Blue Water Hues

by Vicki Delany

  I was soon shown into a well-equipped office. A woman dressed in the pale-blue shirt and navy skirt of management stood up from behind her desk. “How can I help you, Ms. Grant? I warn you that I don’t have much time. We’ve had some…staffing changes today, and I’m very busy.”

  “I won’t keep you. I need to speak to a hotel employee. Marilee’s her name. I’m sorry, but I don’t know her last name.” Too late, I realized I should have checked the ambulance’s records. After the fire Marilee had signed paperwork saying she didn’t need us to take her to the hospital. “She works in the kitchen.”

  “Not any longer.”

  “What?”

  “Perhaps you didn’t hear, but we had a small problem in the kitchen recently. Some of our staff has been replaced.”

  “But Marilee didn’t have any responsibility for that.”

  “She quit. This morning.”

  “She quit?”

  “That’s what I said. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

  “What reason did she give?”

  The woman raised one well-sculpted eyebrow. “I have no idea. I didn’t do an exit interview.”

  “I need to talk to her. Can I have her address?”

  “I can’t give that out.”

  “It’s a medical emergency. That’s why I’m here.” I indicated my uniform. Which was just a blue T-shirt with the V&A Islands patch sewn on the front and work pants I’d brought from Toronto. “We missed something last week when we checked her out after the fire.”

  “I hope it’s not too serious.”

  “Very serious. I need to get her to hospital. Before it’s too late.”

  She put her hands to her throat. “In that case, I’m sure I can help.” She tapped a few keys on her computer. Then she reached for a pad of paper and a pen. She jotted down an address and handed it to me.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Tell her the job’s still open if she wants to come back. We need good workers.”

  Simon was leaning against the ambulance, chatting to one of the gardeners. The woman held a wheelbarrow full of weeds and dead flowers.

  “Let’s go,” I said, wrenching open the door of the truck. “Code Delta.”

  “What’s that?” Simon said.

  “Lights and sirens.”

  “I didn’t hear the radio.”

  “I’m calling it.” I read out the address.

  We tore through town. Simon loved to have the siren on. I have to admit that after years on the job, I still got a thrill out of it. Although I’d never say so.

  If Marilee was here on a work visa, that visa was only good while she had a job. If she’d quit, she had to be going home. But she’d told me she needed the job to care for her family.

  She was afraid of something.

  Trevor and the others had been arrested. I didn’t know if they were still being held or if they’d been released on bail. But the police would be watching them.

  Marilee was safe. It was over. So why was she running away?

  Darlene had said all along that cheating in the restaurant didn’t seem like a motive for murder.

  There had to be something else.

  TWELVE

  “TOUGH AREA,” Simon said.

  The houses here were small, the road dusty. Loose garbage blew in the wind. Skinny dogs ran across the street.

  “Most of this is housing for temporary workers,” he said.

  We turned the corner. “That one, I think,” Simon said. The house was like most of the others on this street. Not much more than a shack of plywood and rusting tin. Some of the windows were broken and boarded over. The porch railing seemed to be held on by duct tape.

  A jitney sat in the street. Two women were in the back. Their heads turned in surprise as we pulled up behind them. They whipped back around, and the car drove quickly away.

  “Follow that cab,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Give them a blast of the siren. If they don’t stop, cut in front of them.”

  “I’m not cutting in front of anyone. We’ll be hit.”

  One of the people in the back of the jitney leaned over the driver’s shoulder. Telling him, no doubt, to keep going.

  Dreadlocks flew as the driver shook his head.The cab came to an abrupt halt. So abrupt that Simon almost crashed into the back of it.

  I leaped out of the ambulance. I ran toward the jitney and wrenched open the back door.

  “What the hell’s going on here, man?” the driver said.

  I ignored him. The two women in the back stared at me.

  “Marilee,” I said. “You can’t leave.”

  “Who are you?” the other woman said. She was Marilee’s sister. No doubt about that. They had the same stubborn chin and deep-set eyes.

  “We’ll miss our plane,” Marilee said.

