“I have no idea. I’m stumped on that part. I think there’s more to the Boskos than meets the eye.”
“It doesn’t matter now. Your husband and family have exited the ship. Captain Armati sent a staff member to accompany them to make sure they’re settled in the hotel.”
Millie’s shoulders sagged. Although she was sad her daughter and grandchildren were gone and they would miss out on the fun day she’d planned with them on the island of St. Croix, the ship’s next port stop, she was relieved she could put the whole incident behind her and get back to work.
Before Beth had left, Millie promised to call her daughter when they reached the next port to make sure they’d made it home safely and find out what else her ex had said. The last thing Millie wanted was for Roger to spring an internal cruise line investigation on her. At least if she knew ahead of time what he planned, she could brace herself for it.
Andy handed Millie her work schedule for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. It included a San Juan history trivia contest. After that was a “name that tune” game up on lido followed by the new “Cruise Clue” mystery/scavenger game.
“This looks great.” Millie folded the sheet in half and shoved it in her pocket. “I’ll have enough time to grab a burger before I start the trivia contest.”
She hurried across the empty theater, down the steps and out the door where she ran into Danielle coming from the other direction. “Where you headed?”
“I’m going to grab a burger and then host trivia.”
“I’ve got water wars with the two teens who didn’t get off the ship,” Danielle groaned.
“Two? That’s it?”
“Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration but there is only a couple.” The women parted ways with Millie heading to the upper deck while Danielle headed to Andy’s office for what Millie guessed would be a stern lecture about borrowing Millie’s keycard.
After loading her lunch plate with a hot-off-the-grill juicy cheeseburger with toasted bun and all the toppings, she added a side of nachos, leftover from the previous night’s Mexican Fiesta Festival and headed to a quiet corner, which wasn’t hard to find. The majority of the ship’s passengers had gotten off to explore the island.
Millie had toured old San Juan before her leave. Annette and she had visited the historic district, the Castillo San Cristóbal, also known as Fort San Cristóbal and Chapel of Christ the Savior (Capilla de Cristo), which was her favorite excursion on the island. They stumbled upon a pigeon park next to the chapel, all of which was a short walk from the pier.
Her plan had been to use her free hours when the ship docked in St. Croix. They’d booked a boat ride and snorkeling excursion to Buck Island, famous for its snorkeling and pristine, sandy beaches.
Her throat clogged as she thought about the missed memories with her grandchildren and chided herself for being so selfish. Roger was mourning the loss of his loved one. At least she still had her family.
After she finished her food, she glanced at her watch. She still had another half an hour before she was scheduled to host trivia.
Millie wandered to the gift shop to chat with Cat and then remembered the shop was closed while the ship was in port so she kept walking until she reached the galley.
She bounced up on her tiptoes and peeked in the round porthole window. The galley was a beehive of activity as staff darted back and forth around the large kitchen.
Millie wandered aimlessly around the ship until she found herself standing in front of the door to the bridge where she let herself in using her keycard.
First Officer Craig McMasters stood in front of the computer screen. He looked up when Millie approached. A slow smile spread across his bearded face. “Hello Millie.”
Millie returned the smile. She loved the new officer’s accent and had fun teasing him about his red beard. There was an easy manner about him and Millie had quickly decided he was a good fit for Siren of the Seas. “Hello Officer, er. Craig.” Millie had never been certain how to address a first officer but First Officer McMasters had put her at ease, insisting she call him by his first name.
“Captain Armati isn’t here right now,” Craig said in his lilting Scottish accent. “He’s got a meetin’ with security I do believe.”
Millie suspected Captain Armati had told his first officer about their relationship and she hoped it wasn’t the only reason he was so kind to her. She didn’t think so. “I understand. I just thought I would pop in now that…” Her voice trailed off.
“Your tormentor has exited the ship.”
Millie smiled at the way he put it. “Yes, my tormentor has disembarked. Unfortunately, he took my daughter and grandchildren with him.” She turned to go and then thought of something that would lift her spirits. “I’m going to stop by to say hello to Scout before I report to work.” She stepped into the hall and to the door leading to the captain’s private quarters.
Millie punched in the access code and stepped inside, quietly closing the door behind her. Scout barreled across the floor and pounced on Millie’s shoe. She picked up the pint size pup and held him close as he licked her chin, her nose, her neck and then tried to bite her dangling earring. She pulled it away from his mouth and laughed. “Stop that.”
She carried Scout into the living room and they made their way over to the slider. “I only have a minute. Would you like to go out?” Scout wiggled in her arms as she unlocked the slider and slid the door open.
They stepped out onto the balcony and Millie gently set Scout down. He promptly darted to his puppy pad and took care of business while she stood at the railing. From her vantage point, Millie had a bird’s-eye view of the historic fort.
Off in the distance, she caught a glimpse of the San Juan skyline and wondered where exactly her daughter and family were staying. Millie shook off the melancholy mood and picked Scout up.
She talked to him for a few minutes and then set him back inside, locking the slider behind her. It was time to get back to work. She exited the apartment and the bridge, giving Craig McMasters a small wave before she stepped out into the hall.
