Day Six
85
After speaking to Alvirah and Ted, Celia reveled in the luxurious feeling of having nothing to do. No more lectures, she thought, just a final day of R & R before Southampton.
She threw back the down comforter, got out of bed, stretched and walked over to her balcony door. She slid it back and felt a stiff, cool, breeze, which made her nightgown flutter. The sea that had been very stormy and rough yesterday was only slightly calmer this morning.
Celia phoned and ordered scrambled eggs, an English muffin and coffee. When it was delivered, there was the daily newspaper also on the tray. She was tempted to ignore it, but she couldn’t resist the temptation to glance through it.
Not surprisingly, there was no mention of what happened to Lady Em or the necklace, but there was a notice about Steven’s case. His bail had been raised after the People magazine article in which he openly admitted guilt, the judge saying that he considered Steven an enhanced flight risk. “You bet he is,” Celia said aloud. She pushed away the thought that as soon as she got home she would have to meet with the FBI to be questioned again.
She finished breakfast, lingered over coffee, then slowly got up and turned on both the shower and the steamer in her bathroom. This is heaven, she thought, as she stood in the shower and washed her hair. She felt as though every pore in her body was expelling fear and apprehension. She turned off the shower, put lotion on her face and body and felt infinitely refreshed.
As she dressed, her mind was elsewhere. She was trying to work out what she would say if it became known that she had had the Cleopatra necklace in her suite the night of Lady Em’s murder.
Why would anyone believe that Lady Em gave it to me? she wondered. The answer was, they wouldn’t. Focus on the present, she ordered herself as she tied her robe back on, turned on the hair dryer and brushed her hair. After touching up her face with makeup, she went to the closet. She pulled out the new workout suit she had bought for the trip.
Don’t be silly, she told herself as she dressed. Ted Cavanaugh doesn’t have the slightest interest in me, especially after that article in People. He’s the kind of guy any woman would want. He was just being thoughtful when he asked me to have lunch with him.
It was still early, but when she was finished dressing, she looked in the mirror. She then went to the safe and took out the small gold earrings that her father had given her when she left for college.
He had said, “They were your mother’s. Now I want you to have them.” Then he added, “You have her face, her eyes and her laugh.”
What was my mother like? Celia asked herself. I suppose I should have missed her more than I did, but I was so young and Daddy was always there for me, day and night. I wonder if I demanded too much from him. Maybe he would have met and fallen in love with someone else if he hadn’t always been so concerned about me. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. I’ve been so selfish to blame him for my problems. It would have been more honest to blame myself. I’ve been blaming him for dying before I met Steven, for not being there to give advice.
What made me so anxious to fall in love? I was stupid. Absolutely stupid. But I know one thing. Daddy is with my mother, and I’m sure that he is happy.
She did not have time to pursue that thought, as the phone rang. It was Ted. “Is it okay if I come by in a few minutes to pick you up?”
“All set whenever you are.”
When he tapped on the door, she opened it. She could see the approval in his eyes as he linked her hand in his. “It’s pretty rocky out there,” he said. “I think it would be a good idea to hold on to each other.”
Celia snapped her lips closed before she could say, “Gladly, Ted, gladly.”
86
Gregory Morrison went to the Queen’s Lounge for breakfast reluctantly. He had no desire to see the questioning looks on people’s faces or answer their stupid questions about whether he thought anyone else was going to be suffocated or strangled. But it would look as if he were hiding from them if he took his meals in his room.
As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, Captain Fairfax had called him to say the storm was intensifying instead of diminishing. Dr. Blake told him the infirmary was getting overwhelmed by passengers with cases of seasickness. This is just great, he thought to himself bitterly. On my beautiful ship, if you were lucky enough to not get suffocated or strangled, you spent part of the voyage with your head in the toilet.
He had one consolation. Brenda Martin had not already come to her table. She’s probably in the galley torturing the pastry chef, he decided.
