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“I know, I know.” I patted her hand, all too aware that the tears were part of the healing process. There was no escaping the pain of such a tragedy. What would happen to her when she returned to Caulkins Cove? Life would be so different without George.
“Scarlet!” I looked up at the mention of my name, just as Kenny rushed into the security office, alarm on his face. “Are you okay?”
“I will be once I see the nurse,” I assured him. “Look who’s here. Kathleen’s sailing home with us.”
“That’s great. It’s good to see you again,” he said, leaning in to give her a brotherly hug. He turned around, grabbed a box of tissues that were on a nearby desk, and handed it to the sobbing Kathleen.
We waited for the tears to subside, knowing that time would ease the ache, but never fully heal it. When Kathleen finally came up for air, her eyes red and puffy, she sniffed, blew her nose, and apologized profoundly.
“You’re among friends,” Kenny reminded her. “You don’t need to be sorry. You’ve got to get it out, so you might as well do it now, while we’re here to hold your hand through the process.”
“But you don’t need me wailing for the next two days,” she sighed. “And that seems to be the only thing I can do at the moment. You’re supposed to be on vacation.”
“I’m not exactly in shape for any kind of vacation.” I rapped on my cast with my knuckles.
“Oh Scarlet, I’m so sorry you were hurt! It never would have happened if I hadn’t gotten you involved in all this!”
When Kenny heard that, he let out an amused snort before explaining. “Trust me when I say it’s not your fault, Kathleen. For some reason, Scarlet has a knack for sleuthing. The instant she gets a whiff of any kind of intrigue, she’s like a cat with catnip. Do you know how many times I’ve had to step in to....”
“I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “Did you just compare me to a cat with catnip?”
“Admit it. You’re addicted to mysteries.”
“I’m what?”
“I could dangle a couple of clues under your nose right now and within a minute, you’d be out the door, hunting down the answers.”
“You think I’m addicted to mysteries?” I gave him the stink eye, but he just ignored me.
“You have no idea what I go through,” Kenny confided to the grieving widow. “Why, there have been times my heart actually stopped beating when I watched a killer move in on her!”
“Surely that’s an exaggeration,” I scoffed.
“Exaggeration?” He frowned. “What about the time you were being held prisoner....”
I cut him off, knowing where he was going with this. “What you’re trying to say is that you love me?”
“No, even though I do. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not Kathleen’s fault that Marco and Missy went after you.”
“Are you saying it’s my fault?” Those are fighting words, mister!
“No, I am not. They thought they could get away with murder, and that led them to underestimate your desire to bring George Delaney’s killer to justice and your determination to get the job done.”
“Oh,” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s a much nicer way of putting it than I’m some kind of nut job who’s addicted to crime.”
“A rose is a rose is a rose,” he teased. “You can’t help yourself. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I can’t change you, Miz Scarlet. I can only stick to you like glue, in case someone wants to shut you up with a fatal blow.”
“Does that make you my sidekick?” I gave him a wink. “You know, you’re Dr. Watson to my Sherlock Holmes...Nora to my Nick Charles....”
“More like Kato to your Inspector Clouseau,” he grinned. “Or would that be Mr. Darcy to your Elizabeth Bennet?”
“I much prefer the latter, given the outcome.”
“As do I. By the way, love, Thad wants to check you over. He’s down in the sick bay.”
“Thank God!” I sighed. “I ache all over.”
“I’ll wait here,” Kathleen announced. “You two don’t need a third wheel tagging along.”
“Nonsense! You’ll do no such thing. You’ll call my mother this instant and tell her you’re back on the ship. She’ll be relieved to see you. You’re welcome to spend the night with us, you know. We’ve got that sofa bed.”
“I couldn’t impose another night,” she protested. “It’s just not fair to all of you.”
“Are you suggesting that what happened to you was fair?” I countered. “I don’t think it was.”
“You might as well say yes now, Kathleen. When Scarlet makes up her mind to do something, it usually gets done.”
