Madison Johns - Agnes Barton 07 - High Seas Honeymoon

by Madison Johns

  Eleanor smiled widely at Ruby and Pearl as we passed by them on the main deck, she even fingered Mr. Wilson’s sleeve to let Ruby know that she wasn’t about to give up Wilson to anyone.

  “Do you think it’s wise to rile that woman?” I asked Eleanor.

  “Sorry, I guess I couldn’t help myself.”

  Once we were all in the bridge, Theo and Gunner were trying to move a panel on the floor with a screwdriver.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Darnell shouted. “You’re going to get electrocuted doing that, even with that electrical unit on the fritz, there is plenty of raw power down there. Who knows what sort of catastrophe might happen.”

  I stared at the keyhole and produced the golden key, handing it to Darnell, who inserted it, carefully turning the key in the lock until a click was heard, then lifting the panel. “See, just like I told you.”

  Captain Hamilton called down to the engine room, asking for the repair technicians to report to the bridge to replace the electrical panel.

  When Hamilton hung up, I sighed. “I just don’t understand why that key wouldn’t be on the ship the entire time if that’s what it’s for.”

  “It was, but somehow it became lost and I had to fly all the way to New York to retrieve the blueprint and key so that we could replace that unit,” Darnell said. “The owner is a little eccentric and wouldn’t email a copy of the blueprint to the captain. He has all the spare keys at his home and refuses to allow the captain to have the spare key here.”

  “That seems dumb, but if the electric panel was that bad, it should have been replaced sooner. Why, anything could have happened that might have endangered the passengers.”

  “I tried to tell the owner that, but Gerald doesn’t like his captains telling him anything. He thinks he knows what’s best,” Hamilton explained.

  “Well, he was wrong this time around. Please speak to him about the matter or I’ll show up at the owner’s house myself and tell him exactly what I think about his policies. He should trust the captains who run the ships and if he doesn’t, he needs to park his behind on all the cruises to oversee things,” Eleanor said in a huff.

  Leave it to Eleanor to tell it like it is.

  “I’m sorry, Captain Hamilton, for thinking you’re hiding details about where that money might be and what the golden key was for.”

  “Don’t look at me, Captain,” Andrew said. “This is the first I’ve even heard about blueprints or the golden key.”

  “I meant to tell you, but I knew you wouldn’t have approved of me keeping the blueprints and key from the captain.”

  “I told you to hand over that suitcase to begin with, but I guess it’s all worked out.”

  “And you really don’t know where that stolen money is?” I asked the captain.

  “No, and it wasn’t from a lack of trying. The FBI even swept the ship.”

  “Does your son really work for the FBI, or is that a story you made up?” Darnell asked.

  “No, it’s true. I’ve only recently reconnected with my son and him being part of the FBI was a complete shock to me. I’d sure love to give him a call and find out the details of the search of this ship. I can’t help but wonder if the money is still here.”

  “Keep your thoughts to yourself. I don’t have to guess where you heard about that robbery to begin with. Sometimes I’d like to put Gloria off this ship permanently.”

  “Don’t blame her. She’s a senior citizen and gossiping is what we do. It’s not like we can do much of anything else.”

  “Not according to the way Gloria moves on the dance floor, but you’re right, I shouldn’t blame Gloria for spreading the rumor. I just would hate to have all the passengers find out and tear the ship apart, looking for it.”

  “What about us?” I asked. “If we could get a master key, I’d be satisfied to look below decks. I promise that we won’t tear the ship apart.”

  “That would be against policy, but since it seems we already have a missing master key, I’m sure it would be all right if you have one. I trust that you won’t tear up the ship looking for the money. I’m quite sure it’s long gone.”

  Captain Hamilton removed a master key from the cabinet and pressed it into my hand. “Good luck.”

  “Hey, what about my suitcase?” I asked.

  “I’ll send it to your room later,” Darnell said. “I was so worried about finding this key that I had forgotten all about bringing your suitcase to your room.”

