Slaying at Sea (Hang Ten Australian Cozy Mystery Book 3)

by Stacey Alabaster

  I nodded but felt a little uneasy with the whole thing. It always came down to money with these things. And with Danielle. Once upon a time, I had been like that as well, and when I’d arrived back in Eden Bay a few months ago, I couldn’t believe how relaxed people were regarding profits and business practices, selling products and services for far less than they were worth. But I was starting to think differently now.

  “You have a gift, Claire. You should use it.”

  Danielle set her beer down on the railing and stood. She always liked to drop a bomb and walk away. It was her specialty. This time was no different.

  “Come back to work for me in Sydney when this is done. I will double your salary.”

  13

  Alyson

  “Hey, girl, so good to see you!” I wrapped my arms around Kayla in a warm hug. Or at least the warmest that I could manage. I’d asked her to meet me for girly drinks at Captain Eightball’s, and she had somewhat reluctantly agreed.

  She looked me up and down and told me that I looked very glamorous.

  “Oh, it’s just hairspray and a bit of powder,” I said, throwing my hair over my shoulder in an exaggerated fashion. I did feel a little bit special that afternoon, though. How many people could say that they had just starred in a blockbuster movie?

  To be honest, the whole thing had been perfect timing. I’d needed a distraction with Kieran being held at the police station overnight. Sure, maybe I’d acted a little bit like a diva on set, but that was understandable, right? I was trying not to think about what was happening with Kieran. He was only being held temporarily, apparently. But it didn’t look good for his innocence.

  “So how are you?” I asked Kayla.

  She sighed and set her purse down on the bar.

  “It’s really tough to be so far from home.”

  I nodded and tried to be sympathetic. “I suppose you can’t wait to get back to New Zealand?”

  She bit her lip. “Except now that the cops have Kieran, we are all being questioned again. We’ve been told we can’t leave until someone is actually arrested. But I’m in limbo. No friends here except Jarryd, and we’ve never been that close.” She changed the topic. “I was thinking about going to the book club meeting tonight, just to meet a few people.”

  Ugh. The book club meeting. I was only halfway through Robinson Crusoe, even though I knew that Maria, Claire, and everyone else in the club had well and truly gotten to the end of it days before.

  Kayla giggled and revealed that she hadn’t read the book either. “But they have food at these things, right? Could still be fun?”

  “Maybe there’s a movie we can watch,” I said, grabbing my purse.

  It was a little uncomfortable, watching Robinson Crusoe with Kayla, given the situation we were in. When it got to the part about Robinson Crusoe killing his friend, I looked at Kayla out of the corner of my eye. The main reason I had asked her to meet with me that evening was so I could get some evidence that she was the one who had killed Warren Reed. And thus, get Kieran set free.

  But Kayla didn’t seem troubled by the scene at all.

  I paused the movie and pretended I needed to get some more popcorn and juice. “At least I have recovered from the other day!”

  “Huh?” Kayla asked.

  “The boat trip. I never even knew I got seasick before that. But I suppose I had never been on such a small boat before. They tend to be worse.”

  Kayla nodded.

  Come on, I thought. Just admit that you pushed Claire overboard, and that you also pushed Warren overboard.

  I came back to the sofa with a fresh glass of juice. “I guess when people are getting annoying at sea, it’s tempting to want to push them overboard, hey?”

  “What are you talking about?” Kayla asked. She was starting to get annoyed. “Are we watching the rest of the movie or what?”

  But it was time for the book club to start. So not only had I only read half the book, I had only watched half the movie.

  14

  Claire

  I was just setting up for book club when I got a surprise. “Oh!” I was shocked to see Alyson, and even more shocked that she had Kayla in tow.

  “I was trying to get info from her,” Alyson whispered while Kayla hung her jacket in the allocated area. “Mission has failed thus far.”

