[Scarlet Wilson 05] - Miz Scarlet and the Perplexed Passenger

by Sara M. Barton

  “Actually, I’m ex-FBI and I normally work out of the corporate office in Miami. When Kenny asked me to recommend one of our ships for a cruise, I decided to come along and catch up with an old friend. It’s a great excuse for me to check on the ship’s security procedures. We’ve had some recent personnel changes. The security officer’s only been here three months; he transferred from different cruise line. There’s also a new staff captain. Roberto is the number two man on the ship, just under the captain in rank, and as such, he’s responsible for overseeing the security team. This is only his second sailing for Royal Caribbean.”

  “Your people are certainly getting a workout on this cruise,” I acknowledged. “I assume Liberty of the Seas isn’t usually a hot bed of criminal activity.”

  “You’ve got that right. We’ve had a jumper or two in the last decade, and even the occasional daredevil guest who had a little too much to drink and decided to practice his gymnastics routine on the balcony, but nothing of this magnitude. I never expected to have a murder drop into my lap, but then, you are sailing with us. I’ve heard all about your uncanny knack for attracting trouble.”

  “It’s not my fault these things happen when I’m around!” I protested.

  “Sure, sure. You’re not a crime magnet, Miz Scarlet. You’re just an innocent bystander hanging out on Murderer’s Row.”

  “What exactly did you tell him, Kenny?” I wanted to know.

  “Are you kidding?” Marley slipped an arm around Kenny’s shoulder and gave him an overly enthusiastic bear hug, nearly knocking him off his feet. “I have to admire a woman who can keep this guy on his toes. You’re legendary.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Legendary. Ken told me you pushed a killer off his perch with a platter of canapés at Christmas. And I heard all about how you cleaned up a big case on the Jersey Shore. That’s not a shabby track record for an amateur sleuth.”

  “Don’t forget the Sorkin case,” Kenny reminded him. “I told you about that one. It was the first time I’d seen Miz Scarlet in decades. There she was in the woods, literally tripping over a dead body in the snow.”

  “That was not my favorite moment,” I admitted, shivering at the memory of that ghastly sight up on White Oak Hill. “Well, at least nobody got killed at the Pinault-Magnusdotter wedding. That one had a happy ending.”

  “Have you forgotten all the mayhem in the meantime? I lost a lot of sleep watching out for you, Miz Scarlet!”

  “Okay, I’ll grant you that wedding ceremony didn’t go off without a hitch or two....”

  “Speaking of which, when are you two going to tie the knot?” Marley broke in, smiling broadly. He gave me a wink. A scowl came over my heartthrob’s face as he noticed the gesture.

  “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be, Horny?” Kenny growled.

  “As a matter of fact, I do,” he laughed, enjoying the sight of his old friend bristling. “See you folks at dinner.”

  No sooner had the door closed behind Marley than Kenny spoke. “Pay no attention to that idiot, Scarlet. He likes to stick it to me by stirring the pot. It’s a bad habit he got into in our senior year of high school and he’s never given it up.”

  “That explains all the hit-and-run kamikaze flirting.”

  Kenny sat down on one of the twin beds, suddenly lost in some hidden corner of his mind. The silent minutes ticked on while I waited for him to pull himself together. At long last, he let out an almost primal groan that seemed to come from deep inside. “Now I get it. It took me all this time, but I finally get it.”

  “I’ll bite. What do you get?”

  A humorless laugh escaped from those lips. Marley Hornsby had somehow struck a very raw nerve and the pain Kenny felt came rushing to the surface.

  “When Jillian and I got engaged five years after we met, Hornsby suddenly felt compelled to pledge his undying love to her. She swore up and down that she wasn’t encouraging him, but I didn’t buy it. I accused her of being flattered by the jerk’s attention. It only got worse after we got married. Some of the biggest fights we ever had were because of Hornsby. It never occurred to me the guy was doing it to get my goat. I thought he was genuinely in love with Jillian. I felt sorry for the runner-up.”

