I was just reviewing my morning’s photographs and deciding which ones I wanted for my article, and which I wanted to just upload to the social media feeds with a caption, when my phone buzzed to life, sliding across the table as it rang.
The screen read Cece. If it had been Kelly or the Captain I may have been tempted to ignore it, but Cece I could deal with. I always had time for my friends.
“What’s up?”
“Having fun?” she said in a rather harsh and accusatory tone. She was clearly envious so I played along.
“Sure am!” I said cheerfully.
“Good. Then you can do me a favor.”
I laughed. “Sure. What is it?”
“I need you to get me something. Something I can’t get on board. Do you know what I mean?”
“Umm, Cece, I’ll do anything for my friends, but if it’s something that we’re all going to get in trouble over, maybe—”
“Trouble? Who said anything about trouble?”
A flash of guilt washed over me. Why had I immediately assumed it was contraband of some form that Cece was after?
“Umm, what did you mean when you said something you can’t get on board?”
“Candy, idiot! What did you think I meant?”
“Err…”
“Addi! For goodness sake. Now, there’s a gum they don’t have in the States but you can get it all over the Caribbean, it’s called…”
I carefully listened while Cece described the perfectly innocent item she wanted, a kind of sugar-free pineapple and coconut gum that she couldn’t seem to track down whenever we were back in New Orleans. Since she hadn’t been ashore for a while her supplies had run low, and she wanted me to get some for her. It was all perfectly innocent and reasonable.
“It’s mostly clothes and designer shops here, do you know offhand where I can get it?”
“Yep. If you look, at the end of the development there’s a pretty big drug store. They should have it in there. Now make sure you get the right one, it’s got a picture of a happy pineapple holding two coconuts in its hands—”
“Pineapples don’t have hands.”
“Shush. This pineapple does. You’ll know it when you see it. And make sure you don’t get the off-brand one.”
“What’s the off-brand one, so I know not to get it?”
“It’s the one with a grinning coconut holding two pineapples in its hands. And, yes, I know, coconuts don’t have two hands either.”
“Right. Got it. Anything else?”
“Well there is this rum—”
“Gotta go! Bye!”
I hung up before I could hear any more. Neither passengers nor crew members were allowed to bring alcohol aboard the ship. Swan made too much money selling it onboard for that to pass muster.
I checked the time and saw I had nearly two hours before I had to get back for the bus pickup. I pulled out my phone again and started reading a book by a previous passenger of ours, the mystery author Edward Dane, while I slowly sipped my drink.
When there was just half an hour left, I forced myself to get up and go and look for Cece’s special gum. Sure enough, the drug store was where she said it was.
When the automatic doors swooshed open to allow me to enter I was hit with a blast of arctic-cold air. I hadn’t realized how hot I was until the chilled breeze struck me, and I took a moment to relish in it. I held out my arms to the side and soaked up the breeze like I’d earned it.
“Excuse me?” I felt someone gently pushing my shoulder.
Embarrassed, I lowered my arms and stepped aside. What kind of idiot stands in a doorway? This kind.
“Sorry! Oh, it’s you. Sorry, Alex.” It was Alex Martinez of the dessert supply company. “I was just enjoying the air conditioning.”
He gave me a funny look. “Okay. I’m going to…” he nodded his head inside, and walked off.
I followed him into the store proper, and headed for the candy aisle. I ended up walking up and down it three times before I finally found the gum Cece was after. It clearly wasn’t all that popular because it was hidden right on the bottom shelf. Even with its bright yellow and brown packaging I didn’t notice it right away, and there wasn’t any sign of the knockoff version she’d been worried about.
I picked up a packet, and then realized she probably wanted more than one. But she hadn’t told me how much. I crouched down again and picked up another, so I was holding one in each hand.