  “You can catch another one,” I said.

  The driver got out of the car. “Simon, my man. What’s up?”

  “I never know with that one,” Simon said. The men shook hands and slapped backs.

  “The police raided the hotel,” Marilee said. “Some of the bosses were arrested.”

  “Why are you running away then?”

  The sisters looked at each other.

  “Whatever’s going on wasn’t stopped by the arrests, was it?” I said. “This is bigger than some fudging of accounts. Someone at the hotel cut the brakes on my friend’s car. I would have been killed except that my friend knew of an access road.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Marilee said.

  “Rhonda wasn’t so lucky. I think the same person who tried to kill us set the fire in which she died.”

  Marilee’s sister turned to her. “You told me the boyfriend killed her. Didn’t he?”

  “No,” I said. “It wasn’t him. Rhonda was mixed up in trouble at the hotel. She was murdered because of it. I’m Ashley, by the way. And I’m only trying to help.”

  “Justine. Nice to meet you. If you know something, Marilee, you need to say so. If people have died, we can’t just walk away.”

  Marilee sighed. She opened her door and got out of the car. Her sister did the same.

  We stood on the side of the road. A skinny dog sniffed my ankles. Tattered curtains twitched in the windows of nearby houses. The sun beat down on us. Simon and his friend talked about a guy they knew who’d made a lot of money recently.

  “What happened today?” I asked Marilee. “Why are you leaving so suddenly?”

  She hesitated, so Justine spoke. “He told Marilee to leave. He threatened her. Said if she didn’t go, today, he’d tell the police she was involved in cheating the hotel.”

  “Who did?”

  “Her boss, that Mr. Bellings.”

  “But he’s been arrested. He can’t make any more threats.”

  “He got out on bail,” Justine said. “They all did.”

  “Marilee?” I asked. “Is this true?”

  She started to cry. “All I want is to make enough money to support my children. I need my job, but I can’t go to jail. I have to leave. Now.”

  “He can’t just say you were involved. He has to have proof.”

  “You’re being naive,” Justine said. “Do you think the police are going to believe us over a white man? A hotel manager?”

  I thought of Alan Westbrook. “Yes,” I said. “That’s exactly what I believe. If you’re telling the truth.”

  “Tell Ashley what happened, Marilee,” Justine said. “You know it’s the right thing to do.”

  Marilee hesitated. Then she took a deep breath as she made up her mind. “He said I’d been seen talking to that nosy Canadian woman,” Marilee said.

  “I guess that means me.”

  She nodded. “He said I was getting everyone in trouble. The hotel would close down. Everyone would be out of work. He’d tell them it was my fault.” She started to cry. Justine put her arm around her sister’s shoulders.

  “This is about more than the quality of food in the
restaurant, isn’t it?”

  The sisters looked at each other.

  “I will talk to you,” Marilee said at last, “because you are with the police.”

  “I’m not actually with the police, but I work with them. Sometimes. Like at the fire.”

  “You will tell them I helped you?”

  “Yes. I will.”

  “He has been taking money from us. He says if we don’t pay him, he will have us fired. Many of us come from other countries.”

  “But the hotel needs the workers. He can’t just fire everyone,” I said.

  “Plenty more where we came from, he says.”

  “We’re still talking about Trevor Bellings, right?”

  “Yes, him.”

  “Did he say the same to you?” I asked Justine.

  She nodded. “Me and others.”

  “And you paid him?”

  “What could we do?” Justine said. “We didn’t want to be fired. There was one girl who refused to pay. She was a cleaner. He stole a ring from a guest’s room and put the jewelry in her locker. She was deported. I was afraid of him. We were all afraid of him.”

  “He saw me talking to you and your friend the other day,” Marilee said. That would have been shortly before Darlene and I almost went off the cliff. “He was very angry. He told me I was never to talk to you again. Then the police came. Mr. Bellings and some of the others were arrested. We were so happy. We thought he’d go to jail and not bother us anymore. But he was released.” She wiped away a tear. “He told me the charges were going to be dropped. That when he came back to work, if I was still there he’d have me arrested.”

