Dastardly Deeds (14 page)

I closed the cabin door, my mind still in Athens, happily wandering through the Pandrossou street market, where each turn would reveal the looming Acropolis. Apart from the news about Tessa, it had been a magnificent day from start to finish. My distraction meant that I was halfway down the hallway before it registered that I hadn’t heard the lock click. I returned to give the door a push. It opened easily and then, after a moment, swung shut again. Still sans click. I examined the jamb and was surprised to see a piece of what looked like chewing gum wedged inside. I stared at it, frowning.

‘Is everything all right?’

I nodded at Roger, our perennially cheerful, latte-skinned steward, and then pointed at the lock. ‘Something’s stuck in there.’

He came closer and bent to peer at it. ‘Thieves.’

‘What?’

‘Thieves,’ he repeated sadly, as if their existence was a personal affront to his custodianship. ‘Shocking. My large apologies. Very rare on our ship. The lock has been retarded. I shall inform security.’

‘Thank you.’ I looked at the gum doubtfully. I thought it more likely that someone like Quinn had wanted to get rid of it before I told her off for looking like a cow. Roger pulled a penknife from his pocket and began prising the substance loose. I thanked him again and left him to it. I was running late for my date with Ashley.

On deck five, people were milling around lazily. Athens appeared to have reduced everyone to a contented lethargy. I moved through with purpose, pausing only when I noticed Scott at the casino bar. He was talking to a tall woman in a very low-cut dress. I wondered if she was the infamous Marcia Lenham. He leant forward, his gold stud glinting, to listen to what she had to say. I examined her carefully; if a woman matching that description turned up dead in the morning, then I could confidently say we had our murderer.

I emerged onto the back deck to find Ashley already waiting at our table with drinks for us both. His was already half empty. He was wearing jeans again, with a loose, short-sleeved burgundy shirt. He leant back and raised an eyebrow.

‘You’re late.’

‘I know, I’m sorry. Someone stuck chewing gum in my door.’

‘Someone what?’

‘Doesn’t matter.’ I sat down and took a sip of wine. It was warm.

‘Did you enjoy yourself today?’

‘Very much. I’ve decided I have a crush on Athena.’

‘Understandable.’ He nodded. ‘Listen, Lew’s booked a tour over to the other side of Santorini tomorrow and Deb, Nick and I are going along. There’s one spare seat. Want to join us?’

‘Don’t you think it’d be a bit crowded with Ruby and Quinn on my lap?’

‘Ruby’d look after Quinn for the day, wouldn’t she? Or Petra?’

‘Thanks, but no thanks. I promised I’d spend the day with them.’

‘Worth a try.’ He hesitated. ‘What’s the go with Donald?’

I put down my glass and smiled playfully. ‘Why? Are you jealous?’

‘Yes,’ he replied shortly. ‘Of course I am. Anyway, you could have just turned him down. No point leading the chap on.’

I hesitated, unsure how to respond. I wasn’t particularly interested in teasing him but, by the same token, it was none of his business. We weren’t together.

‘Forget it.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m being an idiot. Christ.’

I smiled at him, pleased with his reaction. He
was
being an idiot, but I liked him for that too. Our glance lingered, graduating from a moment of mutual amusement to a remembrance of mutual pleasure. I could almost feel his hands either side of my face as we leant in towards each other, and then as we kissed, one hand might just slide down to splay across my breastbone. He would be able to feel my heart, and I might just strain upwards so that his hand slipped further …

‘
There
you are,’ said Petra impatiently. ‘Come on, scoot over.’

‘What?’

‘Scoot over. Or pass me that chair.’ She pointed at the chair on the far side of our table. ‘Doesn’t matter, I’ll get it myself.’ She pushed me in so that she could squeeze past, plonking herself down. ‘Okay, I’ve been doing some thinking.’

‘What?’ I said again.

‘Well, I’m a little bored. I’ve given up on the men on this ship. Either they’re attached or they’re simply not doable, if you know what I mean.’

‘Oh, we know what you mean,’ said Ashley.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be catching up with Enid?’ I asked. ‘We agreed.’

‘I tried, believe me, but she’s firmly wedged at the roulette table.’ Petra grinned. ‘She said I was cramping her style.’

‘Really?’ said Ashley, leaning back. ‘I can’t imagine that.’

‘Well, it’s true. And she can get quite nasty for an old woman. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I’ve decided to turn my considerable intellect towards identifying this serial killer. It’s clear that everyone’s a suspect. Except of course the girls, and Yen, and Uncle Jim.’ She began ticking them off on her fingers. ‘Naturally it’s not Enid, and Ashley and Nick weren’t in Rome.’ She nodded graciously towards Ashley. ‘And it’s unlikely to have been Lew.’

‘What about Darcy?’ asked Ashley. ‘He seems the type.’

I ignored him. ‘What about Deb and her lot?’

