by Diana X Dunn
“So what do we do now?”
“I’m going to call Luke,” Suzy answered. “Hey, can you come and see me right away?” she asked when he appeared on her screen. “And don’t let anyone leave the resort until we’ve talked.”
While they waited for Luke, Suzy and Alex discussed how best to handle things.
“My first suggestion is that we just tell Luke everything and let him deal with the fallout,” Suzy began.
“I’m not sure he is going be to happy that we interfered,” Alex remarked.
“I’m sure he won’t be,” Suzy agreed.
“So do you have any other suggestions?”
“We could try confronting the suspect,” Suzy said slowly.
“I’m not sure I like that idea either. Two people are already dead, I would rather not add you and me to the body count.”
Suzy nodded. “I think we just have to tell Luke what we’ve done and see what he thinks.”
“I have a better idea,” Alex grinned at her. “Have you ever read any old detective fiction?”
Suzy nodded. “We read a bit of Agatha Christie, some Sherlock Holmes, some Rex Stout, a few Howard Hampton novels, that sort of thing, when we were in training. We read a little bit of everything, really.”
“Have you ever read any of my detective fiction?” Alex asked.
Suzy frowned. “I don’t think so,” she said after a moment. “I read something you wrote that was set in a nineteen-seventies disco, but I think it was a romance. Suzanna Barr loves to read romance novels.”
Alex grinned. “A lot of my detective novels are set in the nineteen-nineties,” he told her. “And they all end in the classic way. The detective calls all of the suspects together and then reveals the killer in front of everyone. Let’s do that.”
Suzy just looked at him for a moment. “You can’t be serious,” she told him. “I’m sure it works great for fictional detectives, but this is real life. First of all, we can’t just get all the suspects together in one place, and even if we did, we have no proof, just a strong suspicion based on a faked piece of evidence. This isn’t the time for amateur detective hour, this is the time for the police.”
“Do you really think that Luke can keep the ship from sailing if we tell him what we did?”
Suzy hesitated. “No,” she admitted.
“Once that ship sails, everyone else will scatter. The murderer will get away with it, you know that.”
Suzy nodded sadly. “But we don’t have any evidence,” she reminded Alex.
“Maybe we don’t need any,” Alex told her. He walked her through the scenario as he envisioned it, and by the end he almost had her convinced that the murderer would fall into the trap he had imagined.
“Admit it,” Alex said when he finished. “You think it might work.”
“It might,” Suzy admitted, “but it might not. And if it fails, the murderer will be able to just walk away and disappear.”
“And at the very least that might mean that the murders stop at two,” Alex remarked.
Suzy really couldn’t disagree with that logic. After several more minutes of discussion, she began to think that Alex could be right. They might actually be able to pull this off.
“This is going to be totally awesome,” Alex told her, pacing eagerly around the suite.
Suzy rolled her eyes. This was clearly some sort of schoolboy fantasy come true for Alex. Her real life provided more than enough excitement for her.
A knock on the door kept her from arguing further with Alex. She greeted Luke with a smile. “Come in and let me get you a drink,” she suggested as she opened the door. “I bet you could use one.”
Luke pushed the door shut behind himself and followed Suzy into the living room, nodding toward Alex. He didn’t show any disappointment at finding Alex there, as he accepted a glass of ice-cold water from Suzy.
“You wanted me to stop by,” he reminded Suzy as he settled into a chair.
Suzy looked over at Alex and suddenly felt uncharacteristically uncertain. Their idea was at least partly crazy and she wondered again if she should just tell Luke everything and leave him to sort it all out.
“We’ve had an idea,” Alex jumped into the awkward conversational lull. “We think we know how to solve the murders.”
“Great,” Luke said, sarcasm evident in his tone. “Give me your idea and I’ll get right on it.”
Suzy sighed and touched Luke’s arm. “Seriously, Luke, give us a chance,” she said.
“I said, give me your idea,” Luke sighed. “It can’t be any worse than what I’ve got at the moment,” he admitted. “Which is a big fat nothing.”
