Sunny Side Up

by Daniel Stallings

  “Did this woman have a lot of unruly black hair?”

  “It was black all right, and I guess you could call it unruly.” David’s eyes narrowed. “Why did you ask?”

  “I just had a thought. Are you sure you didn’t recognize her?”

  “I never saw her sail on the Howard Line before this trip. She’s not one of the passengers whose names I’m supposed to remember.”

  “Like Charlegne Jackson?”

  “Exactly.”

  “And you would know about the people associated with Charlegne?”

  “I’m really nervous about what you’re getting at, Li. Can you just quit this amateur investigation and go back to your life as an unassuming waiter?”

  Li hedged the question, busily rubbing away a few errant pencil marks with his eraser.

  David snatched the workbook from Li. “You’re avoiding the question, which means you’re hiding something.”

  “You wouldn’t want to hear it anyway.”

  “If you’re about to stick your neck into a noose on my information, I have a right to know who the hangman is.”

  “Well, a woman ordered me to remove a forgotten tray in Charlegne’s cabin. I just wondered who she was. I gathered she worked for Charlegne.”

  “Did she dress in weird clothes? Like big, ugly tents?”

  “I don’t know about the ugly part, but yeah.”

  “It had to be Priscilla Reilly, Charlegne’s lead assistant. Also known as a yapping, snob-pleasing, unstylish doormat. Why? What’s so important about her?”

  “I get a weird vibe from her.”

  “Everyone does. It’s because she practically licks the floor clean before Charlegne’s delicate feet can even dare touch it.”

  “It’s partly that.” Li tapped his pencil on the tabletop in an effort to drown out the sounds of suction coming from the lounge sofa. “But there’s something odd about Ms. Reilly.” He explained in further detail what happened in Charlegne’s stateroom.

  His bunkmate grimaced. “I think you’re getting a little fanciful, Li. I can’t see anything weird in that.”

  “It was just the way everything made me feel. The loud sobbing that didn’t start until after I knocked…throwing herself on the bed and bawling…the way she dressed…”

  “What was special about her clothes?”

  “It made her look…kind of like a nun.” Almost like she was forcing the impression that she was a woman deeply and spiritually hurt by her employer’s death, he added inwardly.

  “I grant you that Priscilla Reilly has as much fashion sense as a fence post, but I don’t understand your point. And that worries me because I have this weird, shaky feeling that you’re going to do a lot of stupid and dangerous things before this trip is over.”

  Li didn’t respond immediately. The sucking noise from the couch magnified in volume. It was an ugly, invasive sound.

  “Like I said, it depends on your definition of stupid.”

  David grabbed Li by the shoulder, digging his thumb under his bunkmate’s collarbone. “You’re not going to CONFRONT these people I mentioned, are you? That’s like suicide on this ship! Are you crazy?”

  Li started to pack up his school supplies. “I’d like to stay and discuss my pending insanity with you, but I have to see someone.”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Li! Don’t be an idiot! You just said that you can’t afford to lose this job! Well, what you’re doing right now is equivalent to using Paul’s shoes as a surrogate toilet!”

  “I’m not going to confront any of them, David. I’d like to think I still have part of a brain in my skull.”

  “I’m getting less confident in that the more you talk, Li.”

  “Thanks, bunkmate. That lifts my spirits enormously.” Li rolled his eyes and turned to leave, but David caught him by his sleeve.

  “Just one second, Mr. Nut Job. Who exactly are you going to see anyway?”

  “I have to see a doctor about a sunburn.”

  “Are you sure you only work in the dining room, Johnson? These injuries are more at home with a bare-knuckled pugilist than a waiter.”

  Li worried that Dr. Innsbrook would open a long sermon on horseplay at work. Sure enough, he saw that same “peering through pince-nez” expression settle on her face and opted for diversionary tactics.

  “It’s my feet, doctor. They’ve been swollen lately.”

  The doctor lifted her chin, and Li felt his throat relax.