  “And now you finally see the light?” I put an arm on Kenny’s back and rested my chin on his shoulder, silent for a few minutes. “The only thing he’s in love with is besting you.”

  “It’s unbelievable. He doesn’t even know you, but he’s already moving in for the kill. I feel bad about how I treated Jillian. I should have believed her. But Hornsby and I both met her at the same time. Back then, it was every man for himself. I was triumphant. I got the beautiful girl and Hornsby got nothing but heartache.”

  “On the contrary, Kenny, I disagree. Your friend Marley got you to doubt Jillian, which caused the arguments that made both of you miserable. How much of a jerk were you to Jillian?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Actually, Captain Peacock, I do want to know, just in case Marley manages to get under your skin during the cruise. I like to be prepared for emergencies.”

  “I actually tried to catch her in the act by tailing her.” He sighed, clearly exasperated with himself. “I don’t think of myself as a jealous guy, Scarlet, but I was nearly out of my mind thinking she was cheating on me.”

  I admit I was surprised by that. “I always think of you as so cool-headed and calm.”

  “I am normally, but for some reason, Hornsby pushes all my buttons.”

  “And he enjoys every second of it,” I pointed out. “Maybe that’s why he decided to come along on this trip.”

  “I walked right into that one, didn’t I? I told him all about you and suddenly he rearranged his business calendar.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s too late to make it up to Jillian, but you can make sure you don’t get sucked in again, especially now that you know he’s trying to drive you crazy.”

  “I’ll just ignore him.”

  “You really believe that will work with a guy like that?” I scoffed at the notion. “He’ll just try harder to get your attention.”

  “Are you suggesting that he’ll make a play for you?”

  “You don’t think he will?”

  “Oh, Horny will make his pitch all right, but I don’t think it will be anything like his efforts to break up Jillian and me.”

  “Why is that? I’m not as attractive as Jillian?”

  “I didn’t say that. You have to remember that Jillian, Marley, and I were all in the same chemistry class in high school. She was an absolute wiz when it came to science. She had brains and beauty.”

  “Hmm....” What am I? Chopped liver?

  “Not that you’re not smart and beautiful, Scarlet,” he added as an afterthought. That was just a little too slow on the uptake, Captain Peacock.

  “No, it’s okay. I get it. I’m second string, filling in because the varsity star can’t play the ball.”

  For the first time since we started seeing each other, I had serious doubts about how deep Kenny’s affection for me went. Was I really just a replacement for the woman who died? Up until this moment, I had never doubted Kenny and I shared something powerful in high school. For me, the longing never abated. But after he moved to New Jersey, Jillian captured his attention and he forgot all about me. They married, built a life together, and along the way, had a couple of kids and some happy years. She died, not from the multiple sclerosis that plagued her, but from a freak fall on some steps. It’s hard to compete with a ghost, especially one I probably would have been friends with had she lived.

  “I never said that!” he countered defensively.

  “You didn’t have to, Kenny.” Despite being reunited with the boy who set my heart afire in high school, I had to admit there was still a big part of him that belonged to his first wife. “I’m going for a walk. I need to clear my head.”
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  “You’re upset. I’ll come with you.”

  “Please don’t,” I replied in a voice heavy with disappointment.

  What I really needed was to be up on deck, where I could feel the sea breeze on my cheeks. I wanted all these doubts to blow out to sea. But where could I go to be alone, or nearly alone, given the fact I no longer had a balcony?

  “The Solarium,” I said aloud to myself as I made my way down the hallway. I punched the button for the elevator and when it came, I took it all the way up to Deck 11.

  The adult pool was deserted at this time of day. Most people were back in their rooms, getting ready to go to dinner. I chose a chaise lounge facing the ocean and sat myself down on it. As beautiful as the horizon was, I found it to be a distraction from the gut-wrenching storm raging inside me. I closed my eyes and tried to decide whether I was overreacting to Kenny’s ties to his old life, but my efforts were interrupted.