Then, after a moment’s more thought — mostly about how scared I would be if Cece got angry for me being too stingy with the gum purchase — I got down on the ground again and grabbed a whole fistful more of the gum, emptying the display box. I had the last eight packets. If Cece wasn’t happy with that, then, well, she’d have to go on her own shopping expedition.
With Cece’s needs taken care of, it was back to my own. Or more specifically, my investigation.
I hadn’t yet had a good chat with Alex Martinez since the killing, and this would be a good opportunity for a casual conversation to see if I could glean anything from him. As a vendor to a number of B&Bs and someone who used to work for Geraldine he would be a good source of gossip and rumors. If he was willing to spill them, that is.
I wandered the aisles until I found him. He was standing next to some anti-allergy medications and creams.
“Hello again!” I peered down at his hand. He was holding an anti-allergy lotion. “Have you had a bad reaction too something?”
“Yes. I think it was in that little garden near the back of the ship. I’m allergic to evergreens and I must have brushed up against one of them.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope it doesn’t ruin your cruise too much.” I pursed my lips in thought. “More than it already has been, by… you know. What happened the other day.”
Alex slowly nodded his head in solemn remembrance. “A terrible day. I knew Geraldine for years — as I told you before, I used to work for her. If it wasn’t for her, in a way I wouldn’t have my own business now.”
I squeezed his arm sympathetically, and then went in for the kill. Or at least to gather a little more information. “It’s tragic. She really was a formidable presence in the B&B scene from what I could tell. Everyone’s talking about her. Louise and Heidi told me all about how important she’d been to them.”
“Heidi?” He scrunched up his face quizzically and shook his head as if he didn’t recognize the name. “Of course she made Louise. If it wasn’t for Geraldine, Louise wouldn’t be in the industry at all. I’m sure she’s been reliant on Geraldine’s counseling and advice, especially since her husband left her.”
I pursed my lips as if in thought. Which I was, but I wanted to look like it, too. “Running a B&B must be very stressful.”
“I think it can be, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. Like they were when they started. But once you’re settled, and you have your regular clientele and your name’s out there so you can get bookings regularly, it can be a wonderful way of life.” Alex gave his head a sad half-shake. “But Louise never got to that stage. Not before her personal life fell apart.”
“Such a shame. Heidi said Geraldine was quite… influential on her as well.”
Alex slowly shook his head at the mention of the name again. “No, I don’t think I know Heidi.”
“Heidi Webster, an Irish lady. You were talking to her yesterday.”
“Was I? I talk to a lot of people, and I’m not the best with names. There was an Irish lady, though, I remember now. Heidi was it?”
“That’s right. I was surprised she was talking to you about using your company, I thought she had much more important things to worry about, like her bed bug issue!”
Alex shook his head rapidly. “I don’t believe that, not for an instant. I’m sure it’s just a rumor.”
So Alex did know a little about Heidi, despite claiming not to know who she was. I surmised that he had been pretending not to know her before. Now why would he do that?
; “I must be getting on.” Alex rapped his hands against the cardboard box which contained the lotion. “I’ve got to get back to the ship. I wouldn’t want to miss the bus!”
“Or miss the boat,” I said with a grin. “Me too, I better go and pay.”
Alex looked down at my hand and my fistful of gum. Then he looked at me, raised his eyebrows and shook his head in amusement, and then headed for the checkout with a final enigmatic smile.
It seemed the chef didn’t have a high opinion of Cece’s treat of choice. Holding them tightly so none of the waxy packets would slip between my fingers, I went to a checkout his to pay.
My trip ashore had been largely uneventful, but it was making me think about Alex in a slightly different light. What was going on with him and Heidi? And was his evergreen-allergy really caused by the plants in the garden? There was one other place that was positively brimming with evergreen bushes. If he’d tried to force his way through the planters in the maze he would have received a mega-dose of evergreen plants brushing and scraping against him.
Lost in my own thoughts, I barely noticed the short journey back to the ship.
Heidi was still my most likely suspect, but she wasn’t the only person with things to hide.
