Cruise Conundrum: A Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 5)

by A. R. Winters

  Xavier and Zara, clutching each other’s hands, nodded and agreed.

  When we left the suite, they were both sitting at the dining table, talking to each other in hushed tones. Their conversation mostly seemed to consist of them each telling each other that they didn’t believe it. That they couldn’t believe Andy was gone.

  Outside the suite, when the door was safely closed and locked behind us, Ethan turned to me. “What do you think?”

  “It’s hard to say. They both seemed genuinely shocked.”

  “And upset,” said Ethan with a frown.

  I guess he had been hoping for a confession. It certainly would’ve made his life easier. And mine.

  “I want to talk to Raina, too,” said Ethan. “But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I’m beat.”

  “Me too. I think I’ll turn in.”

  “I’m going to have to take a raincheck on breakfast tomorrow. I’ll have to go and see the captain first thing in the morning and brief him.”

  “That’s okay. We got to spend some time together this evening, didn’t we?”

  We both laughed. Of course, spending time together after a murder wasn’t exactly the same as a date—breakfast or otherwise.

  “I might be able to manage dinner tomorrow though, if you’re interested? I definitely owe it to you after canceling today.”

  With a small smile on my lips, I agreed. It would be nice to have dinner with him again, though I suspected the topic of conversation would be a rather morbid one. Still, not every date can be all flowers and romance. Sometimes you just have to talk about dead bodies instead. At least that was my recent experience.

  He leaned over and wrapped his arms around me in a brief but intense hug. His strong arms seemed to create a barrier against the world. For a moment, I felt warm and wanted—and safe. But almost as quick as it had come, it was over. He let go and I missed him immediately.

  “Good night.”

  As he walked away, I watched him disappear down the hallway, his normally immaculate appearance for once not perfect. He’d rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt, and he’d run his hands through his hair so many times that it had become mussed.

  He still looked good though.

  Especially from behind.

  When he rounded the corner, I went back the other way, to fill Sam in with the rest of the evening’s news.

  What a night.

  Chapter 15

  The next morning, Sam and I went to tour the outdoor event space where the photography activities were going to be held.

  Originally, Andy was supposed to be teaching them how to use natural light and shadows to best advantage in outdoor photography. Of course, now Xavier would be taking up that role.

  When we arrived, there were several people already milling about, expensive cameras hanging from straps around the head, taking experimental pictures of each other and the view of the sea.

  A sober-looking Xavier and Zara arrived just before the scheduled start time.

  “Good morning,” said Xavier formally, not offering a smile, instead giving just the slightest nod of his head in greeting.

  “Hey!” said Sam with a friendly grin. I nudged her in the side, and she made her face fall to a slightly less exuberant position. “I mean, good morning everyone.”

  “I thought I’d start by making the announcement that you’re going to be taking over, and that Andy is… ill,” I spoke slowly, with a tight smile on my face as I finished. I just hoped Xavier and Zara were still willing and able to keep the death a secret, and they hadn’t had a change of heart during the night.

  “Okay, and then I’ll take over. Just some simple outdoor photography tips, right?”

  “That’s the plan,” said Sam with a nod, managing to keep her voice suitably morose. “Natural light and shadows are the focus.” She paused, and a smile flitted across her lips. “Focus,” she repeated, realizing the pun. I nudged her again, warning her not to push it. Xavier and Zara didn’t seem to be in the mood for jokes.

  At the front of the event space was the stage. I clambered up onto it as gracefully as I could and grabbed the wireless mic from the stand that had been set up by tech support earlier that morning. I turned it on and, from the crackle that came out of the speakers, I could tell it was working immediately.

  “Good morning? Can you all hear me?”

  There were cries of affirmation and a few good mornings yelled back at me. Everything was going smoothly so far.

  “Hello! Could I have everybody’s attention please?”

  There was shuffling, mumbling, and more greetings tossed my way while the crowd turned to face me. When I had most people’s attention, I continued. “I’m afraid I have some sad news for you —”

  “Has someone died?” yelled out an elderly man who thought himself a comedian. I managed to maintain my composure as several people around the heckler chuckled. So I decided to play it off as the joke he intended.

  “Ha, ha, very funny. But this is serious. I’m sorry to announce that Amazing Andy isn’t feeling, well, amazing. In fact, he is really unwell. He won’t be joining us this morning, and probably won’t be for the rest of the cruise.”

  I waited while the audience sighed and groaned in sympathy. It was clearly upsetting. I kind of wanted to tell them they shouldn’t be that upset—he was an insufferable boor—but speaking ill of the dead wasn’t really how I wanted to start my morning.

  “Is he going to be all right?” called someone. “What’s the matter with him?”

  “I think it was something he—” I stopped myself just in time. I was about to say it was something he ate.

  But you don’t want to go and tell a bunch of cruise ship passengers that someone may have gotten food poisoning on board. If you did, they would all start worrying about it, and no doubt more than a few of them would start imagining up their own symptoms. An outbreak of food poisoning was one of the worst disasters that could befall a cruise ship. I corrected myself and tried again.

  “Something he caught before he came on board. The flu. A terrible case of it. He can’t even get up at the moment.”

