Hang Ten Australian Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Stacey Alabaster

  “Oh, you do still have your cane,” Claire said, then tried to not look so surprised. “Sorry, I just thought I saw you walking without it when you were a little further down the road.”

  “Oh no, dear, I am still using this darn thing all time, I’m afraid,” Byron said, tapping it on the ground a little, looking frustrated.

  “Well, maybe I need to go and get my eyes checked,” Claire said, lightly, but Byron took her quite seriously and looked at her with concern.

  “You are too young for your eyesight to start failing you just yet, aren’t you?” Byron laughed a little. “Give some hope to the rest of us, at least.”

  Well. We were actually growing up. Growing old would come next.

  “Must have just been my mistake,” Claire said. “Maybe wishful thinking. We all just want to see you fully recovered, Byron. You are too precious for the town to lose.”

  She looked a little sad and rubbed at the knuckles of her left hand.

  “What is it?” I asked her.

  “I think a warmer climate might be beckoning me.”

  I was confused. Eden Bay was the hottest it had ever been that summer. “What, warmer than here?” I asked in disbelief.

  She laughed and gripped her cane as she leaned forward a little bit. “Might sound bit strange at the moment, I suppose. But yes. There are chilly months here in the bay, and I can feel a chill in the air right now as a matter of fact. I think somewhere tropical might do me the world of good.”

  “Too bad you couldn’t get a ticket on that cruise ship,” Claire said.

  “Next time,” Byron said gently and then bid the two of us farewell as she shuffled on down the sidewalk

  Wow. So the town might be losing Byron after all.

  She had to do what she had to do. Just like we all did. Everything changes and nothing stays the same.

  I had to say something to Claire, though. I had been swallowing it down ever since our friendship had been repaired. Because our friendship still seemed so fragile, I hadn’t wanted to risk it. So I’d played nice. Or nice enough. But the talk of the cruise ship had unnerved me. Claire needed to know the truth, even if she hated me for it. Even if she shot the messenger.

  “Claire. There is something you need to know about this Michael guy you are in love with.”

  19

  Claire

  Roger was grumbling because there was another man in my house. But he and Bianca were playing gin rummy at the kitchen table and he seemed quite taken by her. I told him not to be jealous and led Michael to my bedroom because he said he had something to show me.

  He spun around and gave me the first look. “What do you think?” Darn. He looked really good in his wedding suit. It had been perfectly fitted to show off his biceps. A dark blue with a crisp white shirt underneath. Just to my tastes. Just what I would have chosen for him if I had picked the suit out myself.

  He seemed so perfect.

  What did they say about things that sound too good to be true?

  And he LOOKED perfect just then. I wanted to kiss him.

  But I had to tell him the bad news. “I think it might be better if I attend the wedding on my own. I mean, I am maid of honor, and I won’t even be able to hang out with you or spend any time with you—not really. And anyway, Alyson wants to keep the wedding small…” I realized I was rambling and giving him too many excuses for why he couldn’t come. It would have been better to just stick to the one.

  His face had fallen during the conversation. “You don’t believe the things that they are saying about me, do you, Claire?”

  I really, really didn’t want to believe them, but Alyson had done her research. She wouldn’t be antagonizing me just for the sake of it, even though she may have wanted to spare Matt’s feelings by stopping me from having a wedding date. But I really didn’t think it was that. She had proof—there were several people who linked the story back to Michael.

  “A lot of people are talking,” I said quietly.

  “And what do you think, Claire?” he asked me as he started to remove the cufflinks from his sleeves. He didn’t sound defensive, or even that hurt. What he did sound like was concerned for me, concerned that I was the one being hurt, and that only made this conversation harder.

  “Michael, I don’t know what to think…” I looked up at him. “Why are people saying that you listed that ticket?”

  He shrugged a little and looked kinda sad. “I have no idea,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter what everyone else says and thinks. It only matters what you think.”

  “I just think it would be better if you didn’t attend the wedding, that’s all.”

  He smiled at me sadly. But he was also understanding. He was being gentle with me even though I was accusing him of a terrible thing. “That’s totally fine, Claire. I understand.” He picked up the bag he had brought his suit in and started to walk towards the door. “And you’re right—it’s better for me to stay away from the wedding. And to be honest, I still think you have feelings for your old boyfriend.”

  “Matt?” It was all I could say. I couldn’t seem to form any other words. And the longer I stood there with my mouth open like an idiot, the more it looked like he was right.

  Michael dropped his head a little bit. “Maybe I should get back on the cruise ship tomorrow.”

  Oh gosh. I hadn’t expected him to say that. My heart sunk.

  But only one response came to my head. And by the time it had slipped out, it was too late to take it back.

  “Maybe you should.”

  He nodded and walked out.

  20

  Alyson

  So far, we had not figured out how to stop the cruise ship, and by that stage, most of the passengers had moved their baggage back onto the boat. Including Matt, who was due to set sail the following night. “Don’t worry. I will be at the wedding,” he said. Both he and Dad were going to walk me down the aisle, one of them on either side of me. “And the reception too. It’s not leaving till after dark.” But I could see from the look on his face that he wasn’t quite so confident.

