Boldly Basil Murder

by Patti Benning

  “The paper wants one of us to do a story on the place when it opens,” Shannon chimed in. “I'll see if I can pull that job. I'd like to meet this guy for myself.”

  “Let's change the subject,” Joanna said suddenly, shifting uncomfortably. “Thinking about him just puts me in a bad mood. It’s such a nice day. I don't want to waste it by being upset.”

  “Okay,” Ellie said. “Fair enough. Just one more thing. You know, Joanna, that buffet guy isn’t going to be a threat to your store. Even if he has the best food in the world, no one with an attitude like his could ever even begin to compete with Hot Diggity Dawg.”

  Her friend smiled at her. “Thanks, Ellie. Now, let's turn on some music and break out the food. All of this sunbathing has made me hungry.”

  It was a good suggestion, and one they were all ready for. Shannon made her way over to the radio while Ellie fetched the cooler from where she had stashed it under the table. Joanna had brought her own cooler full of food and drinks, and together they set up a makeshift picnic in the boat's cabin. Sawyer, who was still tied to the table – he was also wearing a life jacket, just in case he somehow got loose and decided to go swim with the lobsters – got to his feet and looked up at them eagerly, his tail wagging. Joanna tossed him a cheese cube and smirked when Ellie wagged a finger at her.

  “He's never going to stop begging if people keep feeding him table scraps,” she said.

  “He already knows I'm an easy target,” Joanna said. “Just look at those big, brown eyes. How can I say no?”

  “I swear, dogs are master manipulators,” Ellie said with a huff. She wasn't really annoyed, though, and when Joanna wasn't looking she grabbed a second cheese cube and slipped it to Bunny.

  The three of them sat down at the table, glad to be out of the sun for the time being. With the fresh ocean breeze, the day didn't really feel that hot until they spent half an hour lying out under the cloudless sky.

  As they ate and chatted some more, Ellie's heart swelled with happiness. She couldn't have asked for better friends, or for a better way to spend her day. The view couldn't be beat. To one side was the rugged and wild Maine coast, the tall white pines dominating the skyline. To the other was the ocean in all of its vastness; white breakers adding dots of movement to the choppy gray water. For someone who had spent most of her life in Chicago, not too far from Lake Michigan, the sight of endless water wasn't exactly new to her, but somehow the ocean was incomparable to the Great Lakes. Even though, if she squinted her eyes and ignored the salty smell of the ocean, she could have been somewhere along a Michigan or Wisconsin beach, the ocean had a certain feel to it that was unmistakable.

  Even with her friends and the dogs there, it was the sort of peaceful solitude that she had never found anywhere else. They could have been the only people in the world, for all they knew.

  Except for the boat she had just spotted to the north, near the coast.

  “We've got company,” she said, gesturing to the new vessel. It had just come around a rocky outcropping. It was dangerously close to the cliffs, and for a moment she held her breath as it bobbed close to one of the rocks, but a lucky wave swept it past without damage.

  “What on earth are they doing?” Shannon asked, gazing at the boat. It was larger than the Eleonora, almost what Ellie might consider a small yacht.

  “I don’t know,” Ellie said, watching the boat in concern. It wasn’t safe to be that close to the cliffs; not in such a large boat and not on such a windy day. She could read the boat’s name, written on its side in an elegant script; the Sea Star.

  “There’s something on the side,” Joanna said. She reached for the binoculars that they used for whale watching. “Is that blood?”

  Chapter Three

  There were bloodstains on the deck, too. Maybe it wasn’t very smart, boarding the seemingly abandoned vessel without anything resembling a weapon between them, but when their initial attempts to hail the boat had been ignored, none of them had felt as though they’d had any choice but to approach and see what was wrong. When they got closer and confirmed that the frighteningly large smudge on the side was indeed blood, Ellie had known that they were going to have to do their best to help, regardless of the risks. With Shannon staying back on board, radioing for help, their safety was even more doubtful. Still, Ellie couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. Something was definitely off.

  “This is creepy,” Joanna said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I used to be interested in stories of ghost ships when I was younger, but this…” She shuddered. Ellie nodded, understanding what she meant. Somehow the reality of finding an abandoned, blood stained boat was more terrifying than any movie could be.

  “Ready?” she asked her friend when they reached the door. Joanna nodded after only a slight hesitation. Ellie took a deep breath, then opened the door. She took a single step into the relative darkness of the cabin, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden lack of sunlight. Part of her wished they hadn’t. She stiffened when she realized what the form lying on the floor was, and took a half step back reflexively.

  “What is it?” Joanna asked from behind her.

  “There’s a body.”

  It was a man; no one she recognized, which was the only comfort she could find in this situation. There was no question that he was dead. Every cell in her body was screaming at her to get out of there, but she forced herself to stay put.

  “Hello?” she called out. “Is anyone here? We’re here to help.”

  “Ellie, we should get off this boat,” Joanna whispered from behind her. “We can’t do anything. Whatever happened here — it’s way beyond us.”

