Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Scott and Jordy talked Ezra into teeing off for eighteen rounds on the golf simulator on deck twelve. That left Gilly, Pippa, and me to our own devices, and I had a few ideas of my own on how we should spend the rest of our morning.”
“How would you ladies like a spa treatment?” I asked my two besties. “It’s on Captain Steve.” I’d told them about the captain’s bribe to keep me quiet. Well, a sixty-minute massage and a facial would keep me quiet for at least two hours.
Gilly looked uncertain. “I’m not sure that invitation extends past you. I don’t want it to get awkward.”
Gilly was a board-certified licensed masseuse, and she offered her clients a wide variety of massages, including sports, chakra, deep tissue, stone, trigger point, and, recently, she’d trained in oncology massage.
When she told me she was doing it, I’d gotten emotional.
My mother had died from cancer. It was such a terrible illness, and that she had trained to bring comfort to people who were in constant pain.
..well, it made me love my BFF even more.
I already loved her to infinity and back, so loving her more achieved the impossible.
On top of that, she offered the massages for free to the people in our community who were battling the disease.
If they were handing out sainthoods at the pearly gates, I had a feeling there was a badge up there waiting for Gilly to pick up.
“I won’t hear another word on the matter,” I told her in a tone that brook no argument. “The captain wanted me to relax and get back to enjoying my vacation, and I can’t do that without the two of you.”
Pippa giggled. “I’ll take a free spa treatment. I’ve been meaning to get a facial for two months and haven’t had the time.”
“Then I think it’s time we went and found Natalie Carmine, and get the VIP treatment.”
Guest services was on deck four, and I asked for directions after we meandered for about ten minutes without finding it.
It turned out that it was just several desks lined up in an alcove behind the photo villa and Wi-Fi lounge.
Four women and two men in blue pants and white shirts helped guests book shore excursions, salon and spa appointments, and dinner reservations at the specialty restaurants on the fifth floor.
There was a leggy blonde with a nighttime amount of makeup on her face standing over a podium as she flipped the pages of what looked like a ledger. I was going to ask her if she knew where we could find Natalie, but I had to look no further.
“Hello,” I said, trying not to startle her.
She looked up, nonplussed. “Hello,” she greeted back. “Can I help you?”
Suddenly, I felt a little jittery. I’d been confident when I assured Pippa and Gilly I could get us all a free spa day, but uncertainty reared its ugly head.
“Captain Steve told me to find you today. He said to say I was a special friend, and you’d book me.
..uhm, and my friends, some spa treatments, on him.
The corner of her mouth tugged up into a half smile.
Close up, I could see she overlined her lips to give them a fuller, more sensuous look.
It totally worked at a distance, but the illusion didn’t hold from a foot or two away.
Still, she was an attractive woman, and she had an air of confidence and authority.
“Any friend of Captain Steve’s is a friend of mine,” she said genially. “I’m more than happy to get your treatments booked. Do you want to look over the spa menu for a moment? Or do you know what you want?”
“I’d love to look at a menu,” Pippa told her.
“Same,” Gilly added.
I shrugged at her. “I guess we’ll look at menus.”
“Excellent.” Natalie’s smile was warm and genuine.
She’d either perfected the art of looking happy to people, or she was actually happy to see people.
Either way, her demeanor had put me back at ease.
She opened a drawer in a nearby desk and took three velvety booklets with Serenity Spa embossed on the front and handed them to us.
“Here you go,” she said. “Why don’t you three have a seat on the couch over there.
Take your time, and when you know what you want, just wave me over, and I’ll get you set up. ”
We sat down together, our knees touching as we huddled over our menus.
“That was easier than I thought it would be,” Gilly muttered out of the side of her mouth.
“I know,” I muttered back. “Being Captain Steve’s special friend has its privileges.”
“Better than a platinum card,” Pippa agreed.
“We should book some dinner reservations for the week. Scott and I want to try the Brazilian restaurant, and doesn’t Jordy want to eat at that Japanese place?” Gilly asked. “Nora, is there any place you and Ezra have a hankerin’ for?”
“For dinner?” I shook my head. “We’re good with whatever, but they have a taqueria on board that I heard made the best street tacos. You know I could eat those breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“You really do love a taco journey,” Gilly lamented.
“Hey,” I said with all sincerity. “I can’t please everyone. I’m not a taco.”
Pippa choked on a laugh. “We’ll get lunch there today.”
“And maybe tomorrow....and the next day.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll be in Cozumel,” Pippa gushed. “I can’t wait to snorkel with turtles.” Her body was rigid as she tried to contain her excitement. “I hope my camera works. I bought one of those cheap waterproof ones online.”
“Did you test it out?” Gilly asked.
“I put it in a bowl of water overnight, and it stayed dry. It takes decent pictures, too. Better than my phone.”
“Scott and I are going to try our hand at a recreational dive. He’s been talking non-stop about how if he enjoys it, he wants to get certified.
” Gilly smiled. “If it makes him happy, I’m all for it.