Millie squared her shoulders. It was time to put Delilah’s death behind her and focus on her job.
Chapter 13
The hours flew by as Millie flitted from event to event. It felt good to be back in the swing of things without having to worry about running into Roger or anyone else in his party.
She offered up a small prayer for peace for not only Roger, but also Delilah’s children and her family and friends.
Because the ship’s departure was scheduled for midnight and passengers were free to board until 11:30 p.m., the entertainment schedule was light for the evening. There was no headliner show. Instead, a classic Christmas movie was playing on the enormous movie screen, which hung above the main pool.
Millie passed by the deck where the smell of buttery popcorn filled the air. The movie was in full swing and she stood off to one side to watch for a moment.
A green furry creature with spiked bangs tiptoed toward a Christmas tree. She’d seen the classic Christmas show many times but for the life of her, couldn’t place the name. As she passed through, she picked up empty popcorn bags and hot chocolate cups and tossed them in the trash bin.
“Millie - do you copy?”
Millie plucked her radio from her belt and held it to her mouth. “I’m here Andy. Go ahead.”
“Could you please meet me near the gangway?”
“I’m on my way.” Millie clipped her radio to her belt and hurried down the side steps. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach and she had a sinking feeling whatever Andy wanted had something to do with Roger.
She was partially right, and as she approached the gangway, she noticed Andy talking to a familiar figure. It was Beth. “What are you doing here?” She gave her daughter a quick hug.
“Dad forgot his blood pressure medicine in the dresser next to the bed. Mr. Walker said I could go back to the cabin and get it but thought you
might like to go with me.”
Andy winked at his employee. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.” Millie shot Andy a grateful smile. “Thanks for thinking of me. We’ll be back shortly.”
The women exited the atrium and walked past the bank of elevators. Beth, well aware of her mother’s aversion to elevators, automatically headed toward the stairs.
“How is everyone doing?” Millie avoided mentioning Roger by name.
“Okay, considering the circumstances. The hotel is very nice. They booked each family in a separate suite. Delilah’s daughter, Linda, and her husband got into a huge argument while we were checking in and insisted on separate rooms.”
“I’m sure Linda is devastated by her mother’s death. Her husband should cut her a little slack,” Millie said.
“I agree but have done my best to stay out of it. Dixie and Dad are still talking about suing. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost be tempted to think her sister has a huge life insurance policy out on her, the way she’s going on and on.”
“What about the other couple, the Boskos?” Millie asked.
“They decided to stay on board and finish the cruise.” Beth grabbed the handrail and started up the steps. “I think Dad is relieved. He didn’t care for them for whatever reason.”
“Now that you mention it, I think you did tell me they didn’t want to pay extra to change their airline tickets,” Millie said.
They climbed the stairs until they reached deck ten and headed down the hall toward the suite. “Here it is.” Beth stopped in front of the door marked 1027.
“If the stewards already cleaned the suite and found any personal belongings, they would have turned them in to guest services.” Millie slipped her keycard in the lock and then pushed the door open. She fumbled for the light switch.
Bright interior lights illuminated the room. “That’s better.” They headed down the small hall, past a cozy sitting area and into the bedroom. “The cabin stewards haven’t been here yet.” Millie pointed to the unmade bed.
“Good.” Beth stepped over to the small dresser next to the bed, opened the drawer and reached inside. “Here they are.” She pulled out a prescription bottle and slipped it into her purse while her mother surveyed the room.
“You were right. There isn’t a connecting door.” Millie wandered past the bed and made her way over to the sliding glass door. “I wonder…”
Millie opened the slider and stepped out onto the deck. Tucked off to one side was a lounge chair. Two patio chairs sat next to the lounge chair and there was a small round metal table between them.
She shifted her gaze to the frosted white divider, which separated the balcony from the one next to it.
Beth followed her mother out onto the balcony and watched as she wandered over to the balcony divider and gave it a gentle nudge. The divider slid open. “I forgot these dividers can be unlocked and opened.”
Millie’s heart began to pound. “I wonder if the other one is unlocked.” She retraced her steps, hopped over the lounge chair and pushed on the divider on the opposite side. It, too, swung open.
“Oh my gosh,” Beth gasped. “I remember you asking me if there was an adjoining door but I never thought about the fact Dad and the others unlocked the sliders so they could wander back and forth to each other’s cabins.”
Millie nodded absentmindedly as she stepped onto the adjacent balcony. She pushed on the slider handle and the door slid open. There was barely enough light for Millie to see inside the cabin. She flipped the lights on and gazed around the room.
Beth followed her mother inside.
“Who was staying in this cabin?”
“Delilah’s sister, Dixie, and her husband.”
The bed was unmade which meant the cleaning crew hadn’t yet touched the cabin. The temptation to search the cabin was too great and Millie hurried across the room.
She stepped into the bathroom and quickly searched the medicine cabinet and drawers before moving onto the closets. The desk drawers were next. She finished by searching the nightstands on each side of the bed. “There’s nothing here.”
“If we hurry, we can do a quick search of Linda’s cabin before heading back down. I don’t want to take too long or Andy will wonder what happened to us.”
