At first she didn’t respond. She opened her mouth to say something and then stopped. A sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead. Her face paled. “What does that have to do with anything?”
All was quiet. After several moments she said, “Okay, I admit, he’s an old boyfriend. Talk about coincidences that he’s on this cruise. Please don’t say anything to George about him. I swear, I didn’t know he would be here. It might throw him into another depression.”
“Is he by chance the boyfriend you came on the cruise with, when you first met George? When you all sat at the same table?”
She nodded. “You guessed it. He was an old boyfriend I lived with in New York City. Do you suppose George saw me with him also and that’s why he said what he did this morning?”
I shrugged, having a hard time believing that her old boyfriend was on this same cruise. “I don’t know.” I wondered if Sybil had seen George with the other woman at karaoke.
“I certainly hope not,” Sybil said, narrowing her eyes at me. “You never know what George could do?”
I continued to watch Sybil while she talked to Elizabeth and Deirdre about George, repeating pretty much the same things she had already insinuated. Lots of questions started going through my mind. Did Sybil lie and know her old boyfriend would be on the ship? She had lied before. I wasn’t a big believer of coincidences. Had they planned to be on the same cruise? Was he stalking her? Had George seen them? Had she seen George with the other woman? It wasn’t real smart that Sybil took the chance of kissing another man in public if she was so concerned about George lashing out. Suddenly the strangest thought came over me. What if this was all a show? What if George never told Sybil this morning that he wished he hadn’t married her? What if she wanted us to think George was suicidal? What if she wanted to plant that idea in our heads?
I took another sip of my coffee. Maybe Phil was right about my suspicious nature sometimes working with the Boulder Police on cases as a medical consultant. Perhaps it was hard for me to accept things at face value.
Deirdre put her cup down and picked up a beignet. “I wonder how long we’ll be stuck in the water?”
Thankful that Deirdre changed the subject, I responded, “With help on its way, I’m hoping tomorrow we’ll arrive at the Cayman Islands.”
* * * *
On the way to meet the guys for lunch, I asked Elizabeth and Deirdre, “What do you suppose Sybil’s purpose was in telling us about George being suicidal?”
“She obviously needed someone to bare her soul to about George’s abuse,” Elizabeth responded.
“I felt she was too insistent talking about George and his wanting to kill himself.”
“You thought that also, Deirdre? I was suspicious of her telling us about George being suicidal. George just doesn’t strike me as such. Just as James in the murder last Fourth of July didn’t strike me as suicidal either. I had to prove that his death was murder and not suicide.”
“I don’t know anything about whether George is suicidal or not,” Elizabeth chimed in, “but James and George are two different personalities. George is directly nasty to Sybil. He’s verbally abusive.”
“Remember the book club? James was also quite verbally abusive to everyone,” Deirdre said. “And look what happened to him.”
Where was Deirdre going with this?
Deirdre shrugged. “On the other hand, perhaps Sybil did just want to talk this over with someone.”
“But, we’ve only just met her. Even if we visited at tea the other day, we’re still total strangers. It seems odd to even have had this conversation. It just isn’t normal that someone you don’t know, confides these things to total strangers. I know this sounds paranoid, but remember, Janey had mentioned at tea that we went to the pastry shop every morning. Of course we’d be there today with the ship stalled. Was she waiting for us so she could go into her act about George being suicidal?”
“Come on, Kay. That’s a bit farfetched,” Elizabeth said, “And it’s not an act.”
I shook my head. “It could be. In a way, she chose us when we attended the tea. She saw us and waved. Of course we would have joined her. It would have been rude not to.”
“How did she know we would go to tea that day?” Elizabeth asked.
“Maybe she overheard us talking about it at dinner. I don’t know.”
“She does look over at us most times when George is insulting her,” Deirdre said.
Elizabeth sighed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Maybe she wants us to know how nasty George is.”