Alex sat forward eagerly in his chair. “I write detective fiction,” he began, “and I read a lot of it, too.”
“I’m sure you enjoy it as well, but this is real life,” Luke interrupted.
“Luke, please, just hear us out,” Suzy kept her tone neutral and her voice low. Luke was too frustrated and miserable to want to listen to anything right now. She had to get him calmed down and on their side.
“Anyway,” Alex continued. “What we are suggesting is that we get all of the suspects together in one place and tell them what I’ve been thinking. I plot these things all the time and, in my opinion, there is one suspect who stands out as the most likely. I want to confront that person in front of an audience and see what happens.”
“Which suspect?” Luke demanded.
Suzy and Alex exchanged glances. They had agreed that they wouldn’t tell Luke about the wrist-con trick, but they hadn’t been able to decide whether they should tell him who they thought the murderer was or not.
Luke waited only a moment before he asked another question. “And where is the wrist-con that Alex mysteriously found in his pocket last night and didn’t bother to give me yet?”
Suzy frowned. The question wasn’t totally unexpected. She’d told everyone that she was looking for Luke. If any of the suspects had run into him, it would have been natural for them to mention it to him.
Alex grabbed his drink from the table and took a long swallow, leaving Suzy to decide how to answer Luke’s question. She looked at Alex and then back at Luke and decided to tell him the whole story. Half an hour later, Luke knew everything that Suzy and Alex knew and their entire plan.
“No,” Luke told them both. “It’s a crazy plan and I won’t be a party to it.”
“I think it could work,” Suzy told him.
“It could,” Luke admitted. “Or it could go badly wrong. Worst-case scenario, your chosen villain just denies everything. Then what?”
“Then the ship sails and everyone scatters, and we all watch the person very closely for a mistake in the future. The important thing is that our villain will know that they are being watched.”
Luke shook his head. “I’ll give you both credit for effort and ingenuity, but this is an official police investigation, and I can’t have you two running around playing at being detectives.”
“We don’t want to run around,” Suzy pointed out. “We just want to sit and talk with everyone. It would only take you two minutes to set up a conference room here at the hotel and ask everyone to attend.”
“They could just say no,” Luke argued.
“You’re the police,” Suzy replied. “They can’t just say no to you.”
“Max Hart certainly can,” Luke countered.
“So we do it on The Mirage,” Alex suggested. “We can use a room on the ship. Most of the suspects are already there, right?”
Luke nodded. “Max and Randy and the crew came back on board as I was leaving.”
“So we just have to bring Peter and Henry with us and we are set,” Alex insisted. “We can do it right now.”
Luke shook his head again. “It’s so far against procedure that it isn’t even in the neighborhood of good police practice,” he told them.
“So it isn’t expressly forbidden,” Suzy suggested.
Luke had to chuckle. “I doubt a big su
spect roundup by amateur detectives was even considered when the rules were being written,” he told her.
“It’s nearly two o’clock,” Suzy pointed out. “I have a few loose ends to mentally work through, and Luke, you need to grab Peter and Henry. Let’s meet at the dock at five. I’ll message Randy and make sure he and Max will be ready to receive us.”
“I said no,” Luke said quietly.
“This is the closest we are going to get to having a chance to solve this,” Suzy told him bluntly. “We need to go for it.” Suzy knew that Luke had previously been one to do things completely by the book. From what she’d read, that behavior might have played a part in the loss of his partner. That, plus his unhappiness with his boss on SunInc might just be enough to persuade him to agree to the plan.
Luke sighed, frowning as Alex nodded his agreement with Suzy. “I can’t believe I’m actually considering this.”
Suzy knew then that they had won, although it took several more minutes to actually convince Luke of that. By the time he left, however, he was committed to letting them try their plan.