“Besides, my mother’s probably sitting in our stateroom, fretting about me. You can convince her I’m okay.”
“That I can do,” she sniffed, grabbing another tissue from the box. She dabbed at her eyes, drying the few remaining tears.
A short time later, under the glare of fluorescent lights, Dr. Van Zandt carefully examined my injured foot for the second time and determined that I had not sustained any further damage, thanks to my sturdy cast. He handed me a couple of Advil tablets and a glass of water before he declared that I was fit enough to go back to my stateroom.
“Just so you know, Scarlet, I didn’t tell your mother everything about what happened to you. She’s anxious enough as it is.”
“Tell me about it,” I groaned. “I just hope no one else spills the beans.”
Laurel was sitting by the bow window in our stateroom when I rolled in ten minutes later, accompanied by Kenny and Thaddeus. Leaning forward, she demanded a closer look.
“Somebody better tell me what happened in that Solarium before I go mad! What new injuries have you sustained? You could have been killed, Scarlet!”
Kathleen was sitting next to her on the sofa, holding a cold compress to her eyes. She gave us a weak smile. “I told her you were okay.”
“I’m going to heal, Mama. Have no fear. Besides, the FBI has enough evidence now to convict our husband-and-wife killers.”
“Well, next time they can do it without you!”
She was about to launch into a long speech when the phone rang. Oh, thank goodness! I’ve been saved by the bell.
Marley called us to issue a personal invitation to us to dine with him in the Botticelli Dining Room in celebration of a job well done. Kenny wanted to know if we were game to join him. “Shall I say yes?”
“Why not?” I shrugged. “I’m so relieved it’s all over, we might as well enjoy the party.”
By seven thirty, I was cleaned up, dressed up, made up, and ready to go to dinner. I tried not to look too closely at my reflection, horrified by what I saw.
“How do I look?” I made the mistake of asking. My mother didn’t sugar-coat it.
“Fine if you’re a contestant in a roller derby,” Laurel decided. “Perhaps you should slip on a jacket. Your bruises are showing.”
“Are you ladies ready to roll?”
“Some of us are and others not so much.” Laurel frowned at me before turning to pick up her clutch purse.
“Oh, I think you’re presentable enough for a heroine,” said a voice from the connecting doorway. Kenny stepped into our stateroom, followed by Thaddeus.
I gazed down at the black-and-blue handprints on my arms and shrugged. I had to admit the marks were hideous enough to make other people uncomfortable.
“Kathleen, would you be so kind as to dig through the top right-hand drawer and grab something I can throw over myself?”
“Sure.” Smiling, she reached in and pulled out a pretty fringed evening shawl. “Will this do?”
“That’s perfect.” I threw it around my shoulders and looked over at my mother. “Happy now?”
“Am I happy, no. Am I happier, yes.”
“Shall we?” Kenny opened the door expectantly.
“We shall.” Thaddeus led us out into the hallway.
“I’m still ravenous,” I reminded Kenny as we made our way to the elevator. “I never did get that drink or my nibbles as promised.”
“Well, you’ll just have to make up for it at dinner. Just order two of everything.”
“Don’t think I won’t!” I warned him. He just laughed.
The line at the entrance of the dining room was long when we arrived. By the time our maître d’ escorted the five of us to our reserved table, Marley, Eleanor, Harkin, and Schmidt were already seated. We introduced Laurel to the security team, who proceeded to share their exciting version of events.
“I keep forgetting you all had a bird’s eye view of what was going on,” I admitted. “It must be fascinating to be sitting at the monitor in the office, watching all the action as it unfolds on the screen.”
“Are you kidding? It’s absolutely horrible!” Eleanor picked up her wine glass and swirled the contents around before taking a long sip. “I hate it!”
“It’s horrible in what way?” Thaddeus wanted to know.
“For one thing, you see terrible things happening and you can’t do anything about it. Why, when Scarlet was being menaced by that....”