  Now why did that not surprise me? Alyson thought she had a keen detective sense, but I had yet to see that actually present itself at all. Instead, it was usually a case of her bumbling along until she stumbled on the right answer. Unlike me. I used logic, deduction, to get to the bottom of things.

  “Are you actually here for the book club?” I asked Alyson, wondering if maybe she had just stumbled into the book shop by accident that night, not even realizing that the book club was running.

  She nodded vigorously.

  “And not just for the food?” I asked, trying to clarify. “You’re here for the actual part where we discuss the book?”

  “Yes,” she said, sighing in frustration. “Chill out.”

  “Right. So you’ve read the book, have you?”

  “Of course I have!”

  “Right to the end?”

  Alyson sighed like she was a teenager being grilled by a disappointed teacher when she hadn’t done her homework. But I knew Alyson. I knew she never did her homework.

  “Yes, miss, I swear that I have read right till the end of the book.”

  Well. That made me happy. I beamed a little. “Well, welcome then,” I said, pointing to the circle of chairs for Kayla and Alyson to sit. I had set up candles in the middle so that we could dim the lights and still have enough light to see. I was really impressed that Alyson had read the book and was being so supportive of the book club. More of a cozy vibe that way. I hated that I had started to use the word ‘vibe’ ever since I’d been hanging out with Alyson again.

  “Everyone is commenting on your mural by the way,” I said as we all settled in. “They all love it.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  Alyson and Kayla sat beside each other, on the opposite side of the circle from me. I noticed them whispering and giggling a little like schoolgirls. Huh. I hadn’t realized they were such besties.

  “Alyson?” I called out, when she hadn’t said anything about the book. “What was your opinion on Robinson Crusoe’s journey?”

  She cleared her throat and straightened up. Looked a teeny bit embarrassed. “Well,” she said. “Robinson Crusoe was a very violent man. But he got what was coming to him when he was captured by the tribe. So I suppose it’s a book about karma and justice and people getting what they deserve.”

  I just stared at her. “But Robinson Crusoe makes friends with his captives at the end. In the end, it is about forgiveness and redemption.”

  I watched Alyson’s face carefully as she shuffled in her seat.

  “Well, of course I knew that…”

  Kayla’s face crumbled into a fit of giggles as well. Great. Clearly some inside joke I was not a part of. And clearly, they had not read to the end of the book.

  When it was over, I was packing up the chairs and blowing out the candles when Alyson came up to me, all contrary. “I don’t know why you insist on coming to these things if you aren’t going to actually read the books,” I said, not even looking at her. I just continued to stack chairs loudly.

  “Oh, don’t be like that,” Alyson said. “Kayla is worried that she’s going to be stuck in this town for ages without any friends, I was just doing her a favor.”

  “Yeah, well, why don’t you and your new best friend just get out of here then?” I straightened up and pointed to the door. “Just go home, Alyson.”

  She shrugged. “Fine. Maybe we will then. Especially seeing as being friends with you clearly comes with conditions.”

  There was another message from Danielle on my phone.

  “You made your decision yet? Because I have the contract drawn up and ready to sign.”

  15
<
br />   Claire

  It was the big day. D Day.

  Disaster day. And all of Eden Bay had turned out to be part of it. We were going to make it look like an entire town was drowned. There were release forms and non-disclosure contracts flying around everywhere, and I was the one trying to wrangle everyone, getting them to sign and to make sure that if anyone was not supposed to be there that they were kept outside the barricades and escorted away. If anything about this movie leaked, then it was going to be on my head.

  Of course, it wasn’t only the extras who had to sign a contract. For me, it was a different type of D Day. Decision day.

  But I’d been finding excuses all day for why I couldn’t come into Danielle’s temporary office to sign the contract. I just needed a tiny bit more time. But it was fine. I was so busy that day that she didn’t question it.

