“Could have?” I asked quizzically.
“Well, yes, could have. Unfortunately, these were the girls that were caught up in that horrible nude picture scandal. I’m sure you heard about it at the time?”
“Right, yes, I heard about it,” I said with a nod. Of course I hadn’t heard about it at the time; I hadn’t heard about it until a couple of days previously. These pageant people really thought their little world was the center of the universe. “So these were pictures of Diana with the girls from the scandal?”
“No. I don’t think so. Actually, these pictures were Diana with the girls who didn’t make the cut. The losers. That was one of her talents too. She could tell when people didn’t have what it takes, and she could really get through to them, you know? Really let them understand that they had no hope, no chance of success, no skill or ability. A lot of us can’t really get through to girls quite like she could.”
I blinked at her. “That sounds pretty harsh.”
Autumn laughed a light, tinkling laugh.
“Honey, that’s the pageant world. It’s harsh, it’s tough, and it’s expensive. Better to hear the truth early on that you’re a talentless ugly duckling who won’t grow into a swan than waste your time and your parents’ money. Don’t you think?”
“I suppose so.”
“Come on, let’s drop by the rehearsal area. You can get some final pictures of the girls before the big night. Then you can track down my pictures.”
Awkwardly, I followed Diana out of the restaurant.
I think she had realized that Ruth’s actions weren’t really my fault, and maybe she’d even recognized that I was actually a really nice person, underneath my protestor-enabling exterior. If only she could get everyone else to understand that too.
When we got to the hall that was being used as the rehearsal space, Autumn stopped us by the entrance.
“Look. Look at my girls. Look at them all. It makes me so proud.”
I did as I was told and tried to see it from her perspective. There were two dozen young women, all of whom had worked exceptionally hard to get where they were. And all of them were still working hard, right up to the last minute, practicing the walks they were going to do across the stage later. I could kind of see why she’d feel proud.
Even though Kimberly was out of the running, she, along with her friend Clarissa, was helping some of the other girls out.
“They are all very dedicated,” I said, and raised my hand to point. “And look at them, helping out even though they’re not even competing.”
Autumn nodded happily as we watched Clarissa demonstrate to Miranda May how to twist and turn at the end of a strutting walk. The way she showed it, the upper body seemed to twist like unwound elastic. It was all in the hips, I thought.
“She’s not even competing, and already it looks like she could be a coach!”
Autumn looked at me with a surprised smile, like she’d just discovered I had an unexpected skill.
“You know, I think you’re right. Good eye.” She watched for a moment more, as if looking at Clarissa in a new light. “While you never could have competed, Adrienne, maybe you could have been a coach too. That was very observant of you.”
“Thanks,” I said. And I meant it.
After all, a compliment is a compliment, and I hadn’t been getting many of those lately. Not even backhanded ones.
“I’m going to go and look for the photos, Autumn. I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything.”
“Thank you,” she said, but she wasn’t looking my way anymore. She was staring out at her girls as they did their final rehearsals.
Chapter 29
M y search for the photographs had been fruitless so far, but there was still almost another day until we were back in port. I hoped to be able to find them for Autumn by then. It would be one act of redemption in her eyes.
In the meantime though, it was the big night for the beauty pageant. The finale. The girls would be strutting their stuff across the stage, showing their walks and their figures as they did so for the judges.
And I was in the prime position. Well, almost the prime position. I was in the judges’ box, hovering just behind them, walking up and down as I snapped pictures of the girls on the stage, and a few behind-the-scenes shots of the judges collaborating and discussing together.
Since I wasn’t exactly in the judges’ good books, I was trying to keep as low a profile as I could while still doing my job.
“Kimberly Dawson.”
“Killer Kimberly.
“Old Faithful. She’s reliable, isn’t she? Don’t you think she’s reliable?”
“She is reliable. Like an old mare that just knows exactly where to go. Hop on the saddle and relax. She’ll get you home.”
“Very brave of her.”
I only half-listened to the judges talking, not really paying attention to who was saying what. I was watching the stage instead. When I’d first arrived in the box, I listened to their commentary with interest, but after the first half dozen girls I’d tuned most of it out.
Despite no longer being able to win the competition, Kimberly was giving it her all on the stage. She strutted across it like she owned it, and when she stared into the crowd, she got a standing ovation. Word had gotten out of her supposed wrongful imprisonment, and since she couldn’t even win the competition now, she was everyone’s darling for the evening.
As she finally left the stage, Clarissa was waiting in the wings with open arms to give her a hug and a pat on the back. When Kimberly had disappeared backstage, Clarissa was there to send out Miranda May with another encouraging pat on the back. She really was like a coach.
Miranda May was the final candidate, and after this, the judges would take some time to confer and tally up all their points before deciding on the final winner.
“Who’s this one again?”
“Miranda May.”
“Miranda may what? Miranda may fall over?”
“Miranda may be judged by us!”
The judges laughed at their own bad jokes. I was glad they were keeping them between the three of them; I didn’t feel like I had the energy to fake being amused on top of everything else that was going on.
