Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries 11 - Cruise Control

by A. R. Winters

  I still hoped that Sam would remain ignorant of the power she held over me. She was my friend, yes, but sometimes that’s scarier than being at the mercy of your worst enemy.

  “Not to be rude, but I remembered something—or more like a million somethings—I need to do before we’re cut off from the outside world.” Kelly gathered the few items she brought with her and scurried to her feet. “It’s been a pleasure talking to you, Mr. Nunn, as well as your associates.”

  Kelly then clattered out of the room, rushing away. Knowing her, the lack of internet was putting even more stress on her, and she had plenty of that already.

  The rest of the lunch passed with the same chilly atmosphere as it began. One by one, the executives found an excuse to leave, clearly not enjoying the company of their CEO.

  “I guess that’s that, then.” Vernon held his head in one hand. “I was hoping the lack of technology would have made them more social, but they’re just as cranky as they ever were.”

  “Don’t pay them any mind, Vernon.” Monica was the only other executive left. She was the only one with any degree of tolerance for the man. “They’ll learn. When Benedict gets some sun and realizes how much better he feels, he’ll be the one thanking you.”

  “I hope you’re right. Is it so wrong that I want my company to be happy and healthy more than I want it to simply be profitable?”

  “They just don’t understand your vision like I do.”

  I genuinely couldn’t tell if she was just sucking up or if she legitimately felt this way. She was one heck of an actress if she was faking it, but thinking Vernon’s ideas were the right way to manage a business seemed a bit silly.

  Everyone parted ways, and Ethan, much to my delight, made his way over to me. “Sorry we can’t grab lunch together, Addy. You know how it is.”

  “I really do. I had to watch you eat that bacon cheeseburger and realized how hungry I was.”

  “I’ll make it up to you. Promise. All the bacon cheeseburgers you could ever want will mend your broken heart, won’t they?”

  “Sounds like something that’ll clog my heart rather than mend it, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

  He looked at Sam, and then at Holly, realizing that we weren’t alone. “Would you like to take a walk before you go indulge yourself?”

  The two of us had developed a sort of code, a way of communicating when something important was happening behind the scenes.

  “Sam, do you mind looking after Holly? I don’t want Kelly to come after me again for leaving her alone.”

  A sarcastic grin flashed onto Sam’s face. “You mean babysit the twenty-something woman next to me? An odd request but I’ll do it. Just for you.”

  Holly scowled. Ah, so she wasn’t completely oblivious to what was going on around her.

  When we were out of earshot of the others, Ethan dropped his knowledge on me. “We got another lead on our investigation.”

  “Oh?” We had been investigating a few oddities that had been happening on the ship that were all related to my kidnapping incident. It had been slow going, but we were working on it.

  “Yeah. There’s a guy I wanted to check out who’s coming on the ship for this trip.”

  “He’s not usually on the boat? Wouldn’t that clear him from the list then?”

  “No, not with what he’s responsible for. This guy has tech knowhow. With all the cameras on the ship, if he wanted to spy on you, it wouldn’t be too hard for someone in his position to be just that.”

  The fear of some lunatic torturing me from afar fueled both of our desires for truth. To find who had been stalking me all this time.

  I didn’t know what they were after. They knew something about my past, something I kept to myself and preferred not to bring up unless I absolutely had to. It wasn’t a fun memory. Being threatened with death wasn’t what I would call a good time.

  Little details, things no one but me or those involved would know. The diner, the location, the story in general. Those little details had been showing up in my life again where I least expected them. Too consistently for me to believe they were sheer coincidence.

  “He’s a technical engineer, although his actual title is something more convoluted,” Ethan continued. “He’s been called to this ship in order to help, uh… internet-proof it? Is that what we would call it?”

  I sighed. This wasn’t something I could keep running from, but I did enjoy the times where I could be blissfully ignorant. “If this guy is only coming on for this ship for the tech stuff that Vernon wants, how could he be the one sending me nasty messages under my cabin door and trying to give me gray hairs before I’m thirty?”

