Terror at Sea: Three mysteries aboard a cruise ship

by Debby Mayne

“Positive.”

  “Don’t touch it. I’ll need to have someone investigate.” He went into the bathroom, got some tissue, and used it to pick up the water pitcher. “I’ll take this for fingerprints.”

  I walked him to the door and let him out since he had both hands on the water pitcher. “Thank you for checking things out.”

  “No problem.” He walked out into the hallway and glanced over his shoulder. “Be careful, okay?”

  “I will.”

  After I shut the door, I locked it and closed my eyes. I sure hoped I could get a flight out of St. Thomas tomorrow. This was wearing on me, and I was becoming more stressed out by the minute. In fact, I caught myself wishing I had school to go back to in order to get my mind off of this.

  It took me a while, but I finally managed to go to sleep, and I had one dream after another. Not one of them made sense. When I finally awoke, I showered, dressed, and went out for breakfast. My nerves were on edge as I pondered what to eat at the buffet. I sure didn’t want to take any chances.

  So I decided on a cup of yogurt that was sealed and a banana. I brought it over to one of the chairs on the shady side of the Lido Deck. I’d just finished my yogurt when I sensed the presence of someone standing behind me.

  I jerked around and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Betty. She pointed to the chair beside me. “May I join you?”

  “Sure.”

  “I heard about the excitement last night,” she said.

  Since I wasn’t sure exactly what she was referring to, I didn’t mention the person in my cabin. “Oh?”

  She chuckled. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know someone was in your cabin.”

  “How did you hear that?”

  The smile never left Betty’s face. “I’m friends with most of the crewmembers. The girl at the desk told me.”

  “Oh.” I glanced down.

  “Did they take anything?”

  “I-I don’t think so. At least I haven’t noticed anything missing yet.”

  She pushed the top part of the lounge chair back and closed her eyes but kept talking. “I wonder what they wanted.”

  And I wondered if she knew and wasn’t telling me. “I have no idea. I didn’t bring any valuables on the cruise.”

  She opened her eyes, sat up, and turned to face me. “You sure do have a lot to learn.”

  I gave her a curious look. “What do you mean?”

  “What you don’t consider valuable might be exactly what someone else wants.” She paused. “Now do you get it, or do I have to spell it out for you?”

  “I still don’t think anything is missing.”

  “Just keep your eyes open and pay attention to everything.” She leaned back, closed her eyes again, and kept talking. “We should be getting to St. Thomas soon. Are you still planning to fly out today?”

  “I’m hoping to.”

  “You do realize it’ll cost you an arm and a leg for airfare at this late time, right?”

  Quite frankly, I didn’t care if it cost my entire savings. I wanted to get away from the insanity on this ship and go home. “I figured it would be more expensive than it would have been if I planned it.”

  “Oh, honey, you just don’t know.” She opened one eye and offered a smile. “If you decide to stick around, you can hang out with me. I generally prefer to be alone, but you’re actually kind of fun.”

  Betty’s behavior puzzled me. First I annoyed her, and now I was fun? That didn’t compute.

  “I think I can teach you a few things,” she continued.

  “Teach me a few things?” I looked at her. “About what?”

  “Different types of people, who to trust and who to be wary of …” She shrugged. “And life in general.”

  “I know about life back in Nashville—” I stopped myself before adding that was the only life I wanted to know about, and I didn’t ever want to leave the safe cocoon of my little world.

  “There’s a lot more to life than what you’ll find in Nashville.” She shifted her position on the chair. “I’ve been there a couple of times, and I have to admit, it’s quite a nice place.”

  “It is,” I agreed.

  “My sister once told me that Nashville is as close to heaven as we’ll ever get on this earth. I suppose it’s all about what you consider heaven.”

  I started to talk about heaven and my faith, but she spotted something behind me that made her gasp. “I cannot believe who is coming this way.”

  Chapter 18

  I started to look, but Betty grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t turn around.”

  “Who is it?”

  Her face had drained of all color, letting me know that she truly was surprised. “My sister. She never mentioned that she was coming on this cruise.”

  “Do you think she’s been here the whole time?” I did my best to hide my shock, but I wasn’t sure if I was successful.

  “I have no idea.” Betty’s chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath and blew it out. “But I’ll know soon. That girl has some explaining to do.”

  “Well, hello there, Betty. Mind if I join you and your little friend?”

  Now I figured it was safe to look up. She smiled down at me with a vacant expression. I could tell she’d had some work done because nothing on her face moved but her lips.

  “Have a seat.” Betty glanced at me and then at her sister.

  “And what’s your name, dear?”

  “That’s rude, Myrna.” Betty scowled at her sister. “Autumn, this is my sister Myrna.”

  “Nice to meet you, Autumn.” She chuckled without smiling past her lips that were a tad too plumped up. “What kind of name is that? Are your parents hippies?”

  I didn’t have a chance to respond before Betty spoke up again, this time looking at me. “I’m so sorry for my sister’s rudeness. She got like this later in life. We certainly weren’t raised that way.”

  “That’s okay.” I turned toward Myrna. “No, my parents aren’t hippies. After my mother’s sister named her daughter Summer, my parents thought it would be fun to have another season in the family … you know, for balance.”

