Farewell Seas

by Lily Harper Hart

  “We did, and we’re going to have busy days in front of us. We’re going to cover it all, though. We’re not going to let anything fall through the cracks.”

  She recognized what he was referring to and appreciated the effort. “It’s going to be okay.” She was almost fifty percent sure that was true. “Everything happens for a reason. We’ll simply find the reason behind Julia’s death.”

  “I wasn’t just talking about her.”

  “I know. We’ll find the reason for the other stuff, too.” She knew better than speaking about it out loud in front of a potential audience. “I have faith that we’re going to get the answers we need before this ship docks back in port.”

  “I’m right there with you.” He gripped her hand and gave it a good squeeze. “How do you feel about finishing dinner and then heading to bed early? I don’t think anything else is going to happen tonight, and if it is, there’s every possibility that someone might come to us rather than vice-versa.”

  Rowan hadn’t considered that. “Oh, because it will be easier to keep things quiet that way. That sounds like a good idea.”

  “I thought you would like it. We’ll take the cake back with us.”

  “That sounds like an even better idea.”

  “I’m always thinking.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  6

  Six

  Rowan awoke before Quinn the next morning. It took her a few seconds to clear her mind, and when she did, she found she’d wrapped herself around him during the night. Her legs were twined with his, her arms around his shoulders. Her head rested on his chest and he held her tightly.

  She felt warm and safe.

  Then she remembered her father was on the ship and her heart did a little jolt.

  “It’s okay,” Quinn murmured, stroking her morning-mussed hair. “I think today is the day.”

  Rowan lifted her chin so she could meet his gaze, rueful. “I’m sorry I woke you. You need your rest.”

  “I need my rest because you were an animal last night,” he teased, keeping her close as she stretched. “You didn’t even need a blindfold and ice cube.”

  Her lips curved down. “When are you going to let that go?”

  “Not anytime soon. I’m totally buying that book and reading it. You can’t stop me and I’m going to keep bringing it up.”

  “I think you’re only doing it because you want to make me feel better.”

  Quinn’s grin turned wicked. “I always want to make you feel good.”

  “Not that way.” She playfully slapped his chest. “You’re looking for ways to keep me from dwelling on what’s going on. I get it. Thank you for always putting me first. It’s not necessary, though.”

  He graced her with a kiss so soft it nudged a sigh out of her. “You’re going to be first in my life for a very long time. You can’t change that.”

  “How long? Do you have that planned out?”

  He shrugged.

  “Ah, I frightened you.” Her eyes gleamed. “Now I know how to make you stop talking about the bondage book.”

  “I’m not frightened. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be first in my life forever. That’s how not frightened I am.”

  Rowan’s mouth dropped open. “W-what?”

  “That wasn’t a proposal, just so you know. When I propose, I’m going to make a big deal out of it. There will probably be some crab legs involved ... and maybe some dancing. In my mind, I picture you wearing one of those plastic crab bibs and a coconut bra.”

  He chuckled when she took a swipe at him but didn’t release her.

  “I think there will be moonlight ... and the sound of the water lapping on the beach ... and probably a sandcastle that I built as a tribute to our love. I’ll definitely be on one knee.”

  Rowan had no idea what to say. “You’ve thought a lot about this.”

  “About you? Yeah, I have.”

  “Wow.” She couldn’t grasp another word to describe how she was feeling, and Quinn found her expression adorable.

  “Did you think I would run away from talk of our future?” he finally asked.

  “No. I ... just didn’t know you felt that way.”

  “I love you. It was hard to say the first time because I was terrified you wouldn’t say it back, but now it kind of rolls off the tongue. I see us being together forever. If you expect me to hide my feelings, you’re going to be disappointed.”

  Disappointment was the furthest thing from Rowan’s mind. “I love you, too. Don’t let me be wearing a crab bib when it happens, though. That will kill me.”

  “Duly noted.” He gave her a long kiss, smiling when she sighed and sank into it. He was entertaining the idea of a morning frolic when the phone he placed on the nightstand the previous evening buzzed with an incoming message. “No.”

  He was petulant when he grabbed the phone, keeping his free arm around Rowan so he could return to his plan should the message be referring to something minor. Instead, he sighed and turned his eyes to the ceiling.

  “Bad news?”

  He nodded. “For me. I had plans for you. Instead, it appears Toby Keane is willing to answer questions in his room this morning. He wants me to go to him.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “I just told you I had plans.”

  She giggled, love for him bubbling up. “Well, you can table the plans until later. I’m sure I’ll be open to suggestions.”

  “I certainly hope so.” He gave her another kiss before rolling out of bed. “I was going to take you to breakfast, but now you’re on your own. I have to meet Keane and then I’m sure I’ll have a litany of other things to do with my day.”

  “I can feed myself. I’ll probably go to the employee cafeteria, though.”

  “Are you sure? Your father won’t be there.”

  “I don’t think my father is going to approach me in the dining room. That would be ... uncomfortable. In fact, I’m going to stop looking for him. When he wants to find me, he will.”