  “Matt, I need you to be there for the whole thing, not just the walking me down the aisle part.”

  “Well, as long as it doesn’t run over, it will all be all right, won’t it?”

  But then we got some good news. Well, it was good for me. Just as Matt was clocking off his shift, he received an email from the captain. Even though passengers would be allowed back on board starting the following afternoon—and they could even sleep in the cabins if they so wished—the ship would not actually set sail until the day following day.

  I couldn’t tell whether Matt looked happy or disappointed about the news. A part of me wondered if he was actually hoping to miss the wedding so that he wouldn’t have to see Claire. I mean, it was kind of crummy that she was bringing a date with her.

  “It will be okay. You’ll hardly have to see them or deal with them,” I told him. “You’ll be plenty busy with your duties, and then you’ll probably be so nervous about your speech that you won’t even have time to talk to Claire before the reception,” I tried to reassure him.

  “I’m not worried about it,” Matt grumbled, but it was clear that he was.

  “You’ve actually got your ticket, don’t you?” I asked, suddenly concerned. Not because I wanted my brother to leave town. But because I was concerned he had been ripped off like Maria had been and was out thousands of dollars.

  “Yes,” he said and looked a little embarrassed as he glanced up at the gray sky. “I got it from Michael already.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Michael sold you the ticket?”

  “Yeah, well, who else would have?”

  I shrugged. “I’d assumed that the captain sold it. That it was all official-like. Not some random unofficial thing with his cabinmate.”

  “Yeah. I guess I was kinda keeping it under wraps. It felt a little dodgy buying it from him.”

  “Matt. When did you first ask Michael about getting a tick
et?”

  There was an uneasy feeling in my stomach as I waited for the answer. Matt was staring at the ground. “Well, I first inquired about getting a ticket that night we were out in the waves, surfing.”

  “Oh my gosh. Matt.”

  There was a sudden sharp wind that hit me cold in the face. Suddenly, I got it… What had really gone down that evening on the boat. When Matt had asked Michael about getting a ticket, Michael couldn’t pull his usual scam and stay hidden behind a computer screen—he had needed an actual ticket.

  So he had killed Dan Millen.

  I was willing to overlook a few things that Claire had done or might do, but bringing a murderer to my wedding… That was not going to happen. That was a bridge too far.

  And I had to stop it.

  Even if it meant being late for my own wedding.

  I asked her to meet me at Captain Eightball’s the following morning. A slight change of plan seeing as the bridal party was supposed to be meeting at the salon on Main Street at 10 to get our hair and makeup done.

  “What is it now?” Claire asked, looking nervous, and I didn’t think it was just because of the speech she was going to have to give that afternoon.

  I told her Matt had told me about something about Michael.

  But she interrupted me. “There’s something I need to tell you, too. About Michael, I mean.”

  I didn’t think it could possibly be anything I didn’t already know, but I let her talk. She told me that apparently there had been tension between Michael and Dan because Dan wouldn’t sell Michael the movie rights to his life story. Claire looked anxious. “I should have told someone,” she said. “But I didn’t want to believe he was guilty.”

  I shook my head and scrambled to tell her what I had just learned myself. We didn’t have much time. The ceremony was due to start in three hours, and I was still in my jeans and t-shirt.

  “Don’t you get it?” I asked her, trying to get through to her. “He didn’t kill Dan because of this stupid movie thing. He killed Dan because he needed the ticket, or he was going to be in big trouble for scalping when Matt found out he didn’t really have tickets.”

  I saw the pain all over Claire’s face… That was never my intention. I didn’t want her to be hurt. I just wanted her to see the truth.

  She hung her head. “I’ve already told him not to come to the wedding. So you didn’t have to go sticking the boot in.”

  “Claire, this has nothing to do with my wedding,” I said, standing up. “It has to do with the truth.” But time was ticking. “But actually, right now, it DOES have to do with my wedding. I need to go get into my dress. Like, right NOW.”

  My gown was long, and white, and made of loose lace. No frills and no Cinderella draping, though. Straight down to the sand. Flipflops underneath.

  Unfortunately, that darn cruise ship was still in the way. It was going to be in the background of all the wedding photos. But as we pulled up in the car and prepared to hop out, I knew I couldn’t do much about it. After all, hadn’t it also been my wish for the boat to stay?

  “Whoa, there’s Michael,” Claire said, distracted by her lost lover walking towards the ship as we got out of the limo. I was a little offended that she wasn’t focusing on me, but then something a little strange happened. He took a long look at Claire and I…and started to run in the opposite direction.

  We looked at each other. To my left, right down on the other end of the beach, was Troy waiting for me at the end of the aisle. But to the right—

  We nodded to each other. One last mission. We had to do this.

  “He’s getting away!” I shouted out as I dropped my bouquet and sprinted towards the cruise ship with Claire behind me, and I had the strangest sense of déjà vu. Last time we had gotten on that boat, something very bad had happened.

  But this time, we were going to catch the killer. Not let him kill again.

  Oh my gosh. Why were there so many people on this boat?

  I looked around and tried to find Claire, but she had disappeared. Oh no. Not again.