  “That’s fine. I can wait until tomorrow, I suppose.”

  We left the bridge, but we hadn’t gotten very far when Andrew said, “Don’t think that I have forgotten about how you lied to me about the contents of that suitcase.”

  “I didn’t lie exactly, I just didn’t tell you.”

  “That’s the same as lying, Agnes,” Eleanor said. “She didn’t even tell me right away, but I’m sure she was just trying to sort things out. I’m sure she’d have told you eventually.”

  “Like when the ship blew up?”

  “Nothing quite as dramatic as that.”

  “And I suppose you’ll be leaving now to check out below decks for treasure.”

  “Stolen money,” I said. “And that’s not in my plans right now. So far on this cruise, everything I thought I knew turned out to be easily explained.”

  “Perhaps that’s an omen that you shouldn’t try and find a case that needs solving.”

  “Well, I still don’t know how Kacey happened to get locked in a room below decks when you’d need a master key, or who might have done such a thing or why.”

  “She’s back with her friends, safe and sound, so that’s hardly something to be worried about,” Andrew said.

  “And Kacey will be busy with Liz and Brady’s wedding tomorrow. I hope we’ll be able to attend — unless we can’t. I wonder if we need an invitation,” Eleanor said.

  I heard a throat being cleared and Brady stood there with an invitation. “Liz wants you to attend our wedding. I heard about how you helped find Kacey when she disappeared that day.”

  “Not sure what happened with that, but we just tried to help.”

  “We weren’t that much help, though, since Kacey turned up unharmed,” Eleanor added. “Thanks for the invitation. I’m sure you and Liz will be a very happy couple.”

  “How did you meet?” I asked.

  “Why don’t you come into the dining room so we can sit down and have a little chat. From the looks of it, you both are quite red already.”

  “Go on ahead,” Andrew said. “Mr. Wilson and I are moseying to the casino for a few hours. Meet us there after you talk to the groom.”

  I gave Andrew a kiss and Eleanor and I followed Brady into one of the smaller dining rooms, where only the groomsmen were. Brady motioned to us to sit and he introduced us to his part of the wedding party. Richard and Philip were the trimmer ones of the group, and Buzz was the best man and Gus was the last groomsmen, both of them sporting beer bellies.

  “Wow, what colorful names you all have, but I’d love to hear how Brady and Liz met.”

  “We met at one of her father’s hardware stores. I worked there after school every day and she never told her dad that I spent most of my time studying. Liz is good at getting her way and had no qualms about asking me out.”

  Eleanor laughed. “I just love a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it.”

  “Things moved along pretty quickly and soon we were inseparable, when I wasn’t studying, that is. It was much harder to win over her dad.”

  “It would seem he’d be thrilled that his daughter was dating a man who was interested in becoming a doctor.”

  “I’m not sure that’s what I knew back then, but I did plan to go to college. Liz was the one who suggested that I take up medicine.”

  “So, you don’t want to be a doctor?” I asked.

  “I do, but my father is a lawyer and I had wanted to follow in his footsteps, but once I began doing my pre-med, I was hooked. Of cour
se it’s quite expensive and I’m trying to find a way to pay for school without asking my father. I want to prove it to him that I can do it without his help. I also want to let Liz’s father know I’ll be a good provider.”

  “Medical school is quite lengthy,” I said. “I wish you good luck in the future and I’m sure you’ll be a good doctor one day.” Buzz busted out laughing and I asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

  “Not at all,” Brady said. “Buzz thinks all this medical school stuff is a waste of time.”

  “That’s why we took him to Cozumel,” Buzz said. “Brady needs to have some fun before he says his, ‘I do’s.’ We used to have so much fun.”

  “You can still have fun after you’re married,” I insisted. “But some things do change.”

  “Or they should,” Eleanor said. “Brady will be plenty busy with school to have room left for much more. Why didn’t you wait until later to get married? Certainly there wasn’t a rush?”

  “Liz insisted and her mother was all gung ho about it, too.”

  “No surprise there,” slipped out of my lips.

