Masked to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery Book 5)

by Christina Freeburn

  John looked so forlorn. It plucked at my sympathy. I bit my lip. This was a celebration for Garrison and Bob. I didn’t want their wedding and honeymoon ruined, nor could I stand by while a deeper wedge was driven between John and his sons. I knew Ted hoped for reconciliation between his dad and Bob, though I didn’t know why they were estranged.

  “The captain and cruise line want this done quietly. If the public knew a jewel thief was targeting passengers, it would bankrupt the line,” John said.

  “People are going to find out.”

  “It wouldn’t linger as long in the news if it’s solved.”

  True. “Why don’t you ask one of your sons?”

  A loud rap startled me. “What are you doing in there? The muster drill starts soon. I need time.”

  “You said be careful,” I shouted back, pulling back the curtain of the small shower. “It takes time to change.”

  “Hurry up, and treat the dress delicately,” the bossy designer said.

  I pointed at the shower. “Get in.”

  “We’re not done,” John said.

  “I need privacy to change.”

  “Ted and Bob can’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Why?”

  He stepped into the shower. “I was banned from the wedding, and their mother is one of the suspects.” With those words, he drew the curtain closed.

  “I’ve called for reinforcements. You’re in for it now.”

  Please not Odessa. The last thing I wanted was for her to find her ex-husband, who she didn’t invite to the wedding, hiding in my room. I had tons of questions for John, but first I needed to show the designer the dress before he beat the door down.

  I shimmied into the dress. The fabric skimmed my body; the hem was irregular, like small scarves had been added to the skirt. It flowed around my calves in some places, grazing the bottom of my knees in others. The tiny mirror in the bathroom didn’t allow me to see how I looked in the dress. I slipped out of the bathroom and caught my reflection in the full-length mirror beside the couch.

  The dress hugged my body perfectly. It showed my shape without being skintight, and the gauzy material gave the dress an elegant feel. I twisted. The fabric danced with me, swishing and gliding, the rhinestones winking when the light hit them. If Odessa wanted me to look like I stepped out of a fairy tale, she nailed it.

  “Quinn, Quinn, Quinn.” He waltzed around me, delight making his eyes glow. “You have outdone yourself this time. The lines are beautiful. Fabric choice exquisite. This is a masterpiece. And to think it’s wasted…”

  I shot him a glare. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Just a small adjustment here…” Quinn pinched a centimeter of fabric at my waist.

  I scooted away from him, feeling very protective of my dress and wanting Quinn gone so John could leave my room. “If you take the dress in, I might not be able to move freely.”

  “Odessa has a look she is going after.”

  “I doubt a smidgen of loose fabric will ruin her look.”

  Quinn crossed his arms and gave me a haughty look. “I am the designer. I am the one whose head will roll if your appearance isn’t perfect. I expect you to cooperate while I make adjustments to the wedding outfit.” Quinn tugged out a small box of pins from his coat pocket. “No more arguments from you, Missy.”

  “That’s not my name.” I edged toward the middle of the room, not wanting to box myself into a corner. From the look in Quinn’s eyes, I knew the only thing stopping him from wrestling me to the ground to complete the alternations was fear of ruining the dress—and Odessa.

  “Get over here so I can finish. I need time to make the corrections. The muster drill will be announced soon. You need to know where were lifeboat station is located.”

  I kind of hoped I wouldn’t need to know where it was, though I knew the ship wouldn’t leave port until every passenger checked into their muster station. “There’s nothing to fix.”

  “You have given me no choice.” He pulled out a cell phone, fingers flying over the virtual keyboard.

  I needed him out of my room. I was sure he was tattling to Odessa that I was an unreasonable wedding guest. “You made a perfect dress. Beautiful.”

  There was a knock on the door. Quinn yanked it open. “Your attendant is not cooperating with me.”

  Garrison stepped into the room, sending me an apologetic smile. Relief flowed through me. He was better than Odessa or Bob showing up.

  “I’m sure Faith is just overwhelmed. She’s meeting Odessa Roget for the first time, a woman who could potentially be her own future mother-in-law. That has to be nerve-racking.”