When they reached Linda’s slider, the door was locked so they circled back through Roger’s suite and out to the hall where Millie let them in the cabin using her keycard.
Beth shuffled closer. “Do you have access to all the passengers’ cabins?”
Millie nodded as she opened the door. “Yes and it has gotten me into hot water more than once.” The women slipped inside and Millie quietly closed the door behind them.
The layout of the room was the reverse of Roger’s and much smaller since it was a standard cabin and not a suite. Millie quickly found the light switch and flipped it on before opening the closet door.
“I’ll search the bathroom.” Beth stepped into the bathroom and began opening the cabinets and drawers while Millie searched the closets and dresser drawers. Their speedy search was in vain and the cabin was free of any personal belongings.
“This was a dead end,” Beth said as she surveyed the cabin.
“Not quite.” Millie pointed to the sliders and deck. “The three cabins connect, which means someone could have slipped into Delilah and your father’s suite and tainted the cream puff.” She wondered what Dave Patterson thought of the connecting balconies. Surely, he’d questioned the parties on both sides.
The women retraced their steps and exited the cabin. Millie shut the light off and pulled the door closed. “I have to say I don’t agree with Dad when he says he thinks you may have been involved, but I do think the crew should be more careful with passenger allergies. I mean, first Delilah almost eats the sushi with some sort of peanut paste smeared on the bottom and from what we were told, her cream puff had a dab of peanut butter inside.”
“I’m sure the investigators are looking into it.” Millie made a mental note to ask Annette where they stored the cream puffs as she and her daughter walked toward the stairs. “What times does your flight leave in the morning?”
“The cruise line is still working on getting clearance to take Delilah…back to Michigan. Last we heard was early afternoon. You’ll be long gone by then.”
Millie walked her daughter to the gangway and said goodbye a second time. Beth gave her mother a small wave when she reached the bottom before disappearing from sight.
The connecting sliders cast a new light on the mystery surrounding Delilah’s demise. Both Dixie and Linda would know of Delilah’s allergies but if one of them intended to taint her food, why wait until they were on a cruise ship, in the middle of the ocean? Unless the plan was to pin it on the bitter ex who had both motive and opportunity.
An added bonus would be suing the cruise line for negligence. Someone in one of those other cabins had slipped a toxic substance into Delilah’s food. Millie could feel it in her bones. Now all she had to do was figure out who.
She climbed the stairs to deck seven and marched down the long hall to the galley. Millie peeked through the porthole window where she spotted Annette off in the far corner, standing inside the pantry.
Millie hurried inside and over to the pantry. Her friend looked up from the clipboard she was holding. “You look like you’ve got ants in your pants.”
“I may be onto something. I think someone close to Delilah knew about her severe allergies to peanuts and intentionally tainted her cream puff.”
“Why?”
“My guess is the motive was greed or jealousy and the opportunity, the connecting sliders between Roger and Delilah’s suite. Dixie and her husband were on one side and Linda and her husband on the other.”
“What about the others, the friends?” Annette asked.
“The Boskos? That’s another thing. Perhaps Delilah had some dirt on them and was bribing them. By the way, they didn’t get off the ship. They dec
ided to stay on and finish their cruise.”
Annette snorted. “With friends like that, who needs enemies?”
“Right?” Millie began to pace. “Maybe it was the Boskos. They ordered room service close to the same time. Follow me here. What if they were all hanging out on the deck and Delilah mentioned being tired but wanting to order room service before heading to bed? The Boskos or perhaps one of the others knew she’d ordered the food and waited for it to arrive. Somehow they managed to get their hands on the tray of sweets and tainted the cream puffs before Delilah sampled them.”
Annette tapped her pen on top of her clipboard. “Carmen already told us she’d stuck the ticket on top, noting the order belonged to suite 1027. They could have slipped into the hall while Carmen was delivering another order.”
“Or found an opportunity to taint it while no one was around,” Millie said. “Roger left the cabin to get drinks and when he returned she was lying on the floor, clutching the tainted cream puff.”
“I need to take a walk to clear my head.” Millie shuffled backward and out of the pantry.
“I’ll go with you,” Annette offered. “Amit can cover for a few minutes.” She hung her clipboard on the wall and followed Millie into the galley.
“Maybe we can stop by guest services to see if Nikki is around. She may have heard or seen something.”
“Good idea.” Annette turned to Amit. “Millie and I will be back in a few.”
Amit smiled and nodded as the women zig zagged past the stainless steel counters and headed to the side door.
Annette swung the door open and it swung back, nearly smacking her in the face. She quickly stepped to the side and they watched as Nikki burst into the galley. “I’ve been looking all over for you,” a breathless Nikki said as she gazed at Millie.
Millie fumbled with her radio, attached to her belt. “Did you try calling me on my radio?”
Nikki frowned. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Several of the kitchen staff turned to see what all the commotion was about and Nikki motioned them into the outer corridor. “I just left Dave Patterson’s office. I got an odd call from a guest a short time ago. I kept thinking the name sounded familiar. It was one of the passengers Patterson questioned us about.”
Suite Revenge (Cruise Ship Christian Cozy Mysteries Series Book 8) Page 9
