“Wow,” said Sam sarcastically. “She’d never be a beauty queen? What a tragedy.”
I lifted one shoulder. “It seemed that way to Clarissa. I’m telling you, these pageant people are all nuts.”
“So Clarissa thought Diana would ruin her life again? And so she killed her?”
I nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. And she nearly got away with it, too. It was only when she tried to cover her tracks that she got found out. When she saw Diana’s scrapbook, she saw there were old pictures of her. Anyone with really good eyes, and a good memory, might have seen the tiny little star-shaped birthmark on her neck, realized she was one of Diana’s old rejects, and figured out she might have had a motivation to kill her. She didn’t want that to happen, so she set the fire, stole the scrapbook, took the incriminating photos, and then left the scrapbook outside Ruth’s room.”
“That was actually kind of clever,” said Sam. “She was right about what Ruth would do with it, at least.”
“Yep. That Ruth was just as crazy as Clarissa,” said Cece shaking her head.
“Well, almost. She didn’t kill anyone,” said Sam.
“That we know of,” said Cece, shaking her head.
I peered down over the railings below.
“Looks like our beauty queens are about to head off.” I said, giving Sam a nudge. “Come on. We’d better say goodbye.”
The pageant contestants were visible a couple of decks below us, lined up with two suitcases each.
“Yeah…” said Cece dubiously. “I don’t have to do that, so I’m not going to. In fact I’m feeling pretty sick.”
I rolled my eyes.
“So sick you’re going to go to sickbay?”
Cece cackled and poked me in the side.
“Oh, how well you know me.”
Cece and Dr. Ryan in sickbay had a thing going on. Or they nearly did, anyway. They both had the worst crushes on each other, though I wasn’t quite sure if they were actually dating yet.
Then again, I didn’t even know if Cece was the dating type.
Bidding each other farewell, Sam and I headed to wave off the girls, while Cece disappeared into the inner depths of the ship.
When we arrived on the deck, which connected to the dock, the beauty pageant contestants were all just about ready to leave. Right at the front was Miranda May, who had been crowned the real winner once the fiasco Clarissa and I had created had been dealt with.
Sam went down the far end of the lineup, while I went to start at the front.
“Congratulations again, your twirl was just fantastic. You really deserved your win,” I said with a beaming smile.
“Why, thank you,” she said with a curtsy and a slow southern drawl. Just about every one of the contestants had been from the South, with just a smattering of Midwesterners and Texans, who were empathically their own “brand” of queens.
As she lowered herself a couple of inches in her curtsy, I saw someone on the dock behind her. Someone I’d been looking for.
“Hold on, back in a minute!” I yelled to the girls.
The fake housekeeper was down on the docks, and he didn’t know I was coming. If I was quick, I could catch him before he even knew I was after him.
I ran toward the bridge that connected the ship to the dock, when suddenly an arm appeared in front of me, blocking my way. It was the arm of an officer’s uniform, and before I looked up I assumed it was Ethan.
“Hey! It’s the…” I looked up. “Captain?”
He was staring at me with cold eyes. “Where are you going? You’re still on duty, aren’t you?”
“I… need to get to the dock!”
He shook his head at me. “No, you don’t. You need to say farewell to each and every one of our esteemed guests. Then, when your duties are complete, you may sign out and disembark. Not before. Is that clear?”
“But… but…”
“I said, is that clear?”
“Fine. Yes, sir, it’s clear.”
Angrily, I stomped back toward the pageant girls. I peered over the side of the ship on the way. The man was already gone.
While I put on a plastic smile and said goodbye to the ladies, my mind was running at a million miles an hour with questions.
Had the captain realized I was going after the man and stopped me deliberately? If the mystery man was involved with the notes and postcards that had been sent to taunt me, did that mean the captain was too? Was he somehow connected to my kidnapping?
I didn’t know the answers to any of those questions.
But I’d be cornstalkin’ darned if I wasn’t going to find out.
However, it would have to wait until the next cruise, because I had a date with a Landlubbers Breakfast at the Rusty Anchor, and maybe even a date with First Officer Hot Stuff before it was time to come back and put my nose to the grindstone on another cruise.
