Paradise Can Be Murder

by Susan Bernhardt

  Elizabeth grimaced. “I’d say it is.”

  “And Sybil didn’t question why they suddenly moved to Iowa?” I asked.

  “She might have known and didn’t want to reveal that to us,” Deirdre said. “After all, we were strangers. As far as she knew, we could be the enemy.”

  “The four of us really looked like rogue spies,” Janey said sarcastically.

  “And that’s why she waved us over at tea that day,” I said. “I don’t think so, Deirdre.”

  Elizabeth looked at all of us shrugging. “George denies poisoning her. He said he certainly wouldn’t have done it publicly had he intended to. They also interviewed the bartender. He had no idea how the poison could have gotten into Sybil’s and George’s drinks.”

  Again, I had said the same thing. And if a person was going to kill someone, would they be incredibly nasty, constantly, to that person for witnesses to hear? George never tried to be quiet with his insults.

  “So are they ruling him out as a suspect?” Deirdre asked.

  “They’re still keeping him locked up in a stateroom, guarded. I imagine until they think this through. Perhaps even to protect him.”

  Janey shifted in her chair and looked around her. “If he didn’t do it, then there’s still a killer on board.”

  I looked over at Janey. “Did you work on your school project?”

  “Not really.”

  “I suggest you do.”

  “I’m having drinks with the Captain before dinner tonight,” Elizabeth said. “I bumped into him in the corridor after John left his office to investigate the vandalism to the paintings. I’m sure I’ll learn more then.”

  My heart started to pound at the mention of the paintings. I had almost forgotten about them for a few minutes.

  “I wonder if every cruise ship has this much crime,” Janey said. “That could be another angle that I take for my report.”

  “I certainly hope not,” Deirdre said.

  I wondered if Deirdre was talking about the crime on a cruise ship or what Janey could write her report about when Phil and Mike came over to our table. “We grabbed a quick bite at the buffet. Janey, are you ready for trivia?”

  “Sure.”

  “Have fun,” I said.

  After they left we told Elizabeth what we found out about Sybil’s old boyfriend who was on board.

  “That definitely makes him a person of interest,” she said.

  A few minutes later, we decided to go to trivia also. We were all curious as to how well Janey actually did.

  * * * *

  Janey was quite knowledgeable during trivia. Afterward, I went back to the room with her. I decided to take a nap and she would start on her school project.

  Before falling asleep, I heard Janey ask,” Do you suppose Sybil could be buried at sea?”

  I faked sleeping, not wanting to get into another discussion with her. I had been up half of the night thinking about Sybil’s murder and the damaged paintings. If I discovered Janey had done the damage, I’d would have to tell the authorities. The cost would be incredible. A moral dilemma.

  “Kay, Kay wake up!”

  “Geez, you scared me. What? Janey, what is it?”

  “I was looking through my photos, the ones where I was taking pictures of my pizza. I wanted to get the lighting just right for the photo and I took about twenty shots in a row.”

  “You woke me to talk about your pizza photos? I had a terrible night’s sleep.”

  “Listen...rather, look at my photos.”

  I took her camera and saw many photos of her pizza from different angles.

  “Look way in the back. See the bartender. Here, remember I told you I had zoomed in looking at the signs at the bar?”

  The view to the bar was excellent. “Yes, I can see him.”

  “And you can see George and Sybil in the pool. The bartender is making their drinks in this photo and then he turns his back to the drinks putting away the bottles. Look, in the next shot. Do see a woman sitting at the bar?”

  Janey took the camera from me and advanced to the next photo. “Look. Her hand is over the drinks.” She pointed the camera monitor towards me.

  “Oh, my gosh, you’re right. She’s glancing towards the pool. Zoom in. I want to see the woman’s face.”

  Janey zoomed in.

  “A brunette.” I squinted to try and see the woman better. “What a hostile look!” Her face looked hard. “I recognize her.”

  “Who is she? She looks like she’s been hardened by a tough life.”