The three judges gave her their full attention though as she walked across the stage with incredible poise. When she got to the end of her walk, she repeated the move I’d seen her practicing with Clarissa. The twist and turn that seemed to move the upper body with a snapping elegance that I couldn’t even imagine how to emulate. I didn’t think human bodies did that.
“Miranda may blow my socks off!” said Rolf in surprise.
“Miranda may have just won it!” said Martin, clapping his hands together in a single smack of delight.
“Was that… tell me, who does that remind you of? Be honest,” said Autumn. “It’s been bothering me since I saw her practicing earlier.”
Rolf glanced across at his wife as if assessing her mood before he spoke. “It looks like… it looks rather like a move that—”
“—Diana used to do!” finished Martin, saving Rolf from mentioning the D word in front of his wife.
“That’s what I thought!” Autumn said excitedly. “I saw her doing it in rehearsal earlier, and I said to myself, that’s the Penn Posy! And I was right. I am right, aren’t I? That was the Penn Posy?”
“It sure looked like a Penn Posy to me,” said Rolf with conviction.
“It’s like she was coached by Diana herself,” said Martin, shaking his head in astonishment.
Personally, I didn’t see what the big deal was. It looked cool, but it was just a turn at the end of a slow walk. The way they were acting it was like she’d casually floated up to the ceiling and back down again.
I snapped a few more pictures as we watched Miranda go back to Clarissa, who was waiting for her with a giant smile and another congratulatory hug.
And that was it. The main events were over. Now it was up to the judges to make their decis
ions.
I tapped my finger against my chin as I thought. I realized something. Actually, maybe the Penn Posy was special.
“Autumn?”
She turned around, curious to see what could be so important as to interrupt her while she was trying to judge a competition.
“Your missing pictures—how old were they? And where were they taken?”
She frowned for a moment, but when Rolf called out that it was time to tally up all their individual points before they conferred for the last time to decide the winner, Autumn’s look softened. She had a moment to spare.
“The three missing pictures were from about eight years ago, maybe ten. It was in Charleston. Why? How can that help you get them back?”
“Thanks. It just will. Back in a minute.”
Leaving a confused Autumn in my wake, I rushed out of the judging box.
I had something.
I wasn’t entirely sure if I was right, but I was getting there. I’d had enough false successes that I was worried about making another mistake.
But this time, this time, I had that tingling in my spine that told me I was on to something. I had to be right. I just had to be.
I hurried away from the judges’ booth and crept backstage to where the girls had left their bags. All the participants were lined up in the wings, as they would all shortly be on stage when the winner was announced. This would be my best chance to do what needed to be done.
It took me a couple of minutes of rooting around the room, but then I found what I was looking for.
Clarissa Jones’s bag.
Peering around to make sure no one was watching me, I opened it up and began to dig through it. Come on, come on. My fingers closed on something smooth and thin. Something an awful lot like a photograph.
I obviously hadn’t checked carefully enough behind me though.
A hand squeezed my shoulder. Not a friendly squeeze. A what-are-you-doing-in-my-bag squeeze.
In my cleverness, I’d forgotten Clarissa Jones wasn’t competing. She wouldn’t be waiting to go on stage. And that was why she caught me in her bag.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Her fingers dug into my shoulder hard enough that they’d leave a bruise.
I pulled my hand out of her bag, holding up a picture triumphantly.
“This is from Autumn’s scrapbook! You stole it!” I said, waving the picture in front of her while simultaneously twisting away to free my shoulder.
The photograph contained several sad looking young girls in their early teens. They must have been Diana’s rejects, the ones Autumn had been telling me about. Three of them were facing the camera, but one had already turned and was walking away from the cameraman. Her hair was tied up in a bun, and I could just about make out a star-shaped birthmark on the back of her neck.
“I did no such thing! I found these here pictures yesterday. I was hoping to return them, but I didn’t know who to return them to!”
Clarissa was staring at me, her eyes like two tiny little blue pebbles. Angry blue pebbles.
“No. You set the fire yesterday and used the commotion to steal Autumn’s scrapbook.”
“Has your brain melted from all the sun or something? That crazy old lady Ruth is who did all that.”
I shook my head at her. I was onto something, and we both knew it. Clarissa looked around the room warily, but she wasn’t ready to admit her guilt just yet.
“No. No way.” I stamped my foot on the ground. “I know what happened. There were pictures of you in this scrapbook. Pictures like this one,” I said, waving the photo in front of her face. “Pictures that show you and Diana went way, way back. And you had some unfinished business with her, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
“No! It’s lies! All lies! You’re the crazy one!” Clarissa whipped her hand through the air before I knew what she was doing and slapped me across the face.
I stared at her, blinking in shock, while she spun around and started to sprint away, with noisy clicks of her black heels.
“Oh no you don’t! Get back here!”
I’d lost one chase already on this cruise, and I wasn’t about to lose another. This time, I was wearing sneakers instead of stupid high heels, and Clarissa wasn’t going to escape me.
She hurried out of the little room and kept running straight ahead. Straight ahead toward the stage where the winner was about to be announced.