  “That sounds awfully silly to me, but I’ll take your word for it.” Myrna turned her attention back to her sister. “So how’s your cruise going, sis?”

  “Tom never told me you were on the boat,” Betty said.

  A strange look flashed through Myrna’s eyes, but it was difficult to read since her facial muscles appeared frozen. “That’s because he doesn’t know.”

  “How did you—?”

  “I have my ways.” Myrna shifted in the chair. “But he’ll know soon enough. I plan to show up at the Captain’s Dinner tonight to surprise him.” Her lips smiled again. “It should be interesting to see his reaction.”

  “Oh, it’ll be interesting, all right.” Betty flashed a glance in my direction.

  I looked back and forth between the sisters. While there was a slight resemblance in skin tone and mannerisms, I wouldn’t have guessed that they were sisters if I didn’t know.

  Myrna narrowed her gaze as she looked at me, clearly trying hard to ignore Betty. “So how do you like cruising, Autumn?”

  I wasn’t sure how much she knew about what was going on with the poisonings, and I didn’t want to be the one to tell her, so I decided to take a noncommittal approach. “It’s fine.”

  “Oh, come on, Autumn,” Betty said. “This girl is ready to jump ship. In fact, she’s planning to get the next flight out of St. Thomas.”

  “That might be difficult.” Myrna shook her head. “For one thing, this is tourist season, and I’ve heard others have tried but to no avail.”

  A sinking sensation washed over me. “Maybe I can get on standby.”

  “You might be able to, but it’s a huge risk. You don’t want to get off the ship, have it leave, and wind up stranded in St. Thomas for who knows how long. Even if you can find a room, which I doubt that you’ll be able to, they’re very pricy
right now.”

  Betty grimaced. “Yeah, I wondered about that.”

  “Why are you so bent on leaving? Is the service terrible? Are you seasick?”

  Once again, Betty spoke for me. “She’s worried about all the craziness that’s been happening lately. Did you know that Aileen was just about poisoned to death?”

  “Aileen Graves?” Myrna feigned shock. I could tell she wasn’t surprised, which raised a red flag.

  Betty snorted. “Who else would I be talking about?”

  “Where is she … I mean, did the coroner come and take her away?”

  Betty and I exchanged a glance. I could see that she was trying to give me a message in her expression, but since I couldn’t tell what it was, I decided to remain silent until I figured it out.

  “I’m not sure where Aileen is.” Betty didn’t look directly at me as she spoke. “Now tell me, sis. How on earth did you get onboard this ship without Tom knowing?”

  Myrna bobbed her head. “I have my ways.”

  “Yes, you certainly do,” Betty mumbled as she turned to me. “Autumn, you’d better watch out for this one. She’s sneaky.”

  “I beg your pardon. You’ve always been the sneaky one.”

  “Nope. You are much sneakier than I ever have been.”

  “Not in this lifetime.” Myrna looked at me. “She’s the sneaky sister.” She glanced at Betty. “Remember when I had a bunch of friends over, and you hid in my closet the whole time?”

  Betty closed her eyes and shuddered. “Yeah, the things I saw and heard—”

  “We had no idea you were in there until you told Mom what we were doing. And we got in so much trouble.”

  “If you didn’t want to get in trouble, you shouldn’t have done that.”

  Now my curiosity had gotten the best of me. “What were y’all doing?”

  Betty opened her mouth but quickly closed it. Myrna spoke up instead.

  “Just normal stuff teenage girls do. The only reason we got in trouble was Mom wanted to set an example for my baby sister to make sure she didn’t do the same thing.”

  Since it was obvious that they weren’t going to tell me what they were talking about, all I could do was use my imagination. I didn’t do anything terribly bad as a kid, but I’d heard plenty from my students.

  Betty stood up and stretched. “Why don’t we take this conversation back to my cabin? You’re likely to be discovered out here on deck.”

  Myrna nodded as she lifted her scarf and draped it over her head and around her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

  “Autumn, you stay here,” Betty said. “I have to discuss a few things with my sister, and I’d hate for you to be put in the middle of it. There’s a lot of dirt we have to talk about.”

  I nodded. Even though I was still curious, I was relieved that she cared enough to keep me out of whatever dirt they needed to discuss.

  “And don’t you dare tell a soul I’m here,” Myrna added.

  I gulped hard. “Okay, I promise I won’t say a word to anyone about you.”

  A smile replaced her steely gaze. “Good girl.”

  *

  An hour later, we arrived at St. Thomas. My heart pounded with anxiety about finding a way to get off this crazy ship and go back home. As I wheeled my suitcase off the ship, people stared at me.

  Unfortunately, when I got to the airport, I discovered it was just as bad as Myrna had said. Not only did they not have any openings on flights, they were overbooked for the next several days and not likely to be able to seat those who’d already gotten reservations.

  I walked around in a daze for another couple of hours, dragging my suitcase behind me, before returning to the ship. There were some tours that I could have joined, but at this point, I wasn’t in the mood.

