Jade wasn’t at their table that evening. While Flossie scanned the dining room looking for her, Sterling was deep in conversation with another of Red’s celebrity guests—a singer who had a popular TV show in the 70s. Meanwhile, Flossie spotted Jade at a table across the room chatting with a group of high rollers.
The last course of the gourmet dinner had been served and the spectacular presentation of the Baked Alaska would soon begin. Sterling sat back and patted his mouth with the napkin. “I must say, Red has mighty fine chefs on this ship. I think I gained ten pounds.”
The woman to his left tittered, “Me, too, but I’ll just tell everyone the sea air shrunk my clothes.”
Flossie whispered to Sterling, “I see Jade over there. Hold down the fort. I’ll see if I can get anything more out of her.”
Before Sterling could protest, Flossie had pushed her chair back and made a beeline for Jade’s table. The beautiful young woman was talking to a well-dressed gentleman who sported a large diamond stick pin on his blue silk tie.
She pulled over an empty chair and plunked down beside Jade, who did not look happy to see her. “Hello, dear. I thought I would just pop over and see how you’re doing. Since we didn’t finish our conversation earlier, maybe we can do that now.”
Jade gave the old woman an icy stare. Her voice was flat and cold. “I’m just fine. As you can see, Mrs. Silver, I am occupied right now. Since I suppose this is the last time we’ll see each other, allow me to say it was interesting to meet you, but now I must finish the conversation I was having. Good night.” She turned her back on Flossie.
Feeling like a child who had been dismissed by a stern teacher, Flossie plodded back to her own table.
Her brother-in-law looked up expectantly. “Well, you’re back soon. Did you at least find out what business she’s in?”
Flossie plopped into her chair just as the orchestra began to play a John Phillip Sousa march and the lights dimmed. A stream of waiters carrying trays of Baked Alaska adorned with flashing sparklers marched around the dining room in step with the music. Their waist-length red jackets, worn over crisp white trousers, featured epaulets trimmed with gold braid. Their snazzy uniforms added to the spirit of a wonderful parade. Most of the other diners were excited, but Flossie was bummed. “I didn’t learn a darn thing. She couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.”
“Well, Old Girl, I guess this show’s a wrap. Ali Kazaam won’t be zapping any more assistants with his electronic doodads, his murderer has been caught, and the elusive Jade will remain an enigma. It was an exciting cruise, though, with some mystery theater thrown in to keep us on our toes.”
Flossie scooped a few morsels off her plate into a napkin and tucked them into her handbag. “I’ll bring these to Waldo. I think he deserves some extra treats for his part in sniffing out the bad guys.”
“You can say that again. Waldo got quite a workout. I’m glad we left him in the cabin tonight. To think, Goldie thought this cruise would be relaxing. Hah!”
Before they left the table, Red gave Flossie and Sterling hugs and told them how great it had been to have them on his ship. “Sorry about the murder, but I really didn’t have any control over that.”
“Oy, it was a real shame that arrogant Sheik bit the dust, but it sure made things exciting for us.”
Red shrugged. “That it did, but I could do without that kind of excitement. I might not see you in the morning because I’ll have my hands full with the passengers disembarking.”
“Don’t worry about us, Red. Flossie and I will find our way off the ship with no problem.”
“Just the same, I arranged for you to be in the first group of passengers to leave. Deke Hand, one of my crew members, will come to your cabins, help you with the whole process and hand you off to Godiva. I talked to her last night and she’ll be waiting at the dock. Take care of my favorite service dog, okay? I’ll miss old Waldo.”
***
When they docked in Los Angeles the next morning, Agent Del Toro had taken Sylvester Cunning off the ship in handcuffs and turned him over to the authorities before any of the passengers were allowed to disembark.
In the main salon, Flossie craned her neck searching for Jade but she was nowhere to be seen. She turned to their escort. “Say, Deke, I wanted to say goodbye to Jade Moon—you know, that dead magician’s assistant. Have you seen her?”
He frowned. “Oh, I’m sorry Mrs. Silver. She already left the ship. Special treatment because of what she’d gone through, you know.” Deke went to check on their luggage.
Sterling said, “Well Mrs. Nosy, I guess Jade Moon’s secret story is one mystery you won’t get to solve.”
“Oh pooh! You know how I hate loose ends.”
