Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The ocean stretched endlessly beyond the railing as distant laughter from other decks floated on the air.
What did that all mean? It meant they’d had a blast, and I was about to kill the vibe with my news.
I needed to tell Ezra first. Dropping my health scare on him in front of everyone wasn’t fair. I shifted closer to him and touched his arm. “Hey, I need to talk to you for a moment. Alone, if that’s okay?”
“Of course.” His brow furrowed as he studied my face. “Did I do something?”
I let out a soft laugh. “No, you didn’t do anything. I just need to tell you about something that happened today.”
“Something that happened to you?” His voice sharpened with concern. His eyes searched mine. “Let’s go inside.” He glanced over at Scott and Jordy. “Be back in a bit.”
They gave noncommittal grunts of acknowledgment, already diving back into their golf recap with Pippa and Gilly.
Inside the suite, the room was cool and dim compared to the balcony. Housekeeping had come earlier, and the bed was made, fresh towels hung neatly in the bathroom, and the faint scent of lavender from the housekeeping spray still lingered.
Ezra rested his hands gently on my shoulders, his thumbs brushing over the tops of my arms. He leaned down, eyes level with mine. “What happened?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t want you to get upset…”
“Like a Band-Aid, Nora. Rip it off. It’ll hurt less in the long run.”
We were about to find out. I took a breath. “I had a minor, teensy-weensy angina attack this afternoon.”
His face went from surprised to worried, then confused, then back to worried...a full circle of emotions in less than three seconds. “When? How?”
“At lunch,” I admitted, fiddling with the hem of my shirt. “Apparently, a lot of things can cause it. Gilly and Pippa dragged me to the clinic, and Doctor Patel figured it out.”
Ezra’s brows knitting together. “Did he give you nitroglycerin?”
I blinked, startled. “How did you know that?”
His voice stayed low and steady, a calm undercurrent to my churning nerves. “I know things, Nora. Did it help?”
“Really fast,” I said, my fingers tracing the seam of his shirt now. “I’m supposed to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.”
“Then we should go do that.” He didn’t hesitate. Instead, he treated it like any other errand on a to-do list, not a follow-up to a heart scare.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, maybe panic or an over-the-top reaction.
Ezra wasn’t built for that, though. “Easy” wasn’t just his nickname.
He’d been weathered by life young. A dad at sixteen, a husband before he graduated high school, working full-time, then putting himself through college to become a detective.
He wasn’t a man who buckled. He absorbed life’s punches and kept moving.
I didn’t want to be another beating he had to take on.
“We don’t have to do anything,” I said quickly, the words tumbling out.
“I don’t want to be a problem for you to fix.
” I slid my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to his chest, where his heartbeat thumped slow and sure.
“You don’t have to take care of me.” I leaned back to meet his gaze.
“I’m really good at taking care of myself. ”
A flicker of anger tightened his jaw, but it passed as fast as it came.
“Yes, you are, babe,” he said gently, his hands moving to my back and rubbing slow circles.
“You’re great at taking care of yourself.
But I love you, and it makes me happy when you let me in enough to help.
I know it’s hard for you to let someone else take a burden off your shoulders, and if it really makes you uncomfortable, I’ll back off.
But I want to be here for you like you’re there for everyone else, including me.
I want you to know that you can rely on me no matter what.
I just want to love you the way you deserve to be loved, Nora. So, let me, okay?”
His words moved me, but they also made me afraid. “I’m not an invalid, you know. I am really good at bouncing back.”
“I know that.” He sighed, his hands resting on my hips. “Are you going to let me help you?”
A breathy chuckle escaped me. “I guess so. But only because you’ve got a cute butt.”
He let out a surprised laugh, the tension cracked. He leaned in, brushing his lips over mine, the kiss slow and sweet until my knees wobbled like jelly.
“Can we go get your medicine now?” he murmured against my lips.
“Yes.” I sighed, kissing him back, lingering just a second longer. “We probably should.”
“I’ll let the others know we’ll be back soon.”