Up ahead, I saw a crowd gathering around the art area. “If my husband was suicidal, the last place I’d go with him would be on a cruise with opportunities everywhere to throw yourself off the ship.” I motioned to the crowd. “I wonder what’s going on over there?”
A large crowd was gathered around the paintings at the far end of the art area. I glanced over and did a double take at the art work, then walked up close to one of the paintings. Drawn on the person in the painting was a bold mustache that looked like it had been done with a black marker. I walked over to the next two paintings with the same damage. My heart started beating fast. I glanced back at Deirdre and Elizabeth with a troubled look on my face. Then I gazed at still another painting of a woman holding a baby. Both the woman and the baby had black mustaches.
“What’s wrong, Kay?” Deirdre asked.
I pointed to the painting in front of me. “Look.” Then quietly under my breath, I said, “Oh, my gosh...Janey?”
“You think Janey did this?” Deirdre asked.
“Shhh.” I led Deirdre, by the arm, away from the area. Elizabeth followed. “No, of course not.” I didn’t realize I had said her name so loud.
“Then why did you say Janey’s name?” Elizabeth said. “She wouldn’t have done this.”
“The art supplies I bought her included black markers. She left in a huff this morning with her art supplies when she was upset about the ship being stalled.” I hesitated then added, “And she said previously the paintings needed pizzazz.”
“Don’t think the worst and make sure you don’t make any accusations, Kay,” Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth had developed a soft spot in her heart for Janey in the last several months. Perhaps she saw herself a little in Janey. Elizabeth had moved from one foster home to another as a child. She probably sympathized with Janey after having learned she had been passed around to live with various relatives. After Janey’s mother left them, her father needed time to get his head on straight. I’m sure she realized Janey’s home life hadn’t been a bed of roses either.
“I don’t think she did this either,” Deirdre said.
I didn’t like what I was thinking, that Janey could have possibly done this. “You’re right, she wouldn’t have done this. She knows right from wrong.”
When we caught up with Janey at lunch, I took her aside and told her about the paintings at the art auction. Elizabeth glared at me.
Janey laughed. “An early April Fool’s joke. What could be funnier! That probably improved them.”
I stared at her, taken aback by her comment. “It’s not funny, Janey.”
“Geez, I was only kidding, Kay. You need to lighten up. And don’t look at me that way. You don’t think I did it, do you? I’m not a juvenile delinquent.”
I hoped she wasn’t. Janey had lied to me in the past and she had a history of “borrowing” things. I decided not to say any more on the topic. “Of course not, and don’t tell me to lighten up. Show some respect, young lady. Let’s get back to the others.”
During lunch, Phil and Mike asked Janey if she wanted to join them for trivia. Janey quickly agreed. Before they took off, I told Phil privately about the paintings and added, “Whoever did this will have to pay for tens of thousands of dollars of art.”
“Kay, Janey said she didn’t do it. Believe her.”
“Oh, you heard that.”
“Believe me, we all hear
d it.”
“Of course, I believe her.” I desperately wanted to. “But she has a history of lying.”
“And that’s exactly what it is, a history. Give her the benefit of the doubt. She’s a great kid.” His voice turned stern. “It wasn’t her, Kay.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to say anything about the paintings to anyone. I’m sure it’s being investigated right now. There must be cameras in the area, with all that expensive art, and the staff are probably looking at the videos right now to see who did this.”
“So then relax and enjoy your afternoon.” I watched as Phil, Mike, and Janey took off down the hall for the lounge, where the trivia game would be starting in a few minutes.
Elizabeth left to go to the spa. Deirdre and I went to a cooking demonstration on how to make Jamaican beans and rice. The presenter was energetic and funny. I tried to get into the presentation, but kept thinking about Janey and Sybil. At the end, we were able to taste the red beans and rice. They were delicious.