The truth was that the rolling of the ship had made Brenda queasy. She had been forced to cancel her plan to make her way to the lower three floors and regale the rest of the passengers by sharing her damsel-in-distress story with them.
Professor Longworth and Yvonne were at the table. Morrison was too distracted to realize that Yvonne was eyeing him with interest. She had researched him online and learned that he had been divorced for ten years and had no children. Besides being the sole owner of Queen Charlotte, he was also the owner of a fleet of twenty ships that specialized in river cruises. He’s sixty-six, she thought. About twenty years older than me, but that’s not too bad. I’ll have to invite him to visit East Hampton around Easter.
She smiled as Morrison chose a seat next to her. What was he saying? Oh, yes, “Did you realize that Queen Charlotte is in no way responsible when a passenger falls overboard?” We’ll see about that, she thought, as she gave him an even bigger smile. Then she noticed that a crew member had rushed over to Captain Fairfax and was whispering something to him. She watched as a surprised expression came over the Captain’s face, and he hurried over to Morrison.
“I need to have a word with you, Mr. Morrison. Please excuse us, ma’am,” Fairfax said as they moved a few feet away. The Captain spoke too softly for her to hear, but there was no mistaking Morrison’s response: “You mean the poor guy was floating for almost eleven hours?”
Oh, no, oh my God, no, Yvonne thought, but she made sure her expression revealed none of that as Morrison walked quickly toward her and said, “Wonderful news, Mrs. Pearson. Your husband was picked up by a passing ship. He has pneumonia, but he is recovering fast. He’ll be in Southampton one day after us.”
“Oh, I don’t know what to say,” Yvonne managed to utter before she closed her eyes and fainted.
87
Time was running out. Tomorrow at dawn they would dock in Southampton. There was less than twenty-four hours left to get the Cleopatra necklace. He had been so sure that Brenda was the one Lady Em would have trusted with it. Obviously, he had been wrong.
Who else? he asked himself as he paced the promenade deck.
It did not trouble him in the least that Brenda had lived. Her account about what happened in her room made it clear she had no idea who attacked her. He wondered what had motivated her to make up a story that her assailant had stolen a pearl necklace from her room.
By pulling the pillowcase over her head and then throwing her in the closet, he had been able to search her cabin. The Cleopatra necklace was not there.
He had not wanted to kill Brenda any more than he had wanted to kill Lady Em. But Lady Em woke up in time to get a clear look at him and might have seen through his disguise. With Brenda, it was a close call. He hadn’t even closed the door to his room when he heard the butler knocking on the door to her suite.
At the Captain’s cocktail party he had overheard the Captain asking Lady Em to allow him to keep the necklace in his private safe. Suppose she had changed her mind and decided to give it to him? She had not been feeling well that last night. But she had the necklace on as she went back to her room.
She had refused to let Brenda accompany her. Actually, Lady Em had appeared very cool toward Brenda that evening. He wondered if she was mad at her for some reason. If so, this would explain why she didn’t call Brenda to come and take the necklace.
Who was left that she might
have trusted? Probably Roger, but he had fallen overboard. She didn’t seem close to Yvonne. And certainly Yvonne looked bored whenever Lady Em spoke. The Man with One Thousand Faces was angry at himself. He should have thought this through more carefully before he went to Brenda’s room and waited for her.
Was there anyone else? His mind kept returning to Celia Kilbride. Lady Em had made it a point to have the young gemologist sit at her table. She had been in the front row for both of her jewelry lectures. It was apparent from one of the questions Lady Em asked that the two knew each other and had a cordial relationship. Lady Em appeared to enjoy talking to Celia more than she did to her late financial advisor or her personal assistant.
Did the Captain’s request to put the necklace in his safe make her nervous? Had he told her that the Man with One Thousand Faces might be on board? If that had happened and all of a sudden she was worried about the necklace, whom would she trust with it? It made sense. She would give it to the friendly young gemologist.