  Wow! Again, Janey wise beyond her years.

  “I think she’s a woman I saw that night we sang karaoke. She was sitting with George.”

  “I don’t remember her. Did she sing?”

  “No. She was in a booth with him. You were listening to the singers when Elizabeth, Deirdre, and I noticed her.”

  “What were you thinking? You should have pointed her out to me.” Janey continued to zoom in on each photo. “Now the bartender is facing the front again. In the next one he’s by the pool, giving the drinks to George and Sybil. The last photo has him back by the bar. The woman is gone.”

  “It looks like the woman could have put something in the drinks.”

  “You think...with her hand over them. For sure, in one of the drinks at least,” Janey said.

  We looked at the next photo of Sybil and George, after the bartender brought the drinks over. “It looks like Sybil lunged for George and put her hand on George’s head and dunked him.”

  “This shows that it was none too playful either,” Janey commented.

  “I’d say not, judging from the scowl on George’s face.”

  “After that he dunked Sybil.”

  The next photo shows George walking away from the pool. I could almost make out two full drinks still by the pool.

  “Kay, look at this photo. Sybil put one drink down and reaches for the other. She might have drank both.”

  “What does the next photo show?”

  “That was the last one. I figured I had enough photos of the pizza.”

  Janey went a number of photos back and zoomed in again on the woman’s face who was sitting by the bar. “Look at those sinister eyes.”

  “If only one of the drinks was poisoned, how would the woman know whose drink it was? Unless she knew which was George’s. One was a glass of white wine, the other a mixed drink. Two very different drinks. I believe they were drinking mixed drinks at karaoke.”

  “Perhaps the woman you saw at karaoke and George had a falling out and she drugged what she thought was George’s drink.”

  “We’ve got to take these photos to Security,” I said.

  “And right now.”

  * * * *

  Elizabeth arrived late at our table for dinner. “The Captain told me there was a spy on board. I played dumb and acted like I didn’t already know. Also, when they relocated George to Iowa, he started using Sybil’s name from her first marriage.”

  “Sybil was married twice?” I asked. I didn’t think she had been married to Aaron.

  “How could Sybil not have questioned that?” Deirdre asked.

  “The Captain just came out and told you all of this information?” Phil said.

  “I told him I read a lot of spy novels, and he knows our Kay is sort of a detective.” She smiled. “Could be he was trying to impress me.”

  Mike and Phil both looked up at the ceiling, almost as if on cue.

  “We’re all detectives,” Janey said, smiling large, almost gloating. “You won’t believe what we found out.”

  “What?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Who killed Sybil.”

  Elizabeth jerked her head forward. “What?”

  The complainer on the next table looked over at us and made an irritated face.

  “Who?” Elizabeth said quieter.

  Janey gloated. “Looks like the Captain didn’t tell you about that. He would have known.”

  We told Elizabeth about the
photos Janey had taken. Everyone else at the table had heard about it before Elizabeth arrived.

  “Thanks to me, they know who to look out for now.” A look came over Janey that radiated superiority.

  “After they received the photos, we were told to enjoy the rest of the cruise and not be concerned about anything,” I said.

  “Right! Like we’re enjoying being stuck in the middle of nowhere on this ship. They sure wanted my photos though and printed a few of the woman who poisoned Sybil.”

  “I wonder if the drink was meant for George and not Sybil?” Elizabeth asked.

  “You think?” Janey said sarcastically. “Being in the CIA and all. The woman could have been here to make a hit on George.”

  Elizabeth pursed her lips. “Why didn’t the Captain show me the photos? He seemed unnerved when I was asking about the death.”

  I shrugged. “With Janey’s photos, Security should be able to identify the woman among the passengers, using facial recognition.”

  Janey put her fork down. “I suggested that.”

  “I’m sure they would have done that without you telling them to,” Phil said.

  I raised my eyebrow and gave Phil a don’t-take-away-her-glory look.

