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The ship swayed gently in the wind, which was hot and salty. Straight ahead was nothing but the deep blue ocean and a vast sky punctuated by white, fluffy clouds. It was easy to forget for a moment that if she turned around, Claudia would see the cruise port.
Instead of cruising at sea, the Mermaid Fantasy was docked. For how long was anyone’s guess. Claudia was trying her very best not to think of everything back home that needed attention. After all, an entire cruise ship full of vacationers couldn’t be detained indefinitely...could it?
She was seated at a small round table with Emily. Claudia draped her arm over the railing and longingly gazed out at the water. Then she took a sip of her iced vanilla cappuccino and forced herself to pay attention to what her best friend was saying.
“Apparently the investigator who came aboard gave the Mermaid Fantasy crew the all-clear to leave port as planned,” Emily said. “But when his superiors found out about Chad’s death, they demanded the cruise ship return immediately until their investigation concluded.”
“That’s so strange,” Claudia remarked, baffled.
“I thought so too,” Emily agreed. “It seems like the investigator initially didn’t want to be bothered. I mean, the country really depends on tourism, and cruise ships are a huge part of that. If word got out about the murder, tourists might start to worry it’s unsafe here. Maybe the investigator turned a blind eye to try to protect the local economy.”
“But his superiors thought otherwise?”
“Not exactly. I was told Chad’s father made a huge stink about how the investigation was being handled. He contacted the embassy and threatened to go to the media. It sounds like it was enough to make the investigators reconsider and call the ship back to port.”
“Interesting. But I’m sure you don’t want to talk about death on your first day married.”
“It isn’t the way I imagined my first day married to Kyle would go, no. Obviously. But I mean, Kyle and I have been talking about Chad’s death a lot,” Emily said. “It doesn’t exactly make for the most romantic conversation ever, but it’s on both of our minds.”
“I’m surprised the killer hasn’t been caught yet,” Claudia told her. “I mean, don’t cruise ships have video surveillance in pretty much every public area? It should be fairly straightforward to review the tapes and find out exactly what happened, shouldn’t it?”
“The cameras weren’t working,” a heavily accented voice chimed in from behind Claudia.
She turned to see a petite woman of about twenty-five clearing the table behind her. She wore the signature purple uniform that most Mermaid Fantasy employees wore. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and there was a frown on her face. According to her nametag, her name was Rosa.
“Pardon me? Could you repeat that?” Emily asked.
“Sorry,” the woman replied. “I shouldn’t have been listening in. Please forgive me.”
“No, it’s fine,” Emily assured her. “But what was that you said about the surveillance cameras? They weren’t working? Like, all of them weren’t working? Isn’t that kind of, I don’t know...unusual?”
“Very unusual,” Rosa confirmed. “Such bad luck.”
“It seems awfully coincidental,” Claudia murmured to herself, her interest piqued.
Rosa picked up a stack of dirty dishes. “I need to get these back to the kitchen and wash them before lunchtime,” she said before making a hasty departure.
“That’s strange about the surveillance cameras,” Claudia remarked to Emily.
“Yeah. Anyway, Kyle is probably back at our cabin by now. I should probably be getting back to my husband. My husband! That sounds so bizarre to say, but I love it.” Emily bit her lower lip. “Am I incredibly selfish and horrible for ducking out on him on our very first day married?”
“Why would you say that?”
“He was meeting up with his family because, you know, they’re all grieving or whatever. I was invited to tag along, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it,” Emily admitted. “I mean, I barely know these people. I get that I’m married to Kyle now, but still...it feels so uncomfortable and intrusive to be around virtual strangers while they’re mourning a death.”
Claudia reached across the table and gave Emily’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “For what it’s worth, you are one of the least selfish and horrible people I know. This will all get easier with time, I promise. Now go, spend time with your husband.”
Claudia remained at the table for some time after Emily left. She sipped her iced cappuccino and stared out at the water contemplatively. She had been in a funk the past little while and she wasn’t sure why.
Actually, that wasn’t true.
As much as she hated to admit it - even to herself - Claudia was jealous. She had been with Scott for a long time and, aside from a few hiccups and miscommunications, everything was going great. They had even talked about getting engaged...but so far, it hadn’t happened.
Claudia stared at her barren ring finger with disdain. She knew it wasn’t a competition, but seeing Emily get married had stung a little. When would it be her turn? She didn’t want to be one of those women nagging their significant other for an engagement ring, but...what was taking Scott so long?
“Excuse me?” Rosa, the crew member who had been clearing tables, tapped Claudia on the shoulder. She looked upset. “I am really very sorry for what I said earlier. And for eavesdropping on your conversation with your friend.”
“It’s no big deal,” Claudia told her.
Rosa looked like she didn’t believe Claudia. She pulled a wrinkled, sun-faded photo of a cute little boy from the pocket of her uniform. “This is my son. He’s six years old. He stays with my parents while I’m at sea working. I miss him so much it hurts.”
“It must be difficult to be away from him for such long stretches of time.”
“Yes. It is. But I have no choice,” Rosa explained. “I’m a single mother and I grew up very poor. I want my boy to have better opportunities than I did. So I work as much as I can and I send money back home for him and my parents. I need this job. My family is depending on me.”
Claudia didn’t know what to say. She suddenly felt like a spoiled brat for cruising around on a ship for a week when there were countless people around the world living in severe poverty. Sometimes she forgot exactly how privileged she was.
“Please don’t complain to my boss about me,” Rosa begged, her big, dark eyes filling up with tears. “Please. If I got fired, I don’t know what I would do.”
Claudia’s eyebrows shot up. “You think I would complain because you overheard my conversation with my friend?” She didn’t even want to characterize it as eavesdropping; that seemed too harsh.
Rosa lowered her head. “People have complained about far less,” she said quietly.
“Wow. I promise, you have nothing to worry about,” Claudia tried to assure the young woman. “I’m not the least bit upset and I’m certainly not going to complain to your boss. Everything is completely fine.”
Rosa gave her a tight-lipped, grateful smile. “Thank you,” she said, blinking rapidly. “I should get back to work.” With that, she turned and rushed off.
The interaction with the young crew member left Claudia feeling unsettled. She had seen the worry and fear in the soft-spoken woman’s dark eyes. Rosa had an intensity about her - a quiet desperation - that was hard to miss. Claudia could only imagine what might have caused that.
Rattled, Claudia decided a solitary walk was in order before she met up with Scott.
She needed to clear her head.