Afterwards, Deirdre and I met up with Elizabeth and we walked a couple of miles around the promenade deck. “I’m feeling guilty about eating so much, especially the sweets and pastries. We never go this often to Marissa’s. I’ve already been unbuttoning the top of some pants,” I said. “They’re getting too tight.”
“At least we’re getting our exercise,” Elizabeth said.
“Right! From one side of the buffet to the other. Those miles add up fast.” I glanced at my Fitbit. Three miles so far today.
I looked over at Deirdre, waiting for a clever response. She had a serious look on her face as we turned the corner of the promenade towards the stern of the ship.
“Don’t forget we’re walking miles on the other decks also, going from one end of the ship to the other,” Elizabeth added.
“Then always taking a break at the pastry shop. At least I’m not feeling homesick for Sweet Marissa’s.” I wish I hadn’t mentioned the pastry shop because thoughts of Sybil came to mind.
Suddenly, Deirdre said, “I see a troubling aura around the ship.”
“I thought something had to be alive to have an aura,” I said.
Elizabeth looked from Deirdre out into the water.
“Kay, there’s a difference between looking and seeing. Everything has an aura. Something terrible is going to happen here.”
“It already did.” I laughed. “Ask Janey. She may not get the chance to go swimming with the dolphins.”
“We’re stuck in the water,” Elizabeth said. “I’d call that terrible.”
“No, it’s something worse. I’m not one to question signs from the cosmos.”
Elizabeth sighed heavily.
“Something far worse,” Deirdre repeated, looking straight ahead.
Often times I took Deirdre’s premonitions with a grain of salt, but she had been accurate on so many occurrences. I hoped this wasn’t one of them.
* * * *
That evening after dinner, Janey took off for the tween club. She had been excited about a karaoke party they were going to have, followed by a scavenger hunt throughout the ship afterwards. They would be going in groups of three for the hunt. The boy and the girl she met the first time at the tween club were going to be her partners. We told her we’d pick her up at ten o’clock. She begged us to make it eleven o’clock. We settled on ten-thirty.
When Mike and Phil left to listen to the blues band, I thought for a split second about Phil in the shopping area with Sparkle. I’d still need to get to the bottom of that. Deirdre, Elizabeth, and I went to a Broadway sing-along at the piano bar. It was fun. Elizabeth and I sang our hearts out, sharing a brochure with the song lyrics from Mamma Mia, Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly, and several other musicals. Deirdre remained in a bit of a somber mood throughout the evening, glancing around the area often, looking at her watch. Waiting, I suppose, for something terrible to happen, something from “the cosmos”.
Phil and I decided to have some alone time in the stateroom before we went to pick up Janey. Just before ten-thirty she burst into the room all excited. “I was taking photos of my pizza up in the pool area, when Sybil and George broke out in a screaming fight.”
“What were you doing up in the pool area at this hour?” Phil asked.
“I wanted to get the Slice of the Day before they closed for the night.”
I sighed heavily. “You were supposed to be at the tween club. Did you hear what they were saying?”
“It was so cold on deck, only a couple of people were there besides the bartender. It looked like he was starting to close up the bar. I couldn’t make out the words, but I could see their faces. I was sitting back in the corner and took a number of photos using my zoom, to see if I could read the kinds of drinks at the bar. The bartender took two drinks over to Sybil and George. You should look at my photos, Kay.”
“I will, but perhaps not tonight. It’s so late and I’m exhausted.”
“The zoom lens is amazing. This is such a great camera.”
“Where were they when the bartender took drinks to them?”
“George and Sybil were in the pool. I took a few photos of them also. Anyway, Sybil dunked George underwater. He was angry about that. I saw his expression in my camera when I took his photo. He did the same to her, then he got out of the pool and left the area.”
“Really? Did they see you watching the fight?”
“No, George went in the opposite direction. I was scrunched down in my seat when the fighting started and shot away. With my sports feature I can take one shot after the other. Anyway, it was dark where I was sitting. I doubt anyone would have seen me.”
“What did Sybil do?”