They agreed to meet at five at the dock and Suzy sent a quick message to Randy to let him know that she and Alex and Luke would be arriving. She requested a few minutes with him and Max and also asked that Marta and Captain Grayson join them. When Randy balked, she dropped Luke’s name into the conversation, suggesting that the request was an official one, without actually saying so. Eventually Randy agreed that he and Max would give them ten minutes and not a second longer.
Luke’s job was to round up Peter and Henry, which wouldn’t be difficult, as they were both still confined to the resort. At five o’clock, therefore, Henry, Peter, Luke, Alex and Suzy made their way up the wide gangplank onto The Mirage. Someone showed them into the same event room where they had all met before lunch only a few days earlier. Suzy exchanged glances with Alex as they sat down on one of the five couches that had been arranged together in a rough circle. Luke settled onto another and Peter and Henry sat on opposite ends of a third.
Max and Randy came in, and they sat close together on a couch, both frowning at the others. Max looked as if he had just woken up and Randy looked annoyed. Suzy slipped on to the couch next to Randy and asked him a quick question. Randy looked surprised and curious, but after a moment he gave her the answer without insisting on an explanation.
Marta had slipped in behind them and perched on the end of the same couch where Luke was sitting. After a moment Captain Grayson strode in and sat militarily straight, on the edge of the remaining empty couch. Suzy looked at Alex again. Here goes nothing, she thought.
Fifteen
“I said you could have ten minutes,” Max addressed Luke. “I would rather you didn’t take that long.”
“Actually,” Luke said easily. “Suzy and Alex have something that they want to discuss. I’m just along for the ride.”
“In that case,” Captain Grayson stood up. “I won’t bother sticking around. I have no interest in hearing anything from Suzy or Alex.”
“Please sit down,” Luke said, his voice cold. “We can all go our separate ways in a few minutes, but for now I think we need to hear them out.”
Suzy glanced over at Max before she began. She could tell that he had taken something to calm himself down. She doubted very much that he would be willing to hear her out if he hadn’t.
“Thank you all for your time this evening,” Suzy began smoothly, using her training to keep her voice calm and clear in spite of feeling nervous. “Alex and I have been talking about the two murders that have taken place and I think Alex has arrived at the only possible solution. I’ll turn things over to him to explain it to you.”
Alex smiled at everyone and then stood up. He walked slowly in a circle around the couches, frowning, as everyone had to twist in their seats to keep him in view. Finally he sat back down before he began speaking.
“I don’t know if anyone knows what I do for a living?” He looked from face to face, but everyone looked blankly back at him.
He smiled. “I use pen names for a reason,” he told them, “but I’m an author. I write high quality fiction in many different genres. One of my most popular lines is my mystery series featuring the detective Marcus Bridge.” Now recognition flashed on every face. Even Max had probably read one or two of the Bridge for Hire series.
“I’ve never been involved in a real murder case before,” Alex continued, leaving out his recent experience that Suzy knew about in great detail. “But when Suzy and I discussed this case, I decided to try applying the same rules that Marcus applies to every case he has to solve. Namely, I looked at the classic list of concerns: motive, means, and opportunity. Once I did that, it seemed obvious to me who the murderer is.”
The room was completely silent now as everyone unconsciously leaned forward in their seats in order to better hear what Alex would say next.
“So,” he smiled at everyone. “Let’s look at motive first.”
“I didn’t have any reason to kill anyone,” Henry said angrily. “So I guess that leaves me out of it and I can go.” He stood up and took a hesitant step toward the door.
“Actually,” Alex stopped him. “I think you did have a strong motive for killing Chrystal. I’ll explain it in a minute. Please sit back down.”
“Are you going to let him get away with accusing me of murder?” Henry demanded of Luke.
“He hasn’t accused you of anything,” Luke replied calmly. “He’s just suggested that you had a motive. If you want to sit down and listen, maybe we can get this done.”
Henry frowned deeply and then dropped heavily back on to the couch. “I’m only staying because I’ve been ordered to by the police,” he informed the entire group. “Once this is all over, I will be doing what I can to get you fired,” he told Luke directly.
Luke just nodded at him and then looked back at Alex. “Please, continue.”