I tried to stop her before she spilled all the gruesome details in front of Laurel, but she didn’t see my hand signals. Luckily Schmidt did and he managed to play down some of the hairier descriptions by reassuring my mother that I was never really on my own. Marley quickly caught on, spinning our run-in with Marco’s accomplice in a more humorous light.
“When Miz Scarlet started to rip her apart, she got Missy so rattled, our killer came undone.”
“That’s the woman I know and love, brilliant to the end,” said the man who makes my heart go pitter patter.
“She is, Tolliver. She even got Missy to confess,” said the Royal Caribbean security expert. “We recorded it all and it’s admissible in court.”
“You’re kidding!”
“It was a fine performance,” Harkin acknowledged. “It was one thing to capture Marco’s menacing behavior on video because we were expecting him to show up to the party, but just when we thought everything was copacetic, Missy got into the act with that gun....”
“Gun?” Laurel flinched. “What gun?”
It was time to change the subject, lest my mother have more ammunition in her future efforts to control my activities. I decided this was a good time to engage Marley in a conversation about his favorite subject—himself.
“How did you figure out I was in trouble at that point? I thought everyone was busy trying to stop the big water fight.”
He smiled, leaning back in his chair. “You didn’t really think we’d leave you unguarded, did you? We have an obligation to protect our passengers, Miz Scarlet, even the feisty ones. Harkin was monitoring the surveillance camera. He alerted me and I came running.”
“Oh.” I should probably thank Marley for that. How do I do that without making him seem like the hero who saved the day?
“That’s all you have to say to me?” Marley rolled his eyes. “I risked my life to save this woman and all she can say is ‘Oh.’ Really, Tolliver....”
“Thanks,” I smiled, looking around the table at the faces of the Royal Caribbean security team. “All of you have been wonderful.”
“You’re welcome.” Schmidt gave me a nod of his head. “I have to say this has been one of the most unusual sailings I’ve ever been on.”
“You can say that again,” Eleanor agreed wholeheartedly. “I’m hoping this one earns me a commendation at the very least or, even better, a promotion.”
She glanced at Marley with a raw hunger for some little tidbit of recognition, a word or two from the man in charge of Royal Caribbean security that would show the world she was worth her salt. But the man just let the moment pass with a wave of his hand. There was no mistaking her disappointment when he didn’t respond.
“Hey, would it kill you to put in a good word for her?” I demanded to know. “Geez, Marley!”
“I’m not her boss. She’ll have to take that up with Garcia, the security officer,” was his nonchalant response. But the quick wink he flashed at Eleanor told me Marley wasn’t completely heartless, or immune to her allure as a woman. It’s a good thing she can handle a hound dog like that. Me, personally, I’d send him to the pound.
“I, for one, think she did an outstanding job, as did all of your staff,” Kenny told his old buddy, raising his glass to the others.
“Here, here,” Schmidt agreed. Marley reached for the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and topped off everyone’s glass, save for mine. I was drinking ginger ale.
“This is a great ending to a very difficult case for Royal Caribbean. Not only did we solve two murders, we prevented at least three more.”
“Three?” I blinked. “Three?”
“Sure. Hudsucker and Franken planned to kill Velma Sue Vickerson, Kathleen Delaney, and you, Miz Scarlet.”
“Me? I thought they were just trying to scare me off the case.”
“Oh no, they wanted you dead, my dear.”
“The attempt on Scarlet’s life was serious?” Laurel seemed to go pale in the blink of an eye. “It wasn’t just because they were trying to recover evidence that George Delaney hid?”
Oh, crap! There’s a thought we don’t want my mother to latch onto—she’ll wake up in the middle of the night screaming. It’s time to distract her yet again.
“Huh.” One look at the pompous blowhard told me he was already making plans for his celebratory pat on the back with the Royal Caribbean executives once he got back to Miami. I couldn’t just let that go. I had to take advantage of it. “Of course you do realize you had a lot of help, Marley. You didn’t solve this all by your lonesome, as the saying goes.”
“True. The FBI agents did an admirable job of investigating and containing the threat. And my people were invaluable too.
