Page 27 of Cruel Christmas Cruise (Cruising Through Midlife: Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries #12)

T he deck just outside the class reunion is a different world from the glittering ballroom we just left.

Wind whips across the polished wood, carrying the sting of salt and winter.

Moonlight breaks intermittently through racing clouds up above, creating an eerie strobe effect across the empty loungers and deserted bars.

Strains of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” drifts from the festivities inside and creates an odd holiday backbeat to the tension crackling in the air.

Alec and I freeze as we quickly scour the shadowed perimeter.

I shiver, although not entirely from the cold. There’s something about abandoned ship decks at night that triggers every maritime ghost story I’ve ever heard. Of course, in my case, the ghost stories tend to be less fictional and more... well, conversational.

Alec and I spot a woman in red at the very same time standing near the railing and Alec reaches Holly first with his breath forming small clouds in the frigid air.

“What’s wrong?” he pants. “I got your text.”

“What text?” Holly’s face crinkles in confusion as she looks from Alec to me, her blonde hair whipping around her face as the wind picks up. “I didn’t send anything.”

Ice slides down my spine that has nothing to do with the frigid air. Why do I get the feeling this is the oldest trap in the book, and we walked right into it? I’ve spent enough time with Ransom to recognize an ambush when I see one.

“Alec—” I start, but it’s too late.

A shape emerges from behind a lifeboat station as Theo steps into a patch of moonlight with the jacket from his tuxedo flapping in the wind. Something glints in his hand—something metallic and dangerous.

A gun .

“Don’t move,” he says, flat with determination.

“Oh no,” I mutter. How did I get it so wrong?

“Theo, what are you doing?” Holly’s voice rises with panic.

Another shadow detaches itself from the darkness as Ginger slinks forward, the cobalt of her evening gown is nearly black in the dim light, and she has a predator’s smile fixed on her face.

Her perfect makeup seems almost absurdly out of place in this moment of naked threat—like a cobra wearing lipstick.

And I have a feeling that’s exactly what she is.

“He’s doing what he always does,” she purrs. “What I need him to do.”

Theo gestures with the gun, herding us closer to the railing.

The deck pitches slightly beneath our feet as the ship cuts through the dark waters.

My mind quickly catalogs escape routes, distances, and potential weapons—a habit picked up from months of finding myself in precisely the kind of situation—the kind that Ransom always seems to warn me about.

“You worked together,” I say, shaking my head because I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.

“Theo,” I say his name with a faint laugh.

“Wes mentioned that you only had eyes for Ginger. That it’s been that way since you were teenagers.

He said your obsession with her knew no bounds.

And now we see you’d do anything for her—including kill. ”

Theo’s face twists with something akin to pride. “You have no idea what we’ve been through together.”

Joy and Dash materialize beside me, their blue ghostly auras glowing far more vividly against the darkness.

“There was someone else there the night I died,” Joy whispers. “I remember now—I didn’t just see the teal car in the employee lot. I saw Theo leaving Ginger’s office that day. He knew something was happening.”

My eyes dart between Ginger and Theo as the pieces click into place with sickening clarity.

“You killed Joy,” I say to Ginger. “And Missy discovered your involvement. She was going to expose you.”

“And you”—I turn to Theo—“you were going to help cover it up. The brilliant criminal defense attorney who’d finally found a crime he couldn’t defend in court.”

Theo’s jaw tightens. “If you have the money, Frost will find the loophole,” he says and his voice is colder than the December air. “That’s what they say about me. I’ve spent thirty years building a reputation as someone who can get anyone off on technicalities.”

“But murder isn’t a technicality,” I say, watching his reaction. “Especially when it’s premeditated.”

His expression darkens. “When Ginger told me what she’d done to Joy... what was I supposed to do? Let her rot in prison?”

“ Yes ,” Joy says incredulously, although I’m the only one who can truly appreciate it—among the living anyway.

Alec’s breathing comes fast and furious, and his fists clench at his sides as he looks at the woman before us. “Is that true? You killed my wife? Why? ”

Ginger laughs and the sound is whipped away by the wind.

“Oh please, Alec. Joy had everything—the perfect husband, the perfect house, the perfect life. Do you know what I had? A failing real estate business and a pathetic husband at the time who couldn’t even stand up to his mother.

” Her eyes glitter with malice. “I wanted what she had. Starting with you.”