  “Agnes means that mothers feel much better when their children leave the nest and get married.”

  “She won’t exactly be leaving the nest too soon, not with me in college. We agreed that she wouldn’t come along until later. I really need to focus on my studies.”

  “Sounds like you have put everything into perspective,” I said.

  “Trying to. So what’s your story, ladies?”

  “We’re just your run of the mill retires, other than the fact that we just married our men, and we’re on our honeymoon now,” Eleanor said, as she stood and stretched. “We should go now and leave you to spend your last night as a single man. Don’t get yourself into any trouble.”

  I followed Eleanor out into the sunlight, now. “Brady seems like a nice man, but I’m not sure why he’s so hard pressed to get married so soon.”

  “Liz’s father owns a chain of hardware stores. Perhaps Brady thinks if he marries Liz, then he’ll get some help for college.”

  “Not the way he sounded, but since it was Liz’s idea for him to go into medical school, it’s the least her father could do.” I laughed.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Eleanor and I were enjoying a quiet dinner in one of the smaller dining rooms with our husbands. Martha had popped in to say she’d be turning in early. Apparently, she was exhausted from her scuba diving. Leotyne had been pretty quiet on this trip, but she did warn us, “Be careful, girls, your instincts may have led you astray, but your hearts are true.”

  Like always when it came to Leotyne, it was yet another riddle that didn’t make any sense. Not sure how she knew we were wrong about anything on this cruise since we have barely spoken to her. I’m not even sure why she came; she hasn’t been in the sun once that I know of. It’s not like she’s a vampire or anything, just a Romanian fortune teller who rolled into the Tawas city campground in a big black camper one day and hasn’t left since. I used to be frightened of her, but on occasion, I did seek out her help. But it was everything but help. Eleanor and I don’t really need any help; we figure out things for ourselves, eventually.

  Andrew stared at me over the glow of the candlelight. “It’s nice to have a private dinner, for a change.”

  “I agree.”

  “He means the four of us, I think,” Eleanor said to Wilson.

  “I think he’s pretending that we’re alone,” I said.

  “I don’t mind Eleanor and Wilson. I rather enjoy their company. Mr. Wilson cleaned up at craps today. Who knew you could throw a dice like that.”

  “It’s good to know I haven’t lost it. I haven’t played that in years. Eleanor doesn’t care for the casino.”

  “That’s not true,” Eleanor said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Vegas, but it’s never been in the cards.”

  “We could always take a side trip on our way home,” Andrew suggested.

  “That’s nowhere on the way home, but I wouldn’t mind stopping there, either,” I said.

  Our food was brought and we dug in, leaving all the talk of Vegas for another day. I thought about Leah and vowed that I’d check to see if she was still in the infirmary. I was so absorbed with going into Cozumel that I had almost forgotten about Ricky and Leo being our number one suspects in Kacey’s disappearance. If anyone would kidnap a woman, it had to be them. It still bothered me that Leah had been abused at the hands of those men. If only I could have been more help to her. Sure, I had tried to convince Leah to leave Ricky before we got back to Florida, but she seemed to be resistant to the idea.

  After our candlelight dinner, Andrew and Mr. Wilson told us they’d meet us in the atrium for dancing, which sounded just fine to me. I did want to stroll along the deck and see if I could spot Ricky or Leo, and Leah, of course. We hadn’t walked very far before Leah raced toward us, tears streaming down her face.

  “Oh, Agnes,” she wailed. “I-I was looking for Ricky and h-he’s in the hot tub, and he’s not moving!”

  We rushed to the other side of the deck. It was dark outside now, but once we reached the hot tub, Ricky and Leo were in there, both of them face down in the water. “Get help!” I shouted. I was about to dive into the water and move Ricky and Leo out of the hot tub, but Leah shouted for me to stop.

  “When I found them here, I heard an electrical currant crackling. It smells like burnt electrical cords.”

  I nodded. “You’re right. Get the captain and we’ll wait right here.”