“Kenny was pretty good at deciphering the clues, wasn’t he?” I inquired, pushing the proverbial envelope in my effort to force him to acknowledge the many contributions that led to the end of Missy and Marco’s murderous crime spree.
“Sure. Tolliver was his usual reliable self. That’s what he’s being paid to do as a consultant.”
“If he hadn’t been so persistent....”
“Are you going somewhere with this?” Marley crossed his arms, prepared to stand his ground. I caught sight of Eleanor hiding a laugh behind her cotton napkin. Harkin was amused too. “Do you think I should pin a medal on his chest?”
“Of course I do. What’s more, I do believe....”
He cut me off. “You think you deserve some credit for the case?”
“Didn’t I earn it, given everything I went through?”
“Well, I’ll give you props for being in the right place at the right time. Or would that be the right place at the wrong time?”
“In Scarlet’s case, it’s the wrong place at the right time,” Kenny kidded. “She’s got a knack for interrupting murders.”
“She’s in the wrong place at the wrong time any time someone wants to kill her. You really do have to stop that, Scarlet!” my mother insisted. “I can’t take the stress of worrying about you all the time!”
I turned my attention back to Marley, who seemed to be enjoying my mother’s determined effort to get me to give up my foray into crime solving. Nice try, pal.
“Admit it. You would have never known poor Velma Sue’s real identity, or even that George Delaney’s murder was tied to Anson Reddy’s, if we hadn’t pursued it into the wee hours of the night. Without all that information, Marley, you and your peeps would have been lost at sea on this,” I smirked. “Once again, it’s a case of....”
“Don’t say it,” Kenny groaned. He put a hand to his forehead in dramatic fashion, as if the mere thought this might cause him some dismay would dissuade me from my final summation of the facts. Fat chance.
“But I must, Captain Peacock. You know how every case of mine ends. I tally up the clues and do the final summation.”
“No, that’s not necessary!” he chided me. “Really, this is not the time or the place, Scarlet. These people are trained professionals and they might not understand how we play the game!”
“I beg to differ,” I told him impishly, leaning closer to the Royal Caribbean security man responsible for preventing the murderous Missy from pumping me full of holes. Just as I was moving my imaginary game piece, Marley tried to beat me to the punch.
“Is this the part where she tries to claim credit, Tolliver?” he asked his old high school buddy, his tone clearly patronizing. “As one professional to another, allow me to give you a piece of advice. You should try to get some control over your girlfriend, Ken Doll. You don’t want folks to think she’s the one wearing the pants in your relationship.”
“Wearing the what?” For a moment, I thought I had misheard him, but then his words filtered through to my still exhausted brain. By this time, my mouth had dropped wide open. Well, call me a Venus flytrap and invite all the houseflies in the neighborhood to stop by! Did that poor excuse of a puffer fish really just say that?
Glancing over at the smug security chief sitting two seats away, I realized Kenny’s old high school rival just couldn’t pass up one last opportunity to stick it to him. Marley’s unbridled jealousy made him do it. He knew he was always going to be the runner-up, the guy who didn’t get the girl. Suddenly, I understood Kenny’s opponent. I even felt a little sorry for him. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough that I abandoned all good sense. No, this time I was going to have the last laugh and I was going to share it with the rest of the gang.
Kenny, now glowering, looked from me to Marley and back again. His eyes narrowed, his back stiffened, and he held onto that deep breath so long, I was sure he’d pass out from lack of oxygen. And then he suddenly pursed his lips and exhaled it, shrugged his shoulders like he was shaking off a ghost from his past, and gave me the go-ahead. “Do it. Get it out of your system, honey.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll even play your straight man.”
“That’s so sweet of you, Captain Peacock.”
“So it is. Now, shall I ask you who solved the case?”
“You shall. ’Twas I, Miz Scarlet, in the Solarium, and the weapon I used to stop Miserable Missy in her tracks was a locked-and-loaded Marley!” I crowed. “Ka-pow!”