Grace pressed a hand to her mouth in dismay, praying that the man would survive the fall as Courtney buried her face in Tucker’s chest.
“Nitwit,” a woman said derisively from somewhere behind them.
Grace turned her head to the side, searching for the person who uttered such a heartless retort. A feeling of familiarity swept through her for a moment, and then passed as she tried to find the source of the voice.
“It’s all right,” Kyle said reassuringly as he rubbed his hands down her arms. He pointed to a spot underneath the bridge where the man was treading water. “He made it.”
Grace sagged in relief. “Thank goodness.” A small chuckle escaped her lips as she leaned back into Kyle’s embrace. “What a way to start our honeymoon cruise.”
“Ah, don’t worry,” he said holding her tight. “It’s smooth sailing from here on out.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Promise?”
“I promise,” he said with a smile.
“Good.” She frowned as the ship began to pull away from the dock. “I wonder though . . . just how many people do actually disappear from cruises each year?”
Chapter Two
Excited to see their cabin on the Diamond Deck, one of the many jewel named decks on the fourteen-story tall Sapphire of the Seas, Grace stood on her tiptoes trying to peek over Kyle’s shoulder as he opened the door.
Ever since Kyle had surprised her with tickets for a five-day cruise a few days into their honeymoon, he had been pretty tight lipped about what sort of cabin they would be staying in. Having been warned about tiny cruise cabins by friends and family who had taken cruises in the past, she had tried to keep her expectations low, hoping for at least a porthole to look out of, and clean accommodations. However, in spite of her low expectations, she couldn’t help but be curious. So as soon as the door swung open, she rose to her toes, angling her head this way and that in an attempt to see over or around his broad back.
Before she could get a good look, he turned suddenly and laid his hands on her shoulders.
She gave him an exasperated look as he slipped one arm around her back and another underneath her knees.
“Kyle,” she said in amusement as he lifted her in his arms. “You don’t have to carry me across the threshold every single time.”
“Of course I do,” he said carrying her into the cabin. “It’s tradition.”
He gave her a kiss before depositing her on her feet.
She turned around and gasped, surprised by the size, grandeur, and opulence of their cabin. She never in her wild imagination envisioned the suite that Kyle had picked out for them.
Her gaze immediately fell to the large floor-to-ceiling windows and the large balcony on the other side of the window. Comfortable looking furniture sat in front of clear glass panels providing an uninterrupted and breathtaking view of the deep blue sea below and bright blue sky above. On the left hand side of the balcony, almost out of view was the corner of a whirlpool Jacuzzi and on the right side was a white wall with a door.
Tearing her gaze from the view, she walked across the small foyer’s white tiled floor and stepped onto thick grey carpet. On one side of the room was a gleaming dark paneled kitchenette next to a glass table overlooking the ocean. In the center of the room was a dark grey couch and chair with brown and blue decorative pillows, and on the other side of the room was a large screen TV and two double doors with decorative glass inserts. Everything about the room screamed old Hollywood glitz and glamour and brought to mind the Art Deco architecture and designs she had seen in old movies from the thirties.
She crossed the room, pushed open the doors and stepped into a large bedroom. A king size bed made up in crisp white linens and blue and brown accents faced floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the balcony and the ocean view.
On the other side was another door with decorate glass inserts leading to a large bathroom with its own view of the ocean. She stepped out onto the balcony and walked along the deck, breathing in the clean ocean air as she stared out at the gorgeous view of the ocean.
The glass door to the living room slid open and Kyle stepped out. He smiled as he walked up the railing. “Well? Do you like it?”
She threw her arms around Kyle’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Are you kidding? I never want to leave.” She tipped her head back. “I say we just order food in and stay here for the rest of the cruise.”
“Now that sounds like a fine idea, Mrs. Dragovich,” he said.
Grace smiled happily as he held her close and trailed kisses down her neck.