  “Will they send a helicopter for him?” asked an old woman with a frown.

  I shook my head. “No, they don’t send helicopters for cases of the flu. We have an excellent doctor on board, and I’m sure he’s doing everything he can for him. No, don’t worry about Andy anymore. I have some exciting news for you instead. Xavier, who you’ve already met, will be taking over Andy’s role. He’s kindly agreed to step into the breach and lead all of the workshops, lectures, classes, and the rest of it. Isn’t that amazing?”

  I shouldn’t have said amazing. Not with Amazing Andy no longer being with us. But it was too late. I’d said it now. And anyway, I wanted them all to be excited about Xavier, rather than then upset about Andy’s absence. His permanent absence, I thought with a frown.

  “Please, put your hands together for Xavier!” They all clapped obligingly, and I let them continue for several seconds before I spoke again. “Xavier, come on up!”

  Xavier climbed up to join me on the stage, a smile on his face, though it looked a little too much like a sad smile rather than an excited one. I hoped he wouldn’t give it away.

  “I’m sure you’re disappointed, but…” Xavier launched into a long, competent, and interesting spiel. While this was going on, my phone buzzed and I saw I had a message from Ethan. I don’t think anyone noticed as I sidled off the stage, hopped down, and disappeared off to the side. Xavier had everything under control.

  Ethan’s text said we needed to talk to Raina and asked if I knew where she was.

  Of course I did. She was in the crowd with the other photographers. I messaged him back and told him to meet me at the event space, and I’d pull Raina out of the class. I hoped she wouldn’t be too annoyed.

  While Xavier continued to speak to the rapt audience, I made my way to the back, next to where Raina was seated, seemingly enjoying the presentation secti
on of the class. As soon as I saw Ethan approaching, I tapped Raina on the shoulder.

  “Could I pull you out for a couple of minutes?”

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “We need to talk to about something. With the first officer, too.” I tipped my chin toward Ethan, who was rapidly approaching. He looked suitably important in his flashy uniform to get Raina’s immediate nod of agreement.

  I indicated for her to follow me with a wave of my hand, and she stood up. Together, the three of us walked some way away from the photography class, finding a secluded corner up against the side of the ship below a couple of dangling lifeboats. We would be able to see if anyone else was in earshot long before they got close enough.

  “So what’s this all about?” she asked curiously, without annoyance.

  “I’m sorry to say that unfortunately Andy was found dead in his cabin yesterday.”

  Ethan and I both watched Raina carefully, to judge her reaction. First her eyes narrowed slightly as if in suspicion. When Ethan’s face stayed stoically still, her eyebrows raised questioningly. Ethan gave the tiniest jerk of his head to confirm it. Her mouth fell open, and she began to shake her head.

  “Andy? But… But… He can’t be… I was just talking to him yesterday.”

  “I know you were,” I said comfortingly, squeezing her shoulder.

  “I thought it was just the flu? Just now you said… what happened?”

  “I’m afraid not. We don’t want to upset or alarm the other passengers. But I knew that you knew Andy personally, so we thought we should inform you.” This was a clever little lie I had come up with. The reason we were telling her was actually because we wanted to investigate whether she was connected to his death, of course.

  “But,” I continued, “we need to keep it a secret. We don’t want people panicking. Do you understand what I mean?”

  Raina gave a hesitant nod. “Yes, people might panic, right? I can keep quiet. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Good,” said Ethan with a satisfied smile. “Where were you yesterday evening?”

  “I spent the entire evening in my cabin. Reading a book on photography. I wanted to study up. I wanted to win the photography competition, but I don’t suppose that will happen now.”

  “The competition is still on. With a replacement judge, of course.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “Raina, what were you and Andy arguing about yesterday?”

  She looked confused for a moment, squeezing her lips tight together, flaring her nostrils, and furrowing her brow. “Yesterday? Why do you ask?”

  “He was killed. By someone else on board. We need to know more about him—what he was like, what he was interested in, and just what he was up to in general.”

  Ethan was clever, telling her that we needed more information about Andy, not that we suspected Raina herself. Though of course we did.

  “I made him a business proposition, but he turned me down.” She said it sadly, with a defeated sigh and a little shake of her head to herself.

  “What kind of proposition?” I asked. Now we would get to the bottom of who was right: me or Cece.

  “Andy was the photographer for my wedding. And we just loved the photos he took! They were fantastic. Really unique. So my husband and I, we wanted him to do another set. As a kind of anniversary present to ourselves. But he didn’t want to do it.”

  “And that’s what you were arguing about?”

  She nodded. “Yep. I offered him top dollar, and he turned me down. I guess I’ll have to try and persuade someone else.”

  Now that Andy was dead, she definitely would have to find someone else. And he wouldn’t do any more weddings, anniversaries, or anything else. If she was really offering six figures, I didn’t think she would have any trouble tracking down a different photographer though.

  “Why didn’t he want to do it? Weren’t you offering him a significant amount of money?” asked Ethan.

  Raina rubbed her chin with her right hand thoughtfully, her lips pressed tight together in thought.