He reached into his sports jacket and searched the passenger registry for Celia Kilbride’s name. Her room was a short walk down the hallway from Lady Em’s suite.
She has to be the one, he decided.
88
Yvonne was helped to her cabin by two stewards. She asked them to settle her into one of the club chairs and then insisted they leave. The ramifications of Roger having survived the fall were settling in on her. What do I do if he says I pushed him? she asked herself. I will absolutely deny it. We both had had a lot to drink. I already said I was in the restroom before he went over. Then when I came out and he wasn’t there, I was so afraid that something might have happened. That’s when I called for help.
That sounds good and reasonable, she assured herself. She then realized she had another card to play. Nobody knows who killed Lady Em. I’ll tell Roger that I did it to protect him from going to prison. I don’t think Lady Em told anyone else about the planned audit.
I’ll make it all right. I know I can. And if he doesn’t believe me, I’ll tell him I’ll go straight to the police and tell them about Lady Em’s problem with her finances. That will do the trick.
Valerie and Dana must know by now that Roger’s alive. What do I say to them? I’ll tell them that when I received word that he was alive, all I wanted to do was give our marriage another chance. I knew that in our hearts we could fall in love again.
They’ll fall for it. I’m a very good actress.
89
Ted held Celia’s hand firmly and with the other hand braced himself against the railing of the corridor. “Why don’t we go down to the main deck?” he said. “The theory is that it’s the most stable spot on the ship.”
“Sounds good to me,” Celia agreed.
“I don’t think it will be crowded,” Ted said. “It’s too bad our last full day at sea is like this.”
They were the only ones on the elevator. When they got off on the main deck, the ship was discernibly calmer. The Tap Room was small, with a private bar. When they sat down, Ted opened the menu for her. “What’s your choice? After a glass of Chardonnay, of course,” he added with a smile.
“I’ve had so much rich food. Does grilled cheese, tomato and bacon on rye toast sound pedestrian?”
“Yes, it does,” Ted said. “Let’s order two.”
When the waitress came, he gave their order, and then when she was gone, he looked across the table at Celia. “I know you said you slept well. Does that mean you’re feeling better about things?”
“Yes, I am,” Celia said frankly. “And let me tell you why. I know I told you yesterday how much I missed my father, but then I realized I was angry with him for dying and for not remarrying so I would have brothers and sisters. Over several cups of coffee this morning, I realized what a nerve I had to blame him. And I realized how very selfish I had been. He was there for me 24/7 all my life. Who knows if he had taken more time for himself, if he would have met someone?”
“That’s a pretty big leap,” Ted observed.
“A necessary one,” Celia said. “And now I’ve told you all about myself, maybe more than you wanted to hear.”
“I hope you know I was very flattered that you took me into your confidence,” Ted said.
“I appreciate that,” Celia responded. “But now it’s your turn. Tell me about yourself and your family.”
Ted leaned back. “Well, let’s see. I think you’ve heard that my father was ambassador to Egypt—”
“And the Court of St. James’s,” Celia said.
“Exactly right. My parents were married right after they graduated from Princeton. My father went on to law school, and eventually became a federal judge. My mother would have happily lived in Westchester County all her life and raised us there, but my father was offered a job as a diplomatic attaché in Egypt. We moved there when I was six years old. My two little brothers were born there.”
“Where did you go to school?” Celia asked.
“I went to the American International School in Cairo. That’s where most of the diplomats’ kids went. I was there for eight years, and then my father was made ambassador to the Court of St. James’s. So we were in London the four years he served there.”
“I think I detect a slight British accent. Am I right?”
“You are right,” Ted said. “I was at Eton for my high school years. Then I went to Princeton and on to Yale Law School.”
“Did you enjoy living abroad?”
“I enjoyed it very much. Along the way I became fascinated by how British and Egyptian culture interacted over the years.”