  “The charges aren’t going to be dropped,” I said. I thought — I hoped — the police had a solid case. “Will you come with me to the police? Tell them what you told me about him stealing your wages. Then the police can dig further.”

  Marilee hesitated.

  “She’ll come,” Justine said firmly. “We’ll both come.”

  THIRTEEN

  SIMON AND I led the way to the police station. Marilee and Justine followed in the jitney. I went inside with the two women and asked to speak to Alan.

  He came out moments later. His eyebrows rose at the sight of me.

  “You’ll want to hear what these women have to say,” I said.

  “Let’s find an interview room,” he said.

  Marilee hesitated. Justine shoved her in the back.

  I went to follow them, but two things happened. First Alan held up a hand and said, “I’m sure this is private.” Then my radio squawked. Accident on the Leeward Highway.

  “Gotta run,” I said, as though leaving was my idea. “You can trust Sergeant Westbrook, Marilee.”

  The accident had been bad, and we were busy for the rest of the afternoon. I wanted to talk to Marilee to find out what had happened, but I had no way of contacting her. I called Alan but got voice mail.

  That evening he sent me a text. The women are safe. Thanks. Stay tuned.

  I heard nothing more for a couple of days.

  “You see this?” Simon said to me in the morning three days later. He waved the newspaper at me with a big grin.

  “No.” I grabbed it out of his hand and read quickly.

  For the second time in less than a week, the V&A police had raided the Blue Water Vista Resort. Several arrests had been made. Words like fraud and extortion were used. Unnamed staff members told the reporter they’d been forced to hand over part of their wages to their department heads. The owners of the resort were “shocked, shocked” to hear what had been going on.

  Another headline said Arrest in brutal murders. Trevor Bellings has been charged with the murders of Rhonda Michaels and Ralph Bosleigh.

  I whistled. “Wow. That’s great.”

  “There’s more.” Gord, our boss, came out of his office. “I just got word that the minister of state security has resigned. She wants to have more time to spend with her family. Or so the statement said.”

  “You think that has something to do with the Blue Water Vista?” I asked.

  “No doubt about it. Word is, everyone at the resort is pointing fingers at everyone else. All sorts of stuff is coming out in the open. She used her office to override the island’s environment committee and was no doubt being paid off because of it.”

  “You’re saying I brought down a cabinet minister.” Simon punched the air with his fist. “Man, folks are going to be buying me drinks all month.”

  “I had something to do with it,” I said.

  “I might mention your name,” Simon said.

  “Leave the ambulance service out of it,” Gord said. “The last thing I need is to be accused of political interference.”

  My phone rang, and I checked the display. “Good morning, Alan. I’m reading the paper now. It sounds like you’ve been busy.”

  “You might say that. I thought you’d like to hear what’s going on.”

  “I would.”

  “Dinner tonight?”

  “That would be nice.”

  “How about The Reef at seven?”

  “The Reef at seven it is.” I hung up with a smile.

  “Date tonight?” Gord said.

  I blushed. “Not a date. Sergeant Westbrook wants to thank me for helping with the case.”

  “Good thing I’m free tonight,” Simon said. “You should come too, Gord. He can fill us both in.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Gord said.

  “Call Darlene,” Simon said to me. “She helped a little bit. I’m thinking Antonia too. The Reef, eh? I know a lovely lady who’d like to go there.”

  “A lovely lady?” Gord said. “You mean, other than your wife?”

  “The missus and I are having a spot of trouble these days,” Simon said. “She’s gone to her mother’s. Nothing to concern yourself with.”

  “Uh…” I said.

  Our radios clattered to life, and we ran for The Beast.

  Alan arrived at the restaurant a few minutes late. If he was surprised to see me seated at a full table, he hid it well. “Is this a party?” he said.

  Sorry, I mouthed.

  He grinned. “Gang’s all here.”

  Gord was with his wife. Darlene had come with Antonia, Teddy and Teddy’s girlfriend. Simon had brought the gardener from the Blue Water Vista. The one he’d been trying to impress when we’d last been there.