  “I was wrong,” said a voice just a few feet from me. I opened my eyes reluctantly. Kenny, dressed in tan slacks, a short-sleeved navy madras shirt, and boat shoes, was still so boy next-door. He knocked my heart for such a loop that registered a solid 6.5 on the Richter scale. Was I about to lose him again? “What I should have said to you is that sometimes I still struggle with the idea that I can love anyone as much as I loved Jillian. Truth be told, I would be torn if she was still here and I had to choose between you. I’m lucky to have had Jillian as my wife, Scarlet. That won’t ever change. But I also know that I can’t imagine life without you and I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I’m not sure....” I started to say as I gazed up at the man standing there, but he put up a hand to stop me.

  “In some ways, you’re still that naive teenage girl I was so nuts about. I didn’t want to think about Horny hitting on you. The thought just made me crazy. Maybe by overreacting I was trying to convince myself you were different, that you’d never be tempted.”

  “But you said Jillian wasn’t.”

  “No, but that didn’t stop me from acting like a complete idiot. I didn’t like myself much back then, and I guess I’m worried that I’ll do to you what I did to her.”

  “Either that or you’ll punch Marley’s lights out. That might be the better option.” I watched his face soften as he laughed at my attempt at humor.

  “If we’re going to take our relationship to the next level, I need to know you can handle this, Scar. If I get stupid, you have to help me stop myself.”

  “What is the next level exactly?”

  “It’s the part where we find out what we would have had together if I hadn’t moved to New Jersey. How does that sound?”

  “That sounds pretty good.”

  “It sounds pretty good to me too.”

  “Can I ask you something important?” I figured this was a good time to change the subject, given that he felt the need to be nice to me.

  “Sure.”

  “If you were going to commit a murder, would you toss your victim over the railing in broad daylight, when there might be a rescue effort mounted, or would you wait until dark, so you’d be less likely to be spotted?”

  “Oh Scarlet, are we back to the murder again?” He rolled his eyes and let out a big sigh, exasperated.

  “Humor me. Why would someone dispose of the body in the middle of the day and risk being seen? Why not wait until dark to do it?”

  “Scoot over,” Kenny insisted, tapping my knee lightly with his fingers. I moved to the left to make room as he settled himself at the foot of my chaise lounge, stretching his long legs out before him. “You’re lucky I like you because you can be one very persistent woman!”

  “It’s all part of my charm.”

  “Indeed.” He pulled me close and kissed me hard on the lips, leaving no doubt about his feelings toward me. Once I was convinced, he got back to my question. “Okay, let me think. Why would the killer toss the body overboard in daylight? The most logical answer is that he felt confident that no one would see him.”

  “Or,” I paused, considering other possibilities, “he had an accomplice who could give him an alibi.”

  “Meaning there was more than one person who conspired to murder the man?”

  “What’s his wife like?” I wanted to know.

  “Don’t you want to know where they’re from, how long they’ve been married, whether his wife is adept with a knife?”

  Chapter Four --

  “Sarcasm, Captain Peacock?”

  “Let me say it again, love. You are not on this cruise to solve a murder, no matter how capable you think you are of doing so. Horny’s an experienced investigator with twenty years as an FBI agent and another three with Royal Caribbean security. He’s got a ship’s security officer with equally impressive credentials, and a team that consists of deputy security officers, guest security supervisors, and even security guards. You’ll notice that I used the word ‘security’ several times to describe the personnel. That’s because they all have training in protecting the ship’s passengers and crew.”

  “True,” I nodded. “You did use the word ‘security’ several times. Of course, that’s not to say they’re trained to solve a mystery like this, is it?”

  “Honey, you know you’re going to drive me....”

  I shut him up with a kiss. I figured that would distract him long enough for me to figure out a way to get more information on the case.