“Do you miss living abroad?”
“No, to be perfectly honest, I don’t. I loved every minute of it, and I’m happy to travel back. One of my clients is Egypt’s minister of state for antiquities. I work to recover lost and stolen Egyptian artifacts throughout Europe and the United States. But like my mother, my preference is to live in the New York area.”
“That’s really interesting. How did you end up in the area of law you’re practicing?”
“Like so many things in life, it was chance. In my third year of law school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was interviewing with several of the big name litigation firms in New York. I saw a notice for this small, quirky Manhattan law firm that specialized in recovering stolen antiquities. Part of the job description said, ‘Familiarity with Egypt a plus.’
“Of course, I was intrigued. I went on the interview. There were two older partners looking to bring in new blood. We hit it off. I went with them. After being there seven years, they made me a partner.”
“Where in the city are you?”
“Our office is on Sixth Avenue and Forty-Seventh Street. I have an apartment in Greenwich Village, three subway stops away.”
“By yourself?” Celia asked.
“Definitely,” he said emphatically. “And may I assume your living status is the same?”
“Absolutely, definitely,” Celia confirmed.
They had finished the sandwiches. “I think this calls for a second glass of wine,” Ted suggested.
“At the risk of repeating myself, absolutely, definitely,” she agreed.
All morning Celia had wondered if she could confide in Ted about her last conversation with Lady Em. She waited until the waiter had delivered their wines and left.
“I want your opinion as a lawyer on what I’m about to tell you,” she said as she took a sip of the cold Chardonnay.
“I’ll be happy to give it to you, and I promise our conversation will be confidential,” Ted said, his eyes narrowing as he listened.
“On the night Lady Em died, I had just gotten back to my room around ten o’clock. Lady Em phoned and asked me to come to her suite right away and to bring my loupe. When I got there, she was not feeling well and was visibly upset. She told me she was sure that both her financial advisor, Roger Pearson—”
“The one who went overboard?”
“Yes, and her personal assistant, Brend
a, were cheating her. She handed me a bracelet and asked me to look at it. It was clearly a piece of junk. My examination confirmed that it was not the very expensive bracelet her husband had given her many years ago. She said she had no idea how many of her other pieces Brenda might have stolen and substituted over the years. Then she told me that earlier that morning she had told Roger that she was planning to have an outside accountant go over her financial affairs. She said she was very afraid that their conversation might have played a role in his going overboard that evening.”
Celia looked at Ted and could not gauge his response. “Lastly, and of great importance to you, Lady Em handed me the Cleopatra necklace. She asked me to take it to my room and give it to the Captain in the morning. She told me that she had changed her mind, she agreed with you, it belonged to the people of Egypt. She planned to turn it over to you when she got back to New York.”
“I had no idea,” Ted said.
“She did not want to put you in a position of suing the Smithsonian for it and having her husband and father-in-law’s names dragged into a scandal. Her understanding was that her father-in-law had paid a great deal of money for the necklace.”
“Where is it now?” Ted asked.
Celia took a deep breath and then continued. “You know about my problem with my former fiancé and his fund. When I learned that Lady Em had been murdered during the night, I realized I was in a terrible predicament.”
“I can understand that,” Ted said soothingly. “If I can ask again, where is the necklace?”
“I had to figure out who I could trust. I turned to Alvirah Meehan and explained the predicament I was in. She suggested I give the necklace to her and that Willy would hold on to it.”
“Celia, you did a really smart thing to protect the necklace. No one will suspect that Willy Meehan has it. But now I’m very worried about you. Whoever suffocated Lady Em and tried to kill Brenda clearly was looking for the necklace. Anybody who was watching Lady Em since this cruise began could easily see that you and she had become very friendly. Lady Em’s financial advisor didn’t have the necklace and Brenda didn’t have the necklace. Who does that leave?” He gently pointed at her. “You.”
All by Myself, Alone Page 17