  “Are you going to just stand there growing roots in the floor, or can you haul your butt on the bed where I can examine you?” She looked down at Li’s feet. “Sorry, Cinderella, but here you deal with your own shoes.”

  Li complied, tucking his socks into his shoes and slipping them under the hospital-style bed. He couldn’t help looking over his shoulder at the curtain-shrouded corner of the infirmary.

  Dr. Innsbrook snapped on a pair of rubber gloves and held Li’s foot like an archaeologist inspecting the latest find.

  “You had blisters.”

  Li nodded. “My bunkmate lanced them for me and disinfected my feet.”

  “Good. That helps. But I can see what you mean by swelling. Does this hurt?” She flexed his foot.

  Li cringed.

  “On a scale from one to cut my foot off?”

  “Seven. Definitely…ow…seven.”

  “Hmm…Wish we could get a damn X-ray. But then there would be no room if we have to serve as a makeshift morgue.”

  Li saw his chance, swallowed to moisten his sandpaper throat, and plowed forward. “Yeah…It’s still a shock to me. Finding her dead…it just doesn’t seem real.”

  “Yes, well, these things happen.”

  “Of course, we both know something is wrong about her death, don’t we, Doctor?”

  Dr. Innsbrook studied the young waiter. Li felt frost collect on his internal organs. “I have no idea what you are talking about, Johnson. And I don’t think you do either.”

  “I think I do.” He cast a long glance at the curtains screening a particular bed. His mind went back to the woman, glamorous until her last breath, sunbathing on deck. “Here is a woman whose whole career centered on her appearance—more specifically, on the upkeep of her appearance. A model. A fashion designer. Charlegne Jackson possessed a great deal of pride in how she looked. I think there was also a huge amount of security in it. She was cautious. She kept her physical appearance at the highest possible level. She had to look perfect at all times. Now does that sound like the sort of woman who would forget to apply sunscreen before sunbathing?”

  “No. But these things happen.” She shed her gloves and washed her hands with quick, brusque movements.

  Li swung his bare feet back and forth like a kid on a too-tall chair trying to graze the floor with his toes. “It just doesn’t seem likely. And I think something else is bothering you about her death. Something that might explain why Charlegne’s eyes were so dilated.”

  Dr. Innsbrook turned back to her patient, knotted her arms across her chest, and glared. There was molten steel in her eyes.

  “Whatever ideas you have churning up there, Johnson, are simply impossible.”

  “Doctor, I—”

  “Impossible, Johnson. I won’t say it again.”

  Li felt all the moisture in his throat evaporate, but stubbornly pressed on. “Doctor, you’re an accurate woman. It’s part of your work. So when you mention a case that has similarities to one you’re working on, accuracy in the details is important to you. They have to match up. Regarding the sunstroke case five years ago, you said the woman passed out from taking too many sleeping pills. Is that what you suspect in Charlegne’s death? Is that why her eyes were so dilated?”

  Those molten steel eyes whittled into razor-thin slits. “I don’t know what sort of after-school, Junior Detective League you grew up in, Johnson, but you are not to utter one syllable about this. Do you understand?” After Li nodded, the medic plopped down next to him. “I can’t prove it, but I had a fee
ling that Charlegne was drugged unconscious when she died. She never knew what the sun did to her. I suspected sleeping pills. Lots of passengers carry them.”

  Li thought back to the bottle of pills Priscilla knocked over during her melodramatic crying fit. Charlegne had sleeping pills with her. And I’ll never be sure how many were taken from that bottle.

  “Are you sure that—?”

  Dr. Innsbrook clipped his question. “No, I can’t. I’d like to remind you that we are onboard a luxury cruise ship in the middle of the ocean and do not possess the resources to learn what the specific drug was. All I can be remotely sure of is that Charlegne was drugged and unconscious at the time of her death. Besides, she died from sunstroke, not an overdose. And that’s my final opinion on the matter. Now get your shoes on.”

  Li made the act of donning his socks a slow one. “That makes the coffee all the more interesting.”

  “I told you I am finished discussing this. Get out.”