  “His name’s Herman Graaf. He has permission to do his work remotely and only rarely gets jobs where he has to go there himself. So he has plenty of time to go on cruises that aren’t required of him.”

  “And that makes him a suspect because?”

  “He has the means to pry into people’s business, and well, no one knows anything about the guy. Plus, his schedule lines up with our dates. Those days, he’s ‘working from home,’ so no one can really be sure where he truly is.”

  We kept walking down the hallway in silence as I tried to process what Ethan was getting at. “So, because he wasn’t accounted for on the days when things happened, and he knows how our cameras work, and that gives him the ability to see all on the ship, we’re putting him on the suspect list?”

  “It’s a weak connection, but we don’t have an abundance of clues to run with on this case. We need to take any leads that present themselves to us.”

  “Okay, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

  “Don’t accuse him of anything right away. Just check him out. See if we can learn anything about him, get any leads. Investigate. That’s what I’m planning on doing.”

  “Sure. No rash accusations, got it.”

  Ethan’s eagerness was clear. He wanted to protect me, and he would take on the world for me.

  Man, he really was awesome.

  After a hug and a peck on the lips, we parted. I was off to request an order of fish and chips.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  T he ship had the strangest atmosphere this time around.

  A cruise was supposed to be a happy time, a vacation. Sunshine, food, booze, and plenty of scantily-clad members of the opposite sex.

  The workers of LightningBlossom, though, were pacing around the ship like it was some sort of prison boat.

  “None of these guys even take their shirts off,” Cece said before slurping her soda. “I mean, since they’re nerds, it’s not like they’re packing something luscious anyway, but still, just humor me or something.”

  Sam, Cece and I were on our breaks, taking a seat in the theater room. The LightningBlossom people were filing in one after the other, dragging the heavy weight of the world behind them.

  “I’m going to tell Ryan you want that sweet pale nerd chest,” Sam replied.

  “Don’t try that on me. We both work on a cruise ship. We’re surrounded by this sort of thing. We have this healthy understanding in our relationship where if we just look and don’t touch, we’re not doing anything wrong.”

  “Sounds really mature and forward-thinking. The kind of relationship that’s going to be serious, huh. The kind of relationship where you plan on meeting his parents.”

  “Hey!” Cece wagged her finger at Sam. “I almost managed to forget my anxiety for a minute, but no, you had to bring it back up. Not cool, Sam. Not cool at all.”

  I chuckled and kept an eye open as the workers poured into the ship’s auditorium. Places like this were usually my best chance at spotting something askew with regards to my whole stalker problem. I made it a point when masses of people poured into the ship, into a room like this one, or otherwise, to be on my toes.

  A thought popped into my head. “Hey, how are things going with that Brock guy, Cece?”

  I was free of Holly’s enthusiasm currently, if only for a little while. Jane, Sam�
��s intern, was still AWOL and nowhere to be found.

  “Brock? Brock’s the best thing to happen to me on this ship in a while.”

  I raised an eyebrow her way. “Are you just making him do all the work for you?”

  “I mean, I wasn’t. I was going to just have him do most of it as I polished everything up and made it presentable, but that guy? He’s a damn cleaning prodigy. The rooms are spotless, his sheets expertly applied. Only thing I had to do was make towel swans.”

  “Not going to innovate?” Sam asked. “How about at least a towel duck? Towel goose?”

  “I’m not paid to innovate. If I was, I’d probably break away from towel birds in general.”

  Vernon and his executives were all on stage at a table, short of John Heaven, who I guess wasn’t there because he wasn’t truly an executive and didn’t have to deal with this show. The executives who were there looked as miserable as they had before.

  Vernon stood up in front of the room, his arms spread wide as he enunciated so the whole auditorium could hear him. “Ladies and gentlemen of LightningBlossom, I welcome you to the first annual LightningBlossom Championship and Detoxification Cruise!”

