Chapter 8 #2
There are wheels on the back, but the lounger isn’t made for hauling heavy objects, and the metal stabilizers near the middle drag against the deck until the figure lifts the front higher.
“Dammit,” the person mutters, low, rough, making it annoyingly impossible to tell if it belongs to a man or a woman. The sound isn’t grief or panic. It’s frustration, sharpened by something darker.
The chair moves awkwardly but silently the rest of the way as they pull Sebastian to the hydrotherapy pool.
I grimace as Sebastian’s head rolls lifelessly back and forth, confirming my suspicions that he is dead before he hits the water. It makes me sick to my stomach.
“You couldn’t have waited until we were here to die?” the killer hisses, voice barely above a whisper. The words drip with venom. “A bastard until the very end.”
They reach the hydrotherapy pool, the water calm and glassy, steam rising gently into the air. The scent of eucalyptus and lavender lingers...light, soothing, horribly relaxing and out of place for such a grim task.
The person rolls Sebastian out of the lounge near the edge of the water and then shoves his feet into the pool.
The first splash.
Next, they pushed the rest of the body in.
The second splash.
Spray from the splash causes the figure to step back, legs hitting the edge of the chair.
The second longer scraping sound.
Without a second look back, the person quickly makes their way back toward the elevator.
“Oh, gosh,” I gulp as the late morning sun’s bright light welcomed me back to the present.
I rocked forward unsteadily as I tried to stand up.
Big mistake, as Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman.
Huge. I hadn’t planned on swimming, but life didn’t always go as expected.
The next thing I knew, I’d gone headfirst into the proverbial dead body soup.
I let out a yelp when I got my head above water and grabbed the side to keep from going under again.
“Nora!” Gilly exclaimed, no longer a casual observer.
“A little help, please,” I said as she raced over to me.
Bruno had taken her daiquiri. His brow raised as he watched us struggle for a moment. Luckily, getting out of the water took only a few seconds.
“Towels, please,” Gilly snapped at Bruno.
The young man put her drink down and hastily retreated toward the towel shack.
“Are you okay?” Gilly asked, smoothing my drenched hair away from my eyes. “That must have been a real doozy.”
“It was.” I nodded. “I saw the killer dump Sebastian’s body. I was right, Gilly. He was dead long before he hit the water.”
She frowned. “Well, poop.”
“You were hoping I was wrong.”
“It would’ve saved us a whole lot of time.” She smiled as she patted my cheek. “Oh, well, nothing like murder to spice up a vacation.”
The woman who’d told us the pool was closed, took the opportunity to walk past us and make a snide remark. “I guess seventh-grade educations aren’t what they used to be.”
Gilly’s lip curled into a snarl.
I shook my head at my friend. “Let it go, babe. She’s not worth it.”
“Perhaps what this vacation needs are two murders.”
Even though I knew she was joking, I said, “One is plenty, thank you very much.”
“One what?” someone asked.
I shielded my eyes with my hand and looked up, immediately recognizing the slender-built and decidedly grumpy security chief.
“Chief Hansen,” I greeted. “Fancy meeting you here. Again.”
“What are you up to, Ms. Black?” she asked.
“Just relaxing with a dip in the pool.”
“It’s closed,” she said.
“Oh, I know,” I told her. “Just like I know that what happened here last night was no accident, and if that’s the conclusion you decide to come to, I promise to raise a racket to anyone who will listen.”
“What makes you think it’s more than an accident?”
Other than the fact that the scraping sound I told her about last night couldn’t have been made by Sebastian, which meant someone else had been there when he went into the water?
I shook my head. “Call it gut, instinct, the fact that I’m not a gullible dimwit.
I doubt very seriously your doctor is going to find any water in Sebastian’s lungs.
How can you have an accidental drowning if there is no one actually drowned. ”
“I told you to leave the investigating to me,” she said, careful not to raise her voice.
“If you were investigating, then I would, but it seems to me you’re trying really hard to sweep everything under the rug.
” I had no concrete proof she was trying to cover up a potential crime, except for my gut.
The fact that she kept trying to get me to say the sounds I heard had happened in a different order the night before had only added to my suspicion that this was going to be deemed an accident, no matter the findings.
“That’s it,” Hansen said. “Do you want to be disembarked in Cozumel with the body? I can make that arrangement.”
Gilly put her hand on my shoulder. “We don’t want that.”
“Good,” the security chief said. “Now, stay out of it. I don’t want to hear any more about you poking around in things that are not your concern.” She gave me an “or else” glare before storming off.
Bruno brought four big fluffy towels over to us. “Everything okay here?” he asked.
“Fine,” I groused as I took one and patted my wet hair. “Just great.” I had a question about something I didn’t understand in my vision that Bruno might be able to help with. “Is there an elevator back behind the bar area?”
“It’s a service elevator,” Bruno said. “It’s for staff only.”
“So, it doesn’t go up to a penthouse suite or anything like that?”
“No,” Bruno confirmed. “It only goes down to staff quarters, the galley, housekeeping, maintenance. You know. Services.”
“Could a guest use the elevator?”
He gave me an odd but curious look. “They aren’t supposed to, but I won’t say it never happens.”
“Interesting...”
He frowned. “Is it?”
“Very.” I gave him a nod. “You’ve been a big help, Bruno. Thanks so much.”
“My very pleasure.” He gave us a playful bow, then went back to the bar to collect his next order.
When he out of earshot, Gilly gave me a wary look. “We’re not staying out of it, are we?”
“Nope,” I told her. “Not by a long shot. But I will be more careful going forward. The last thing I want is to get myself kicked off the ship.”
“We’d sure miss you,” Gilly said without missing a beat. She held her hand out and when I took it, she helped me to my feet. “Come on. Pippa will be waiting for us, and you’ll need a change of clothes first.”
“You know I love you, right?”
“I do. And I love you, too.” She smiled. “But, Nora, if they boot you from the cruise, I’ll be mad for you on your behalf, but I’m staying.”
“That’s fair,” I told her as I put my arm around her shoulders, pressed my wet self against her side, and grinned as she made a face. “Totally fair.”
I meant what I said about being more careful. I believed Hansen when she said I’d be disembarked, and I didn’t want to leave the cruise any less than Gilly. Even so, I couldn’t just ignore the fact that a man was murdered, even if the man was a big, dumb jerk who probably deserved what he got.
“Tacos,” Gilly said to get me out of my head.
I forced a smile and nodded. “Tacos.”