“Stayed in the pool. Her head popped up. I figured I better leave. I hurried to get back here before you left to come and get me. I figured you’d throw a fit if you came and I wasn’t at the tween club.”
“Phil is right. You shouldn’t have been wandering around the pool area so late by yourself. When we drop you off at the tween club in the evening, we expect you to stay there until we pick you up.”
“Yes, Mother.”
I did an eye roll in my mind. The photos would be more interesting with Sybil and George in them. “Perhaps I will look at your photos after all. I do every night.”
“No. I think it’s much too late. Time for bed,” she said in a squeaky voice, probably trying to resemble mine.
I looked over at Phil and shook my head. He smiled, then Janey did. I made it a unanimous smile, then threw a pillow at Janey. She reciprocated.
Chapter Ten
Day Six on the ship
Thursday, March 31
THE STATEROOM DOOR slammed loud. I continued waking up to Janey shaking me. “Kay, Kay, Wake up. Wake up, Kay.”
“Janey, can you please try and close the door quieter.” I put the pillow over my head.
“Kay! It’s important!”
I lifted up the pillow. “What? What is so important at this ungodly hour?” I turned and looked over to Phil’s side of the bed. Empty. Then I heard the shower turning off. “What time is it?” I glanced toward the clock on the bedside table. “Six o’clock?”
“Sybil’s dead! At least I think it was Sybil.”
“What?” I sat up in bed, still not seeing clearly.
“I went up to the Lido deck and saw them taking a body out of the pool. It was Sybil. I didn’t see her face, but it was Sybil. I recognized her hair and swimsuit.”
I got out of bed and reached for my robe. “Sybil? Who is them, and what were you doing out so early? And you need to start telling us when you are leaving the room.”
“There were a number of crew members from maintenance surrounding the pool, probably wanted to make the situation look low-key, like they were fixing something in the pool. The area was cordoned off.”
Phil came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. “What’s all the racket about?”
Janey turned to Phil. “Sybil’s dead. She drowned.�
�
She then turned back to me. “Kay, what are we going to do about it? You always have a plan.”
“Sybil was an expert swimmer,” Phil said. “She wouldn’t have drowned in a pool.”
“Janey, we’re on a cruise ship. If what you are saying is true, the Captain will take care of it. Besides, perhaps this person in the pool—”
“Sybil,” Janey interrupted.
“Or Sybil was sick and just needed help out of the pool.”
“And after they helped Sybil out of the pool they zipped her up in a body bag?”
Phil jerked his head back. “They did?”
“Well, no, but they did put her on a gurney and covered her body with a sheet.”
“Was anyone else there?” I asked.
“Just a lot of the staff. Like I said, they cordoned off the area. I sneaked under the rope to see what was going on.”
“Janey, you should tell us when you are going to leave the room,” Phil said. “I was just going to get some coffee and look for you.”
I waved my hand in the air. “I already told her that.”
“People! Forget about me! Someone...Sybil has been murdered! And we are stuck in the middle of nowhere! You just said it yourself, Phil, she was an excellent swimmer. Sybil wouldn’t have drowned. How do you suppose she was murdered?”
“Janey, we don’t know what really happened. We don’t know that she...Sybil was murdered. We have no evidence to suggest that. It might have been an accidental drowning.” I looked at her camera hanging from her neck. “Did you take any photos?”
“I was too shocked. I never thought of it. Damn! I need to use the bathroom. I think I’m going to be sick.”
I looked over at Phil. He was shaking his head. While Janey was in the bathroom, he said to me, “You’re always suspicious and now it’s rubbing off on Janey.”
“That’s a bit unfair, wouldn’t you say, after what I just said to her.”
Walking over to the bathroom, I asked Janey if she was okay. Receiving a positive response, I went to the closet and chose my clothes for the day. I sat on the bed, waiting for Janey to come out of the bathroom.
Paradise Can Be Murder Page 9
