Rowan bolted to a sitting position, her eyes going wide. All traces of sleep vacated her expressive face as her mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me?”
“I don’t generally find death funny.” Quinn tossed off the covers and got to his feet, searching the floor for the clothes he discarded the previous evening. They were still damp from walking in the rain, and wrinkled. “I need to run back to my room. I’m going to take a quick shower. My guys photographed the body right away, but since it was on deck, it’s already been moved to the infirmary.”
Rowan was stunned. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either. Yet. I need to get down there, though.” He shifted his eyes to her. “There’s no need for you to hurry. You should take your time, get some breakfast. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”
Rowan wasn’t thrilled with the suggestion, but she understood his job responsibilities took precedence this morning. “Okay. I’ll come down after breakfast if you don’t find me. I ... do you know how it happened?”
“Just that she was found on the deck this morning. I don’t know about cameras ... or how she died ... or anything else. I have to go, sweetie.”
“Then go.” Rowan leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known this was coming. In fact ... I didn’t even think to look at photos of her yesterday. This is probably my fault.”
“Don’t say that.” Quinn extended a warning finger. “You’re not to blame for this. I’m not to blame either. I know that. Still, I’m chief of security. I can’t help wondering if there was something I could’ve done to stop this.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I need answers before I can start the flogging.”
“Get the answers and skip the flogging. I’ll check my photos.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
“You, too. I love you.”
“Right back at you.”
ROWAN OPTED FOR THE main dining room rather than the employee cafeteria. She had special privileges thanks to her job — she often had to take photos during meals — so she had more options than the rest of the staff. Even though she didn’t mind the cafeteria, she wasn’t in the mood to answer the questions she was positive would be flung from a hundred different directions by curious workers. Instead, she showered and dressed for a day of work, and hit the main dining room. She had every intention of eating alone ... until she saw Ivy and Jack sitting at a table.
She made up her mind on the spot, filling her plate with eggs, hash browns, sausage, and toast before heading in their direction.
They seemed deep in conversation, and for a moment Rowan wondered if she should leave them be. The notion of eating alone didn’t appeal to her, though, and she was more interested in discovering if Demarcus had been right about their behavior during the storm.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
Jack looked up first. “Of course not.” His smile as friendly. “How are you this morning?”
“I’ve been better.” Rowan poured herself a mug of coffee from the carafe at the center of the table. She took a long drink before continuing, losing her train of thought when she realized she wasn’t drinking coffee. “What is this?”
“Tea,” Ivy answered. “I don’t like coffee.”
“And I’ve gotten used to the tea so I can go either way,” Jack supplied. “You look tired. Did you have a late night?”
“The power outage threw everyone,” Rowan explained, taking another sip of the tea and deciding it wasn’t so bad. “There’s caffeine in this, right?”
“Definitely.” Ivy bobbed her head. “Even I can’t live without caffeine.”
“She’s evil without caffeine,” Jack corrected. “She gets mean and growls. I can’t even talk to her most mornings until she’s two cups deep.”
“That is a gross lie,” Ivy argued.
Rowan smiled at their banter. “You guys seem happy this morning. I wasn’t sure if you would be. I heard you were upset last night, Ivy. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to check on you.”
Ivy’s eyebrows hopped. “You heard I was upset? How?”
“Demarcus saw you. He’s the bartender at the tiki bar. He was caught outside when the power went out. I guess even the deck lights died, which is kind of freaky to think about. When the lights came back on, he headed inside. He said you guys were in the lobby and you looked upset.”
“Oh, well ... .” Ivy wasn’t sure how to respond.
“I’m claustrophobic,” Jack answered automatically. “I know it seems weird to say because we were in the dining room, and it’s huge, but when the lights went out, I felt as if I was being smothered. I needed to get away from all the people. Ivy was simply worried about me.”
Even though she was grateful Jack was quick on his feet when thinking up an excuse, Ivy wasn’t entirely comfortable with the lie. “I felt a little claustrophobic, too,” she admitted, rueful. “I’m used to wide open spaces. When the power goes out in Shadow Lake, I don’t always notice because it’s dark around the house anyway. It was so weird last night.”
“You’re telling me.” Rowan enthusiastically sawed into her sausage. “I’ve been on this ship for months and that’s never happened, and I’ve been in the middle of some pretty terrific storms. I thought maybe I was overreacting, but Quinn has been stationed here a lot longer than me and it was a first for him.”
“Where is Quinn?” Jack asked, doing his best to appear casual. “Is he continuing his investigation?”
Rowan momentarily forgot Quinn’s competition with Jack and shook her head. “No, we had another body this morning. He’s off dealing with that.”
Ivy placed her feet flat on the floor as she leaned closer. “What?”
Rowan realized what she said too late. “Oh, um ... you can’t tell anyone.” She felt like an idiot. “I shouldn’t have told you. Quinn is not going to be happy when he finds out.”
“We won’t tell him,” Ivy said hurriedly. “You have my word. Who died?”
“Emily Little.”
“She was Margaret Adkins’s assistant, right?” Jack queried. “I remember her name. She was young, blond, and kind of bubbly.”