  Leah left and I stared at the bodies of Ricky and Leo, all the color leaving my face. “Here were go again,” I said. “Our main suspects in Kacey’s disappearance appear to be dead, but this time, we’re so going to stay put. I don’t want these bodies to disappear, too.”

  Eleanor wrinkled her nose and led me toward the rail. “Are you thinking what I am, that Leah might just be responsible, here?”

  “I thought that, but if it’s electrical, she might not be involved at all. It’s not like she could set that up. I wonder if when the engineer replaced the electrical unit, it caused this to happen?”

  “I guess we’ll find out, there’s the captain.”

  Captain Hamilton and several members of security rushed forward. “I smell burnt wires,” I said. “Can you cut off the power to that hot tub? What if they died because of the wiring?”

  “I hope you’re not suggesting that us replacing the electrical unit in the bridge is responsible for electrocuting them?”

  “You said it, not me, Captain Hamilton, but I highly doubt what you were doing in the bridge has anything to do with these men.”

  Captain Hamilton called on his two-way radio, asking for the power to be cut for hot tub number ten. Not only was the hot tub cut off, but all the lights within twenty feet in either direction. Ricky and Leo were pulled from the hot tub and we stood back, turning Leah away from the bodies.

  “You don’t need to see this,” I said.

  “Who found them?” Hamilton asked.

  “I did,” Leah cried. “I was looking for Ricky and Leo everywhere when they never showed up for dinner.”

  “Did you see what happened, Agnes and Eleanor?”

  “No, Leah showed us where Ricky and Leo were. If she hadn’t stopped me, I might have been electrocuted myself.”

  “What makes you think they’ve been electrocuted?”

  “It’s obvious — burnt wires and you can smell them, as well. I had thought they were responsible for Kacey’s disappearance, but now it couldn’t be them, after all.”

  “So, you’re batting negative three?” Hamilton asked. “And Liz has been searching for Kacey all night, since she never showed up for dinner.”

  “She’s missing, again? I should have known it. If Ricky and Leo weren’t responsible, then who is?”

  “You should leave now and take Leah with you. We’ll be investigating the malfunction of this hot tub.”

  I didn’t have a problem leaving now. I ha
d to question the wedding party about Kacey. That feeling I was having about Kacey being in danger wasn’t wrong at all. With Liz and Brady’s wedding tomorrow, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

  It took quite a few trips in and out of dining rooms to locate the wedding party that had split up, searching for Kacey. When I finally found Pat Busch with her daughter Liz, we made our way over there.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I got into an argument with Kacey,” Liz said. “She called me superficial and I’m not. I’ll admit that I’m far from perfect, but I’m not marrying Brady for the money, because he doesn’t have any.”

  “Were you the one who suggested he go to medical school to begin with?” I asked.

  “Yes, but it’s much more lucrative than being a lawyer. It certainly never helped his father out that much. He was disbarred for fraud and if it wasn’t for my father, he wouldn’t even be able to afford his pre-med.”

  “And did it ever occur to you that you’re being singled out because of your family’s business? Brady might be using you to pay for medical school and could drop you later. It happens.”

  Liz frowned now, like she was absorbing what I was trying to tell her. “I guess I never thought about that. Brady even suggested that I stay with my parents, that I’d be too much of a distraction if I lived with him while he was in med school.”

  “So, why are you getting married?”

  “I-I don’t know, but I have to find Kacey. I’m lost without her.”

  “She told me she was surprised that you even picked her to be your matron of honor.”

  “That’s true, but there’s nobody I’d rather have serve in the role. All of my other friends aren’t like Kacey. She’s honest and genuine. I guess that’s why she told me off like she did today, but I’m really not like that. I mean, I have said things or acted like all that matters to me is being a doctor’s wife, but I have had my doubts about his true intentions. He’s asked me about Kacey’s family, too. I wish I had just kept my mouth shut, but her family, or her father, is legendary. He was one of the men who people say might have been involved in the theft of Han Smith’s money that was stolen from this very ship a year ago.”