  “We have to at least —” Ellie broke off, turning her head toward the staircase that led belowdecks. “Did you here that? That creaking sound?”

  “We’re on a boat,” her friend hissed. “Everything creaks.”

  “No, it sounded like a door opening.”

  “You can’t go down there, Ellie. Someone killed this man. Whoever did it is probably still here. We have to get back to Shannon and go wait for the police somewhere safer.”

  Ellie hesitated. Joanna was right. Even if someone was down there, they had no way of knowing if the person was friend or foe. Trying to ignore the part of herself that still wanted to help, she took a step back, out of the dark cabin and away from the body of the man on the floor.

  “We’re calling the police,” she called out, just in case someone was down there. “Help will be here soon.”

  Joanna grabbed her wrist and practically dragged her back toward where the Eleanora was bobbing gently just off the port side.

  They had gone no more than a few steps when Ellie heard a frightened voice call out from down the stairway and out the open door of the cabin.

  “Help! I need help. Please, I know I heard someone talking.”

  Ellie and Joanna both froze, their gazes meeting. For a moment, Joanna looked like she was about to object, but then a resigned look came into her eyes.

  “I guess we can’t really run away if someone is asking for help,” she muttered. “I’m with you, Ellie,” she added in a louder voice. “But I swear, if I end up getting murdered by some psychopath serial killer on this boat, I'm going to haunt you every single second for the rest of your life.”

  “That's fair,” Ellie said. She turned back around. With Joanna following her, she walked into the cabin, stepping gingerly around the dead body, her eyes getting caught on the man's face for a handful of moments before she refocused her gaze on the stairwell.

  “The boat doesn't seem to have any power,” she said aloud as she flipped the light switch on the wall. “We’re going to have to use our phones’ flashlights.”

  They turned on the flashlights and used them to peer cautiously down the dark stairwell.

  “Hello?” Ellie called out again, this time directing her voice down the stairwell. “We heard you calling for help. We’re coming down.”

  “Thank goodness,” the voice sai
d. It was a woman's voice, but weak and unsteady. “I'm in the first room on your right at the bottom of the stairs. There’s something wrong with my leg and my head feels fuzzy. I can't see anything.”

  “We’re coming down and we’re going to help you,” Ellie said. “Just… don't make any sudden movements, okay? None of us knows what happened here. It's got us all on edge.”

  She used “all” instead of “both” in an attempt to make the other woman, whoever she was, think that there were more people on the boat than there really were. Paranoia was an ugly feeling, but she wasn’t about to ignore the danger that she felt pressing in from all around her.

  “I don't think I could move fast if I tried,” the other woman said. “Please, I think I'm bleeding. I really need to get out of here.”

  Ellie and Joanna exchanged one last look, then they started down the narrow staircase, Ellie going first. The phone’s flashlight wasn’t the best, but it lit the area up enough for her to be able to make her way down safely. The rocking of the waves was more pronounced down here, somehow – probably it was throwing her off balance more since she couldn't see the horizon to orient herself. She stumbled slightly on the stairs, but caught herself with the railing.

  “I can see light,” the other woman said, sounding thrilled.

  “Keep talking,” Ellie suggested. “We'll follow your voice.”

  “I'm in the storage room right at the bottom of the stairs. I don't know how I got here. I… I don't remember anything. I'm on a boat, I know that much. It’s got to be the Sea Star. We were going to go out today. I don't actually remember getting on the boat. Why can’t I remember?”

  Ellie reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to right. Her eyes landed on a door that was part way open and she saw movement on the other side. A hand curled around the edge of the door and pulled it open. Ellie’s flashlight lit up the blood streaked, tear streaked, pale face of a blonde woman, who looked up at her with terrified eyes.

  “I think my ankle might be broken,” the woman said. “Thank you so much for coming down here. Are the others okay? Do you have any idea what happened?”

  “I don't know,” Ellie said simply. She thought of the body upstairs, but didn’t know how to tell the panicking woman about it. She handed Joanna her flashlight and crouched down, reaching out for the woman. The woman grabbed onto her arm with strong hands, but gasped in pain as she tried to stand up.

  “I know you!” Joanna gasped suddenly from beside her. Both women turned to look at her.

  “Joanna?” the other woman said.

  “It’s me.” She gave the other woman a shaky smile, then glanced at Ellie. “She owns A Taste of Italy, that Italian restaurant in Benton Harbor. We’ve been talking for the past few months after we ran into each other at a coffee shop.”

  “I have no idea why you’re here, but thank you,” the other woman said. “Thank you for getting me out of here.”

  It took both Ellie and Joanna to get the other woman on her feet – rather, foot; her right ankle was swollen and beginning to purple. She couldn't put any weight on it at all without excruciating pain. She had also sustained a head injury of some sort, as evidenced by the blood in her hair and down the side of her face. That, Ellie thought, probably explained the memory loss.