  My mind was racing with the logistics of it all. As far as the bookshop went, well, one option was to run it from afar. I could still own it and just have it managed and run by staff members while I was in Sydney. Or there was a second option. Maria had offered to buy the shop. At well above the market price as well. The money had not influenced me up to that point, but if I was going to move back to Sydney, I was going to have to find a new apartment, and real estate prices there were ten times what they were in Eden Bay.

  “Excuse me?” I looked down and saw an extra with a large gash in her face (thanks to the makeup chair…I hoped) asking me where she needed to go. Umm, first aid? But I pointed toward the group of agitated extras on the beach, then moved onto the next one.

  “Have you signed the contract?” I asked. My arms were tired from lugging them around all day and my voice was tired of asking the same question over and over. Maybe I could just trust that none of the residents of Eden Bay would spoil the movie.

  “Oh, Troy. Hello,” I said. “Have you signed…”

  “Yes, I have already signed it,” he said, rolling up his sleeves. “That kind of thing is only to be expected anyway. Par for the course.” Troy was a lot savvier than most people in town. Like me, he had moved to Eden Bay from Sydney, and he tended to screw his nose up at the rest of the residents and their small town naiveté.

  “I am surprised that you want to take part,” I said with a bit of a laugh. Didn’t really seem much like his style.

  “Well, didn’t want to miss out on all the fun,” he said jokingly as he glanced around. “Looks like all of the town is down here, joining in. I’m sure I’ll see some familiar faces.”

  I pressed my lips together. “Do you mean Alyson?” I asked.

  He shot me an exaggerated look of surprise, then shrugged quickly and frowned. “No, no. I wasn’t talking about anyone specifically.”

  “She can’t be in the crowd scene,” I explained. “She looks too similar to the lead actress.” I didn’t tell him that we had actually used Alyson in place of the lead actress as that was all a bit hush hush and part of the non-disclosure for anyone who had been a part of filming that scene.

  Troy looked very disappointed.

  “Do you still want to take part?” I asked Troy. I was hoping he did. We needed all the extras we could get on that day, especially when people like Alyson and Simon couldn’t be there.

  He nodded quickly. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I told you. Alyson has nothing to do with me being here.”

  When lunch break rolled around, I found myself sitting with Troy again. He hadn’t exactly made any friends on set, the same way he hadn’t made many friends in town. He just stuck out too much with his expensive clothes and car. He was eating a ham and egg roll and patted the seat beside him. I suppose I also stuck out too much. Stuck between two worlds and two lives, actually. And I didn’t know which one to pick.

  “You seem distracted today.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled, biting into my own turkey and cranberry roll. The bread was a little stale. Blame catering.

  “I don’t mean that you aren’t doing a good job.” He stared off onto the set. “Actually, that’s kind of my point. Seems like you could do this job with your eyes closed.”

  I hadn’t told anyone else about my dilemma, and Troy was at least there to listen. And he wouldn’t judge. “Well, actually, Danielle did offer me my old job back. With a slight raise.”

  Troy raised an eyebrow. “What does ‘slight’ mean here?”

  “Double,” I replied.

  “Take it,” Troy said. Then he let out a little laugh.

  “Come on, I thought you were a changed man since arriving in Eden Bay.”

  He finished off his roll. “I thought maybe I could settle down here, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, then reconsidered it. Was I really going to try and push Alyson into the arms of Troy Emerald? It was weird. They were such a bad match on paper, but I had seen the chemistry between them. And he clearly cared about her, a lot. Why else would he be down here, this far out of his comfort zone, and still pretending he was fine even when she wasn’t here, just to save face? And isn’t that what we all want for our best friends, in the end? For them to be with someone who cared about them enough to do all this?

  “Alyson can be a hard nut to crack,” I said. “She is stubborn. More set in her ways than anyone else I’ve ever known. But she is worth the hard work.”

  Troy shrugged. “Nah. She’s got that other guy now.”