  Despite the oddball name, he got applause from the workers, who cheered him on.

  “Well, at least someone here likes him,” Sam mused. “His executive board hates him, but I imagine his employees don’t particularly mind a four-hour workday if they still get paid.”

  “They get paid for a whole day?” I replied with a whisper. “Even though they only work four hours?”

  “Yeah. More of his detox philosophy.”

  Vernon nodded and smiled, quite enjoying that someone approved of him for a change. “Now, first things first, I’ve been told many of you are asking when you will get your phones, laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices back.”

  Grumbling rose up from the crowd.

  “Rest assured, although our ship has set sail, all of your devices are kept under lock and key back on shore in New Orleans.”

  That statement made the workers erupt in boos. “This is cruel and unusual punishment!” one yelled.

  “I want off Mr. Vernon’s wild ride!” another shouted.

  “What’s with this response?” the CEO said. “It’s always been a detox cruise! You can’t detox if you’re bringing the toxificators along with you!”

  “Is toxificators even a word?” Cece asked me.

  I grabbed my phone and flipped to my web browser, typing in the strange word. “Not sure. Can’t check. The internet’s already down, for my phone at least.”

  “All of you are to use this time to get out in the sunshine and be human beings. Bask in the light—let it cleanse you!”

  “I’ve already taken two showers today!” one employee yelled back.

  “A spiritual cleansing!”

  “Spirits aren’t real!”

  “Your soul!”

  “Souls aren’t real either!”

  Just what this ship needed: a shouting match about theology and the nature of souls between belligerent nerds and… whatever Vernon was.

  “Gentlemen, gentlemen!” a rational voice shouted before the impromptu debate even began. Monica had stood and pushed Vernon back toward his seat. “Let’s all sit down and behave. This is supposed to be a vacation. For all of us. Even if all of us must attend.”

  “Mandatory vacations. What a laugh!” someone in the crowd shouted.

  “I said quiet!” Monica shouted back. “Mr. Nunn is very wise and very insightful. I for one am proud of his progressive and inspiring leadership strategies.”

  “No one asked you!” another heckler called out.

  She looked at the guy with scorn.

  “Monica, sit down before you make a bigger fool of yourself.” Benedict the money guy yelled out. “Vernon you too. If word gets out how foolish you all are, just think of how that could tank our IPO!”

  “IPO?” Cece asked. She wasn’t dumb in the slightest, but academics and technical jargon were never her strong point.

  “Initial Public Offering,” I explained. “When a company goes public for the first time, and everyone buys in, all of the people with a big share in the company get a massive payday.”

  “And these guys?” Sam pointed to all of the executives. “They probably have a lot of shares in the company. It looks like Vernon’s philosophies are stopping them from getting them that big payday.”

  “Everyone, sit down! Now!” Kayleigh yelled this time. “Especially you, masseuse. You don’t know a thing you’re talking about.”

  I was shocked Kayleigh was so obvious in her hatred, but apparently it was par for the course. None of the other executives looked particularly surprised at her outburst.

  “Some of them still have phones,” the man whose name I thought was Ivan said. “They could be recording your foolishness right now.”

  More bickering erupted, each of the executives talking over the other. It was purely verbal at least; no one was shoving or trying to start a fistfight. The workers were just cheering it on, joining in the chaos of hooting and hollering in the first bit of fun that they were having since they got aboard the ship.

  Finally, the CEO stepped in. “Enough!”

  It was the angriest and most affirmative I had ever seen Vernon before, and the shock of the moment was enough to get the attention that he wanted.

  “This meeting is over, and I don’t care if it only just started. I want to detoxify our company, not invite a whole new brand of toxicity into all of our lives. We need good vibes and good health. That’s what this trip is about. Everyone, executives, workers, you are all dismissed.”

  With that, the workers took the opportunity to flee the scene. Just as swiftly as they filed in, they filed out.