Not by a long shot.
Chapter 18
Barely had a I had a moment to breathe back aboard the ship when I received a text message from Cece.
>You back? Meet me at SR1421
I shook my head in amusement. Someone was desperate for their gum. After paying, the cashier had given me a small plastic bag, and with this swinging by my side I headed over to the stateroom to which Cece had directed me.
While I was walking, I frowned, and pulled out my phone again to check the time. It was just after six o’clock. Cece wouldn’t still be cleaning the passenger cabins, would she? Surely not. Definitely not. Not Cece. So why did she want me to meet her at one?
Increasing my pace, I hurried through the hotel-like passenger cabin section of the ship until I got to the floor Cece had indicated.
“Yo!” she yelled from down the hallway as soon as she spotted me. “They’re all at dinner, right?”
They being the B&B crowd. In theory, they were all at dinner, or on their way over. After the trip ashore they were going to be having an early group meal together in John Grillman’s steakhouse.
With the bag swinging by my side, I hurried down to Cece.
“Hey, here’s your gum.”
Cece’s face lit up and she took the bag out of my hand, and stared into it. “Only eight packs?”
“That’s all they had. I got it all. Cleared the shelf.”
“Thanks, that’ll have to do for now,” she said with obvious disappointment. Thank goodness I hadn’t only purchased one or two packs.
“You’re welcome,” I said in a chilly, faux-offended tone. “What’s going on? Why are we here?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
Cece quickly unlocked a cabin door with her keycard and pushed the door open.
“This is Heidi Webster’s room. I cleaned it earlier and I saw something I thought you should see.”
I followed her inside to the small but neat, light and airy cabin. Cece immediately headed to the wooden desk and makeup station that were attached along one wall, and sat down on the stool in front of it.
“Take a look at this.” She pulled a cardboard box until it was on the edge of the desk and tapped it, indicating for me to look inside.
I peered into it, not sure what to expect. There was a glue stick, and some scissors, and below that a few sheafs of different kinds of paper. I reached in and pulled them out.
The top few pieces of paper were torn off from a yellow legal pad. In neat writing, the page was titled Ideas / Methods.
Underneath, there was a small list. I began to read them out loud.
“Cause power cut. Disrupt / Interrupt event signups. Make lists disappear. Lose/hide various items (phone? Notebook? Key card?). Gossip? B. is having an affair / embezzling funds / jealous of other owners? …”
“What is this?” I was shocked and my question was one of rhetorical surprise rather than genuine confusion..
“You know what it is.”
“I guess. It’s a list of different ways she could disrupt the conference. But why would Heidi want to do that? Surely it was Geraldine that… oh. They were working together? Geraldine and Heidi?”
My mind began to whirr. Old fashioned, difficult, dead Geraldine. Friendly, bedbug B&B Heidi. The two didn’t appear to get on well. So what was the meaning of all this?
“That’s what I figure,” said Cece with a nod. “And check out the next couple of pages.”
Underneath the yellow legal pad paper with its ideas to sabotage the conference, were some sheafs of regular white letter paper. I quickly peered through them, and most of them seemed to consist of some kind of accounting numbers. There were items such as no. of bookings, p.p.p, gross, net, and more. It seemed to be arranged by month and financial quarter, and the two pages covered the entirety of the previous year in summary form.
“This is accounting stuff.” That much I was certain of, but the significance was not clear to me yet.
“Yep. Notice anything funny?”
“I wouldn’t know. I mean, it’s accounts for a B&B, right? Is there something strange about them?”
Cece span around on the stool before turning her attention to focus back on me.
“Yep. There is something strange. Those are Geraldine’s accounts. The expenses are way, way too high. If those accounts were true, she’d be bankrupt. So either Geraldine has a secret source of income, or she was greatly underreporting her earnings.”
