you say that?”
I pointed to his hand. “No wedding ring.”
“What happens in Mexico…” he said again.
“And no tan line where a ring would have been,” I pointed out.
No response.
I needed to warm this guy up. I might have to question him later. I walked over to the veranda doors. “Nice view.”
“Same view we’ve had since boarding the ship.”
“Let’s go.” Cal showered and dressed in less than five minutes.
He cleaned up nice. I could see a nice girl falling for him.
We stood next to each other as we went through the breakfast buffet line. I know Charles told me not to use my key outside the room, but I needed to get Cal to talk to me.
“I still don’t remember you, sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay, I’m not all that memorable,” I tried to sound put off.
“That’s not true. And don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re older than the women I usually talk to.” He stacked his plate high with bacon, sausage, biscuits, and scrambled eggs.
“I’m not that old,” I said. “But we aren’t going to talk about age.”
When we settled in, I got right to the point.
“Who was that guy you were with last night? He seemed older than you guys.”
“Who are you talking about?” Cal asked.
“The guy who got smacked by that lady,” I said.
“Oh, him. I guess he went to the same college as my cousin, Marvin. We met at the blackjack table. That guy lost a crap ton of money and didn’t even seem fazed by it.”
“What’s a crap ton?” I asked.
“I don’t know for sure. I wasn’t counting his money, I was counting mine. I lost quite a bit too, but I was smarter than Alan, I stopped playing before I went broke.” Cal stuffed a whole sausage in his mouth. I barely understood him when he said, “I still don’t remember talking to a chick last night.”
I smiled and drank my coffee. “Does it really matter? We’re here now.”
“We are. Are we going back to your cabin after breakfast?” So sure of himself, he sounded more like he expected it, than an innuendo.
“That’s a good one. I’m curious about this Alan guy.”
“He’s married, sorry,” Cal said. He picked up his orange juice and drank half.
“Was that his wife who was so mad at him?”
“Who knows, who cares? You’re a little curious about this guy, aren’t you?”
“I’m a little curious, Cal, because he went missing last night, and you and your pals were the last to see him. So, like I said, I’d like to know a little more.”
Cal jumped up. “Who the hell are you?”
“Sit,” I said.
“Screw you,” he said, then grabbed a piece of bacon.
“Sit. I promise, I’m just asking because his wife is worried.” I was about to reach up to grab his arm and yank him back down when he reluctantly sat.
“What does she care? Other than he might divorce her and she won’t have all his money anymore.” Cal crumbled a piece of bacon and mixed it with his eggs.
“Did he say he planned to divorce her?”
“He said he never should have married her. She’s a controlling c---, she’s controlling. But that coulda been the booze talking.”
“What about the argument? Did he say anything about that?”
“Said he got it on with a chick in the plane on the way here, and his wife found out. Then he wanted to go find that chick.”
“Really? Did he say her name?”
“Linda, Lacey, I don’t know. But I’m sure it started with an L.” As he chewed, he said, “He was all, ‘She put the whole thing on Twitter, like it was love at first sight and not a mile high…’ you get the point.”
“Why did he want to find her?” A legit question for sure.
“You said he’s missing. This girl got something to do with it?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“Why do you care anyway?”
“We’re working on the investigation into Alan’s disappearance. You were the last ones seen with him.”
“About that, how did you know my name and my cabin number? And Marvin’s name?”
What he lacked in brains, he made up for in looks, and he was very good looking.
“I’m an investigator. And I was in the bar last night. I saw what happened with Alan’s wife, and I saw you guys practically carry Alan out of the bar.” I took a drink of coffee to slow myself down and lose my accusing tone. “What happened after you left the bar?”
“I don’t know. If I don’t remember meeting you, how would I remember what happened? Maybe I blacked out or something.”
I rolled my eyes. “We didn’t meet last night, Cal. I hoped you were drunk enough to question what I said. And you did. But you remember. I know that you know exactly what happened last night.”
Cal sighed. “Why are you asking me?”
“Because I know you were there. You helped Alan off the floor and out of the bar. Where did you take him?”
“Man, this sucks. We do a good deed by getting the guy to his room, cabin, whatever, then he wanders off and no one can find him?” He didn’t seem too put out as he finished off the crumbs on his plate. “I’m going up for another plate.”
“I’ll go with you. You’re not finished answering my questions.” I stood and followed him to the buffet, while the food on my plate got cold.
I felt guilty about wasting food, but I filled another plate anyway. Cal talked while he heaped his plate with more meat, potatoes, and eggs.
“He smelled so bad.
Marvin suggested we put him in the shower, but no way was I going to get in the shower with a dude I barely knew. I sure wasn’t gonna be the one to undress him.”
“His clothes weren’t in the room,” I said. “So did you guys put him in the shower or not?”
“How could you tell where his clothes were? Did you see that room? It was trashed!”
I stopped putting fruit on my plate. “It was messed up like that when you brought him back?”
“Like a tornado hit the place. Or like someone was looking for something and in a really bad mood when they did it.” Cal turned from the buffet and headed back to the table.
“Shower?” I asked.
“Don’t know, don’t care. I put the key card in the lock and opened the door. Marvin and Clay helped him into the room.”
“But you saw the room,” I said.
“Yeah, well, you couldn’t miss it. And to be honest, it didn’t look like all that great a room, especially for a guy bragging about how much money he had.”
“He bragged a lot, huh?”
“Marvin said his clothes had designer labels, and he dressed well, but something told me it was all for show. He sure did like to flash his money around, though. Even talked about going back to the room to get more so he could keep playing. But we ended up in the bar instead.”
“After you got him in the room, what next?” I chewed a piece of cantaloupe while I waited for an answer.
He must have been contemplating his next words, because he chewed and swallowed before answering, instead of his normal talking with his mouth full. “I went back to our cabin, and when Marvin and Clay got back, we went to the midnight buffet.”
The key card record didn’t show someone entering the suite between eleven and midnight.
“Was it good?” I asked.
“From what I remember. It was a buffet.”
Non-committal answer.
“When you left Alan in his room, that was the last time you saw him?”
He nodded, his mouth full again.
“You said you went back to your cabin, but the key card records don’t show you opening the door,” I said.
Love is a Many Splintered Thing Page 8
