Tucker hesitated a moment before shaking his head. “No, I can’t believe that. I won’t believe that. Courtney loves me and I love her.”
She bit her lip. “Right, so does that mean you want to go back to your cabin?”
His face paled. “N-not yet. Not until you figure out who tried to kill me.”
“What if we can’t?” Grace asked as she made her way across the living room towards the bedroom to shower and dress. “What will you do then? At some point, you’re going to have to face your wife.”
Tucker’s gaze fell to the top of the table. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll go home.”
Kyle cleared his throat, drawing Grace’s attention back to him. “Speaking of facing one’s wife, I’ve got some news.”
She paused at the bedroom doorway. “What?”
He smiled brightly. “How would you like to make a little girl very happy on her birthday?” he asked before explaining Alex Wright’s predicament.
Grace laughed. “Kyle, you’ve already got a job,” she said gesturing to Tucker. “And we are on our honeymoon or have you forgotten?”
He hurried across the living room and wrapped his arms around her. “I haven’t forgotten, but I thought this might help us solve Bruce’s death.”
She snorted in amusement. “You’re just dying to get out on that stage.”
“That’s so not true.”
She lifted an eyebrow.
“Okay,” he said with a grin, “it’s a little bit true but it could help us.”
“How?”
“Well, for one thing, it would give us access to the scene of the crime.”
“We didn’t have a problem getting access to it last night.”
“Secondly, it would give us a reason to talk to Penny. She still works for the cruise line. She’ll have to talk to us now.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I am not talking to you.” Penny stood at the entrance to her cabin blocking the way with her body. “I’m not helping you either.”
“If you don’t help us you won’t get paid,” Kyle said.
“So what? I don’t need the money. Believe it or not, I’m independently wealthy. My husband’s grandfather died a couple of months ago and he left his entire estate to Leo and his brother.”
“I see,” Grace said. “So, you just stick around because you just enjoy being sawed in half?”
Penny pursed her mouth together in a tight line. “The old man made my idiot brother-in-law executor and he’s refusing to part with the cash. He has no choice though. He has to part with it soon and once he does, I’ll never have to work again.”
“Won’t Leo have something to say about that?” Kyle asked.
A self-satisfied smirk crossed her face. “I’m still his wife, which means what is his is mine.”
“Well, until then, why don’t you help me put on a show for this little girl?” Kyle asked.
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “I knew you were after our jobs. As soon as I saw you I knew it.”
“The only reason I took the job,” Kyle said, “is because Bruce is dead and Alex is desperate.”
Penny’s mouth tightened as her gaze flickered from Kyle to Grace and then back again. She tilted her chin up. “Bruce is not dead. He left. I spoke to security myself. He disembarked at seven o’clock this morning.”
“I checked too,” Kyle said. “That wasn’t him.”
“You’re lying. Bruce is alive. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh? Why are you scared?” Kyle asked.
“Scared?” Penny rolled her eyes. “I’m not scared.”
“Then why did you take Bruce’s gun?”
Her mouth opened slightly. “How…” Her eyes hardened. “You were knocking on Bruce’s door a few hours ago, weren’t you?”
“No, I was the one hiding in Bruce’s bathroom,” Kyle admitted reaching into the pocket of his cargo pants. “Which reminds me, whoever was knocking came back after you left and slipped a note underneath the door,” he said holding up the letter.
Penny’s face turned beet red. Her eyes blazing, she reached up to snatch the letter out of Kyle’s hand.
Kyle snatched it back. “Who’s the Pied Piper?”
Smiling tightly, Penny gripped the edge of the door and stepped back. “Maybe you are. You’re the one with the letter,” she said slamming the door in their faces.
Grace leaned against the wall. “So what are you going to do without an assistant?”
He smiled at her.
“Oh no,” she said wagging her finger, “don’t even think about it.”
“It’s just one night. One hour. That’s it.”
“You’re crazy,” she replied as she hurried away from him. “I have no idea what to do on stage.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “That’s all right, I’ll teach you.”
She ducked her head and slid out of his embrace. “Not on your life,” she said laughing. “You are on your own.”
He sighed in disappointment as he walked down the corridor. “And here I thought Hollidays always kept their word.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked with a chuckle. “I never promised to be your assistant.”
“You said you’d do whatever I wanted to do for the rest of the week. You didn’t say that I could only choose one thing.”
Grace pursed her lips together. Marriage was harder than she thought it was going to be. She was going to have to be more careful in the future with her promises. Can’t just throw them out willy-nilly, she decided. Future promises were going to require deep thought. “I was talking about going on excursions or to shows with you.”
“This is a show,” he pointed out, “and you promised. A Holliday always keeps her promises. Isn’t that what you told me once?”
A slow smile lit up her face. “Well, yeah, but I’m a Dragovich now.”
Kyle laughed, as she knew he would. “I promise it won’t be that bad,” he said punching the button for the elevator. “The little girl’s just seven, so I’m going to do a very simple routine with lots of exploding balloon animals.”
Grace cringed. “Exploding?”
