Page 33

CHAPTER 33

T he observation windows frame the darkness, the kind of onyx night that only exists at sea at midnight.

Elvie stands alone and her reflection looks like a ghost against the void beyond the glass. Her burgundy gown glows sanguine and sinister in the shadows.

“A penny for your thoughts?” I say as Tinsley and I come upon her—and, well, Sassy by floating proxy, too.

Elvie jumps nearly a foot in the air as if we just fired a starting pistol.

“ Oh .” She clutches at her chest once she sees us. “Geez. You nearly scared the ghost right out of me.”

“ Ooh , that would be fun.” Sassy wiggles as she says it and unleashes an entire sea of pink stars in the process. “I can’t wait until Elvie gets to Paradise. We always got along so great. Although maybe she should wait until after we solve her husband’s murder.”

“Sorry about the scare.” I wince as I say it. Believe me, I want her alive when and if we squeeze a confession out of her. And by we, I mean me .

“Not to worry.” Elvie is quick to wave the idea away. “I was just getting lost in thought when I really should be getting lost in the party.”

“And it’s quite the party,” I tell her.

“The event is stunning,” Tinsley says, tipping her ear toward the woman. “Although I question whoever decided to name the shrimp cocktail Evidence in Cold Storage.”

The three of us share a laugh—four if you count Sassy.

“That was Reed’s idea.” Elvie’s smile wavers for a moment. “He has a particular talent for clever wordplay.”

Sassy sighs. “He’s pretty clever in other ways, too.”

I’d rather not know. Unless, of course, they have to do with wielding a knife.

“Elvie, I really want to extend my condolences once a—” I begin, but Tinsley rudely cuts me off at the pass.

“Mrs. Whipple, could you explain your whereabouts on the night in question? Aka the night of the murder?”

I suck in a quick breath and resist the urge not to elbow her in the ribs.

Oh, what the heck. I elbow her not-so-gently. “Tinsley, this isn’t an interrogation. Besides, we already know where she was.” I offer a meager smile to the poor woman before us who looks as stunned as she does peeved. “She was speaking with Reed.”

Was she? Oh, good grief. I have no idea where Elvie was at the time of the murder. Heck, I don’t even know the time of the murder.

“Actually, I was speaking with Reed.” Elvie shrugs and looks just as stupefied by my lucky guess as I am.

“Well, there you go,” I say, slightly bowing to the woman before me in the burgundy dress. “I’m sorry for Tinsley’s crass behavior.” I turn to the crass woman in question and whisper, “Some of us prefer proper procedures.”

“Some of us prefer solving cases,” she whisper-shouts back, to my horror.

“Ladies,” Sassy snips, despite the fact only one lady here is privy to her haunted vocals. “You’re both pretty good crime fighters. Now, can we please focus on the suspicious widow?” She wrinkles her nose at her old friend. “If she did it, I say we shake her hand and call it a night. I’d hate to see her rotting away in some prison just because she married someone so rotten.”

I nod her way because frankly, I agree.

“Elvie.” I soften my voice as I look at the woman. “I’m sorry things have been so tragic for you on this trip. But I am glad that you’re surrounded by so many supporters in your time of need. Especially Reed. I mean, he was Brad’s best friend.”

“Thank you, Trixie.” She tips her head to the side but doesn’t look as convinced by that last fact as I am. “Reed has been my staunch supporter for some time now.”

“Oh? Before the murder?” I ask.

“Heavens yes.” Her eyes enlarge for a moment as if that were a given. “The man has many talents, and making a woman feel better is definitely one of them.”

“I can vouch for that.” Sassy blows on her nails then rubs them on her glowing dress.

“I’m glad he’s been there for you,” I tell her and I mean it to my core. There are few worse feelings than that of having a disloyal spouse. “I hear among his talents is noticing when money goes missing from accounts.” Okay, I couldn’t help myself. But it’s Elvie’s fault for practically rolling out the red carpet to that one.

Her champagne glass freezes halfway to her lips. “Pardon me?”

Tinsley scoffs in my direction. “What my colleague means to say is that we have evidence of financial irregularities.”

Oh my word, why in the world did I let her tag along?

I shake my head at Elvie with an emphatic vigor. “We are not in any way investigating your husband’s case.”

And now we can add lying to my long list of indiscretions.

“Is that so?” Elvie says with a dark laugh. “Oh honey, if you weren’t, you’d be the only two people in the room. I hate to break it to you, but this entire ship is trying to track down my husband’s killer.”

A moment pulses by as the chatter from the room fills the void.

“How about you?” I ask with a shrug. “Are you trying to solve it as well?”

Sassy zooms in as if she, too, wants to hear the answer.

“ No ,” Elvie says defiantly as she glares out at the water. “I wanted him out of my life. Albeit this was one scenario I didn’t think of.”

“I knew she didn’t do it,” Sassy says with more than a hint of relief in her voice.

I’m not that as easily convinced.

“Elvie”—I take a careful step in—“we know Brad was dipping into the Luscious and Delicious accounts.”

Her mouth opens and closes. “Oh, well”—she tosses her hands in the air—“at this point, so what? Yes, Brad was helping himself to my money, and do you want to know why? To help fund his affair with some floozy.” Her voice breaks as she says it.

Both Tinsley and I recoil just hearing the pain behind her words.

“I’m so sorry,” I say.

“Oh, don’t be,” she growls. “You know, I used to have this assistant. Her name was Sassy.” She gives a mournful laugh as she says it. “Well, that was what we all called her. And it’s during stressful times like these that I really miss her most.”

“ Aww ,” Sassy coos at the thought, patting her hand to her chest. And if I’m not mistaken, tears are rolling down her cheeks.

“If Sassy were here”—Elvie continues—“I bet she’d tell me to put my chin up. That man cheated on me.” She sighs hard. “And yet despite the dirty details of our rocky marriage, I’m still grieving for him. I’m nothing but a chump.”

“No,” I tell her with a heartfelt sigh. “Elvie, we can’t control who we love or who we don’t. The heart decides that—and, well, sometimes it makes no sense. But despite the fact, the wound is still fresh.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” she says, looking back into the onyx abyss of the sea. “I’m grieving, and yet I feel like I’ve been entertaining guests at a party that refuses to end.”

Tinsley softens her stance. “That is basically the definition of a cruise. You summed it up nicely. Elvie, did you take that knife to Brad’s back because you were in a rage because of the affair?”

I glance at the ceiling.

Subtlety is clearly not her strong suit.