  Quinn’s expression softened. “Odessa is a force to be reckoned with.”

  Garrison took hold of my hand and twirled me. “Faith looks absolutely beautiful. I must concede, Odessa was right insisting you make the dresses, Quinn. We’d never have found something off the rack with this quality and attention to detail.”

  Quinn blushed. “I am known for my beading. With the fairy wings I designed, this lovely gown will transform instantly into a costume for the ball.”

  Fairy wings. I pressed my lips together. Starting an argument wouldn’t get either man out of my room. There was plenty of time to plead my case on why an almost thirty-year-old woman was too old for wings.

  “The tiara,” Garrison said. “I want to see the whole look.”

  Quinn let out a shocked gasp. “How could I have forgotten the crowning touch?”

  A tiara. And fairy wings. What in the world had Odessa created and the grooms gone along with?

  Quinn rushed over to the bed, took off the lid of the black box, and reverently reached inside and pulled out a sparkling tiara fit for a seven-year-old. Rainbow-colored crystals trimmed the headpiece, and sticking up an inch from the base of the tiara was a very large gold filigree heart with three round crystals. I liked bling. I liked glitter. But more than that, I wanted to look like a grown-up, not a little girl playing dress-up. A fairy princess outfit didn’t bring out the temptress in a woman. When Ted saw me, he should want to secret me away, not hand me a lollipop.

  “Speechless. I know. It’s magnificent. Odessa wants everyone in the wedding party to wear one.” Quinn’s voice told me he was getting miffed with me. His phone buzzed. He looked down and blanched. He thrust the tiara at Garrison. “Odessa wants me. Now.”

  “Go on.” Garrison shooed him out of my room. “We all know Odessa comes first.”

  A frazzled Quinn scurried out of my room.

  Garrison gave me a one-armed hug. “A little tip for you, honey. It’s easier to go along with Odessa. She’s a great lady, but doesn’t understand the word no when it’s used on her.”

  “Wonderful.” And the man she banned from the wedding was hiding in my bathroom.

  Garrison squeezed me tighter. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “I’m not worried.”

  “You can’t fool me. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression of Ted’s mom. She’s an opinionated lady. Had to be considering she was married to an unyielding man.” A darkness crossed Garrison’s face. “When Bob told his parents he was gay, his dad disowned him. Immediately. They haven’t talked to each other for fifteen years.”

  “That’s horrible.” What a louse. How could a parent turn away their child just because of who they loved? I definitely had no interest in helping the man.

  “He refused to allow Bob in his house. Odessa told John either he accepted and loved Bob or she’d leave. John pointed at the door and said, ‘There’s the exit,’ so she left.”

  Their mother is a suspect. John’s words took center stage in my brain. I had been married to a scheming, deceiving man who knew how to manipulate the legal system. Adam had known just enough about the law to make my life miserable and almost got me sent to prison for his crime. John Roget knew the legal system backwards and forwards from having been a FBI agent for over thirty years. He knew exactly the scenario to create so Odessa ended up in pri
son for the rest of her life.

  John Roget was going to have my help—or so he’d believe.

  TWO

  A bolt-you-out-of-bed alarm filled the room, followed by an announcement from the captain.

  “Muster drill,” Garrison said.

  I hustled us both out of the room, hoping no one saw John sneaking out. “If I get the dress dirty, Quinn will have a fit.”

  Garrison slipped off his decorated windbreaker-style jacket and draped it over my shoulders. “Here you go.”

  On the right-hand side, there was an embroidered cruise ship with wedding bells floating over the ship and the word “groom” underneath in a cursive font. I zipped it up. “Let me guess, a gift from Odessa.”

  “Ronnie, my best friend. She’s eccentric. She also had jackets made for Bob and Ted.”

  A crew member wearing an orange vest waved a sign with an arrow and the word “exit” toward the stairs. “Everyone to the stairs. Have your room key out.”