“Lots of confetti. Lots of glitter. Lots of hypnotizing her parents into doing silly things. Barking like a dog. Clucking like a chicken. I just need you there to help me set up some tricks. Get sawed in half. Disappear into thin air. You know, the usual.”
“Do I have to speak?”
“Not unless you want to.”
“How many people will be there?”
“I’m not sure. I think just the girl’s family.”
Grace chewed on the bottom of her lip. A child’s birthday party didn’t sound so scary. She could handle that. After all, how bad could it be? Memories of Kyle’s shows in New York came flooding back. She held up a finger. “No fire,” she said in a stern voice.
“You sound just like my father,” he accused.
“We're on a cruise ship out in the middle of the ocean. No fire.”
“If you help me, then I promise…”
“That means no lighters,” she interrupted tapping her fingers. “No sparklers. No fireworks and you can forget that whole cannon thing that Bruce and Penny did.”
Kyle lightly ran his hands down her arms while kissing her forehead. “Would you relax? I’ve taken fire out of my act.”
“Really?”
The elevator doors swished open.
“Had no choice. My dad made me swear never to use fire again.” He stepped out of the elevator and turned towards the magic theater. “Like it was my fault my pants leg caught on fire at the wedding.”
“What?” She shrieked in alarm hurrying to catch up with him.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys Alex Wright had given to him. “It was nothing,” he said opening the door. “Dad put it out in seconds. Hey, have you ever seen me do the bullet catch?”
“No.”
“Great! We’ll do that one.�
�
“No, I’m saying no to the bullet catch.”
He gasped. “Wait, I’ve got it! We take the audience to the Lido Deck. I’ll have the crew suspend me upside down over the ocean. All I need is a straitjacket.”
“No argument here.”
He looked at her in surprise. “So, you don’t object?”
“Of course, I object. What happened to we’ll keep it simple?”
“That’s simple.”
Grace gave him an irritated look before entering the dark theater. “Think of something else.”
“Fine,” he said with a groan.
“When do we have to do this?” she asked as Kyle turned on the lights.
“Tomorrow.”
Grace’s mouth dropped open. “Tomorrow? Are you crazy?”
“Alex Wright promised one of the ship’s VIPs a magic show for their daughter’s birthday and it’s up to us to deliver. He seemed pretty desperate.”
“The VIP?”
“Alex Wright. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”
Grace followed him up the stairs and through the secret door. As he walked about collecting various objects from around the room and depositing them on a workbench in the corner, Grace wandered around poking her head into cabinets and opening drawers. She came to a stop in front of the locker and shuddered.
She glanced over her shoulder, making sure Kyle was close by before opening the locker. She let out the breath she had been holding thankful that this time the locker was empty.
“Are you going to dress up like Davy Jones?” she asked closing the locker and stepping away from it. Just touching the metal made her feel clammy.
“No, there’s not enough time to develop new material, especially since we have to figure out who killed Bruce before we return home. I’m just going to stick with my old act.”
“You didn’t have an assistant before,” she said moving to the hutch.
He picked up a deck of cards and began shuffling. “I didn’t have a wife before either.”
She smiled, resigning herself to performing for what she hoped was a very small birthday party. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing right now,” he said setting the cards to the side and picking up a stack of colorful construction paper and a scissors. “I’ve got to go through Bruce’s things and see what he has that I can use.”
While Kyle busied himself at the workbench trying out various tricks and illusions, Grace sat down at the hutch and turned on the monitor. A line of DVDs in slim jewel cases sat on the top shelf marked with dates of performances. She separated the March DVDs from the others then plucked one out by random, popped it into the DVD player and sat back.
She wasn’t quite sure when Courtney had been pulled up on stage but was sure it had to be sometime in March. With any luck, she could find it before Kyle needed her. Maybe then she could discover what had happened on stage that had upset the girl so much.
Leo, dressed in the Davy Jones costume, appeared on the screen with Penny and Bruce standing behind him. She glanced at the date on the DVD cover noting that it took place exactly three months to the day before settling in to watch the magicians perform. To her surprise, she found herself enjoying Leo’s performance much more than Bruce’s. She wasn’t quite sure why. Neither of them were that accomplished or funny, but there was something about Leo’s performance that she enjoyed.
Perhaps he benefitted a bit from the curse of low expectations, she thought smiling as he ordered Bruce and Penny around the ship. From what Alex had told Kyle, she expected to see Leo fumbling around in a drunken stupor and while he did appear slightly tipsy for most of the performances, it seemed more as if it was just part of the act and not a constant state of being.
She sat up straighter as Tucker appeared on stage.
On that night, he was tasked with inspecting and loading a musket which he then had to fire at Leo. Even knowing it was an act, Grace laughed as Tucker nervously dropped the musket causing Leo to jump behind Penny before finally bravely coming forward and allowing Tucker to shoot him. She couldn’t recall that particular illusion in Bruce’s act.