  Sam crossed her arms, shaking her head. “That was… That was something. I’ll say that much.”

  I let out a long breath. “This entire company seems like a powder keg ready to erupt.”

  Cece stood, stretching despite only being seated for what felt like ten minutes. “Man, I wanted to get into tech, but if anything is giving me second thoughts, it’s all of this nonsense.”

  “Most companies I don’t think are LightningBlossom, Cece. If they were, nothing would ever get done.”

  My eyes remained fixed on the stage, the enmity that was between all of them. How they all seemed to hate one another, ready to pull out the knives at a moment’s notice.

  How they all especially hated Vernon.

  It was enough to almost feel pity for a millionaire or billionaire, whatever he was. He didn’t seem like he was a bad person, just incredibly weird and maybe not having his priorities in order for someone leading such a potentially lucrative company.

  At least Monica didn’t seem to dislike him. But everyone just disliked her in turn instead.

  I got the oddest feeling in my gut, but I dismissed it. With my string of bad luck, I think I was just looking for patterns at this point.

  “At least we get to keep our phones,” Cece said. “Sure, our connections might be nuked and crud, but I can still play Symphonic Fantasy XVI.”

  I smirked. “If you have time to play video games, Cece, you have time to study for some sort of online program.”

  She unleashed a powerful eye roll. “Don’t rush me, Mom, I’ll check that out when my phone can do more than just play stupid games.”

  “Right. I guess you have an excuse. For now.” I stood up as well. “But do you know what time it is?”

  “Uh, dinner? Seems a bit early for that.”

  “Oh no. Remember what Kelly said about the LightningBlossom employees taking up all the typical cabins? How they wanted to reserve it just for LightningBlossom employees? For solidarity and everything?”

  Sam’s eyes lit up. “Oh. Oh yes.”

  “Lucky,” Cece said. “It’s back to work for me. Even if Brock is some sort of cleaning machine in a football player’s body, I gotta look busy and look like I’m contributing.” />
  I patted Cece on the shoulder, consoling her in coping with her daunting lot in life. “Woe is you, Cece the Supervisor. Just think of all the gaming you’ll get in.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Sam and I made our way down to the VIP lounge, and of course, found Kelly in her natural state.

  An anxious mess trying to juggle seventeen things at once, each of which was just as important as the other.

  We rolled up on her just as she hung up on a phone call, and right next to her was Holly.

  Kelly didn’t seem particularly happy to see us when she finally noticed our arrival.

  “I didn’t lose her this time! Promise! Cross my heart, hope to die.” I even did the motions to make the case seem more authentic. Not like she would believe me at this point.

  “No, no, it’s not that. It’s Jane.”

  “What? Something happened to my intern?” Sam was concerned, which wasn’t unheard of with what we tended to deal with on this ship.

  “She’s left us. And so soon.”

  Sam and I exchanged horrified glances.

  “No, no,” Kelly said. “Not like that. She’s a runner. Took off before the ship embarked, left me a note that I didn’t find until now.”

  “What’s up then?”

  “She complained that, uh…” Kelly was watching her words, eyeballing Holly, who was listening earnestly. “That this was an un-p-word position. Said she was above being a slave.”

  “Un-p-word?” Sam had already forgotten how to decipher Kelly’s euphemisms.

  “Jane didn’t agree that the compensation for her duties was appropriate for what she was being asked to do.” Kelly crossed her arms, trying to look like she wasn’t a penny-pinching boss. “I still think that we offer excellent compensation.”

  I chuckled to myself, not wanting to really get into it with Kelly right now. “I would probably say she saw the five days without the internet thing and ran far, far away from all of this like a lot of us were tempted to do.”

  “Don’t worry boss,” Holly said, pumping her arm. “I’ll work twice as hard to make up for her taking off, and show twice the enthusiasm!”

  “Not hard,” Sam replied. “Jane had zero enthusiasm to begin with.”