“Good.” I caught his hand before he could walk away, lacing my fingers through his. He glanced back, curious. I smiled up at him, warmth blooming in my chest. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked, voice soft.
“For showing me every day what real love should feel like.”
He kissed me. “Every day for as long as you’ll have me.”
Going to the pharmacy after four o’clock in the afternoon was an actual nightmare. The pill dispensary was more like a closet than a store, and the line to pick up medications was out the door and down the corridor.
“Holy moly,” I whispered. “How many prescriptions does Doctor Patel write in a day?”
“A lot, apparently.” Ezra stood behind me, his body pressed against my back and his arms wrapped around the front of my waist. “I can wait in the line and hold your place if you want to sit down until the line shortens.” My shoulders must’ve tensed because he tacked on, “But only if you want to and not because I think you’re an invalid. ”
His tone was teasing, so I swiftly tapped him in the side with my elbow.
“Oof,” he said dramatically, rubbing his side.
“That didn’t hurt.”
He shook his head. “You don’t know your own strength.”
“Har har.” While we made the journey to the pharmacy, I’d quietly filled Ezra in on both the visions, what Pippa had learned from Reese, and what Dr. Patel had said about Sebastian dying from a stroke.
He’d been suitably impressed with all the information we’d gathered while he and the boys had been playing golf.
“Oh, and the rat thing on the ship is a real problem, apparently. I saw a maintenance guy with a tub of poison earlier.” I shivered at the thought. “Who knew?”
“You know there’s a reason for the phrase, ‘like rats off a sinking ship.’ The old seafaring ships always had rats on them, and if the boat was sinking, the rats were always the first ones to go overboard.”
“So, you’re saying that if a rat takes a dive off a rail, I should follow it in?”
“Yep, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” He shook his head.
“Ezra! Nora!” a woman called out.
We both turned to see Helena Peabody, the young bride half of the honeymoon couple, heading in our direction.
When she got to us, she asked, “Have either of you seen Callie or Sebastian?”
I shook my head, debating on whether I should tell her that Sebastian was dead, and Callie was missing. “Why?”
“Callie was supposed to meet me for some hot yoga this morning and she didn’t show.”
Hot yoga sounded...well, it sounded hot.
No, thank you. If I wanted to be hot, I would skip swapping my hormone patch out for a week.
I’d have all the hot I could stand. “I wish I could help,” I told her.
I thought about what Pippa had said about Kentucky.
“Did I hear Jasper right last night? You all are from Louisville.” I made sure the hit the is with a long e sound. Helena didn’t bat an eyelash.
“We sure are,” she said, putting on a thick accent as if talking about Kentucky brought out the backwoods in her.
“Huh.” I forced a smile. I’d thought the couple pleasant and likable the night before, but now I could see there was something not quite right about them. “Cool,” I told her. “Go Cardinals.”
“What?” Helena’s expression clouded over for a moment, then she said, “Yes, of course. Go, Cardinals.” Her voice was bubbly and cheerful. “Well, if you run into her today, will you let her know I’m looking for her.”
“You got it.” I gave her a thumbs up.
When she left, Ezra leaned to my ear. “A thumbs up? Really?”
He was asking fate for another elbow to the ribs. “What do you want from me? I’m struggling here.”
“What’s got your hackles up about Helena?” he asked.
“It was Pippa. She said the way they said Louisville was all wrong for someone from there. It’s pronounced Lew-uh-vuhl.
” I tried to drop off on the end the way Pippa had.
“She said that she spent a week there, and that her pronunciation of the city was challenged and corrected by locals every time she opened her mouth.” I tugged my lower lip between my teeth then let it go.
“It’s one thing not to correct someone when they get a word wrong, but it’s another altogether to be a native to the area and get it wrong. ”
“That makes sense. Nice pick up, Pip.”
“You’ll have to let her know. She’s feeling a bit vulnerable right now because she’s missing her kids. It’ll make her feel good to get the compliment. She really came through today with the information she got from Reese and the whole Louisville thing.”
