by Debby Mayne
This time it took me a half hour to get ready for the day. Once I was dressed and had on my bare-look makeup, I slowly opened the door and peeked out. Whew! There was still nothing out there. Whatever I’d heard was obviously resolved.
My stomach made a hissing sound, reminding me that I needed to eat something. So I went to one of the smaller cafes and ordered some toast and coffee. “Are you sure that’s all you want?” The server pointed to the buffet. “We have all kinds of fruit and eggs cooked almost any way you could possibly want them.”
“Toast is fine for now.”
She brought my order a few minutes later, so I sat there staring out the window at the deck as I nibbled on the toast. I spotted Betty walking by, so I quickly turned away, hoping she wouldn’t see me. But it was too late. She wiggled her fingers, frowned, and then walked inside.
“You look horrible, Autumn.” She placed her hand on my shoulder. “You’re so tense. Why don’t you join me at the spa?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re clearly not getting the rest you need, and that’s understandable considering how insane this place is.” She paused. “Tell you what. If you come with me, I’ll treat you to the works—massage, manicure, and hair.”
“I can’t—”
“You can, and you will.” She leveled me with one of her firm motherly looks as she sat down across from me. “I’ll wait until you finish eating.” She narrowed her eyes as she saw what was in front of me. “Just toast and coffee? No wonder you look so gaunt. You need some protein and fruit. I’ll go get you some.”
Before I had a chance to argue, she got up and headed out toward the buffet. Apparently, I didn’t have a choice in the matter, so I sank back and accepted the fact that I was being hovered over and cared for to the point of being pushed around. She walked back into the café with a satisfied expression on her face.
Fortunately, she didn’t put too much on the plate—just a small scoop of scrambled eggs and a couple pieces of pineapple. “I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but you have got to start eating nutritious food, or you’re going to wind up sick.”
My thoughts went back to the candy bars she’d asked me to pick up, but I didn’t mention it. There wasn’t any point in getting her worked up.
She glanced at her watch. “Hurry up, Autumn, or they won’t be able to work you in. It’ll get crowded in the spa in about an hour.”
That would have suited me just fine, but I decided to go along with her since it appeared to be the path of least resistance. After I finished eating, I followed her to the spa, where she whispered something to the lady at the desk. The woman nodded, glanced over at me, and smiled. “We’ll fix you right up. When you leave here, you’ll be more relaxed than you’ve ever been.”
A half hour later, I was lying face down on a table while some woman was kneading my back. I had to admit it felt good having the knots worked out. After the massage therapist finished with my back, she told me to get up and put on the robe she offered. I followed her to another small room, where Betty sat waiting for me.
“How was it?” she asked.
“Very nice.”
“I thought you’d like it. Now it’s time for the skin detox.”
Within minutes, I was lying on my back and another woman wearing all white was slathering a pale green substance all over my body. After she finished, she told me to close my eyes so she could put some cucumbers on them.
I hated being in such a vulnerable position, but I did as I was told. Maybe this would help me relax.
After less than five minutes, I heard someone talking on the other side of a partition. The voice sounded familiar.
“Did you write the report yet?” a woman asked.
“I was just about to, but then I got violently sick.”
“Yeah, the same thing happened to me. One minute I was writing my report and sipping on some cherry brandy, and next thing I know I’m in the infirmary.”
“That’s terrible, Aileen. Do you think they’re on to us?”
Chapter 14
It took all of the self-restraint I could summon to stay in a prone position. I wanted to hop up and ask the women what they were talking about, but I knew that wouldn’t serve any purpose other than to satisfy my curiosity.
“When I signed up to do mystery shopping on cruise ships, I didn’t realize it involved risking my life.”
“Yeah, me too. I thought it was an easy way to get a free cruise.”
“It’s been anything but easy. I’ve never been so sick in all my life.”
“Do you think you might have eaten something?”
“Maybe. There’s no telling on this ship. I don’t think I’ll ever do another mystery shop on a cruise.”
“How about the captain?”
“That’s been over for a long time.”
They only said a few more things before one of them finally said, “We’d better be quiet. No telling who’s listening. There seem to be a lot of nosy people around here.”
“Yeah, I know. I can’t wait to get off this stupid boat and go home. I’ll stick to doing local restaurant mystery shops in the future.”
“I like the ones for department stores. I’ve gotten some great loot from those.”
A few minutes later, the woman who’d done my treatment returned. I heard her footsteps as soon as she entered my partitioned-off area, and I smelled her perfume when she got closer.
She lifted the cucumbers from my eyes and smiled down at me. “How ya feeling?”
I sighed. “Much better.”
“You were rather peaked when you came in. Cucumber is good for getting rid of the bags, and you had enough to pack for a week’s vacation.” She let out a chuckle at her lame excuse for a joke. “Let’s get you cleaned up so you don’t look like a lagoon creature.” She helped me sit up and led me to the shower.
After I rinsed off all the goop, I applied some moisturizer the woman handed me and then got dressed. Betty was waiting for me in the hair and nail salon.