“And the winner is…”
Clarissa burst onto the stage where twenty-four girls were all lined up and I was there right behind her.
“ADRIENNE!?” screeched a furious Autumn over the PA system.
Clarissa stopped in the middle of the stage next to a giant arrangement of roses. She spun around, glaring at me. I wasn’t about to stop now though.
I ran right at Clarissa, and she snatched up the rose display and swung it at me. It crashed into my head sending red petals fluttering through the air. I smashed it away, grabbing onto Clarissa yanking her toward me.
Unlike me, she was wearing heels, and when I pulled her she lost her balance and toppled right into me.
I found myself lying on my back, Clarissa astride me, about to slap me around when her wrists were snatched out of the air and held in the vice grip of Ethan’s strong hands.
He looked down at me. “I really, really hope there’s an explanation that makes sense.”
I lifted my head to look up at him. “So do I.”
And then I let my head drop back down with a thunk onto the wooden stage.
Chapter 30
“A nd the winner is…” said Sam.
“…Adrienne!” finished Cece with glee, and all three of us collapsed in giggles against the railing.
We were standing on one of the higher decks, watching from above as the passengers disembarked below us. Soon the beauty pageant troop would be off as well, and then Sam and I would have to go down and say farewell to them personally.
“Bet you didn’t think you’d be declared winner of the contest, did you?” asked Sam, squeezing me around the shoulders.
I wasn’t sure if my friends were prouder of me solving the murder or being accidentally named as a pageant winner.
“I wasn’t the winner. It was a mistake.”
“Nuh-uh. They announced it. It counts. You should tell them no backsies.” said Cece. “Take it. No offense, but you’re not going to win another one.”
“I’m offended!” I said with a grin. Of course I wasn’t really offended, and I also got a kick out of the fact that I had accidentally been announced as the winner of the pageant.
“Anyway, could you please tell me how you knew it was Clarissa? You spent all night with Hot Stuff instead of telling us, your friends.”
“I didn’t spend all night with Ethan. I gave my statements, and by the time I got to bed, you were all asleep. The statements took a long time.”
“Whatever,” said Cece kicking at the railing of the ship absentmindedly. “Get on with it.”
I stared out at the docks below as I told them what had happened. It was a beautiful day in New Orleans and I was looking forward to getting back to shore for some leave.
“Clarissa, when she was a kid, was with Diana for a while, as a trainee pageant contestant. But then Diana kicked her out for not being pretty enough. Her and a bunch of other kids. Autumn even had a picture of it happening.”
“How could you kick out a kid? That doesn’t seem very fair,” said Sam.
“Life’s not fair. Best they learn it when they’re young,” said Cece with a shrug.
“Maybe you should have been a pageant trainer,” I suggested.
Cece put on a pouty look and a hand on her hip. “Or maybe just a beauty queen?”
Sam and I both giggled.
“Hey, quit laughing. I could be a queen if I wanted to, and I won’t hear otherwise. Now get back to the story.”
I did as I was told and continued. “Young Clarissa didn’t like being rejected though. Not at all. She stole nude
pictures of all the girls who hadn’t been rejected and sent them out to everyone. Put them online too. Apparently it was a big scandal—at least if you follow the pageant scene.”
“Wow. She was crazy even at that age?”
“Yep. Pretty much.”
In the distance, a ship’s horn sounded. It was a sound that just a few months earlier had been alien to me. Now it was a comforting part of my day-to-day life.
“Anyway, even though she’d been rejected by Diana, she didn’t give up.”
“Determination, I hear, is key,” said Sam, quoting Kimberly Dawson.
“Seems so,” I confirmed. “And it turned out Diana wasn’t all that great at spotting future talent. Not as good as Autumn thought she was, anyway. Because young Clarissa grew up and filled out.”
“A real glow up,” said Cece.
“Yeah, if you want to put it like that.”
“I don’t want to put it like that. What I meant to say was that she turned into a Grade A quality piece of—”
“Yeah, yeah,” interrupted Sam, “We get the picture. Carry on, Adrienne.”
Cece laughed at us and went back to absent-mindedly kicking at the railing.
“Anyway, she was spotted by Martin, who was looking for a new young protege to compete in the adult divisions.”
“I bet he was. Dream job, huh?”
“I don’t know what you’re implying, and I’m sure it’s a job as tough as any other,” I said, lying with every word.
“And everyone lived happily ever after?” asked Sam.
Cece snorted.
“Yep,” I confirmed. “Right up until this cruise. When Clarissa saw Diana again, it all came flooding back to her. How she’d been humiliated and rejected all those years ago. But then Diana started paying attention to her. She even tried to poach Clarissa from Martin. And that made Clarissa mad. Really mad.”
“Mad enough to kill a b—”
“Mad enough to kill a beauty queen, yes,” I said interrupting Cece. “And that’s what she did. When she watched Diana that first night, something snapped in her and she tried to get even with Diana—tried to point out what a loss it’d been for Diana to lose her. But Diana just laughed, and said she’d make sure Clarissa would never win a contest, ever.”
Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries 04 - Beauty Queens and Cruises Page 20