“Lying about where you’re from doesn’t make you a murderer, though,” Ezra cautioned.
“I agree with you,” I countered. “However, it does make you a liar and probably means you have something to hide.” I tapped my chin. “I wish I knew what though.”
The line finally moved a few feet, then stopped again. “We’ll be here all the way through dinner if they don’t kick it into high gear. People will die of old age in line before their illnesses take them.”
My gaze drifted out over the scads of travelers going in and out of shops.
At one point, I saw a neatly curled head of blonde hair and smiled.
It was Augusta. She was coming out of one of the many WiFi lounges on the ship.
I didn’t see Carl. I was somewhat surprised, but I supposed they weren’t joined at the hip.
“Hey,” I alerted Ezra. “Look, there’s Augusta.” I pointed in the direction of the older woman.
Someone unexpected appeared right behind her.
It was Rebecca Hansen. Was it a coincidence?
I thought so at first, but then Augusta stopped, turned to Hansen, and they spoke for a few seconds, before Augusta went the opposite direction of the pharmacy, and Hansen was walking in our general direction.
I leaned my head back on Ezra’s chest. “She threatened to kick me off the ship earlier.”
“She did?”
I guess I’d forgotten to tell him about that, too. “Yep. She said if I didn’t stop poking my nose in the cruise’s investigation, she’d arrange for me to disembark permanently in Cozumel.”
“Dang,” Ezra said. “That’s harsh.”
“Way harsh,” I agreed. As Hansen got closer, she saw us. She halted, and I wondered if she was debating going the other way. She must have grown a pair because she started our way again.
“Ms. Black, Mr. Holden,” she hailed. “It looks like we’re destined to keep crossing paths.”
“Ms. Hansen,” I greeted back. “Looks like.” I really wanted to ask her about Augusta and why they were talking, but I wanted to stay out of the brig and on the ship more. “Have you let Callie Caldwell know about her husband yet?” I asked in a hushed voice.
“Still looking,” she replied.
“Also, I want to apologize,” I said with real contrition. “I know there’s a rat on the ship.”
“There’s a what?” she asked alarmed.
“Or rats.” I put my hands down at my sides. “I saw a maintenance guy carrying some rat poison around.” Every time I thought of the large rodents running around the ship my teeth hurt. “Anyhow, I accused you of sabotaging the camera, and I’m sorry.”
Her brows knitted together. “You didn’t accuse me of that.”
I winced. “My inside voice did.”
“It’s fine.” Hansen laughed. “My inside voice is always accusing someone of something, and sometimes it’s just mean and nasty for no reason.”
I grinned. “Probably not no reason.”
“Not not no,” she allowed. With the first genuine smile I’d seen from her, Hansen made her farewell. “It was almost pleasant, Ms. Black.”
“Almost.”
After she left, Ezra remarked, “If I didn’t know better, I might think the two of you could be friends.”
“But you do know better.” The memory of her pushing us to change our statements stuck with me.
It wasn’t just incompetence. It felt deliberate like she’d wanted the truth buried.
Suspicious deaths were bad for business, after all.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to it.
And it was odd she hadn’t been able to find Callie.
Maybe the Ultimate Singer of America had decided to jump ship.
My mind drifted to Ramone...tall, dark, and handsome. I was ninety-eight percent sure, okay, maybe ninety-seven percent, he was the guy we’d seen Callie with in the perfume shop. He might be the key to tracking her down. Lucky for me, I knew exactly where to find him without drawing attention.
The line inched forward, and the crowd groaned, annoyed at gaining only two feet before halting again. I glanced back at Ezra. “You want to learn Latin ballroom dancing with me tonight?”
His brow lifted, amusement tugging at his mouth. “What kind of partner would I be if I said no? Besides, it takes two to tango.”
Perfect. Something told me Ramone was my best shot at finding Callie. She might look like a black widow, but my gut said she was more of a trapped fly. If I could help her, I would.