I stared at Cece, confused by her sudden accounting prowes. “I guess you had longer to look at them than me…”
Cece snorted. “Nope. My aunt runs a B&B and I used to help her with the accounts sometimes. It’s basic stuff, Addi. Didn’t they teach you that in college?”
I glared at her defensively. I was sure I would have noticed the same things if I’d just had a few more minutes to pore over them. Or weeks.
“I studied journalism, not accounting or B&B-ing, remember?”
Cece laughed and pulled out a packet of gum from the bag. She tore it open, and then began to unwrap one of the individual pieces.
“Sounds like I learned a lot more in the University of Life than you learned at Cornfields U.”
“It wasn’t Cornfields U, it was… never mind. This is all very interesting—” I froze. I heard something at the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Cece and I looked at each other.
“Come in!” yelled my friend loudly before I could even consider what we should do.
With that decision made, Cece stood up, pulled the papers out of my hand and stuffed them back in the box. Then, continuing in one swift smooth movement she turned to face the door and held out the keycard on the end of her lanyard like it was a magic ward, or perhaps a license to do anything.
Nervously, I stared at the door as it slowly swung open. I should have guessed it wasn’t Heidi — she wouldn’t have knocked — but I was surprised when I saw that it was Louise.
“Hello?” She said quizzically when she saw Cece and I standing inside Heidi’s room.
“Hi! I was just looking for Heidi actually,” I said quickly, “but her room was being cleaned by my friend,” I nodded my head in Cece’s direction. “Aren’t you at the dinner?”
Clearly she wasn’t at the dinner.
“Dinner?” Louise tilted her head at me, her tone quizzical. She must have forgotten.
“Yes, in John Grillman’s.”
“Oh!” She put her hands to her cheeks. “I completely forgot!” She tapped the side of her head with her hand. “Wake up Louise! You’re losing it!”
Cece and I both giggled at her. I realized that her turning up right then might actually be fortuitous. Louise knew quite a bit about the B&B people, so perhaps she could
assist me again.
I pulled out the list of ideas to sabotage the conference from the box.
“Louise, I don’t suppose you recognize this handwriting, do you?”
While we obviously had a pretty strong suspicion, it would be good to confirm it. It was either going to be Geraldine or Heidi’s writing but it would be informative if we could figure out which it was.
She walked over to us, an intrigued but helpful smile playing on her lips. I thrust the paper in front of Louise, and she frowned at it for a moment. Her eyebrows raised when she saw the contents.
“I think I do. Hold on, just a minute? I’ll be right back!”
Louise quickly turned and hurried out the room. As soon as she was gone, Cece finished unwrapping a piece of gum and popped it into her mouth.
“Ahh, best gum on the planet. Want a piece?”
“That’s very generous of you, but no thanks. I only like mint.”
“You’re missing out. It’s just like a Pina colada.”
“I prefer to drink my Pina coladas to eating them,” I said with a laugh.
“Where do you think she went?”
“Probably to her cabin. It’s two doors down.”
Louise’s errand was very quick, because as soon as Cece had finished telling me her cabin’s location, she was back, holding a greeting card in her hand.
“Take a look at this,” she said, holding out an opened birthday card to me.
“‘Dear Louise,’” read Cece, “‘Happy Birthday. From Geraldine.’ Wow, that’s some real heartfelt stuff.”
Louise gave Cece a sharp look but didn’t comment on what she’d said.
“The handwriting. It’s the same,” I said, holding the list up right next to the card.
Louise stared down at the sabotage list, slowly shaking her head in dismay.
“I don’t believe it. But it’s true. Oh, Geraldine…” Louise let out a sad sigh.
“I think it’s time we got out of here,” I said. “Are you going to the dinner, Louise?”
“Oh yes, I better make an appearance. People will be wondering what happened to me. And I guess I’ll see Heidi there. I’m not sure I want to speak to her now after seeing this.”
Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries 10 - Bed and Breakfast and Cruises Page 11