“I thought that voice sounded familiar,” a high-pitched feminine voice called out.
Grace’s smile fell. She and Kyle looked around for a moment before settling their attention on the wall separating their deck from their neighbor.
There was a scraping sound as though something was being dragged across the wood then two hands appeared on the side of the wall. Courtney Bernard’s head appeared next. “Well, hi there,” she said waving at them. “It looks like we’re neighbors.”
“Courtney,” her husband called out from behind the wall, “please be careful.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, would you relax. I’m fine.” She grinned at Grace and Kyle. “Don’t mind him. He’s just worried that if I fall into the ocean, my daddy will accuse him of murder and kill him.”
“He would too,” Tucker said in annoyance from the other side of the wall. “Would you please get down?”
She disappeared behind the wall. “Come see who our neighbors are.”
“They don’t want us bugging them,” he answered back.
Truer words have never been spoken, Grace thought dropping her hands from around Kyle’s neck with a sigh.
“Oh, don’t be silly.” Courtney’s head appeared again. “You two don’t mind, do you?”
There was a moment’s hesitation before good manners forced Grace to speak. “No, of course not.”
She discreetly shoved Kyle’s hand away as he tugged on the back of her shirt.
Courtney peered over her shoulder. “See,” she told her husband before turning back to Grace and Kyle. “You know there’s a connecting door over here. I bet if we asked, we could get the key and open this thing up.”
“Yeah,” Grace said slowly, “that would be . . . great.”
“That’s not the word I would use,” Kyle muttered quietly. He let out a small grunt as Grace elbowed him.
“Tucker,” Courtney said, “go call and see if we can get a key.”
“Honey, we paid for a private balcony—”
“We didn’t pay for anything,” Courtney said, sharply. “Daddy paid for this balcony.”
“I am not getting a key,” Tucker snarled. “They’re on their honeymoon. They want to be left alone.”
“They don’t mind.” She turned her attention back to Kyle and Grace. “You don’t, do you?” she asked her voice sounding a bit desperate to Grace’s ears.
Kyle blew out his breath. “Well—”
“See,” Courtney said returning her attention to her side of the wall.
“I’m not doing it,” Tucker said. “You’re acting ridiculous.”
“I am not.”
“Are too. Why don’t you admit it? You’re afraid to be alone with me.”
“What? You’re crazy.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.” She ducked her head behind the wall. “If this is how you’re going to act, I might as well go spend the rest of the day with Grace and Kyle.”
Grace and Kyle exchanged horrified glances with one another.
“Well, why don’t you then?” Tucker responded. “Better to be with them than your own husband.”
Grace quickly took Kyle’s hand and pulled him towards the glass doors. “Well, I think we’re going to go inside,” she called out. The newlyweds didn’t seem to notice as they continued to argue with one another, their voices growing louder and louder with every word.
Gr
ace stepped into the living room, raising her voice to be heard over the strident voices on the other side of the wall. “We’re kind of tired. Maybe we can have dinner together later.” She slid the door shut and sagged against the glass. “Unbelievable.”
The corners of Kyle’s mouth turned up as he looked at her in amusement. He reached out and pulled her against his body. “Now, where were we?”
Grace threaded her fingers through his hair, bringing his head down to her neck. “You’ll have to remind me. I think…” She glanced to the wall as the Bernard’s angry voices came through the wall. “I think we need to change suites.”
“Oh, don’t worry about them,” he said holding her tight. “I’m sure they’ll quieten down soon enough.”
Grace glanced at the wall as the voices suddenly stopped.
Kyle lifted his head. “Do you think they killed each other?”
Grace pulled out of Kyle’s arms and pressed her ear against the wall just in time to hear Courtney moan out Tucker’s name. She snapped her head away. “Nope,” she said blushing from head to toe. “They’re still alive.”
Kyle grinned. “They’re not the only ones,” he said reaching for her again.