Then, Bruce and Leo weren’t the same man. While each pretended to be the dread pirate Davy Jones, each had his own style and way of doing things. Where Leo’s Davy was kind and cowardly, Bruce’s Davy was menacing and cruel. Leo’s Davy was more often the brunt of the jokes, taking center stage in the seemingly dangerous illusions. When Davy’s Locker was wheeled out on stage, he was the one who went inside while Bruce and Penny added the swords. Bruce’s Davy spent most of his time threatening Penny and forcing her or others to take part, never once exposing himself to any real or pretend danger.
She picked up another DVD case as the show ended and Leo, Bruce and Penny took their bows. She exchanged the other DVD for the next date and immediately began skipping forward, searching for any sign of Courtney or Tucker.
She advanced the screen forward then paused, noting that everything seemed different from the previous video. Leo wasn’t acting the same as he had during the other performances. It was subtle but there was definitely something different in the way he was behaving. Gone was the affable unsteady pirate with the quick fingers, and in his place, an angrier more suspicious version.
He wasn’t the only one acting differently, she noted turning her attention to Penny who stood at the edge of the stage her arms crossed in front of her. She spoke her lines in a bored monotone with little inflection and no trace of the accent she usually used.
Grace scanned the stage looking for Bruce only then realizing he hadn’t made an appearance yet.
Just then, Leo and Penny’s attention shifted to the audience as a heckler spoke up voicing his displeasure.
It was painful to watch by video; she couldn’t imagine watching it in person.
Unable to take much more, she skipped forward a few more times before stopping as Courtney finally came on stage. Her young face was eager and excited to be taking part in the performance. Grace cringed knowing that she wasn’t going to look like that by the end of the performance. She could tell from Leo’s posture and the way he stalked across the stage towards Courtney’s side that he had it in for the young girl.
The next ten minutes consisted of Leo asking a supposedly hypnotized Courtney a series of yes or no questions much like what Kyle had done during dinner the night before. The only difference was that Leo seemed to enjoy making Courtney uncomfortable, remarking on her clothes, her hairstyle, and on whether she had come on the cruise alone before implying that naturally she was alone.
The audience quickly grew annoyed with his thinly veiled barbs, the laughs coming few and far between as he moved from questioning the young girl to having her perform a series of acts designed to embarrass and humiliate.
Even Penny seemed appalled. She stood off to the side, a disgusted look on her face as she watched her husband torment Courtney
It was a relief when Leo finally brought poor Courtney out of the hypnosis and let her go back to her seat, dismissing her rudely before walking off stage, leaving a baffled Penny standing alone and facing an annoyed crowd. She gamely tried to save the night by telling a few jokes before declaring that it was intermission time and rushing from the stage.
The audience began to murmur among themselves. Several stood up and walked out as others booed and hissed. Grace glanced at the timer watching as the minutes went by. From her count, ten minutes passed before Penny returned, followed by Bruce and Leo wheeling the Davy Jones’ locker between them. None of them spoke as Leo stepped inside and Bruce and Penny began angrily shoving swords into the locker.
Suddenly, an ad for the cruise line appeared on the screen. She reached for the remote control. Why would someone tape over the end, Grace wondered as she skipped over the commercial. Or was that when Bruce and Penny called the show to the end? If so, why not finish the trick? Why even bother coming out if they were just going to stop right in the middle?
Kyle lifted his head. “
Do you hear that?”
Pausing the DVD player, Grace shook her head. “What?”
“Hello,” a faraway voice called out.
“That,” Kyle said rising to his feet and looking around.
“Where is it coming from?”
“I think it’s coming from the theater.” Kyle stood up and walked over to the hutch. Leaning over her, he turned on the laptop and typed in the password.
“Where did you get that?”
“Bruce’s desk,” he said. “The videos are hooked up. Maybe we can see who’s out there.”
She tilted her head back and stared up at him in amusement. “We could also just go out there and take a look.”
“Well, yeah, but this is more fun,” he said with a grin as his fingers tapped at the keyboard.
Grace glanced at the monitor just as Leo Rycroft appeared on the screen. He twisted around unsteadily weaving to the side as he made his way up the steps and onto the stage. Suddenly, his knees buckled and his body pitched forward. Catching himself at the last moment he stumbled forward knocking into one of the prop waves, sending it crashing to the floor. He went down next, sprawling out on his back, mouth wide open.
* * *
“Here, drink this,” Grace ordered a few minutes later as she pressed a glass of water into Leo’s hand.
Leo shoved the glass to the side. “I don’t want anything,” he said as he struggled to sit up. He pressed a hand to his head as he sat on the stage floor. After a few seconds passed, he glanced up at Kyle. Pointing to the back of his head, he asked, “How does it look? Am I bleeding?”
Kyle bent over and parted Leo’s hair, causing the man to hiss in pain.
“I don’t see any blood,” he pronounced with a shrug. “How bad did you hit your head when you fell?”
“I didn’t fall,” Leo protested angrily, “someone hit me.”
Grace set the water down on the stage. “We saw you fall into the waves.”
Leo’s lips pursed together in a tight line. “Yeah, after I stumbled onto the stage. I’m talking about before.”
“When?” Kyle asked.
“Out on the deck a few minutes ago.” He stood up and shakily walked over to the secret door.
The Body in Davy Jones' Locker Page 14