  “But great work, Janey,” Phil added.

  Janey gave Phil a don’t-patronize-me look.

  “George should be able to identify the woman,” I said, “since she was with him at karaoke.”

  “I’m sure she’s a rogue spy,” Janey added.

  “I’m sure John,” Elizabeth looked at Janey, “the Chief Security Officer, will be more forthcoming than the Captain with updates. I won’t waste my time with the Captain any longer.”

  It sounded like Elizabeth took, not hearing about the photos from the Captain, hard.

  “How was it, having drinks with the Captain?” Deirdre asked.

  She waved her hand in the air. “No big deal. And trust me, it won’t happen again.”

  Had she been told about the photos, I’m sure it would have been a big deal.

  “Did you ever think he might consider you a suspect?” Phil said.

  That came out of left field. Elizabeth looked stunned and turned away from Phil. “He gave me a tour of the bridge.”

  “What was the bridge like?” Janey asked.

  “Lots of technology, monitors. You can see around the entire ship with the use of computer screens.” She turned to Deirdre and myself. “He was a bit in love with himself, looking handsome in his dress-whites.”

  “Is that the ship moving?” Mike said suddenly.

  People around the dining room started clapping.

  Janey joined in. “You know what that means?”

  “You can swim with the dolphins?” I said.

  “Sybil’s body will be taken off the ship tomorrow at the next port. We need to figure out who killed Sybil tonight.” In the next breath, Janey said, “Kay, after dinner I’m meeting up with my friends from the tween club.”

  I thought she’d want to start investigating who the woman was in the photo. “That’s fine. We’ll pick you up at ten o’clock.”

  “Make sure you’re there this time, young lady,” Phil said, offering a semi-stern look.

  “And forget about this murder business for the evening,” I said. “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.”

  Everyone at the table looked at me, their lips pressed together.

  Chapter Twelve

  Day Eight on the ship

  Saturday, April 2

  THE SHIP ARRIVED at The Cayman Islands overnight. Phil, Janey, and I sat on our balcony gazing pensively at the water. We had opted again for room service and were just finishing up breakfast. I was almost expecting Janey to inform me about some kind of investigation she did when she took off for the tween club yesterday evening. I wanted to ask her, yet I didn’t want to, afraid of what she might have done. And also she could consider my question as encouragement in this very dangerous situation.

  An announcement came over the public address system that the tenders would be leaving soon for Georgetown on Grand Cayman Island where the optional excursions would be honored. The ship would also be stocking up with supplies for the remainder of the cruise and this would be the last stop. It was reiterated that the last two ports were canceled. Tomorrow would be a sea day and we would be arriving back in Fort Lauderdale as scheduled.

  “That’s it for Sybil. She’ll be taken off the ship here,” Janey said. “We still need to find out who the woman in the photo is. I participated in another scavenger hunt with the tween group last night hoping I would see the mystery woman.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You did?”

  Then Phil narrowed his eyes at me.

  “I looked at every woman we passed on the ship with long, wavy, brunette hair. No one looked like the woman in the photo. I suppose she could have been wearing a disguise and was dressed as a man.”

  Phil sighed heavily. “I was looking forward to Key West.”

  “I’m sure with the ship’s facial recognition technology, Security already knows who she is.”

  “Do you think she would be dumb enough to leave the ship with Security checking everyone’s ship pass?” Janey asked.

  “I wouldn’t.” Phil smiled. “I’d jump ship, this close to land.”

  “In broad daylight?” Janey asked.

  I shook my head.

  A knock at the door interrupted our conversation. I got up from the table to answer it. “He wouldn’t and she wouldn’t, Janey.”

  Elizabeth came into the room. “I was on my way to Security to ask John if they determined the identity of the woman in the photos yet. Do you want to come along?”

  Janey got up from the table. “Sure, I will.”

  “I don’t think so, Janey,” Phil said.