  She’s probably gone after that Michael to save him! I thought, trying to push through the crowd. Maybe she was trying to warn him. Maybe she didn’t even care that he was guilty, she just loved him that much and wanted to run away with him.

  Then I heard the honking of horns and my legs went wobbly beneath me. Oh my gosh. Are we moving? No way, I thought at first, and kept walking. It couldn’t be possible. I called out Claire’s name again and look desperately for Michael, running out onto the deck. That was when I realized I hadn’t been imaging it. The boat was moving. It had set sail.

  We were trapped.

  Carl was shrugging and telling me that I should have checked my emails for the updated agenda.

  “I NEED to get BACK for my WEDDING,” I said to Carl, who had no sympathy for either my predicament or the fact that I wasn’t actually a passenger so I didn’t receive the passenger emails.

  “Sorry, sweetheart, this boat doesn’t stop and turn around for anyone. Not even the queen.” He looked me up and down. “And you don’t look like the queen to me.”

  I groaned and shouted in frustration.

  No, I didn’t look like the queen, but I DID look like a bride who needed to get back to shore.

  Oh, this cannot be happening.

  I spun around and saw Claire standing there, looking just about as distressed as I was that we were on a boat headed for the South Pacific with no way to get off.

  I grabbed Claire by the shoulders and shook her like she had the ability to get the boat turned around. “Troy will think that I am abandoning him at the altar!” I shouted.

  “Just calm down,” she said. “Troy will understand.”

  She may have been distraught, but she did not actually seem that pressed about getting back to shore. She seemed almost resigned to our fate as shipmates. Well, maybe she just didn’t want me to get back to shore because she was jealous. The man she was in love with was a killer and I was about to marry a millionaire. But now we were both trapped. With a killer. Everyone on the boat was.

  Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. Heels.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was the same sound I had heard the night Dan Millen was killed.

  I spun around to see Captain Carl standing there, his shiny black shoes with a bit of a heel clicking along the floor as he walked toward us. I looked around in a panic. Surely he wouldn’t do anything to us right there, in broad daylight! But where was everyone? Why was it that the place was crowded when you didn’t want it to be but there wasn’t a person in sight when you desperately needed it?

  Carl sneered at us. “You two just don’t know when to give up, do you?” He smiled darkly. “Looks like I’ll have to take care of you just like I did Dan.”

  21

  Claire

  “It was you?” I asked Carl, only half-surprised. “But why? Why did you kill Dan?”

  Carl let out a dry laugh. “I might as well tell you since you two won’t be alive long enough to tell anyone. You think that gas leak was an accident?” He laughed again. “I did it on purpose so we could stop here. The only problem is that I did it a little too well. I had hoped to create a little leak but instead, I broke something that had to be completely replaced.”

  “But why?” Alyson and I asked at the same time.

  “Because even though I make a lot of money as the captain of this boat, I can make even more transporting drugs.” He smiled, his perfectly white teeth practically glowing against his tan skin. “But Dan was running his own side game and was being careless. I wasn’t about to let him get us both caught.”

  Alyson looked perplexed, a look she had perfected over the years. “But why did he take my surfboard?” She just couldn’t let that go.

  “I have no idea.” Carl shrugged. “Who can understand surfers? Maybe he just didn’t like you. He definitely wasn’t the smartest one in his little group. If it wasn’t for his friend, I don’t think he
could’ve pulled off any of his scams.”

  My stomach tightened. “His friend?”

  Alyson looked at me, and before Carl said the name, we both knew who it was. Michael.

  Carl’s eyes narrowed and his face grew dark. “But I’ll take care of him right after I take care of you.”

  I held my breath. We were cornered. Just before he could carry out his threat, we saw something come down hard on the top of his head. He looked at us in confusion and then his eyes rolled back. He dropped to the ground and behind him stood Michael.

  I wanted to rush to him and throw my arms around him to thank him. But Carl’s words still hung in the air. Michael was a scammer.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, taking a few steps toward me. “I really like you, Claire. I want to be with you.”

  “Enough to give all this up?” I asked.

  His silence spoke volumes. “I’m sorry,” was all he could finally say. And he genuinely looked like he was.

  When we got back to shore, the wedding party was waiting for us. Well, for Alyson. I didn’t think anyone cared that I was there. The police rushed the boat and soon, Michael and a half-conscious Carl were being escorted away. Michael looked at me one last time, and I felt sick.

  “Hey, I’m sorry about your…friend.”

  I turned around to see Matt. He looked amazing. I wanted to run to him, but it didn’t seem right—me running to my ex-fiancé as my current boyfriend was being stuffed into a patrol car. I just sighed and shook my head, not able to find any words that were suitable for the situation.

  Matt walked up to me and pulled me close for a hug. At first, I let my arms dangle to my sides, but I couldn’t help myself. I wrapped them around him and took in his scent. What had I been thinking, trying to start a relationship with Michael? Maybe I just wanted to cover up the feelings I still had for Matt. Feelings that terrified me. Or maybe I felt like somehow, I didn’t deserve this wonderful man that had his arms wrapped me. Whatever it was, I had made a mistake. But how could I tell Matt? And was it too late for us?