  Li made a ceremony out of tying his shoes. “Because does it make any sense that a woman who took any amount of sleeping pills would then order a cup of black coffee?”

  Dr. Innsbrook bounded off the bed and stormed to the sink again. She seized her metal instruments out of the drawers and banged them on the counter. “Stop stalling and get out of my infirmary.”

  “Why would she order a stimulant after taking a sedative? And why was the cup found on the table to her left?”

  “If you don’t leave this instant, I’ll have the stewards throw you out.”

  “And something nags at me about the placement of her ring—”

  Dr. Innsbrook slammed several tools on the laminate countertop, making a huge, crystalline smash like a falling chandelier. Sudden rushes of red plumed on her face and neck. “What, Johnson? WHAT? Let me guess! It CAN’T have been that stupid bitch who died because that ring on her finger WASN’T the damn ring her fiancé bought her! Is that it? Did I finally hit the goddamn nail on the head?”

  Li said nothing. He finished tying his shoes, but he could feel the medic’s laser eyes sear into his skull.

  Her breathing slowed. The hot bursts of color drained from her cheeks. She froze back into her cool, professional doctor persona. But the molten steel never left her eyes.

  “Leave,” she said. “It would be as effective to ask you to keep off your feet for a while as it would be to ask one of our passengers to lift a finger. Your examination is done. Go away.”

  Before Li could even blink, a steward slipped into the infirmary.

  “Sorry to interrupt you, Doc, but Captain Crayle asked to see both you and Johnson in his day cabin immediately.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Murder?

  “I just learned about a rather unpleasant story working its way around my ship.”

  Captain Crayle cut an imposing figure behind his desk. His uniform, a loud shock of white against the warm browns of his day cabin, remained crisp and clean as if he had never stepped outside in the elements. His eyes crinkled with laugh lines, but at the moment, they were hard belts of iron-gray.

  Dr. Innsbrook sat with her hands folded in her lap. Her back looked like someone welded her spine to rebar. She had all the warmth of an ice carving.

  Sweat glazed Li’s palms.

  Please, God. Don’t let it be that stupid sex rumor! Please please PLEASE!

  “It seems people are talking about the unfortunate death of Charlegne Jackson,” the Captain continued. “I thought I insisted that this tragedy be kept under wraps. Total secrecy. But it seems we have a leak somewhere, don’t we? I talked to David Kane and can vouch for him. He’s worked on this line long enough to understand discretion. I’d like to give you both an opportunity to speak for yourselves.” His eyes softened as he turned to the medic. “Doctor?”

  “I never said a word.”

  Her eyes slanted towards Li. The captain followed suit. Li could see execution written in his steel-hard glare and shrank into his chair.

  “I didn’t say anything. Honest.”

  The captain smiled, but it did not soften his gaze. “It’s natural, you know, to talk about your day with your friends and coworkers. You might not even realize what you let slip. All I’m saying is that we make mistakes and we need to own up to them.”

  “I swear, sir, I never told anyone. I swear on my dad’s grave.”

  Captain Crayle allowed one of his eyebrows to rise. “That’s an interesting way to put it, son.”

  “Please, Captain…I promise you that I didn’t tell anyone about it. I wouldn’t risk my job like that. I’m not stupid.”

  A soft snort escaped from the doctor.

  “It’s an admirable defense, but the fact remains, we have a leak. I’d rather plug it now than wait until it explodes. So talk, son. We’re your friends here.”

  The last sentence reminded Li of Aaron Brent.

  The young waiter twisted his fingers together. “W-What about the stewards?”

  “Stewards?”

  “You told David to find two stewards to help him move the body to the infirmary. But they came after you left the deck. So they never heard you telling us to keep it quiet.”

  “I would expect Kane and Dr. Innsbrook to inform them about my orders.”

  Li tried to ignore the caustic hatred seeping from the woman seated next to him. “No offense to David or Dr. Innsbrook, but that’s kind of like getting an order from a second-in-command. It doesn’t carry the same force as when you say it, Captain.”

  Dr. Innsbrook let her eyes become swords and threatened to impale Li with them.