  I glanced at my watch. “We have about forty-five minutes until it’s our time to leave the ship.” I looked over at Phil, still out on the balcony. “Do you think you two could be ready to leave by the time I get back? Collect towels, sunscreen, anything you think we’ll need today.”

  He came into the room and looked at Janey. “We’ll be ready.”

  While Elizabeth lead me to John’s office, I reminded her, “Be sure to ask if he found anything out about the scuba incident.”

  She nodded, and we entered his office. John was sitting at his desk. He stood up when he saw us come in.

  He had a put-out look when he saw me with Elizabeth, but still offered us seats. He directed all of his conversation only to her, which I thought was unprofessional and unfriendly. He told Elizabeth about the woman in the photos. “The illusive woman? We know who she is. She wasn’t in her stateroom all night. We had a crew member monitoring the hallway.”

  She wouldn’t have returned seeing a guard standing out in the hallway by her room. They should have had him in the room.

  “I imagine there are plenty of places on the ship where she could hide out,” I said.

  “Not to worry. She won’t be able to get off the ship without using her identification card. We’ll get her one way or the other.”

  Elizabeth wasn’t saying much so I asked, “Obviously George must no longer be considered a suspect. He might have been poisoned had he stayed long enough at the pool to have his drink.”

  He gave a dismissive glance. “Madam, I hope you enjoy the day at Grand Cayman. As I said, no worries. All will be solved.”

  John then turned to Elizabeth as if I couldn’t hear. He was definitely an odd one. “Since we don’t know if the poison was meant for George, because of his past life, or for his wife, he is being held now for his own protection. But I don’t know how long he will allow us to hold him. He’s quite agitated.”

  When Elizabeth didn’t say anything again, I asked, “Did you show George the photos? Did he say if he knew the woman?”

  John gave a surprised look, then turned again to Elizabeth. “Please don’t concern yourself, Madam. I hope you have a pleasant day.”

  Did tha
t surprised look mean, he had never thought of showing George the photos? Is he another Chief Kirk? They could release George and follow him, hoping he might lead them to the mystery woman.

  Elizabeth finally asked, “John, have you questioned George about the woman?”

  I looked over at Elizabeth, my eyes practically bulging out, trying to signal her to ask about the scuba incident.

  “And did you find out about the scuba incident report?”

  I almost let out a sigh of relief.

  John’s head cocked to the side. “Elizabeth, she’s our best suspect right now.”

  He still didn’t answer the question. I bet he didn’t.

  “So then you do believe she’s the one who killed Sybil.”

  He looked back at me and crossed his arms.

  Elizabeth stood up. “I think it’s time we leave, Kay.”

  On the way back to our rooms, I said, “Talk about an abrasive personality. How can you stand that guy? You almost forgot to ask about the scuba report.”

  She shrugged. “He’s never abrasive to me and I thought we asked enough questions or I should say, you did. He knows I’m interested in the scuba information. No reason to push him to the limit.”

  I thought back to Elizabeth’s interrogation methods in the other murders we had solved where she was ruthless in her probing.

  While we were waiting to be tendered to shore, with our beach towels and bags in hand, we saw a boat pulling up to the cruise ship on the far end. Our tender waited several minutes for all of the passengers to get on. We watched out the window as the boat pulled up, to see what would transpire. An official looking person in uniform stepped off the boat. I suspected he was sent to investigate the murder. A couple of minutes later, a large package, that I was sure was Sybil’s body, was taken off the ship and placed carefully into the boat. When I saw John from Security get on the boat with the package I knew I had been right. I expected to also see George accompany his wife’s body, but only John was there as the boat took off in the direction of Grand Cayman.

  After we were tendered to the island, Janey, and this time Elizabeth, left to swim with the dolphins. Deirdre and I went to Seven Mile Beach to relax on the white sands. I hoped the water would wash away some of the weariness of these past days. Phil and Mike took the Taste of Cayman tour. They were excited about visiting a brewery and rum distillery. I was certain they would get their money’s worth.