  Oh, sure. You’re wondering why I would try to insert myself into a murder case at sea. After all, I’m an innkeeper from Cheswick, Connecticut, a village the size of a postage stamp, and it’s true I have no background in law enforcement. But I have had some luck in solving some rather impressive cases. Or maybe luck is the wrong word to use. The fact is I worked hard at getting rid of trouble that plagued the Four Acorns Inn. We’ve had our share of break-ins and stalking incidents. We’ve even had a couple of murders, but I promise you it wasn’t my fault those people wound up dead -- they were involved in a criminal conspiracy. We even had a couple of prospective murderers try to carry out their foul misdeeds on our property. Luckily, those efforts were thwarted, mostly by me. It’s amazing how creative you can get when you’re staring into the eyes of someone who wants you dead.

  Along the way, I made fast friends with Laurencia “Larry” Rivera, an experienced homicide investigator for the Connecticut State Police, and that gave me the opportunity to pick up some techniques that I was sure would come in handy on this Liberty of the Seas case. It’s not like I wanted to question suspects or examine evidence. I just wanted to know why someone would toss a dead man into the sea in broad daylight and risk discovery in the process. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Unless....

  “The steward was coming to clean the stateroom!” I suddenly blurted out.

  “What?” A little electric shock seemed to pass through Kenny, causing him to sit up like he’d been struck by lightning on the golf course with his favorite Callaway Big Bertha driver in hand.

  “You’d have to get rid of a body if the steward was going to clean your stateroom.”

  “Why not just hang the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door?” he countered.

  “Maybe because the steward had seen the victim’s wife leave the room.”

  “That suggests the wife was in on it, Scarlet, and from all accounts, she’s innocent.”

  “But it doesn’t mean she was involved. Don’t you see? You know how the stewards and stewardesses all work the sections together? This one takes that room and that one takes the next? If the wife left and someone else entered the stateroom when the staff was cleaning nearby, the killer couldn’t take the body with him. He had no choice but to dump it over the railing.”

  “Why not just walk away and leave it behind?” I could see Kenny was intrigued by my theory.

  “Because he was bound to be seen by at least one, if not more, of the stewards and stewardesses the moment he stepped into the hallway, and once the body was found, he’d be exposed.”

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nbsp; “That’s very good, Miz Scarlet.” He fastened his gaze on me, staring at me with an intensity I found hypnotic. I loved that face of his. “Now how do we narrow down our suspects? I say that because we still have no viable ‘perp’ for this.”

  He was right. The killer wasn’t necessarily staying on that particular deck. I asked the question I should have asked earlier. “What stateroom was the victim staying in?”

  “Actually, the victim was assigned to 7310, which means he was staying on the same floor as we were, but on the other side of the ship.”

  “So why was he on an upper deck?” I asked Kenny. “Did he have a meeting with someone?”

  “It’s possible.” He gave it some thought. “It’s also possible that the victim stumbled onto something or somehow posed a threat to his killer. Maybe he witnessed a crime.”

  “How would we narrow that down?” I wondered aloud.

  “Are you asking me, Scarlet?”

  “I am if you have a logical answer,” I replied, squeezing his hand. “If the victim was out of his normal territory, what took him up there?”

  “If it were up to me, the starting point would be to find out where the ship’s crew was cleaning on each of the upper decks at the time the body went over the railing. We already know the likely trajectory of the body as it went into the ocean, so we’d at least be able to eliminate unlikely scenarios. Of course, that theory does depend on the killer trying to avoid being spotted by the housekeeping staff.”

  “At that time of day, a lot of people were probably still at lunch or doing activities on other decks. Isn’t that usually when the staterooms are cleaned?”

  “It might be.” He glanced down at his watch. “We should go get dressed for dinner. Your mom and Thad are probably wondering where we are.”

  “You know, Kenny, if we kept this hypothesis to ourselves and just kicked it around awhile, we might be able to hand Marley the killer on a silver platter.”

  “I’m not exactly in the mood to make the twit look good.”

  “No, I’m sure you’re not. But if we worked it together and did the preliminary investigation, you could write it all up and outline it in great detail, so that you get the credit and Marley looks smart for hiring you as a consultant.”