She patted Kyle’s chest. “I think we should get out of here and explore the ship before Courtney decides to stop in for a visit.”
“Oh, I have a feeling they’ll be busy for a while,” he said pulling her toward the bedroom.
Suddenly, a door slammed and Courtney and Tucker’s raised voices filtered through the walls again.
Grace froze. “Did Courtney just say my name?”
“I think so,” Kyle said.
She dropped her chin to her chest and sighed deeply. “Come on,” she said linking her fingers with his. “We better escape while we have the chance.”
“Yeah,” Kyle said, staring at the wall as another door slammed shut. “That might not be a bad idea.”
Chapter Three
The poster hanging on the Amethyst Deck promised an hour of mind-boggling illusions by the one and only pirate magician extraordinaire, Davy Jones, who will dazzle the mind and deceive the senses. As far as Grace was concerned, she was sold.
Kyle on the other hand…
“There’s a musical on the Pearl Deck tonight,” he said flipping through the entertainment brochure he had picked up out of the rack on the wall. “Sounds like a romance. A play on the same deck. A retelling of King Midas. Sounds pretty interesting. There’s a comedy show on the deck above it. I think I recognize a couple of the names.” He glanced up at the digital display on the wall listing the same events in his brochure but with timelier information. “It seems like most of this stuff is already sold out.” He returned to the brochure. “Movies on the Ruby Deck. We’ve already seen most of them. Oh, singing and dancing on the Emerald Deck,” he said with more enthusiasm. “There’s disco, jazz, swing dancing, country…”
She wrinkled her nose when he finally turned his attention to her.
He returned to the brochure. “Or we could hit the Opal Deck and go to the casino. Wow, they’re really pushing this gemstone theme. I’ve never even heard of half of these stones.” A broad smile lit up his face. “Oh, the Black Onyx Deck has a mystery dinner. Can you guess whodunit before dessert is served? Prizes will be awarded to the best detective.” He dropped the brochure from his face. “We’ve never done one of those before.”
“It sounds like the mystery game we did around New Year’s Eve. Remember how that turned out?”
“Oh right. I almost forgot.” A sly grin slowly crossed his face as he looked at her. “We could just stay in,” he said reaching for her, “lock the door. Order room service.”
Tempting, Grace thought as he playfully tried to pull her away from the poster and towards the elevators. Suddenly, an image of Courtney and Tucker Bernard sitting on her balcony waiting for her popped into her mind.
Digging in her heels, she dragged Kyle back to the poster board. “We could have just stayed at Melodies cabin if we were going to lock ourselves away.” She affectionately patted his hands which had found their way around her waist again. “Your father’s paying a fortune for this cruise. I plan on getting his money’s worth for it.”
“I plan to do exactly that, with food.”
“Come on; let’s do something we can’t do at home. We can lock ourselves away tomorrow night.” She’d figure out what to do with the Bernard’s tomorrow, she thought wrapping her arms loosely around his neck.
He smiled down at her. “All right. What do you want to do?”
She let her gaze slip to the poster.
“I thought you would be excited about this,” she said as his shoulders sagged in defeat. “You love magic. You were always dragging me to magic shows when we were living in New York.”
“Yeah, my magic shows. It’s a completely different experience being stuck in an audience forced to watch someone else do it.”
She sighed as she twined her fingers through his hair. “Well, we don’t have to go to a show. We could lie around the pool.”
His gaze softened. “You really want to go, don’t you?”
“More than anything, and look,” she said pointing to the display, “it’s not sold out. It’s just a few hours long and once it’s over, I promise I’ll do whatever you want to do for the rest of the week.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Whatever I want?”
“Whatever you want,” she vowed solemnly. “You name it and I’ll do it without question.”
“You promise?” he asked doubtfully.
She lifted three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
“So if I want to go scuba diving when we stop at Port Lucia, you’ll go with me?”
A shiver went up her spine. Funny, when she made the vow, she was pretty confident she knew exactly what he’d want to do. Scuba diving never occurred to her.