“You’ve been after Alec all this time?” Holly asks with her voice tight with disbelief.

“Don’t act so surprised,” Ginger growls. “We all want what we can’t have. You wanted Alec even when Dash was alive. I saw how you looked at him.”

“That’s not true.” Holly flinches as if slapped. Behind her, Dash’s ghostly form shifts uncomfortably. “That stupid diary,” Holly whispers. “My high school diary that Missy quoted in the Gossip Ghost messages. You were in on it, weren’t you?”

Ginger’s smile is all teeth. “I’ve been planting seeds for a very long time. Giving Missy little tidbits, watching her tear apart our friends. It was the perfect cover—no one suspected me because I was a victim, too. Until she found something she shouldn’t have.”

“She knew you killed Joy.” I blow out a breath. “How did she find out?”

Theo shifts his weight, clearly uncomfortable with all the talking. “Missy found police reports about Joy’s accident. She started asking questions about teal paint particles found at the scene—evidence that had been overlooked in the initial investigation.”

“Let me guess,” I say. “You helped suppress the evidence?”

“I represented the county in that case,” Theo admits. “I made sure certain details never made it to the final report. Small town politics—no one questioned my recommendations.”

“And the cyanide?” I press, buying time, and fully aware of Holly inching closer to Alec protectively.

My eyes scan the deck for anything I can use in self-defense, but unless a lounge chair is bulletproof, I’d say I’m out of luck.

“How did a real estate agent and a defense attorney get their hands on poison?” A thought comes to me and I suck in a quick breath.

“Theo”—I shake my head—“that day in Edinburgh you mentioned that your brother was a botanical researcher at a university. I bet he’s seen his fair share of poisonous plants. ”

A smile widens on his face. “Yes, my brother is a botanical researcher,” Theo says with a hint of pride in his voice. The gun wavers slightly in his hand. “He studies toxic compounds. I borrowed what I needed from his lab. He never even noticed.”

“We smuggled it onto the ship in a cologne bottle,” Ginger adds with a note of admiration in her voice. “Security never checks toiletries properly. I’ve traveled enough to know all the loopholes.”

Holly shakes her head in disbelief. “I don’t understand. Ginger, we were friends once. You, me, Joy, and Missy. How could you do this to them?”

“Friends?” Ginger scoffs. “While you were all building your perfect lives, I was always on the outside looking in. That’s why I started feeding information to the Gossip Ghost in the first place.”

“Wait,” I interject, the final piece clicking into place. “You were one of the Gossip Ghosts all along? Working with Missy to torment your classmates? And let me guess,” I add, looking at Theo. “You were the third ghost, weren’t you? Three phones. Three Gossip Ghosts.” It makes perfect sense.

Theo shrugs, his expression almost smug. “I have access to all sorts of confidential information in my line of work. Client privilege only goes so far when there’s no paper trail.”

“Until Missy got greedy.” Ginger nods. “She threatened to expose us unless we gave her something bigger for her Christmas podcast. Something that would guarantee her millions of downloads.”

“And then you killed her?” Alec asks.

Ginger’s smile is almost dreamy as if recalling a pleasant memory.

“It was so simple. We slipped the cyanide into her drink during the welcome ball. Everyone was mingling, chatting, no one noticed. She barely tasted it. I hear cyanide has a gentle almond flavor that blends nicely with just about any fruity cocktail.”

Theo begins to shift from foot to foot as his knuckles grow white around the gun.

“So which one of you broke into her cabin afterward?” I demand, my voice growing thick with fury. “To steal her laptop and destroy the evidence?”

Theo shrugs casually. “That was me. I’ve picked up a few skills over the years.

Comes in handy in my line of work—you’d be surprised how often evidence goes missing from secure locations.

There’s not a security camera in the world that could deter me.

” He straightens his bow tie with his free hand.

“And these cruise ships use basic RFID card readers to get into the rooms. I brought a universal key card programmer, the kind hotels use. The lock on her cabin door was child’s play.

” He offers a razor-thin smile. “But none of that matters now. Missy had to go, and now the three of you do, too.” He waves the gun toward the railing.

“A tragic accident on Christmas Eve. Three passengers, perhaps a bit too much to drink, leaning over the rail to see something in the water—a reflection of the afterlife perhaps.”

I stare at the gun with something nagging at my brain.