  Crew members looked at the cards and directed us to the floor where our lifeboat stations were. Garrison was on the sixth deck, while I had to go up to the eighth. I followed the dwindling group to my destination. I walked out of the lobby and onto the deck. It was chilly. It looked like most of the cruise goers had already made it to the station. There were large groups lined up in rows at the end of the deck.

  “How many in your party?” a crew member asked. He ran a handheld scanner over the back of my room key.

  Wasn’t it obvious? “One.”

  A security guard directed me to the last row.

  I walked toward a blonde woman who was draping a pale pink scarf over her wide-brimmed hat. She knotted it under her chin. The silk material matched the scarf she wore as a belt.

  “The wind wants to snatch my hat right off,” she said.

  I adjusted the tiara on my head and took a selfie, the first picture for my travel journal. “Hopefully we won’t be out here too long. My legs will turn into an ice pop.”

  “That wouldn’t be good considering you have a wedding to attend.” She smiled at me.

  How did she know?

  “I was worried about the whole tiara thing, but it looks quite lovely. I would’ve gone with all pastel stones as the clear one seems out of place. You were smart to get ready early. Once this is over, I won’t have much time to put on my matching dress and fix my face. I look a mess.” Her makeup was artfully applied, and her navy-blue pants paired with a white blouse decorated with tiny red anchors were the perfect outfit for the cruise. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun with honey blonde tendrils curling beside her ears and down her neck. I found it hard to believe this woman ever looked a mess.

  “You look wonderful. You must be Ronnie.” I hid my annoyance behind a bright smile. John and the captain had already plotted out my help in the matter. It was not a coincidence I was in the same muster station as Ronnie.

  “The one and only. I was so excited when Garrison called me and told me he and Bob were finally getting married. If any couple deserves to tie the knot, it’s those two. I just hope Odessa doesn’t forget this event is about them and not her.”

  “You know Bob and Ted’s mom?”

  “Yep.” Ronnie let out a long sigh. “I work with her. Or used to. I’ve taken a sabbatical from entertaining on the ship. We can be cruise partners.” Ronnie linked her arm through mine. “Garrison will be spending all his time with Bob, and since I’m not working this cruise, I’ll have plenty of free time.”

  Why did John leave out the tidbit about Ronnie working on the ship?

  “I’m not by myself,” I said. “I am right now because Ted is in a different room, so he’s at another station, but we’re together on the cruise.”

  “I’m sure your man plans on spending time with you.”

  For some reason, I had the impression Ronnie was humoring me. I wasn’t sure if it was the half-sad smile or the sympathetic look in her eyes.

  A woman squealed from the line beside us, a mix between shock and alarm. She shoved her fingers through her gray curls, ruffling them into a chaotic halo around her head. The lines on her face deepened and her mouth quivered. She lifted her arm, the sleeve of her oversized Hawaiian print shirt decorated with cavorting dolphins bunched around her underarm. “My diamond bracelet is gone.”

  “It’ll be all right, my love.” The gentleman next to her wore a matching outfit, except his was paired with white knee socks and sneakers instead of sandals. A straw sun hat was tugged low over his forehead. “I can always buy you a new one.”

  “The clasp must’ve broken, Glenda. It’s probably by your feet.” An elderly woman with a cane attempted to lean down. Her movements were awkward and jerky.

  “I hope so.” The woman shuffled her sandaled feet from left to right, then forward and back as she studied the ground. “It’s not here. It’s not here.” Panic grew in her voice.

  “We’ll help you look.” I elbowed Ronnie gently. We couldn’t stand around doing nothing.

  Ronnie pressed her lips together. She was not pleased by my suggestion. Her attitude surprised me until I spotted the young guy at the end of the line—William Hastings, the man from the picture. I might be able to prove John’s case before we even left port.

  “We’ll be fine.” The woman with the cane smiled at me. “I wouldn’t want you to get your lovely dress dirty. William will help us. Won’t you, dear one?”

  “Of course, Ruth.” William had a distinct voice, a southern drawl with the ending of words clipped off. Gathering the fabric of his trousers near the pockets, he hiked them up and squatted down. William duck-walked to the railing. The cruisers around us stayed in their line, watching with curiosity.