  “It’s going to happen today.” Quinn sounded certain. “Be on the lookout, and text me if you need me. I will find a way to get to you no matter what.”

  “You always do.”

  “Yeah, I’m good that way.”

  THE WORLD’S BIGGEST HORROR author had a raging hangover, and when he opened the door to his suite to allow Quinn entrance, he made a growling sound in greeting rather than forming actual words.

  “Good morning to you, too,” Quinn said brightly, barely managing to hold back a smile.

  “Take a seat,” Toby said, gesturing toward the table at the center of the room. Unlike the normal guest rooms, Toby managed to snag one of the more impressive offerings on the ship. There were a limited number, but fame came in handy when it came to claiming them.

  “This is a nice room.” Quinn glanced around. He couldn’t remember ever setting foot in one of the primary suites before. It was four times as big as the room he had, and his was larger than most of the crew quarters because of his position. “Are you having a good time since your arrival?”

  “Well, I got drunk in the tiki bar last night and now I kind of wish I was dead,” Toby replied, popping two Alka-Seltzer tablets in his glass and watching as they began to fizz. “Part of that was fun.”

  “I’m guessing that’s not this part.”

  “No, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to bounce back and do the same again tonight.” He licked his lips before giving Quinn a long once-over. “Former military?”

  Quinn quirked an eyebrow. “Why do you ask that?”

  “You have the look. I spend a lot of time with the military in Virginia — that’s where I live — and I’ve gotten to know what a soldier looks like. You look like a soldier.”

  “I was overseas for several years.”

  “And you don’t want to talk about it,” Toby surmised. “I get it. I’m not trying to push you. I’m merely curious.”

  “I am proud to have done my service, but
when my last tour was up, I was ready to come home.”

  “And you ended up here?”

  “I have a unique skill set. They were happy to have me, and I can’t complain about living on a ship like The Bounding Storm. The food is great, I met someone I love, and there’s always drinks with umbrellas for the bad times.”

  “I can see where that would be appealing.” Toby grimaced as he quickly drained the glass, making a disgusted face. “Well, I understand you’re here with a specific agenda. Amber left a message that it was important you talk to me. I can’t figure that’s not for a good reason.”

  Quinn narrowed his eyes. “Did she not tell you what I wanted to talk to you about?”

  He scratched his jaw, puzzled. “I can’t say that she did. I guess she might’ve while I was drunk, but I don’t recall.”

  That was not what Quinn wanted to hear. “Well, then I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Yesterday afternoon — late, after we’d already left port — Julia West’s body was discovered in a laundry bin. She’d been strangled, and we’ve placed the time of her death sometime after the initial check-ins started. She wasn’t on the ship long before someone moved on her.”

  Whatever Toby was expecting, that wasn’t it. His puffed-out chest deflated like a balloon and his eyes went wide as saucers. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  “No.”

  “But ... .” He trailed off, studying Quinn’s features for a hint of subterfuge. Finding none, he merely shook his head. “I can’t believe this.”

  Slowly, he got to his feet and paced toward his window. Quinn had no idea what he saw when he looked at the rolling waves, but he could feel heavy emotions spinning off the horror writer as the man dealt with the information.

  “I know this is difficult for you,” Quinn started. “My understanding is that you dated the deceased for two years.”

  “Did Amber tell you that?”

  “Yes, but it’s readily available on the internet when you Google Ms. West’s name. I would’ve been coming to talk to you regardless. It simply would’ve taken longer. I’m sure Ms. Potter ascertained that and decided to clear things for you early.”

  “Yeah, well ... .” Another sigh and then Toby returned to the table. “You say she was strangled, huh?”

  “She was.”

  “Do you think it was painful? I mean ... did she suffer?”

  “I don’t think strangulation is the easiest way to go but there are definitely worse ways. She would’ve been aware of what was happening. She didn’t have skin cells under her fingernails, though, which means she didn’t get a piece of her attacker.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Whatever you want to take from it. The truth is, we’re starting this investigation from a bad position. According to Ms. West’s assistant, everyone hated her and there are any number of suspects on this ship.”

  “I would agree with that.” Toby leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs in front of him. He was in his fifties, not overly muscular, but there was something charming about him. Quinn honestly hoped he didn’t turn out to be a murderer because he liked the man, although he had no idea why he felt the way he did. “Julia was a good woman who got corrupted by a system that can chew you up and spit you out. I don’t think she realized what she’d become until it was too late to morph back into what she was supposed to be.”

  Quinn wasn’t sure how to take the statement. “I’m going to need more information than that.”

  “We met right after her first book hit the top of the charts,” he explained. “The president of the publishing house was thrilled — even though he had no idea about the book until it caught fire and created a fervor in female readers that hit the mainstream media — and he wanted us to appear at a signing together. He thought it would be big news.”

  “Did you hit it off right away?”

  Toby nodded. “Yeah. I liked her. She was a sweet woman who seemed overwhelmed by all the attention she was getting. This was before her ego grew to the size of a blimp, mind you. She was still a simple person who couldn’t believe her good fortune when we met.”

