Curried Lobster Murder: Book 14 in The Darling Deli Series

by Patti Benning

  She looked over at Candice, who had an ear-to-ear grin on her face, then at her other table mates. Linda looked excited, and was gripping Bobby’s arm; he looked eager, if a bit anxious, though nothing like Nadine who was already looking slightly green. Doug, her father, just looked impatient as he picked at his napkin and looked around for a server.

  “Very exciting,” Charlie said from the stage, clapping as people cheered from their seats. “Another successful cruise has begun. I know you are all probably eager to begin exploring this wonderful ship, but I’m going to have to ask for your patience for a little while longer. First I would like to introduce the man who made all of this possible… Damien Warner.”

  She stepped aside as a sharply dressed man walked up to the microphone. Moira could tell just by looking at him that he was well off. Everything about him oozed money. He was handsome enough, though his nose looked as if it had been broken at least once in his life. His clothes, however, made up for it. His suit was perfectly tailored and fit him like a glove, and a gold watch sparkled on his wrist. He looked to be about a decade younger than she was, but wore his age much better. As he took the microphone off the stand, he flashed them a charming smile, revealing brilliantly white teeth.

  “Welcome aboard,” he said, gazing down at them from the stage. “As some of you may suspect from my name, my father is Leslie Warner himself. He owns this ship and one other, the Caribbean Star, and even though he is not with us today, I would like to take a moment to thank him, because without his hard work and ambition, none of us would be here today.” He raised a glass of water in a toast, and Moira and the other guests followed suit with the drinks they had ordered.

  “A couple of years ago,” he continued, “I had the idea to host some sort of competition on the cruises. My goal was to help small business owners who have put in the hard work to get where they are today and have the ambition to reach great heights—though of course we also hope to provide entertainment for our other guests. Thanks to some help from my father, we managed to get everything arranged to host the very first Grand Cruise Chef War last year… and it was a hit! I can only hope that this year’s competition goes just as well.

  “Now to introduce the judges. I will, of course, be serving as the head judge. Ms. Felicity Dane and Mr. Walter Rae are the other two judges this year. Please give them a round of applause.”

  A thin woman with long blond hair and a tan that didn’t quite look real stood up and beamed at them, followed by a stocky, dark-skinned man who offered them a theatrical bow.

  “I’m going to let Charlie take over now to explain the rules,” Damien said once the smattering of applause had ended and the other two judges had taken their seats. “I swear she knows them better than I do… and I wrote them!”

  He handed the microphone back to the woman with spiky brown hair and returned to his seat at the table. Charlie cleared her throat and began speaking, going over the rules of the competition, which were pretty basic. No cheating, Moira thought. That’s basically what it boils down to. These rules should be easy enough to follow at least, since I don’t have any plans to cheat my way to the prize.

  When she finished, the envelopes with the instructions for the first challenge were handed out. Moira opened hers and was disappointed to see nothing more than a room number and a time she was supposed to arrive. She was hoping to have some time to plan what she was going to make first, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

  At long last the waiters began rolling in carts of food. Her stomach growled as the first course—a small bowl of lobster bisque and a salad with blue cheese, raspberry vinaigrette, and candied pecans—was laid out in front of her. If all of the food on the cruise was this good, she would need to buy some bigger pants by the time they got home.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  After finishing her last bite of dessert, a sumptuous lava cake topped with salted caramel sauce, Moira picked up her glass and excused herself from the table. Nadine, Bobby, and Linda had already left, but Candice was deep in discussion with another one of the contestants, a young Mexican woman named Sofia Flores. They were about the same age, and as young entrepreneurs had a lot in common. The deli owner had lost track of the conversation once they started talking about music, and decided to step out onto the balcony to clear her thoughts.

  Night had fallen, but the air was still warm and humid with the occasional cooling breeze. She could see the stars, more than she could ever see on land, and knew the view would be even better from up on deck. She decided to put off stargazing for now, since it was so late and she worried about the first challenge.

  She turned back to see Candice and Sofia’s conversation wrapping up. Once the two women had said their goodbyes, Candice rose from her seat and looked around the room. There were only two other people still there, besides Sofia; a couple in the opposite corner that was giggling together. They had been introduced to all of the contestants, but for the life of her, Moira couldn’t remember their names.

  “I’m ready to head back to our rooms if you are,” her daughter said, barely covering up a yawn. “I thought I would want to explore a bit tonight, but after all that food I’m too tired even to think about climbing stairs.”

  “Let’s get going,” Moira agreed. “I have an early morning tomorrow, and I still want to video call David tonight.”

  She said a quick goodbye to Sofia, who also looked tired, then followed her daughter out the banquet hall doors and back down the hallway toward their rooms. The ship didn’t move noticeably, but whatever imperceptible movement there was threw her balance off just enough that she had to put her hand on the wall for support. She was sure she would get her sea legs soon, but for now she was happy enough just to avoid falling on her face.