“Well, I say it’s about time to get back to our regular routine. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be ready to take a nap in my own bed when we get back home.”
“I wonder how much Red told Godiva about the murder and all the intrigue. Do you think he told her everything—I mean about us investigating and all?”
“If he did, look out Kiddo, we’ll be in hot water again.”
***
When Godiva picked them up at the dock, it was clear that Goldie’s husband had not filled her in on all the details of the shipboard crime. Flossie and Sterling did not volunteer any extra information. Instead they gave full reports of the magicians’ gathering and the time spent in Juneau, San Francisco and Vancouver.
While the oldsters were gone, Godiva had spent all her spare time with Dexter Diamond. He wined and dined her when she wasn’t busy working on her column. When Dexter had business appointments, she spent extra time at the spa and salon so she could look good for him.
On their third day back, Flossie made her way to the rose garden to sit with Sterling and have a cup of tea, enjoy his prize roses and discuss their adventure. A mild breeze ruffled the trees surrounding the garden, filling the air with a delicate fragrance. She picked her way along the crushed shell path, but when she approached the veranda, she saw Sterling slumped at the stone table resting his face in his hands.
He was moaning, “My roses, my beautiful roses...”
One glance and she saw the devastation of some of his favorite bushes. His prize white Pasadena Star floribunda roses and his brilliant pink Old Garden roses, two varieties he had babied with loving hands, were nothing but shriveled brown skeletons.
“My goodness. What’s happened? Didn’t the gardeners keep them up? You gave them detailed instructions. Surely they could handle something like that for a month.”
“Arturo says he did everything I told him to do, but it was as though the bushes were cursed. He said it happened suddenly. One day they were fine, the next, poof! No matter what he did, by the end of the day they were dead.”
“Did he say when it happened?”
“Oh yes, he sure did. He said he saw them begin to die last Thursday morning.”
Flossie’s face drained of all color. She choked out, “T-Thursday? That’s the day you took Kazaam’s turban. I told you it was cursed.”
While she saw a flicker of recognition in Sterling’s eyes, his reaction was what she expected. “Hogwash. You know I don’t believe in that stuff. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, and it doesn’t involve some ridiculous curse.”
They made small talk while sipping orange spice tea and reminiscing about some of the high points of the cruise. Sterling brought out the digital camera Godiva had given him and they looked at the photos they took. There were some of Kazaam in his turban with Jade at his side.
“Well,” Flossie said, “I didn’t like that blowhard, but he was talented and it’s a shame when someone dies in such a brutal way.”
“You mean like poor Pearl Woo?” An angry look crossed his face. “Look Old Girl, we’ve got something more important to talk about right now. We have to get our stories straight because Godiva told me she invited Dexter for dinner on Friday. Torch is coming in from Las Vegas and Chili will be here, too.”
“Torch is coming in? Oh good. We haven’t seen Godiva’s little boy since we visited him in Vegas.”
Sterling let out a sigh. “Flossie, Torch isn’t a little kid anymore. He’s all grown up and has an important job with a TV show.”
“Oh, that’s right. He’s a pyromaniac. He blows things up.”
“How many times do I have to correct you? It’s called pyrotechnics. He’s the special effects director. Anyway, Godiva promised everyone we would have fascinating stories about the cruise—and the murder. So we better decide how much we want to tell them.”
They put their heads together and came up with an abridged version of their involvement in the murder investigation. Finally Sterling said, “Okay, I think I remember enough. I gave Angel the camera yesterday and she said she would print the best ones.”
Flossie wagged her finger at him. “I hope you didn’t take one of the Sheik laying in that disgusting pool of blood.”
Without commenting, Sterling quickly changed the subject. “Let’s lighten things up and talk about our act. I want Lupe to make us some new costumes. Something that will work with the turban, because I want to use it the next time we go to the Has-Beens.” His eyes lit up. “I might even ask her to create a little doggie turban for Waldo. Our fans will be so excited when we open with Quick Rick’s new illusion and our spiffy costumes.”
“Yeah, our act could use a little sprucing up, but most of them won’t remember the old act. I just don’t know about that turban, though. I still say it’s cursed.”
“Well, we can talk about this later. Speaking of curses, I’m going to the nursery with Arturo right now to replace my doomed rose bushes.”
He left Flossie sitting at the table, and muttered, “Hummph, curse,” as he exited the garden.