  Before Alan had even sat down, people began shouting questions. “Let me get a beer first,” he said. “And I’ll tell you what I can. Remember, nothing has yet been proven in court.”

  “How are Marilee and Justine?” I asked after the waiter had taken Alan’s order.

  “Both back working at the hotel. They got promotions.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “Some of the middle-management jobs have suddenly become vacant. The hotel needed to promote a lot of people fast. I put in a word for them, but I didn’t need to. They both had excellent job records.”

  “Has Bellings confessed to killing my sister?” Teddy asked.

  “Yes. Trevor Bellings started making excuses the minute he was faced with the second round of charges.” He glanced at Antonia. “Rhonda was involved in the scheme to cheat the hotel on restaurant food and wine. I’m sorry.”

  Antonia dipped her head.

  “But,” Alan said, “she was getting cold feet. She did have a reputation as a chef to maintain. She finally balked at stealing from the employees. When she heard about that, she threatened to go to the hotel owners and reveal everything.”

  “So he killed her,” Darlene said.

  “Bellings says it was an accident. He set the fire to put a scare into her. To get her to back off. It got out of control.”

  “Do you believe that?” Gord asked.

  “I do. If Rhonda hadn’t gotten confused in the smoke and gone the wrong way, she would have made it out. But the death of Ralph Bosleigh was no accident. Bellings is an all-around bad character. The others we brought in say he bullied
them into helping with his schemes. Not that that’s going to help them much. They were happy enough to spend the money they made out of it.” He took a drink of his beer.

  “Ralph. What about Ralph?” Darlene said.

  “Ralph Bosleigh and Trevor Bellings were involved in another get-rich-quick scheme. Ralph was at the hotel that afternoon to talk about it. They had a falling out and argued. Ralph left. After Rhonda died, Bellings needed to get police attention away from goings-on at the hotel. He knew Ralph and Rhonda were a couple. So he killed Ralph and tried to make it look like a suicide.”

  Teddy took his mother’s hand. “Rhonda tried to do the right thing in the end,” he said.

  “And was killed for it,” Darlene said.

  “And us,” I said. “Bellings fixed the brakes?”

  “He clammed up about that. We asked the morning staff if they’d seen anyone in the hotel parking lot who shouldn’t have been there. Quite a few of them described you.”

  “We know I was there.”

  “One man was late for work. He’d had car trouble. He got to the hotel in time to see Bellings walking down the path ahead of him. Bellings had no reason to be there. He doesn’t own a car. Gets to work by taxi every day. The witness says the back of his shirt was dusty. We think we can get him on attempted murder also.”

  “Good,” I said, remembering the steep cliff. The waves crashing below.

  “Thanks to Ashley, the whole rotten structure came tumbling down,” Alan said.

  “Darlene and Ashley,” I said.

  “And me,” Simon said to the gardener. “We chased the chief witnesses down in the ambulance. It was touch and go for a few minutes. I wanted to throw ourselves in front of them, but Ashley was afraid to do that.”

  Alan lifted his glass to me in a private toast. I gave him a wink in return

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks to Barbara Fradkin, a great Canadian mystery writer, for providing valuable comments on this manuscript. And to Ruth and the Orca Rapid Reads team for believing in literacy.

  VICKI DELANY is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers, and a national bestseller in the United States. She has written more than twenty-five books, from clever cozies to Gothic thrillers, gritty police procedurals to historical fiction, and novellas for adult literacy. Under the pen name Eva Gates, she writes the Lighthouse Library Mystery series for Penguin Random House. Her novel Elementary, She Read is the first in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series from Crooked Lane. Vicki is the past president of the Crime Writers of Canada. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki’s first book in the Rapid Reads series, Winter Kill, features rookie constable Nicole Patterson. Blood and Belonging is the third book in the Ray Robertson Mystery series, following Juba Good and Haitian Graves. White Sand Blues and Blue Water Hues are the first two books in Vicki’s latest series, featuring paramedic Ashley Grant. For more information, visit vickidelany.com.