  She was just beginning to wonder if Candice really knew the way back or if they’d taken a wrong turn somewhere when a terrified scream cut through the air. Moira and her daughter traded a look, then without a word took off in the direction of the scream, turning a corner and almost running into a curious bystander in their hurry.

  The deli owner slowed to a stop when she saw the woman kneeling in the middle of a hallway with a blood-stained figure in her arms. She recognized the lady; it was Linda, one of the women they’d shared the table with. That meant that the person in her arms must be…

  “Bobby,” Linda whimpered. “Bobby, sweetie, hang on. We’re going to get you help.”

  “What happened?” Moira asked, kneeling down next to her. People were beginning to come out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about, and she could hear the sound of footsteps as more people raced down the hallway.

  Bobby was taking slow, wet-sounding breaths in Linda’s arms. The deli owner glanced at his body to see where he was hurt, then quickly looked away. His throat had been slit, and even she could tell by the amount of blood staining his shirt and his wife’s arms that he wasn’t going to make it.

  “I-I found him like this,” Linda sobbed. “Can you help? Please, we need to get him to a doctor.”

  “I don’t know what I can do,” the deli owner said, her voice cracking. She looked around helplessly, hoping that someone with authority would come to their aid, but there were only the shocked faces of other guests staring at them. Candice was keeping them back, futilely telling them to go get help, but no one was leaving.

  “Out of my way, out of my way,” a commanding voice said at last. “Let me through. What’s going—”

  The man broke off mid-sentence as he caught sight of the bloody man and woman in the middle of the hallway. Moira stumbled back to give him room as he crouched down and pressed his fingers against Bobby’s wrist. The deli owner watched the man’s chest for signs that he was still breathing—he had been just a moment ago, hadn’t he? — but seconds passed with no sound or movement from him. At last the man who had taken charge sighed and stood up. He looked pale, but determined.

  “Jim, get a clean sheet out of the linen closet,” he snapped to
one of the stewards who had been watching the scene unfold with everyone. “Help me cover this poor man. I’ll page the medics and ask them to bring a stretcher.”

  He turned back to Linda, who was sobbing and hugging her husband’s body.

  “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to let go and stand up now.”

  “Are… are you going to help him?”

  The man’s lips tightened, but he nodded. “I need you to give us some space so we can get him down to the infirmary.”

  Bobby’s wife reluctantly released her husband and got to her feet, taking a horrified step back as she realized how much blood had pooled beneath them. Jim reappeared with a stark white sheet in his hand, which the two men then used to cover the still form of the man on the floor.

  “Why did you cover his face?” Linda said, her voice becoming hysterical. “He has to breathe.”

  She moved to grab the sheet off, but Jim wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back. Before the situation could escalate, two paramedics carrying a collapsible stretcher arrived and loaded the sheet-covered form onto it. Linda was sobbing by now, and the man who had taken charge of the situation approached her, speaking gently. Moira watched them, not sure what to do or how to help. She saw a door open behind the crowd that had gathered as someone else joined the mob.

  “My name is Xavier Rodgers, and I’m the ship’s first mate. What’s your name? Was that your husband?”

  She nodded tearfully. “Yes, he’s my husband. My name is Linda. We have a son back home. Please… can I go to Bobby? I don’t want him to be alone.”

  Her voice broke on the last word and she started sobbing again. Xavier took her arm and guided her down the hall where the medics had taken her husband’s body.

  “We’ll go to him now, all right? On the way, why don’t you tell me what happened?”

  The deli owner listened for as long as she could while the two walked away, but Linda’s distraught words were barely intelligible. Soon enough, Jim was shooing everyone away, asking them to go back to their rooms or to one of the twenty-four hour bars while the cleaning crews took care of the mess in the hallway. Moira and Candice left with the crowd, heading back to their own rooms in unspoken agreement.

  “That was horrible,” Candice said, taking a seat on her mother’s bed once they made it back. “That poor woman… and her poor husband. What do you think happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Moira said. “I’m sure we’ll hear something about it tomorrow. I wonder if they’re going to cancel the competition? It’s going to be tough on everyone once they find out that one of the contestants died.”

  “Do they have any sort of police out here?” her daughter asked. “I don’t remember seeing anything about security while we were boarding.”

  “I think there are some security officers, but no official police. Laws are different in international waters. From what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem like there will be much in the way of investigation until we get back to Miami.”

  “Do you think that they’re going to turn the ship around? That man could have been murdered for all we know.”

  “I doubt it,” Moira said after a moment’s thought. “Somehow I don’t think they’re going to turn the whole cruise ship around for one person. Sadly, these sorts of things are all about money. If they can get away with it, they’ll probably just sail right along as if nothing had happened. I don’t know what they’re going to do about his body. The ship might have a morgue, I guess.”

  “Do you think his wife is going to get off at the next port?” the young woman asked.

  “If I were her, I would,” she told her daughter. “There’s no way I would be able to finish a cruise after a loved one died like that.”

  They fell silent, each subdued by their own thoughts and imagining themselves in Linda’s place. It was a dark beginning to their trip, and Moira hoped that it wasn’t a foreshadowing of what was to come. Had she made a mistake when she entered her name into the drawing for the competition? I want to talk to David, she thought. But I don’t think he’ll be up this late.