  I wondered how much he knew about Kieran. I had to be careful where I tread with this one. “Oh?” I asked all innocently, trying to get the gossip from him without revealing that I already knew it.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I get a clear view of her apartment when I’m out surfing.”

  “Sounds kinda stalkerish, Troy,” I said, winding him up, sure, but only half-kidding. Because it kinda did.

  “Yeah, well, I can’t help it if Alyson’s apartment is right on the beach.” True. And I knew she had refused to teach Troy how to surf, so he was stuck doing it on his own.

  “So anyway. There’s been this guy hanging around. Some big guy,” Troy said, staring down at the picnic table.

  “No, Kieran is really small,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s skinny.”

  “Huh?”

  “Umm…” I wondered how to backtrack on that one, but it seemed that Troy already knew about Kieran anyway.

  “No, I am not talking about that stowaway she has up there,” he said with a heavy sigh. “That other big guy who is always there.”

  Big guy?

  I turned around. And there was Simon.

  Even though he was not supposed to be on set that day.

  So. Here is the thing about non-disclosure contracts. Even though they are legal documents and even though you can sue someone for not sticking to one, you can’t actually ‘stop’ someone from leaking info. So there is always a degree of trust that goes into them. Because anyone at any time could betray your trust, even when they are fully aware of the consequences.

  Matt wasn’t even looking me in the eye when I entered Captain Eightball’s. I thought he just hadn’t noticed me. But when I called him by name and he still didn’t look up, I started to worry something was up.

  “Have I done something wrong?” I asked him. I’d had to order my caramel milkshake from another waiter. AND I’d had to pay for it. How rude.

  He just kept wiping the counter as though he hadn’t even heard me. Like I was a ghost.

  “Oh come on, Matt, this is ridiculous.” My milkshake arrived, but I didn’t quite have the stomach to sip from it.

  He finally stopped and looked up at me, his brown eyes full of hurt and betrayal

  “Troy Emerald was in here earlier.”

  “Oh yeah. What did he order?”

  “That is not funny, Claire.”

  “Well, I am still trying to figure out what the big deal is? Troy Emerald was in here, wow. Did you call the local paper to tell them the news?”

  He just stared at me a long time. Still wasn’t findin
g me funny then. “He told me that you’re leaving Eden Bay.”

  Oh no.

  I was fuming. We’d gotten Troy to sign a piece of paper stating that he wouldn’t reveal any secrets form the set, but I’d never thought I needed to get him to sign a form pledging that he wouldn’t reveal my personal secrets. What business was it of his to go telling anyone that? Let alone Matt? And there I had been, trying to get him together with Alyson in spite of better judgement, and he did this to me? I decided there and then that I would warn Alyson away from him from now on. He was nothing but a no-good snake.

  “Nothing has been decided for sure…”

  Matt tossed the dishrag down onto the counter. “Right. So it’s true, then.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “Does Alyson know?” Matt asked.

  Of course Alyson didn’t know. Geez. She would throw a fit. “She has a new best friend now anyway,” I said a little sulkily.

  There was actually a little dance of amusement on Matt’s face. “Is that why you are running away then? You’re being replaced?”

  I didn’t mind the teasing so much if it meant that Matt was talking to me again. “You’ve got to understand, Matt. It’s just a really good offer—double my old salary.”

  “So it’s all about the money, then?” That was all he said. Just gave me one final look of disappointment and then went to the back office. I sat there, wondering whether he was ever coming back, whether he had finished his shift or whether he had just disappeared into the abyss.

  There was a large figure standing at the window. Great. I had been wanting to talk to Simon all day after the incident with him dropping Alyson. But he took one look at me and started to bolt. “What is he doing?” I asked, pushing my glass away.

  “Who?”

  I turned around and saw Matt by the door. He had changed out of his Captain Eightball’s Uniform and had a beach towel slung over his shoulder like he was going surfing.

  “Simon… He was staring at me and now he’s running toward the beach. I’m going after him!”