“I didn’t spend a lot of time with her, but that’s pretty much how I would describe her,” Rowan agreed. “She was the one who found Margaret’s body.”
“How did she die?”
“I don’t know. Quinn didn’t really know. His guards found her on the deck this morning. There’s protocol in situations like that. They have rules they absolutely have to follow, like quickly photographing the scene and calling for the medical staff so they can immediately take her away. Quinn didn’t get the call until they’d already moved her body. They had to be quick.”
“I don’t understand.” Jack struggled to keep himself in check. “Why did they have to move the body so quickly? Why not simply cordon it off?”
“Because I can’t think of anyone who would want to hang out on the deck while a dead body was laying a few feet away,” Rowan replied. “Plus the weather — the heat and humidity — can cause a body to break down quickly. Quinn taught me that.”
“They didn’t move Margaret Adkins immediately,” Ivy pointed out.
“Because she was in her room,” Jack surmised. “They could control the scene by simply closing the door and keeping out looky-loos that way. Plus, the rooms are air-conditioned.”
“Pretty much,” Rowan agreed. “I honestly shouldn’t have told you about Emily. I don’t know if her travel companions have been informed yet. I don’t know anything other than the brief update Quinn got before leaving this morning.”
“And where is he now?” Jack asked.
“The infirmary.”
“And where was the body found?” Ivy asked, causing Jack to give her a slant-eyed look. “You said she was on the deck. Do you happen to remember where?”
“I believe it was on the port side.”
“Which is what direction?�
�� Jack asked.
“Um ... west. Yeah, it would be the west side.”
Ivy drummed her fingers on the table as she considered the statement. She couldn’t help but wonder if Emily Little was the same woman she caught a glimpse of in the vision when the power went out. “Do you know when she died?”
Jack, practically reading her mind, rested his hand on top of hers. “Was it during the blackout?”
“I hadn’t even considered that.” Rowan straightened in her chair. “Huh. I don’t know. I wondered how she was killed on the deck without anyone noticing, even during a storm, but the blackout would’ve made decent cover.”
“Definitely.” Jack was thoughtful as he squeezed Ivy’s fingers. “I hope you find who is doing this.”
“Quinn will.” Rowan was certain of that. “He doesn’t fail. Never.”
“I hope his streak continues.”
ROWAN FINISHED HER BREAKFAST, held a brief conversation with Ivy and Jack before they headed to the pool to relax, and then made her way to the infirmary. She wasn’t surprised to find a “closed” sign on the door. Potential patients were instructed to ring a bell if they needed help, which is exactly what Rowan did.
The nurse who opened the door looked confused. “Are you sick?”
“No. I’m here to see Quinn.”
“He’s busy.”
“I know he’s busy.” Rowan tugged on her limited patience. “I’m here to help him with his problem.”
“Are you suddenly part of his security staff and nobody told me?”
Rowan wasn’t familiar with the nurse, but she didn’t like the woman’s attitude. “I’m here to take photos of the body.” That was a total lie. She had no intention of snapping photographs of Emily Little’s lifeless body. She did, however, have a desperate need to see Quinn.
The nurse let loose a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll have to ask him if it’s okay. Wait here.” She pointed at the spot where Rowan stood for emphasis. “Right there. Don’t try to sneak in.”
Rowan worked at controlling her temper as the door shut. She had no idea how long she should wait before ringing the bell again. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. This time when the door opened, Quinn was on the other side.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to be allowed inside.”
Quinn managed a wry smirk. “I don’t think Desiree wanted you to come inside.”
“Desiree?” Rowan furrowed her brow. “Is that the annoying nurse’s name?”
Quinn nodded. “She has a crush on me. Don’t let it get to you.”
“Who doesn’t have a crush on you?”
Amused despite the serious situation, Quinn shrugged. “I only care that you have a crush on me.” He absently ran his hand up and down her arm. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?”
“I checked my photos.” Rowan raised her camera for emphasis. “There’s no omen in Emily’s photos. I double and triple checked. We couldn’t have known it was going to happen.”
Quinn realized Rowan needed that reassurance more than he did. “Well, that’s something at least.” He glanced at the photo she showed by way of proof. “There’s nothing. That probably means she was killed on a whim, huh? There was no premeditation involved.”
“That would be my guess. I know she was found on the port side of the ship. Can you tell me anything about the scene?”
“Not much. She was strangled — this time with bare hands — and left out in the storm. That probably washed away all trace elements, but we’re looking anyway. The doctor is putting her death at around nine or so, but it’s hard to get a definitive timeline.”
“Nine? That was during the blackout.”
“Yeah, I figured that out, too.” Quinn motioned for Rowan to move to the far corner of the room with him so they could converse without bothering the medical team working on Emily’s body. Desiree, who stood close to the doctor and handed him various medical implements, openly glared at Rowan.
“She really does have a crush on you, huh? Am I going to have to fight her?”
“You’re perfectly safe in my love,” Quinn teased. “She’s just ... being difficult. The staff here isn’t used to working on dead bodies very often. They usually get bumps and bruises, the occasional broken arm, and in very rare instances a heart attack or stroke. Two dead bodies in two days puts everyone on edge. Don’t take it personally.”