She gave me a thumbs-up. “Lookin’ good, Autumn. That’s what a little bit of pampering will do for you.”
I really did feel quite a bit better. My skin tingled, and my muscles were the most relaxed they’d been in a while. “Thank you so much for this.”
“It’s the least I could do after you dropped everything and ran that errand for me.” She frowned momentarily and leaned toward me. “I overheard something that I need to tell you about.” She nervously glanced around and lowered her voice to where I could barely hear her. “I think I know what’s going on around here.”
“Can we talk about it later?”
“Sure. Let’s get our hair and nails done, and we can go to my cabin where there aren’t so many nosy ears.”
I had to bite the insides of my cheeks at her choice of words. As the hairdresser washed and blew my hair dry, I thought about everything and how it might all fit together. There were still quite a few gaping holes in the puzzle, but I was starting to fit a few of the more obvious pieces together.
“What color do you want?” Betty asked.
“Huh?”
“Nail polish. Do you want red, pink, orange …” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Or do you want to get wild with me and go for blue?”
I laughed. “If you can get wild, so can I.”
She helped me pick a pretty robin’s egg blue shade that was anything but wild, and the nail technician convinced me that some glitter on the tips would be like icing on the cake. When Betty saw that, she had some added to hers.
On the way back to her cabin, she chattered nonstop. “I feel so pretty now. Don’t you feel pretty?” Before I had a chance to answer, she continued. “Too bad we’re not looking for men. Well, maybe you are, but I’m not. At my age, they’re more trouble than they’re worth. They have to soak their teeth overnight, they get up once or twice … or more in the middle of the night.” She shook her head. “I used to get so annoyed when the flushing toilet woke me up. I’ve alway
s been a light sleeper.”
When she finally stopped to catch a breath, I spoke up. “I don’t think I’d want to look for a man on a cruise.”
She gave me a funny look. “And why not?”
I shrugged. “I don’t want to leave Nashville, and what are the chances I’d meet someone from there?”
“You could meet someone and have a fling. After the cruise, you can go your separate ways if you want to.” She gave me a sly smile. “Not saying I’ve ever done that, but some people do.”
“I’m not exactly the fling type.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I can tell. You want to know what’s wrong with you, Autumn?”
I didn’t, but I knew she was going to tell me, whether I wanted her to or not. “What?”
“You’re too serious. Everything seems to be black-and-white in your world.”
My friends in high school and college had always told me that too, but I liked the way I was. It was time to get the conversation off of me and on to her. “How about you, Betty? Are you not a serious person?”
“Do you think I’d be cruising nonstop on this boat if I were the serious type? I’m so much more in a different place these days since I’ve been a widow, and I’m doing this to get away from real life.” She placed her hand on my arm. “And trust me, my grown kids make life way too real for me. I feel sorry for my grandkids.”
When we arrived at her cabin, she took me by the hand and pulled me inside. “Sit, Autumn. We need to figure out what’s going on.” So much for her not being serious.
“What did you hear?”
She pushed me into a chair and plopped down on the corner of her bed. “Aileen was getting a treatment, and she was telling someone else how she’d given a bad review.”
“I didn’t hear all of it, but I did hear the part about the bad review,” I said. “I heard something about her and the other woman doing mystery shopping.”
“That would be so much fun, don’t you think?” Betty sighed. “I’ll have to look into it after we finish this trip. If I can get even a week for free, I’m all for it. This traveling around the ocean so much is putting a serious dent in my bank account.”
“But did you hear what they were saying? They think that’s the reason they were poisoned.”
“I don’t think that’s what they were saying at all.”
“Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence that they’re both mystery shoppers, and they both got sick?” I held out my hands. “What are the chances of that?”
Betty scrunched her face. “Yeah, maybe you’re right, Autumn. We need to find out about those people who died. I wonder if they were mystery shoppers too.”
“How can we find out?”
“I don’t know. I was hoping you’d have some ideas.”
Maybe Summer would know. I didn’t tell Betty about my cousin yet because I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to call her again. First of all, it was getting really expensive, but secondly, I didn’t want to bug her to death.
“I wonder if we should ask Aileen,” Betty said. “The problem is she and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms.” She gave me a hopeful look. “Maybe you—” She stopped short and shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t expect you to step out of your comfort zone and do anything like that. You’re too … well, you’re just not the type to ask nosy questions.”
“I can be as nosy as anyone,” I argued. “But I’m not sure how wise that would be … at least not now, considering the fact that Aileen and that other woman got poisoned. I’m afraid they’d think we did it.”
“Why on earth would they think that?”
I shrugged. “They’re probably suspicious of everyone.”
“You’re right.” Betty’s shoulders drooped. “I was just thinking how cool it would be if I was involved in helping to solve this mystery. You do realize that whoever figures it out will become a hero … and maybe even have a movie made about them.”
A light came on in my head. I already knew that Betty needed some attention, and now she saw a way to get it. If I could figure out what to do next, I’d hand her the baton and let her take credit.