  “Here, lean on me while we go up the stairs,” Ellie said. “We'll take them slowly. Joanna will be behind us and she'll steady you if you start to fall. You ready?”

  The other woman nodded her head. “I’m Susie, by the way. Thank you. When I woke up down there, I couldn't see and I didn't even know where I was…” She took a deep breath. “Well, let's just say that I had no idea whether or not I'd be getting out of here alive.”

  They took the stairs with excruciating slowness, going up one step at a time and then waiting, squished awkwardly into the tight stairwell, while Susie waited for some of the pain to fade and the dizziness to fade away. Eventually they made it to the top, where Susie immediately let out a cry. Ellie, startled, jumped and nearly fell back down the stairs, with only Joanna’s firm hand between her shoulders preventing her from taking a tumble.

  “It's Colin,” she sobbed, pointing at the body. “Oh, my goodness. What happened to him?”

  “We don't know,” Ellie said grimly. She should have thought to warn the woman, she realized. It wasn't that she had forgotten the body up here, it was just that she been more focused on helping the injured woman up. “I'm sorry. I take it you knew him.”

  “He was my brother’s friend since high school,” Susie said, her voice quivering. “Colin Ford. This is his boat. Oh, my goodness, where's Blake? Have either of you seen my brother?”

  Ellie and Joanna exchanged a look, both of them wearing equally worried expressions on their faces.

  “We haven't seen anyone else,” Joanna said. “Listen, our friend is waiting on our own boat just outside. Let's get you out of here. We have to take you back to shore so you can get to the hospital. The police should already be on their way. They'll figure out what happened here, I'm sure.”

  “We have to look for Blake, though,” Susie insisted, hopping on her one foot and turning awkwardly back for the staircase. “He could be down there like I was. He could be hurt. He could –” She broke off, clapping hands to her head. “Oh,” she moaned. “Everything’s spinning.”

  “You have a head injury,” Ellie reminded her gently. “We need to get you back to safety. Your brother would want that for you, I'm sure.” She didn't mention that she wasn't exactly comfortable with going into the dark interior of the ship yet again and looking for another unknown person, this time a man. They still didn't know what had happened here. “Was it only the three of you on the boat?”

  Susie wrinkled her brow, thinking. “I really don't remember. I knew we had plans to go out on the boat, but I don't remember who with. I don't even remember waking up this morning. The last thing I remember was going to bed last night, thinking about what I should wear today.” She gave a bitter laugh, looking down at her bloodstained white shirt. “I don't even know how long it's been. What if we’ve been out here for days?”

  “I think it's probably only been a few hours,” Ellie said. “You were floating dangerously close to the cliffs. This boat probably would have run up on the rocks in another hour or two.”

  Susie stumbled again, and this time Ellie and Joanna were forced to take matters into their own hands and steer her toward the door, Joanna going in between her and the body so Susie wouldn’t have to look at it. Outside, the woman moaned again and covered her eyes, shielding them from the bright sunlight. Ellie was getting increasingly worried about her. She definitely had been affected by her head injury, and those sorts of injuries were something that Ellie knew very little about. All she knew for sure was that the woman needed to see a doctor as soon as possible.

  Shannon was waiting for them on the Eleanora, and even from this distance Ellie could see the other woman's eyes widen when she saw that her two friends were with a third person. She hurried forward, pulling at the rope that they had used to tether the two boats together until the Eleonora was practically bumping the Sea Star. It took some maneuvering, but they managed to safely get Susie aboard the Eleonora. Ellie and Joanna followed quickly. They got Susie situated on one of the seats in the cabin, and Shannon offered her a sun hat and some sunglasses – the best they could do for her right now. Joanna grabbed a cold bottle of water from the cooler and put it in the other woman's hands. Susie drank it gratefully.

  “I called the police and they contacted the Coast Guard, since this is a bit out of their jurisdiction,” Shannon said. “They're on their way.”

  “Thank goodness,” Ellie said. “Because whatever happened on that boat, it’s a job for the police, not for us. We’ve got to get Susie somewhere safe as soon as possible.”

  Chapter Four

  After a quick discussion, Joanna – who had experience sailing with Steve, which meant that she probably had more experience with boats than the o
ther two women combined – ran back onto the Sea Star and managed to get the anchor dropped, ensuring that the larger boat wouldn't get washed into the cliffs once it was untethered from the Eleonora. Once that was done, they untied the Eleonora and hoisted their own anchor, taking off down the coast as quickly as the boat could go. The Coast Guard had the coordinates for the Sea Star, and they were mobilizing quickly, but Susie needed medical care as quickly as possible. While Ellie steered the boat, Shannon got back on the radio and contacted the police again, letting them know that they were bringing an injured survivor back to the marina. The police assured her that they would have an ambulance waiting.

  “What about Blake?” Susie muttered from where she was on the seat. She was pale, and her hands were shaking. Ellie wasn't sure whether she was in shock, or if those were symptoms of something more dangerous.

  “The Coast Guard is coming out,” she told the other woman softly. “They'll find him.”