  Hunching over, I scanned the deck around me. Nothing. I took a step forward, repeating the process.

  “Didn’t I tell you he was a dear?” Happiness rushed through Ruth’s voice.

  “That you did. It’s such a shame your son-in-law and daughter canceled at the last minute,” Paul said.

  William backed up inch by inch from the rail.

  “I’ve chosen to see the rainbows, not the storm. If they hadn’t backed out, you and Glenda wouldn’t have been able to travel on this cruise. We’ve always wanted to cruise together.” Ruth’s smile slipped for a moment. “One can’t cruise forever.”

  “Do you see it?” Glenda worried her hands together.

  “I see it.” Ronnie pointed toward the deck near the rail where William had been. Half hidden behind a white column, a bracelet sparkled.

  “I was leaning over the railing earlier,” Glenda said. “It must’ve snagged on something.”

  “I’ll get it.” I reached for it at the same time William lunged to pick it up. Our heads knocked together. Pain blinded me and I fell onto my backside. My tiara slipped off, clattering to the deck.

  It hit Ruth’s cane. The tiara skittered toward the edge of the deck.

  I couldn’t lose it. I crawled toward it.

  “What is going on?” The security guard glared down at me. “Get back in line. We’re still having the drill.”

  “I dropped something.” I continued forward, hoping everyone remained calm until I retrieved my prize. The tiara was half on, half off the deck.

  “Let me get that.” William lost his balance as he reached for it. His fingers nudged the tiara.

  It was the final push needed. The tiara plunged from the deck, doing somersaults in the air. The stones caught the sunlight, casting tiny sparkles around it. It stopped its descent when it landed on the lifeboat below us.

  “No,” I wailed. I collapsed onto the deck. The finishing touch for Odessa’s masterpiece wedding was only eight feet below me. I had helped bring four murderers to justice—five if I counted my ex-husband. That was harder than climbing down the side of a ship and getting a tiara. Right? I eyed the distance and the railings. It would be doable, except for the fact there was no ladder and I wasn’t Spiderman.

  Ronnie rushed over. “Are you hurt?�
�

  “My tiara is down there,” I said.

  “Sorry about that,” William said, the apology not ringing true to my ears.

  Ronnie stared at him for a long moment before she leaned over the railing. “It’s on the lifeboat. No problem.”

  No problem? She was a woman, not a trained spider monkey. “I don’t think the captain will lower the rafts for a crew member to get it.”

  “The raft is fine where it’s at.” Ronnie untied the scarf belted around her waist and the one keeping her hat on her head. “I always come prepared.”

  “Don’t you dare,” the security guard said.

  “You know I love a good dare.” With that, Ronnie attached the scarves together. She slung her right leg over the safety rail.

  “Stop.” Even though the security guy repeated the warning, he made no move to back the words with actions. “I forbid you to rappel down.”

  Ronnie looped the scarf around the rail. She wrapped the ends around her body, leaving two feet of the scarf to trail down in a rippling wave.

  “The last time you did that you had to take a sabbatical,” the guard said.

  Ronnie’s laugh sounded like the tinkling of bells at Christmas time. “If I do it for a show in the atrium, I’m a sane cruise performer. Do it off a railing from a deck and I’m a lunatic. Never could figure that one out.”

  “Please don’t.” I placed a hand on Ronnie’s arm. I glared at William. Why wasn’t he doing more to stop his sister from doing something so dangerous? “I don’t want you getting hurt. It’s just a silly tiara. I’m sure Odessa will understand.”

  “Then you don’t know Odessa.” Ronnie lifted her other leg over the railing and sat on it. With a cheerful wave, she pushed herself off and used the scarf to twirl herself down. The cruisers crowded the railing.

  Her feet touched the lifeboat. Keeping hold of the end of the scarf, she tiptoed her way over to the tiara and picked it up. She pulled out the left side of her sweater, exposing her lacy red bra. She tugged the strap away from her skin, weaving the tiara through the strap like it was a crochet hook. “I’m coming back up.”