I was about to tell her I’d try to come up with a plan when someone knocked on her cabin door. Betty gestured for me to keep quiet, but the person knocked again, only this time, harder.
“Betty, I know you’re in there, and I know you’re not alone. Let me in. I have to tell you something.”
Chapter 15
Betty mouthed that it was Aileen, but I already knew that. I recognized her voice.
Aileen knocked again. “Please, Betty. Open up. This is a matter of life and death.”
I nodded toward the door, so Betty walked over and opened it a few inches. Aileen didn’t hesitate before pushing it all the way open and barging in.
“What are you doing here?” Betty asked. I heard her voice crack, so she wasn’t nearly as tough as she was trying to sound.
“They’re out to get us.” Aileen’s words gushed out on the edge of her breath.
I stood up. “Who’s out to get you?”
Aileen shook her head, lifted her hands, and let them fall back to her sides, making a loud slapping sound. “How on earth would I know?”
“You’re not making any sense, Aileen. Why don’t you leave and come back when you have something to say?”
I lifted a finger to get their attention. “I have a better idea.” I gestured toward the chair where I was sitting. “Why don’t you have a seat, take a couple of deep breaths, and tell us what’s going on and what’s making you so scared?”
Betty frowned at me but didn’t say anything as she resumed her position at the corner of her bed. After she realized I wasn’t backing down about letting Aileen talk, she lowered her head to stare at something on the floor.
I turned back to Aileen. “Is someone chasing you?”
“Does it look like it?”
Betty’s head shot up. “See? I don’t know why you’re being so nice to her, Autumn. All she’s going to do is be a smart aleck.”
“Look,” Aileen said as she leaned forward and held out her hands. “I’m not trying to be a smart aleck or rude or whatever else it seems like I’m doing. You’re right, Autumn. I’m …” She let out a hiccup. “I’m scared.”
Betty belted out a laugh. “You? Scared? Since when?”
Aileen pulled her lips between her teeth and shook her head. “I didn’t want to tell anyone, but I’ve been … well, I’ve been seeing a couple of the crew members.”
“You’ve been seeing them?” Betty rolled her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
“The captain and I started this thing last time I cruised.”
Betty’s eyes looked like they might pop right out of her head. “You and the captain? Are you serious? I thought that was just a rumor.” Betty gave me an incredulous look before glaring at Aileen. “You expect me to believe you and Thomas Myers are having a fling?”
“I didn’t say we were having a fling. I just said we were seeing each other.” She swallowed hard. “He makes me feel special.”
“He does?” I wondered if Aileen realized that Betty already knew. I also wondered how what she was saying fit in with her mystery shopping.
Aileen nodded and then shrugged. “Well, he did. It’s been a long time since I felt that way. We went out to dinner at a restaurant on the beach and danced to one of the local bands.” She closed her eyes and swayed side to side, as though she was reliving her time with the captain. Then she opened her eyes as quickly as she’d fallen into her trance, and all the color drained from her face. “I think that time I spent with him has something to do with getting poisoned.”
Betty gave me a smirk before focusing on Aileen. “You don’t think it has anything to do with writing a bad report for your mystery shopping company?”
“What?” Aileen clearly appeared distraught. “What do you know about that?”
“I just happen to know that you and … whatever that other woman’s n
ame is have been mystery shopping the cruise line.” Betty gave her an evil grin. “Did you write about going off with Captain Myers and dancing the night away?”
“Never!” Aileen placed both of her hands over her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut. Then the tears started to fall.
“Oh no ya don’t, Aileen. Don’t start with the tears. I can’t handle a wimpy, sobbing, pitiful woman.”
“I can’t help it. I’m just so …” Her face scrunched up like she was about to start into a full-blown sob, but she managed to stop. “I’m so upset and confused and distraught and—”
Betty held up her hands. “Okay, we get the picture. So you’re afraid someone’s after you. Do you have any idea who it might be?”
“There are several possibilities.”
“I don’t have all day,” Betty said. “Just tell us.”
“Well, first of all, I have to tell you about someone else.”
“What are you talking about?” Betty looked at me as if expecting some support.
I blinked and focused on Aileen. “Someone else? Are you talking about someone who is out to get you or someone else you’ve been involved with?”
“I’m not involved with anyone, at least not now. I just happened to go out with a couple of the crew members—at different times, of course.”
“Of course.” Betty let out a little growl. “Just tell us who it is. I’m getting sick of this game you’re playing.”
“If you’re going to act like that, I’m not telling.”
Betty groaned and rolled her eyes. “Give me a break.”
I decided to jump in with some of my own questions. “How serious were you and the captain?”
Aileen shook her head. “Not serious at all. Did you really think—?”
“Yes.” The harsh sound of Betty’s voice made me wince.
I realized I had to take over to keep Aileen talking. “So what about you and the captain?”
“As I already told you, he made me feel wonderful, but ever since Bertrand died, I haven’t wanted to commit to anyone.”