  The captain lifted his hands in mock defeat.

  “Anything is possible,” he said, “and there really is no reason to keep the secret for much longer.”

  If there was no reason, Li thought, why bring me here and scare me half to death?

  Captain Crayle settled back into his chair. “We entered an agreement with Charlegne’s lead assistant to stage a memorial on the last day of the cruise. We’ll have it in the Horizons Art Gallery, and it will feature Charlegne’s clothing designs and modeling shots. I understand Ms. Reilly is spending her day in Ensenada coordinating the whole thing.” His eyes, now genuinely laughing, settled on Li. “You’ll be quite the hit once people discover that you found the body, son. They’ll have a million questions.”

  Li crumpled in his seat. You call it a memorial, Captain. I call it a sideshow.

  Dr. Innsbrook seemed to agree with his thoughts. “Isn’t that in bad taste, sir? I mean, the woman died in such a horrible, graphic way. Do we really want to exploit that?”

  “Tom and Melissa Howard like the idea.”

  She sniffed disdainfully. “I find that hard to believe, seeing as they hate all publicity.”

  “Do I sense a personal objection, Dr. Innsbrook?”

  She leveled her lecturing face with the captain’s, but Li saw how all the color melted out of her skin.

  “Doctor?”

  The muscles in her forearms tensed. “I have nothing to say.”

  Li spoke before his brain could slam censors over his mouth. “You mean about how you knew Charlegne personally? Because you did say something about how her ring came from her fiancé. How did you know she even had a fiancé?”

  Captain Crayle hardened his gaze on the ship’s medic. “Well, doctor?”

  “The little snot is lying!”

  “I think you better tell us what you know, doctor.”

  Dr. Innsbrook stiffened and drilled her fury into Li’s heart. Although she spoke to the Captain, she never let her hate-heavy glare lift from the boy’s face.

  “I didn’t know her. At least, I never actually met her in person. She knew my ex-husband, Angelo. He ran a clinic in Los Angeles for a while. Probably still runs it. I never really agreed with it. Politics, I expect.”

  The Captain propped an elbow on the desktop and cradled his chin in his hands. His eyelids drooped. “And when will Charlegne enter this story, doctor?”

 
“She was Angelo’s patient. She came to his clinic over a dozen years ago, I believe. Crying, Angelo said.”

  “How did you know it was Charlegne?”

  “I saw her in the clinic one day when I visited my ex. I recognized her from the cover of Vogue. I never spoke to her.”

  “And how did you know about her fiancé?”

  “Angelo mentioned the ring. Said her fiancé must have been flat broke to give her just a speck of a diamond. So when I saw that diamond ring on her finger, I assumed it was her engagement ring. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She was two months along when she came to the clinic. She had the procedure, paid for it, and disappeared.” The doctor didn’t hide her disgust when she addressed Li. “Well? Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  Li nodded frantically. He could feel a surge of anger pulsing from her.

  Captain Crayle drummed his fingers against the wooden desktop, moving so fast that it sounded like an army of horses galloping into war. “There is something strange about this whole thing.” He turned to Li again. A nervous tic began to beat in the waiter’s jaw. “Why did you bring the ring to Dr. Innsbrook’s attention in the first place, son?”

  All of Li’s insides jammed into his throat, and he choked. “I…um…well…”

  “Come clean, boy. Or am I to believe in another interesting story working through my crew?”

  Oh God…He knows! He may actually believe Paul! I’m so screwed!

  Li found it impossible to swallow. Everything dried up like a scab.

  “Talk, boy.” The laugh lines around the captain’s eyes turned into scowl lines.

  “I-It’s just that…that some things don’t m-make sense about her death, sir.”

  “What things? Tell me right now.”

  “Charlegne…Charlegne would have used sunscreen.”

  “You have no proof.”

  “Sh-She was a model. Models would take care of their skin. And Charlegne was no fool. I-I don’t think it’s likely she would have forgotten.”

  “Immaterial. Moving on.”

  Sweat bristled on Li’s hairline. Now he knew how witnesses felt on cross-examination.