  “You know, I don’t really get it. I asked the same question, but I couldn’t find out the answer from him. I can only guess that perhaps he had some really lucrative jobs lined up. Or maybe an inheritance coming?”

  That didn’t seem likely to me. A payout of at least a hundred grand? Who would turn that down for a few old pictures? Not me, that’s for sure.

  “And you definitely didn’t see him last night after dinner?”

  “Nope. Not since I was at his cabin in the afternoon and he turned me down.”

  “Thank you for your time, Raina,” said Ethan, offering her his hand.

  Raina reached out and shook Ethan’s hand. “I just can’t believe he’s gone. Andy…”

  She turned to walk away.

  “Enjoy the rest of the class,” I called after her, “and remember, please keep this to yourself.”

  She nodded back at us before turning to walk back to the photography lesson.

  Once she was clear, Ethan turned back to me and raised his eyebrows.

  “What do you make of that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a frown. “Maybe I just don’t know enough about photography, but the amount of money she was offering him for taking a few pictures just seems ludicrous.”

  “Although I’m inclined to agree with you, I’ve met more than a few really rich people when I’ve been dining with the VIP passengers. The amount some of them spend on even simple things would blow your mind. While that number does seem very high for photography, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. But the thing that I do find suspicious isn’t the amount involved. It’s that Andy turned it down.”

  “Yeah, that is strange.”

  We stood in the comfortable silence of our mutual confusion, and I’m sure we were both thinking about the same thing: why didn’t Andy jump at the chance of such an easy payout? Finally, Ethan gave a little shrug, putting that particular topic aside for the time being.

  “By the way, it looks like my evening has opened up. Since I covered for the captain yesterday, he’s taking over my dinner duty tonight. So, I’m free. Do you think you’d be able to join me for dinner this evening? Or do you already have plans?”

  The only plans I had were the same ones I had pretty much every other day when we were cruising: eat dinner with Sam and Cece, and then gossip and complain for a bit. They would both kill me if I turned down dinner with First Officer Hot Stuff to eat in the staff mess with them.

  “I think I could manage dinner,” I said with a grin. “Send me a message.”

  “Will do.” He stuck out his hand, and just as Raina had, we exchanged polite handshakes. I liked to think he squeezed my hand with a bit more warmth and affection than he had with Raina, though.

  A smile fixed on my lips, I left Ethan to go back to work, while I went to go and take pictures of people taking pictures in a picture taking class.

  Chapter 16

  Ethan and I met in the ship’s Italian restaurant for dinner. It was a cute little place, done up in a rustic style, with wagon wheels on the wall, bottles of wine for candleholders on the table, and the delicious aroma of garlic-infused food drifting throughout.

  We scored a seat near the open plan kitchen, where we could see chefs inside rolling out fresh pasta before they cut and shaped it.

  Another chef working as the pizza maker was rolling out his dough, throwing it in the air and building pizzas quicker than I can make cereal. An unfair comparison though, as I wasn’t a professional pourer of cereal.

  When the chef was done with each pizza, he dropped it on the end of a long metal shovel and tossed them into the wood-burning pizza oven.

  “How was your day?” I asked Ethan once we were seated and water had been poured.

  “Oh, you know. There’s so much I’m supposed to be doing on the ship, but I have to keep handing certain duties off to other people, because of the—” Ethan lowered his voice and leaned
in close to me, the piney scent of his woody aftershave hitting me pleasantly “—murder.”

  I scanned the room, nervous, but no one else had heard him.

  So far, the secret had been kept under wraps, but I worried for how long that would be the case.

  I ran through the list of people who knew about it already. There were Sam and me, Ethan and Dr. Ryan, at least two security guards, and then Raina, Xavier, and Zara too who all knew about the death.

  Oh, and of course we told Cece.

  They say the only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead, so with nine of us… I shuddered to think.

  “You didn’t find anything else of interest in Andy’s room, then?”

  That morning, Ethan and his team had returned to Andy’s cabin to conduct a thorough examination of the crime scene.

  “Afraid not. There was no sign of struggle, and no incriminating evidence. Nothing. I think if we solve this one, it’s got to come from the people, not from physical clues.”

  I nodded. “It seems to me that Xavier has the best reason. But Zara was out of her room at the time and seemed to have had the best opportunity. And of course I know Raina had a disagreement with Andy, but it was only over pictures. I couldn’t imagine it would lead to… what happened.”

  “I know. I think we’re going to have to keep our ears open, and watch everyone very carefully. And it could be anyone else, too. While he wasn’t a major celebrity, a few people on board would’ve at least known of him, even if they hadn’t met him previously.”

  We stopped talking for a moment when the waiter brought over a half bottle of wine, quickly followed by another waiter with our order of garlic bread, which we were going to share as a light appetizer.

  “I love the garlic bread in here,” said Ethan, picking up a slice. “They use actual fresh herbs for that as well. It’s not just garlic bread—it’s garlic and herb.”

  While he was speaking, I’d managed to stuff an entire slice into my own watering maw. I nodded and mumbled agreement with him as in my teeth crunched down on the crispy edges, and my tongue savored the oily, garlicky, herby butter coating the toasty bread.