But I would get my answers.
I wasn’t going to stop until I did.
Want More?
Grab your copies of two FREE A.R. Winters cozy mysteries:
CLICK HERE
You can also follow AR Winters on Facebook
Note from the author: THANK YOU!
And Please, Please Leave A Review
Thank you so much for reading my books!
I know my books aren't for everyone - but if you enjoy reading them, thank you so much!
If you liked the book, please, please take a few minutes and leave a review.
An independent author does it all on their own, and reviews are very helpful. I appreciate each and every review, no matter how long or short.
Reviews help new readers find out about my books, which is crucial for the continued success of this series, and my ability to keep publishing work for you.
Every single review really does make a difference. Thank you again for being a reader, and I hope to see you again soon!
Sneak Peak: A Berry Deadly Welcome
Chapter One
"C ome on, come on." I gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. My car was out of gas. Rather, my ex-husband's car was out of gas. I had "borrowed" it to make the trip from Chicago, Illinois down to Camden Falls, Kentucky. I'd had to make the trip somehow, and I'd been too broke to buy a bus ticket.
I rocked back and forth in my seat a couple of times, trying to will my momentum into the car. I knew that wouldn't help it inch forward off the road and into the curbside parking spot, but I did it all the same. I couldn't stop myself.
"Just a little more!" The engine gagged, coughed, spluttered and then bucked before rattling and dying. That was okay, though. When it bucked, the car lurched forward that little bit more that I'd needed to get it off the road. I wasn't going to have to abandon it with its butt end sticking halfway out into the road.
I eyed the road around me. It was huge. It wasn't eight lanes huge or anything like that. There were only two lanes, one coming and one going, but the main street of little Camden Falls could have accommodated four tractor trailers driving side by side. Even with so much room, the traffic was slow and lazy, cars meandering instead of rushing. There were two and three car-lengths between each car that passed. I was used to seeing cars in Chicago drive headlight to bumper, but that wasn't happening here.
On top of that, there were almost no people. I eyeballed around thirty or forty people walking around. They walked in small groups or alone, but always spread out with plenty of distance in-between.
I turned my attention toward a pickup truck that was driving past. The truck's driver nodded his head at me and then lifted his palm in a small side-to-side wave. Panic flooded me, and my heart skittered and jumped as badly as the engine had a moment earlier. My ex probably already had a warrant out for my arrest, and it would be just like him to hire someone to keep an eye out for me.
I twisted to see if anything was coming from behind and then jumped out of the car. It was a pearl white Mercedes S-Class, and I'd probably never get the chance to drive anything like it again—e
specially if my ex had me put in jail. If that happened, I wouldn't even need to worry about how I'd look when I renewed my driver's license. I wouldn't need to worry about where my next meal was coming from or where I was going to sleep tonight.
"Maybe I should get arrested." I couldn't keep the hopefulness out of my voice as I glanced around, but I didn't see any police. "Live to fight another day," I said with a scowl before forcing my features to relax. I didn't want to get wrinkles.
Popping the trunk of the car, I used all of my not-impressive strength to lift a navy canvas suitcase out of the trunk. Then, I hesitated, looking wistfully between the car keys I held in my hands and the car. With a sigh and a shoulder shrug, I did what I had to do. I clicked the lock button on the key fob, and then tossed the keys into the trunk and slammed the trunk's lid down. I'd gotten this far, but tempting fate wasn't my style.
I pulled up the suitcase's telescoping handle and started walking, dragging the suitcase behind me on its tiny wheels. The name tag attached to the handle flopped and jiggled as I walked, listing my name in block letters: KYLIE BERRY. It was my maiden name, not the name I'd left behind with that dirty, rotten piece of pond scum I used to call a husband. No, Kylie Berry was a good name, and it, the suitcase and its contents were all that I owned. But that would be enough. It had to be. I'd figure out the rest as I went, and where I was going now was my cousin's cute little café. When she'd invited me to come down to "help her out," I'd jumped at it. If it meant one less night of having to sleep at the women's shelter, then I was game.
