I led Petronella to Odette’s cabin, remembering the number Odette gave me more than a week ago, and knocked firmly.
Odette opened the door almost immediately. She didn’t hesitate, inviting us in.
We sat on the couch, while she took the desk chair.
“Odette, did you know Leah was reviewing books under the name Dee North of Boise, Idaho?”
“No. I was as surprised as anybody when Maya brought it up. Though I can see Leah doing that. An online bridge discussion group we were on kicked her off because of her harsh posts. She rejoined under a new name and was kicked off again for the same thing. She wasn’t shy about criticizing someone to their face, but the distance and anonymity of online forums…”
“You said you backed out of coming last year, but decided to give this year another try. Do you remember your specific thinking about those decisions?”
She raised her eyebrows in amusement and surprise. “My, quite a request. Let’s see. A few days before the deadline to pay for the trip last year, after Ralph and Maya cancelled, I sat down and considered spending two weeks with Leah. Her sharpness had become increasingly mean around then. I decided I did not want to be exposed. And, indeed, she was particularly nasty before she and Wardham left on the cruise.
“She was so much better on their return that I felt, perhaps, I overreacted. And I did miss the cruising. As I’ve said, I persuaded Ralph and Maya to come again, too. I had second thoughts in the run-up to the trip because she was back to her old ways. But, after cancelling and regretting, I chose to stick it out.”
“What about four years ago when Bruce Froster died and the couples re-coupled. Do you recall her behavior before that cruise?”
“It’s a long time ago and with events during that cruise and after— No. Wait. I do recall some… Yes. Wardham and I had several talks about how razor sharp Leah’s tongue had become. I remember, because it made his marrying her all the more ironic. What is this about, Sheila?”
“Would you be surprised to learn her reviews were particularly nasty during those three periods — before the cruise four years ago, before last year’s cruise, and before this cruise? Followed by periods of relative normalcy.”
Her quick mind got it immediately. “She built up frustration or whatever drove her, expiated it over the cruise, entering a calmer period, before—” She looked at me questioningly. “—the cycle began again?”
“Possible, don’t you think?”
“Certainly possible.”
“Then, the question is, what happened on last year’s cruise to work off her built up frustration or whatever drove her. Did she mention anything about the cruise?”
“Mmm.” She went silent, her gaze fixed. She blinked before she spoke. “She did say a few times that we’d really missed out, that last year was outside the usual cruise experience, that she’d discovered new entertainment, and was looking forward to more of it this year. No indication of what that entertainment was. I might have asked more as this trip neared, but she was back into her worst behavior.”
“If you remember more…”
“Of course. If there’s nothing else now—”
“There is.”
I let the silence extend, feeling Petronella fidget beside me. Odette sat calmly.
“We saw you and Wardham yesterday morning.”
“Did you?”
“Yes. And I will be telling the authorities what we saw.”
“Is that what you came to tell me?”
“No. We came to ask you—”
“Why?” Petronella wailed.
Odette’s brows rose as she smiled. “For sex.”
That stopped Petronella.
“The night after his wife was found dead?”
“You know the answer, Sheila. Yes.”
Petronella’s head turned from me to Odette to me and ended facing Odette. “But… but you said you were better off without him. You said he hadn’t aged well. You said you were having more fun without him. But—”
Uh-oh. Had Petronella seen Odette as a role model for getting over Tony? A role model who’d had ex sex. Would she take this as permission to pine for Tony?
“—you still love him,” she finished.
“I did say those things. And each is true. However, I found myself wondering if there’s still something to be said for an old-fashioned toaster.”
“Toaster?” Petronella and I said together.
“Toaster. Instead of the fancy gadgets all the rage now, where you need a special course to be able to use. Instead, just slip the toast in the slot and be done with it. Wardham is the sexual version of an old-fashioned toaster. Oh, now I see I’ve shocked you…”
“You and Wardham are back together.” Petronella’s conclusion was an accusation.
“My personal life is personal,” Odette said with an edge.
She’d acknowledge sex with her ex, but not talk about love.
Her earlier words explaining the relationships replayed in my head. What she’d said absorbed me then, but now the how of saying it.
Leah is married to my ex-husband, Wardham.
Leah and what she did, came first.
In relationship to Odette.
With the man himself almost an afterthought.
She is very competitive. Very. … Not that I’m stronger, but that she considers she’s beaten me.
Was Leah alone in seeing it as a game, in keeping score?
Could that kind of competition lead to—
Not there yet. Definitely not there yet.
Especially since I intended to ask the woman for a favor.
“Remember telling me about your friend who’d said she wouldn’t have been surprised to hear Coral pushed Piper down the stairs, but was surprised by what did happen? Does that mean she has reason to think Piper pushed Coral down the stairs?”
“Oh. Interesting. I didn’t think to ask. Do you want me to—?”
“If you could introduce us, I’d love to meet her in person.”
Her mouth pursed. “No interference from me? No problem. I’ll introduce you and leave. You can’t ask for better. But it’s a man, not a woman. And an acquaintance rather than a friend.”
* * * *
“Vance, this is Sheila Mackey. She has questions you will answer nicely. Sheila, this is Vance Reesha.”
It was Mr. Grandpa’s Sailboat on the Label.
He leered. “What do I get in return?”
“Behave yourself, Vance,” Odette said.
“You’re no fun. But I suppose as long as I can’t work on my tan on the upper deck —they’ve blocked off the whole section, say they don’t know when or if it’ll be reopened to passengers — I might as well.”
Must be where he’d been when I overheard him.
I clamped my hand on Odette’s arm. “Why don’t you stay? You might be able to fill in gaps.”
I could handle the lecher. But that would take time. And likely bruising. Certainly of his ego, possibly physical. Not conducive to getting answers from him. Odette could run interference without Mr. Grandpa’s— Vance Reesha.
Besides, what I wanted from this guy had nothing to do with the Marry-Go-Rounders, so she didn’t have that big a conflict of interest.
A glint of humorous understanding came into her eyes. “Delighted.”
Adopting Aunt Kit’s most businesslike tone, I addressed him. “I understand you’ve crossed paths before with the members of a group of five couples sailing together.”
He looked blank.
“Five wives, five husbands?”
More blank.
Odette cleared her throat. “Older men, flashily attractive younger women. One with a noteworthy, ah, derrière.”
“Ohhhh. Yeah.” I suppressed a squirm at his smile. “Let me tell you about them…”
As he did, I realized three things beyond what he was saying.
His was the voice I’d heard in the Atrium during the musicians’ break, telling someone else about a man wanting to go back to his first wife.
His was also the voice I’d heard drifting into my drowsy brain that third day on the Diversion, when I’d heard a string of nonsense words.
T-bar and errand chase sonar you and me theme and Cheese Mary now?
That was the third and final thing I realized.
They weren’t nonsense.
And I knew what he’d really said.
I wanted to confirm it without an audience.
“Odette, will you leave us alone, please.”
“Now you’re talking,” he said with a leer.