Alex nodded his thanks. “As I said, I started my thinking with motive. The first assumption that I made was that Genifer was killed because she saw or heard something that revealed who had killed Chrystal. I think Genifer was trying to use that information to blackmail the killer and the killer decided to get rid of her.”
“Nonsense,” Max sputtered. “My daughter wouldn’t blackmail anyone. She was a wonderful and sweet woman, and if she knew anything about Chrystal’s murder she would have gone to the police.”
Suzy grimaced. It Max wanted to remember Genifer somewhat differently from reality, that was his right as a father, but there was no doubt in her mind that Genifer would have happily blackmailed anyone and everyone if she thought she might be able get out from under her father’s thumb.
Alex just smiled at Max. “That may well be true,” he said softly. “It’s just as likely that she saw or heard something but didn’t realize its significance. But the killer knew what she knew and decided to get rid of her.”
Max nodded. “That is a far more likely scenario,” he told everyone.
Glances were exchanged among several of the group. No one other than Max believed the new explanation over the old.
“Anyway, if we accept that Genifer was killed because Chrystal was killed, we only then need to look at possible motives for Chrystal’s death. And, I’m sorry to say, everyone in here had a motive for Chrystal’s murder.”
There was, of course, a general uproar after that. People were shouting and arguing and appealing to Luke to put a stop to the whole ugly affair. Finally Alex shouted for quiet.
“Really,” he said, as everyone finally went quiet. “You’re all behaving like children.” He looked from one person to the next, meeting each person’s eyes in turn. “Let’s just do this quickly and easily. Don’t interrupt when I talk about your own motive, but after I’ve done everyone, please let me know if you think I’ve gotten someone else’s wrong.”
Again, nervous glances went around the room. It would be interesting to see if anyone jumped in to defend anyone else in this little
group.
Alex continued. “Okay, Suzy hated Chrystal because she was trying to get rid of her and Suzy values her place in Max’s life. Randy had the same motive. Max might just have been getting tired of Chrystal or she might have learned something from him in a moment of intimacy that he wanted suppressed.”
Max snorted at that, but didn’t interrupt.
“Henry and Peter were both trying to secure important business deals with Max. Chrystal was getting in the way of those deals and there was a possibility that she might have some influence on their outcome, as well. I’ve also been told that Chrystal was trying to get rid of Marta or at least blunt her influence with Max.”
“Impossible,” Max shouted out. “Marta is family.”
Alex nodded. “I will admit that Marta’s motive may be the weakest. As for Captain Grayson, it’s been suggested that he was obsessed with Chrystal and jealous of her relationship with Max. As I said at the beginning, please don’t bother defending your own motive. For now I would like to take them as a set of working hypotheses. If you feel that I’ve gotten anyone else’s wrong, please set me straight.”
There was a long pause while everyone waited to see what the others might do. When no one tried to defend anyone else, Alex smiled. “So you see,” he told them. “Even if you don’t think you actually have a motive, your friends here don’t agree.”
“I wouldn’t call any of them friends,” Randy muttered quietly, giving Suzy a nasty look.
“There are no friends in a murder investigation,” Luke interjected.
“Moving on to means,” Alex ignored the outburst. “Everyone here had the means to kill both women.” He paused, but no one spoke this time.
“Just to clarify, Chrystal was killed by a knife that she herself had brought to Suzy’s cabin. It appears that she was drugged before she was stabbed, but the drugs used were readily available on board. Genifer was simply drugged. Again, the drugs used would not have been difficult for anyone to obtain on SunInc.”
Luke looked like he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it. Suzy knew that SunInc’s drug policies contributed to the success of the island as a popular vacation spot. Under ordinary circumstances, they didn’t cause trouble to anyone except the island’s medical staff who often had to deal with unexpected accidental overdoses. Those overdoses were very rarely fatal, however. Genifer was the first drug overdose death on the island in five years. And that overdose had been administered by an injection when she had already been unconscious. It was not an accident.