I paid attention to the people around me as I walked. All around me were a myriad of tennis shoes or flat sandals, various types of denim, a few Walmart-style short skirts, and a lot of t-shirts. I was wearing a black polka-dotted sleeveless, torso-fitted dress with a flared skirt, gold high-heel pumps, and I knew from experience that my shoulder-blade length fire red hair would be shining in the afternoon sun.
I didn't fit in, but I didn't see anyone picking up any rocks to throw at me, so I figured that must be okay. A man exited a store with a green awning twenty or so feet ahead of me wearing what had to have been a thousand-dollar suit, and no one paid him any attention either.
"Things are going to be okay," I mumbled to myself. Yet my feet were not convinced. Camden Falls' Main Street seemed to go on forever, and my pretty gold pumps soon pinched my feet in ways that made me work hard to hide a limp.
A group of barely twenty-somethings sauntered through a door a little ways ahead of me laughing, and one of them was holding a to-go cup of what looked like iced tea.
My heart sped up but my feet slowed. This was it. My new beginning. My second chance. I'd be the best waitress, assistant, whatever I could be to Sarah. And hopefully, Sarah would make room for me on her couch until I crawled my way back up to standing on my own two feet.
This would work. I would make it work.
Chapter Two
I won't lie, when I reached for the glass-front door with the scrawling script "Sarah's Eatery" on it, my hand was shaking, but I kept my eyes bright and an excited smile on my gloss-painted lips as I pulled the door open. A little bell jangled, announcing my entrance.
That's when I stepped into cousin Sarah's "tiny" little café, and my smile slipped as my mouth fell open. It was huge! I had imagined some ten foot by ten foot space with as many little round tables and chairs as could be crammed into it per the laws of physics, but instead what I found was spatial extravagance. There was room to walk between the tables. People could have conversations without the absolute certainty that the words they spoke were being overheard by the person sitting two inches behind them. A ladder on top of another ladder would be needed to reach the ceiling. And it had big, sunny windows on two sides, all along the wall that faced Main Street and all along the wall that faced the corner side street, making it look even bigger.
"Wow." I felt like I was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I'd been swept up from the churning bustle of Chicago and dropped right in the middle of a magical place where people could stretch their legs, lean back in their chairs and prop their arms behind their heads without worrying about blocking the path of another.
"Kylie!" Sarah exclaimed.
I turned my head to the left, toward Sarah's voice and a grill-style bar. Over the bar was a large banner that read, "We'll miss you!" with Sarah's name taped on at the end on a large piece of colorful construction paper. Sarah had her hands thrown up in the air as if to celebrate, and all of the patrons at the bar were swiveled around on their stools to stare at me.
Sarah didn't exactly come running from around the bar to greet me. It's more like she bounced. She was wearing denim overalls that were rolled at the ankle, a sleeveless tee with a scoop neck, and cute little white canvas shoes without socks. Her eyes crinkled heavily at the corners from her enormous smile, but it looked good on her.
"Hey!" She threw her arms around me in a warm, snuggly hug. Her hair smelled like apples with a hint of grilled cheese. "I knew you'd make it in time."
"Hi," I said, with a panic-smile plastered on my face. "You going somewhere?"
Sarah sighed and got dreamy-eyed. "I just couldn't wait a minute more to go join Jon in Seattle. All my stuff is packed and ready to go."
Breathe. Keep breathing, I told myself while another little voice inside my head screeched, Homeless! You're going to be sleeping on the streets!
I should have kept the car keys. I could have at least slept in it. A crowbar. I could break into the trunk in the middle of the night. And the trunk was roomy! No one would have to see me sleeping in the car. I could use the clothes in my suitcase to make a cozy little bed for myself.
"That's great." My voice barely wavered, but I felt a cold sweat breaking out on my upper lip.
"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind her. "I want you to meet the regulars. This going away party was their idea."
I eyed them, wondering if one of them would take over the café. Then I wondered if they would give me a job.
Click here to continue reading
Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Untitled
Sneak Peak: A Berry Deadly Welcome
Chapter Two
Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries 04 - Beauty Queens and Cruises Page 21