“I’ll try not to. Although, if she keeps glaring at me that way, I’m totally going to smack her around.”
Quinn impulsively hugged Rowan, chuckling lightly into her hair. “I love that you always know how to make me feel better, even in the most difficult circumstances.”
“Yeah. I’m a real prize.” She patted his back before separating. “Have you checked the cameras? Do we know who was on the deck with her last night?”
“No. The cameras were down because of the blackout.”
“Oh.” Realization dawned on Rowan. “Are we sure the storm took down the electrical grid?”
“I’ve been wondering that myself.” Quinn rubbed the back of his neck. “It seems a little too convenient. The thing is, I don’t know how anyone could’ve managed to shut off the power. It seems to me that Emily’s death was in the moment because the omen didn’t show up in the photos. It would’ve taken a plan — an extensive one — to kill the power.”
“So you’re working under the assumption that whoever killed Emily took advantage of the blackout to do it, and not vice versa.”
“Pretty much,” Quinn confirmed. “It was dark out there. Demarcus said Emily was in the Neptune Bar at some point before the blackout. I’m going to need to pin down a timetable with him. From the sounds of it, she was tipsy. She came up to the deck, probably with someone she knew, and was killed.”
“But why? What’s the motive? I can see why someone would want to kill Margaret Adkins. That doesn’t mean it’s right, of course, but I can see why someone would want to do it. She wasn’t well liked and she was messing with people’s livelihoods. Emily was a simple assistant, though. I’m not even sure she was a true believer in the cause.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” It was early in the day, but Quinn already felt weariness weighing on him. “I can’t figure out motives either. I’m going to wait until the doctor is finished with his exam. Then I’m getting a list of people who were at the bar with Emily last night. I’ll go from there.”
“Do you want any help?”
“From who? Desiree? I’ll have to think about it.”
Rowan playfully twisted his thumb. “Do you think that’s funny?”
“I think it’s funny that you’re jealous.”
“I am not jealous.”
“Close enough.” He kissed the tip of her nose, earning a double glare from Desiree. “You can come with me if you want when I start the questioning. I figure you need to take shots, though, too. Otherwise you might get in trouble.”
“I think I can balance both.”
“Then we’ll work together. In fact, if you could take photos of everyone in that little group, that would be great. If someone else is slated to die, I would like to get ahead of it.”
Rowan nodded, her stomach twisting. “I’ll do my best.”
“You always do.”
Thirteen
Rowan returned to the deck to take photos. She snapped everyone in the National Organization for Clean Minds and Hearts that she could find. It wasn’t difficult, because those in charge had grouped together in an isolated spot.
She snapped a bevy of photos before moving to the tiki bar, purposely picking a table that was behind a small wall so she wouldn’t be disturbed as she stared at the snapshots. She took her time, scanning each photo in its entirety, and came up empty. The symbol wasn’t on any of the photos.
She couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing.
What she didn’t immediately realize was that Ivy and Jack were also in the tiki bar, squirreled away on the other side of the wall
so they could talk in private. Once they started talking, though, she recognized their voices … and couldn’t stop herself from listening.
“I found out where the body was discovered,” Jack offered, his voice low. “It was here. I took a photo on my phone.”
Ivy took the phone and stared at the view it offered, silent.
“Is that the spot you saw in your head last night?” he prodded.
Rowan stirred on the other side of the wall, intrigued. She had no idea what they were talking about, but something sparked in her own head given the way Jack phrased the statement. Ivy saw things in her head? How? Why? What did she see?
“I don’t know, Jack,” Ivy replied. “The ship looks the same to me from almost every angle.”
“Maybe we should head over there and take a look around. Something might ignite your memory.”
“Except I didn’t see anything of note.” Ivy’s voice was tinged with frustration. “I told you. All I saw was the deck railing.”
“You felt something, though.” Jack wasn’t about to let it go. “You saw things from someone else’s perspective. You felt fear.”
“And now a woman is dead,” Ivy shot back. “I should’ve done something last night. This is my fault.”
“Don’t say that.” Jack was edgy as he shifted on his chair, his eyes hard. “You didn’t kill her. You’re not to blame for this. Besides, this is different from before. How could you possibly know who was in trouble? How were you supposed to know how to help?”
“I should’ve figured it out.” Ivy was morose as she rubbed her forehead. “That girl was young. She didn’t need to die.”
“Well, you didn’t kill her. I don’t like the idea of you blaming yourself for this.”
“Who else should I blame?”
“The person who killed her.”
“Ugh.” Ivy lowered her forehead to her palm and rubbed. “I’m getting a headache.”
Sympathy rolled over Jack as he patted her free hand. “Maybe you should go back to the room, take a nap.”
Ivy immediately started shaking her head. “No. We need to find the spot where her body was discovered. You were right. Maybe I’ll recognize something ... or seeing it will jar something else in my head.”
Wicked Ghostly Seas: A Rowan Gray, Harper Harlow and Ivy Morgan Mystery Omnibus Page 32