  “Did you ask her out, or did she ask you?”

  “I asked her out for a drink afterward. It wasn’t really a date, mind you. I found her interesting and wanted to hear her story.”

  “And what was her story?”

  “Poor parents who didn’t pay a lot of attention to her while she was growing up. She basically raised her sister, which she wasn’t sorry about doing, but she had a chip on her shoulder where her parents were concerned. She always loved writing, published a few romances, and made enough to barely scrape by.”

  “Then the bondage book came out and her life changed.”

  Toby chuckled. “Men call it ‘the bondage book.’ Women call it a life changer. You might want to be careful who you disparage the genre to.”

  “I’m not disparaging it. In fact, I’m going to read it myself.”

  “Really?”

  “My girlfriend has read all three books and was sad when she heard what happened. I’m interested enough to read them ... and mess with my girlfriend over the content.”

  Toby’s smile widened. “I would probably do the same. The books aren’t my thing, but I’m never one to judge what someone’s muse propels them to write.”

  “Back to Julia, you were with her for two years. How did the relationship work?”

  “It wasn’t easy. We lived in different states. We basically arranged it so we could be together two weeks out of every month; one of us would travel to the other. We had deadlines to hit, so work had to be done, but the start of the relationship was one of the happiest periods of my life.”

  “And the end of the relationship?”

  Toby exhaled heavily as he dragged a hand through his hair. “She changed. I don’t know how else to explain it. She became all about the fame and forgot the little things in life. I know I’m famous and people think I roll around in money and whatnot, but I still walk my own dog and play video games. The fame didn’t change the real me.”

  “It changed the real her, though, didn’t it?”

  “You have no idea. She became obsessed with the Grand Dames.”

  Quinn pursed his lips. “I don’t know what that is. Is that a publishing thing?”

  “Kind of. It’s a group of romance writers. Every year, the top romance writers in the industry get inducted into an informal group. They kind of run things for the entire genre ... although they would never admit it because it’s supposed to be a secret.”

  “Kind of like a sorority?”

  “Yeah. A secret society. It’s a bunch of nonsense, if you ask me.”

  “And Julia wanted to be a part of the group?”

  “She was desperate to be in the group. She wasn’t allowed that first year even though she sold more books than the rest of them combined. She was bitter about it, thought they were judging her. It was like being made fun of because she was poor all over again. She hated it.

  “So, she fought hard and demanded her spot the next year when the sequel came out,” he continued. “They couldn’t keep her out because they had no grounds. She was allowed in ... and then, well, then things just got ugly.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “How much time do you have?”

  “As much as you need.”

  “Well, then sit back. If you like the bondage game, you’re going to absolutely love the torture that these women did to each other. In fact, I might need another drink if I’m going to relive this. Maybe we should order something from room service.”

  ROWAN TOOK HER TIME getting ready, even going so far as to straighten her hair before pulling it back in a ponytail. She dressed in comfortable khaki shorts, a simple black T-shirt, and slid into her favorite flip-flops before gathering her camera and walking to the door.

  She was in her own little world, thoughts about how her father would approach her ripping through her head. She was a bit old for fantas
ies but that didn’t stop her from losing herself in visions.

  In one, he found her on the deck and made a big scene. In another, he followed her down a dark hallway and dragged her into a tiny room to tell his tale. Neither were exactly feasible, but all she had was her imagination until he actually made a move.

  She would have to muddle through until it happened. She had a job to do, and she wasn’t the type to shirk her duties ... even when she was going through an emotional crisis.

  She hummed to herself as she slipped the camera strap around her neck and reached for the door handle. She was already debating where she wanted to head to take her first shots when she pulled up short.

  There, standing in the open doorway, was her father.

  He was alone, dressed in shorts and a blue shirt, and he looked unbelievably nervous as he raised his hand to knock. He smiled when Rowan gasped, his hand shooting out to keep her from falling backwards.

  “Hey, honey.”

  Rowan actually forgot to breathe as she struggled to stay on her feet. She didn’t expect him to come to her room like this, at least not first thing in the morning, and she wasn’t prepared. She didn’t say anything initially, her tongue frozen. She merely stared as her heart pounded and the edges of her vision threatened to douse her in blackness.

  “You’re okay.” Paul stepped into the room and grabbed her arms before she could list to the side. “You’re okay,” he repeated, his eyes so wide they were all Rowan could see. “I’m so happy to see you, honey. You have no idea.”

  Rowan finally found her voice, but the words were uninspired. “Hello, Dad. Where the hell have you been?”

  7

  Seven

  “Sit down.”

  Paul’s face flushed with worry as he grabbed Rowan’s arm to balance her. He managed to keep her on her feet as he helped her cross to the table, and then left her in a chair as he strode toward the small mini fridge in the corner of the room.

  “You don’t have any bottled water?” He appeared puzzled when he opened the door and looked at the contents. “How can you not have bottled water?”