And there are places to dive in the Midwest.” She made a face.
“They call it muck diving, which doesn’t sound appetizing at all. ”
“It sounds mucky,” I quipped, enjoying the moment with my pals.
But Cozumel meant adventures for them. For me, it was the end of the road for Sebastian Caldwell.
He would be disembarked, and there was a chance that if the captain officially determined his death and accident, we’d never know how he died or why.
I wasn’t sure why I cared. The man was a real piece of crap.
The way he’d talked to his wife. Gah. I’d wanted to slap him.
And hearing the way he’d gone after Charise, I was surprised someone hadn’t killed him sooner.
But he was a human being, even if he was the worst kind of human being.
If Callie was responsible, it was probably for a payday.
I also wondered about her first husband.
I mentally made a note to stop by the WiFi lounge next door and do an internet search and see what I could find out.
Maybe I’d email Reese while I was at it.
She was covering for Ezra this week at the station, and she was feeling pretty darn good about the temporary promotion.
Maybe good enough to be inclined to do a little digging on an old case.
“Earth to Nora,” Gilly said to get my attention. She sighed. Heavily. “You’re thinking about Caldwell, aren’t you?”
I hadn’t told them about the security chief’s inability to track down the widow and give her the news. “Callie wasn’t in her suite last night,” I informed them. “At least not when they tried to deliver the bad news.”
“Where do you think she was?” Pippa asked.
Gilly gave her a flat look. “Murdering her husband, then hiding any evidence.”
Pippa bumped her with her shoulder. “Smart aleck.”
“I think we know that we’re not going to get Nora’s best until we help her put this mystery to bed, so...” She winked at me. “So, we’ll help.”
“Yay!” I squealed.
“Hey,” Gilly complained. “I didn’t agree to this.”
I gave her my most pathetic sad face.
“Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll help too.”
“Double yay!” Knowing I had their support put me at ease. I wasn’t relishing the idea of lying to them about my whereabouts today. “Ezra and I made plans to do a little sleuthing after lunch.”
Gilly chuckled. “You mean snooping.”
“Potatoes, poh-tah-toes.”
“Our help is on one condition, though,” Gilly amended.
“You have until we dock in Cozumel to do your aroma mojo thing and figure out the bad guy, but if we can’t solve the mystery by then, you have to promise me you’ll let it go and enjoy the rest of the trip.
Once that body’s off the boat, there’s not a whole lot any of us can do about it. ”
“True.” I sagged back on the couch. If the death was declared an accidental drowning, once Sebastian and Callie were in Cozumel, I would have no other choice than to let it go. “Fine,” I conceded. “It’s a deal.”
Natalie must’ve gotten impatient because she approached with an open tablet in hand before we called her over. “Do you ladies know what treatments you’d like?”
“I’m going to take the Ambrosia package,” I told her. It was a sea salt scrub, a sixty-minute Swedish massage, and finished with a thirty-minute facial.
“Oh, that sounds good,” Gilly said. “Me too.”
“Me three,” Pippa added.
“And when would you like your treatments?” she asked.
I looked back and forth between both my girls, and they both nodded.
“Tuesday morning after breakfast, around ten a.m.,” Gill said. “We’ll start our next fun day at sea with a bang.”
The guest services director frowned as she scrolled around on her tablet.
“Is it okay if we stagger the three of you? It’s the only way to get the three of you in close to the same time?
I can get you in at nine-thirty, ten, and ten-thirty.
That will get all of you out of there in time for a late lunch.
I’ll just need your names and room numbers, please. ”
We obliged.
“Thanks, Natalie.” I got up from the couch, using my besties as leverage. “I appreciate it.”
They got up after and stood on either side of me. “You’re the best,” Gilly told her.
“Let me know if you need anything else,” she said as we were leaving.
“Where to?” Pippa asked once we were in the corridor and out of earshot of anyone.
“I think we need to go back up to the Resplendent Retreat. I need to see it in the light of day, and, who knows, maybe I’ll be able to see something...” I touch my nose. “...that I couldn’t see last night.”
“I like it,” Gilly said. “Let’s do it.”
“WiFi Lounge first,” I told them. “I want to look up Callie’s first husband’s death, and email Reese to see if she can access the police database or call in a favor to see what exactly made the police suspect that the death was suspicious and why they couldn’t get anything to stick in the investigation. ”
Pippa raised her hand. “You and Gilly check out the retreat. I’ll do the computer legwork and email Reese. When we’re done, we can meet at the taqueria and compare notes.”
“Tacos!” I laughed, feeling lighter than I had all morning.
I had my two closest allies giving me their full support, and it had been exactly what I needed.
Since our phones were basically bricks on the ship, I’d worn a watch.
The time as four minutes after eleven. “Okay. Let’s meet in one hour, regardless of what we find. ”
Pippa and Gilly agreed, and we were off. Time wasn’t our friend. We had until eight a.m. on Monday to get Sebastian’s death figured out, or someone, maybe his wife, was going to literally get away with murder. I couldn’t let that happen. Not if I could help it.