Too late she realized she should have put qualifications on her promise. “Scuba diving?” she asked with a squeak. “That’s what you want to do? With me? This week?”
“You’ve just got to see the fish down there. I thought we could get a camera, go down there, and take some pictures. It’s just so beautiful underwater, Grace. I really want to share that with you.”
“You want to go scuba diving?” Unable to comprehend such insanity, she furrowed her brow. “You want to go where the sharks live?”
“Grace, people go scuba diving all the time. Very few actually get eaten.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring, Kyle.” She sighed at his crestfallen face. “You really want to go scuba diving?”
“More than anything.”
She glanced at the poster, then back at Kyle, then back at the poster, and then back at Kyle. They had only been married a week. It was far too early to start breaking promises. Besides, things could change between now and then. Who knows? With any luck the weather might be bad. The scuba place might be closed. She might come down with a cold and be confined to bed. Anything could happen. “Okay, if you’ll go with me to the nice safe magic show on the Ruby Deck, I’ll go scuba diving with you in the dangerous ocean,” she paused for dramatic effect, “risking life and limb so you can snap some pictures of some fish.”
“Great!” he said excitedly as he took her hand and led her to a gleaming steel curved desk in front of the shore excursions office. As they were browsing the brochures on the desk, a middle-aged man with greying hair, and wire rimmed glasses walked up to them. They mistook him for another passenger at first before noticing the emblem of a blue gemstone on his shirt pocket and the name Alex Wright, Cruise Director in blue stitching right above it.
“Howdy there,” Alex said with a slight southern drawl. He gestured to the brochures lined up in a row across the desk. “Have you signed up for excursions yet?”
“Not yet,” Kyle said picking up a brochure for Partridge Island. “What do you have available for tomorrow?”
“Ah, not much to do on Partridge Island frankly, but if you like lying a
bout on the beach, then that’s the island for you. Our most popular excursions take place on Port Lucia the day after tomorrow.” He plucked another brochure featuring pictures of happy excited people in various activities out of the rack and laid it on top of the desk. “The cruise line operates a little theme park there. Lots to do. You have rides, shops, shows, top of the line restaurants, and that’s just the free stuff. You have to pay for anything that you buy of course, but there’s no cost for admission. We also offer several top of the line excursions. Kayaking, snorkeling, swimming, repelling, anything you can think of to do on an island, I guarantee we offer it. I highly recommend the scuba diving. I’m a big fan myself.”
“And it’s safe?” Grace asked hesitantly.
“Is it safe?” Alex chuckled. “It’s perfectly safe. I go every chance I get. It’s just so quiet and peaceful down there. Don’t worry. I guarantee you nothing bad will happen.”
Kyle gave Grace an I told you look as Alex shoved the Port Lucia brochure to the side, replacing it with one featuring various tropical flowers, white sand, blue skies and kissing couples. “But if you prefer something more laid back, the last stop is at Turquoise Island. That’s the cruise line’s very own private island. Beautiful Island. Pristine beaches. Lots of shopping and romantic tours available.”
Grace glanced down at the brochure. A white and black striped lighthouse with the caption Legend of the Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter caught her eye. “What’s this?”
Alex shook his head. “Sorry, the lighthouse is off limits at the moment. A hurricane hit the island about four months ago and did a number on the lighthouse. They’re fixing it up, but I heard it’ll be awhile before it’s open for tourists.” He flipped the brochure over and tapped at a list of events on the island. “But there’s plenty of other romantic places to go on the island. All free.”
“That sounds good,” Kyle said. “We’ll do that and we’d like to book the scuba diving excursion and the kayaking excursion at Port Lucia.”
Alex stepped behind the desk. He tapped at the keyboard in front of the computer. “Ooh, so sorry. The kayaking excursion just filled up.”
The Body in Davy Jones' Locker Page 3