  “I think we should go to sleep and talk about this again in the morning,” Moira said. “I’m exhausted, and I have to wake up early regardless of whether or not they’re going to cancel the Chef War. We’ll get breakfast early and see if we can find anything out about what happened to Bobby Babcock while we eat. I’m sure they’ll tell us something when we meet for the first challenge either way.”

  “All right, I guess,” Candice said reluctantly. “It’s going to be hard to get to sleep not knowing what’s going on, but I guess we don’t have any other choice. Goodnight, Mom.”

  With that the young woman got up and walked into her own room, closing the adjoining door behind her. The deli owner pulled off her shoes, peeled off her dress, struggled into her pajamas, and collapsed in her bed. She was tired, but she knew that Candice had been right. It was going to be hard to get to sleep with her mind racing like this. For a second she considered sending another email to David, telling him what had happened, but decided against it. He would just worry. It would be better to wait until she had more information to give him.

  Tossing and turning, trying futilely to ignore the images of the dead man that kept appearing when she turned her eyes, it was a long time before she managed to fall asleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The alarm clock bolted to her nightstand went off at six o’clock the next morning. She pulled herself out of her slumber and looked around for a moment, blinking as she took in her strange surroundings. Where am I? Then it all came back to her—winning the entry to the competition on the cruise, enjoying the fantastic dinner the night before, and, most of all, seeing the dead man.

  She got up and walked over to the small window in her socks. Outside it was overcast, and she could see nothing but the dark ocean. It looked windier than yesterday and the waves had white crests as they raced across the water.

  She took a deep breath and rested her forehead against the cool glass. In just under two hours she had her first challenge to get through—if the Chef War hadn’t been cancelled due to Bobby’s death. First things first; she had to shower, get dressed, and meet her daughter for breakfast.

  They met at a breakfast buffet on the cruise ship’s top deck, giving them an unbeatable view of the surrounding ocean. Despite the clouds and wind, it was warm enough to eat outside comfortably, and the fresh, clean air helped to clear Moira’s head.

  “Before you got here, I asked a few other people if they knew what happened,” her daughter said. “No one has a clue.”

  “I’ll just have to wait until the first challenge to find out,” the deli owner said. “Let’s put that out of our minds for now. There’s nothing we can do anyway, and we should at least try to enjoy this trip while we can. What are you going to do while I’m at the challenge?”

  Each challenge would be recorded, edited, and then played for the cruise guests later that evening. The show wouldn’t be available on national television, but the thought of over a thousand people seeing her possibly making a fool of herself in the competition was nerve wracking. During the hours of the competition, Candice would be on her own to enjoy the cruise and take advantage of their all-expenses paid vacation. Moira would have to make do with sneaking a few hours at the spa after the stress of each challenge. Assuming, of course, she didn’t get disqualified after the first one.

  “I thought I would check out some of the restaurants and take a look at the theater. I heard that it has a pool in it, so you can swim while a movie is playing,” the young woman said. “Then after the challenge we can meet at one of the nicer restaurants for lunch.”

  “Sounds good.” She smiled, but when she looked down at the food on her plate, her stomach clenched. She was too nervous to eat. It was all she could do to get her coffee down and pick at her bacon while happy couples on the cruise chatted around them.

  The first challenge was being held in the industrial kitchen next to th
e beautiful banquet hall they’d dined in last night. With Bobby out of the picture, Moira was now one of six contestants, and the other five were huddled nervously in a group when she came in. Sofia gave her a quick smile and beckoned her over.

  “We’re just waiting for the judges,” she said. “I was beginning to wonder if something had happened to you too. I just heard about Mr. Babcock… how horrible. He was at your table, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Moira said. “He was.” She noticed that four of the other contestants watched her expectantly; the fifth, Nadine, just looked pale.

  “They’ve been asking me questions about him for the past ten minutes,” she said. “I keep telling them I didn’t know him that well…”

  “Word is he killed himself,” another contestant, a man named Antonio Cross, said. “Did he seem depressed to you? Did he say anything to make you think, in retrospect, that he was planning this?”

  “Whoa,” Moira said, raising her hands. “I barely knew the guy. We talked for a couple of hours, mostly about food. He seemed pretty normal, I guess. That was it. If anything, he seemed like a happy guy.”

  “You were there, weren’t you? When he died?” a woman asked. The deli owner couldn’t remember her name.

  “Yes, I was. My daughter and I heard his wife scream and thought we should see what was happening. I didn’t see it happen, but I saw them afterward. It was… it was terrible.”

  The room fell silent for a moment as the contestants digested this.

  “Do you think she did it?” Antonio asked. “His wife, I mean? I know some people said it was suicide, but that just seems like a convenient explanation. What if he was murdered, and they just don’t want to shut the competition down so they’re keeping it quiet?”

  “I’ve got no idea,” she told him. “But she seemed really distraught. I guess she could just be a good actor, but it really seemed like she loved him.”