  As I boarded, I saw the captain talking to some of the passengers, so I darted by as quickly as possible, hoping I wouldn’t be noticed. I thought I made it, but the sound of someone calling my name brought a feeling of dread.

  I turned around and spotted Andrea walking toward me, smiling. “I heard you were planning to leave the cruise.” She glanced down at my suitcase.

  “All the flights are booked, so it looks like I’ll be staying.”

  “If there’s anything I can do to make your cruise more enjoyable, let me know. It bothers all of us when a passenger isn’t happy.” She narrowed her gaze, gave me a look I couldn’t read, and then widened her eyes. It seemed as though she was trying to tell me something without saying whatever it was.

  “It’s not you. It’s just that …” I wasn’t sure what to say since the poisoning was supposed to be a secret, and I didn’t know if the cruise director was privy to everything that was going on. I suspected she knew, but I wasn’t taking any chances on being the one to spill the beans.

  “Why don’t you join some of the crew at the party tonight after dinner? We have a few extra spots at our table.”

  “What kind of party?”

  “It’s a celebration of everything—birthdays, anniversaries, retirement, vacation, whatever. Everyone here has a reason to celebrate something.”

  “Maybe.” I didn’t feel like celebrating, but the only other option I saw was to go to my room after dinner.

  “C’mon, it’s fun.”

  “I don’t know …”

  “Think about it.” She lowered her voice. “I’d love for someone closer to my age to join us. Since I’ve been on this ship, I’ve felt like the odd woman out.”

  That touched me. “Okay, maybe I will join you.”

  She flashed a genuine smile. “I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am about that. I have a feeling you and I could be good friends in any other situation.”

  My heart went out to her. She was one of the few female crewmembers on the boat, and the others were at least as old as my mother.

  She jotted down all the information and handed it to me so I’d know where to go. “Try to get there early if you can. I want to make sure we’re able to sit next to each other.”

  I walked away feeling a little bit better. At least I had something to look forward to now.

  The hallways were mostly empty as I made my way to my cabin. I’d heard other passengers and some of the crewmembers call them corridors, but to me they were narrow hallways.

  As soon as I unlocked my cabin door, a chill ran down my spine. Standing right in front of me, a few feet away from my closet was Aileen. She spun around and gave me a horrified look, and I could tell she was as surprised as I was.

  Chapter 19

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you were flying out when we got to St. Thomas.”

  “Who told you that?” I glanced around my cabin to see if she’d moved anything. “But more important, what are you doing here?”

  Her shoulders sagged as she sank down on the edge of the bed. “I was hoping to find someplace to hide.”

  “Why here?”

  She shrugged. “I figured no one would think to look for me here, and I thought you weren’t coming back.”

  “Were you planning to stay here for the remainder of the cruise?” I asked.

  She nodded. “That was the plan.”

  “How did you get in?”

  “I have my ways.” She propped her elbows on her knees and lowered her face into her hands.

  “Just tell me how you got in here.” I glared at her. “If you don’t, I’ll have to report you.”

  “Okay, okay. I came in when housekeeping was here.”

  “Did they let you in?”

  She shook her head. “No, I waited until they were almost finished, and then when they weren’t looking, I ran inside and hid in the closet until they left.”

  I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but her word was all I had at the moment. And now I had to figure out what to do.

  Her chin quivered, and a tear trickled down her cheek. “I guess you want me to leave.”

  Her expression tugged at my heart, but I couldn’t let her
get to me. I nodded. “That would be nice.”

  “Can I stay here just a little while longer? I’m afraid to go to my cabin.”

  “Why are you afraid?”

  “I’m pretty sure I saw Myrna, the captain’s wife, and she doesn’t like me at all. I’m worried she might be after me.” She paused. “But it might not have been her. I’m not sure.”

  I didn’t want to tell her that Myrna definitely was onboard or anything else I knew. “Why don’t you just stay in your own cabin and not go anywhere?”

  “Because they know where to find me. No one would think to look for me here.”

  I tilted my head. “Is there anyone else you’re worried about finding you?”

  She lowered her gaze. “Just Myrna.”

  “But you weren’t sure it was her.”

  “If it was, I can’t let her see me.”

  “Okay, so what if she does find you? What do you think she’ll do?”

  “I don’t know. That woman’s crazy.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “Tom told me so. He’s been trying to divorce her for years, but she won’t give him up.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  She jutted her chin and nodded. “He told me, and I believe him.”

  “Why would he tell you he wanted to divorce his wife?” I thought about Betty’s comment regarding the money Myrna had, and I suspected that might be the glue holding the marriage together.

  Aileen looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Seriously? You have to ask?”

  She was in my room, which made me feel like I had the upper hand for a change. “Yes, and I want you to tell me, or I’ll have to let someone know you broke into my cabin.” I picked up the phone to drive my point home.

  A scowl came over her face. “I can’t believe I’m having to explain the obvious. Tom and I have been in love for a long time.”

  “But you said—”

  “Never mind what I said. This is the truth.”

  That sort of explained a few things, but I still had some questions. “Do you think that was why you were poisoned?”

  “Of course. Why else would someone try to kill me?”

  “I suppose you think that person is Myrna.”