‘I’m getting to them. If you rule out—’

Ashley held up a hand, cutting her short. ‘Any chance you’ll leave us alone?’

‘None whatsoever.’

‘I thought as much.’ He sighed. ‘Well, if we’re going to do this, we have to do it right. If you’re working on the assumption that the two deaths are related, which I’m still not convinced is true, then we need to be methodical. Did your group hang out with Deb’s in Rome?’

I was already shaking my head. ‘No, they were staying in a separate hotel, doing their own thing. I met them by accident once, but it was after April had died. And Petra and Ruby only flew in that afternoon. As for … hang on.’ I frowned, and then turned to Petra. ‘Remember at that dinner when Lew told us about April – didn’t Lyn Russo say something about meeting them all the night before?’

‘You’re right,’ said Petra, nodding. ‘And she made some smart crack about her husband. I got the impression he might have been flirting with April. I need a drink.’ She raised a hand, as if this would magically summon a waiter. Amazingly, it did. We gave our orders.

Ashley drummed his fingers on the table. ‘So we’ve got Michael Russo, who was flirting with her the night before, and Lyn Russo, who would have been annoyed, and their son, who has been watching his parents’ marriage implode and waiting for someone to blame.’

‘The only Russo who bought sunglasses was Lyn,’ I said.

‘Forget the sunglasses. We’ll get to them. So we’re ruling out Darcy and Tessa?’

‘We are,’ I said firmly. ‘There’s no reason they would want April dead. And we’re not sure they were at the dinner, so they may not have even known her.’

‘Okay, how about we put them to one side for now,’ said Ashley, in a tone that suggested he was unconvinced but willing to oblige. ‘But we’ve also got Lew, who would have already known April. We don’t know their history. Then, of course, there’s Scott, Donald, Deb and Phoebe. They would have also had history. That’s our rough list.’

‘Bringing us to Gallipoli,’ said Petra. ‘And Kim Satchwell.’

The waiter came up with a tray of glasses and a stack of menus. We thanked him as he placed a drink before each of us and then departed.

‘At which point we can cross Lew off our list,’ I said firmly. ‘It’s unlikely he could have pushed April from the balcony but absolutely impossible that he managed to get his wheelchair down that path to where Kim died.’

‘Unless he’s just pretending that he can’t walk,’ said Petra darkly.

‘And has been planning this for the past twenty-five years?’ asked Ashley, raising an eyebrow. ‘I think someone’s been watching too much TV.’

‘True,’ agreed Petra. ‘Okay, we rule Lew out. And Donald also, given he didn’t buy any sunglasses.’

I pulled one of the menus over. ‘Let’s order.’

We perused the choices for a while. The breeze had picked up, skidding along the canopy with a hollow whistle. The back deck area was fairly deserted this evening, which may have accounted for the unexpected table service. This was repeated the moment we laid down our menus. I could get used to this.

‘The problem is that it’s easy enough to tie somebody to April,’ said Petra, continuing where she had left off. ‘But how does that work with Kim?’

Ashley drummed his fingers again. ‘Could be the same deal. We don’t know whether anyone mixed with them on board. Michael Russo could have been pissed off because she knocked him back, Lyn got jealous, Griffin was lashing out, and maybe one of our reunion quartet clashed with her.’

‘I saw Scott and Donald talking with them once,’ said Petra. ‘At the pool bar.’

I thought about it, and then shook my head. ‘No, I don’t buy it. It’s one thing to commit a crime of passion in the early hours of the morning, after everyone’s been drinking; I can sort of imagine April and her killer talking on the balcony and then things going wrong.’ I paused for the picture to register with the two others. ‘But Kim’s death was in the middle of the day. Her murderer must have deliberately stalked her, planned it out. So much more premeditated.’

‘The only other option is to split the two,’ said Ashley. ‘And accept the two deaths had nothing to do with each other.’

Petra was already shaking her head. ‘I don’t buy that. I’m
sure
they’re connected. They have to be.’

We lapsed into silence, sipping wine as we played through the different scenarios. Both Ashley and Petra were right. It did seem like the two deaths had nothing to do with each other, and yet they had far too much in common as well.

Our meals arrived, still steaming from the kitchen.

‘Let’s retrace,’ said Ashley, pointing at me with his fork. ‘Talk me through what happened before you found her.’

I took a deep breath. I had been expecting this. ‘I went back to the bus a little early. The only people there were Quinn and Griffin but they said Ruby had been with them so it occurred to me she might have gone down that path for a sneaky smoke.’ I paused to take a sip of wine. ‘Anyway, I walked down and there she was. Kim that is, not Ruby.’

‘Thankfully,’ said Petra. While my ravioli was going cold, she was already halfway through her meal.

Ashley spoke casually. ‘And where exactly was she?’

‘At the end. Around the corner. There were some steps that led to a small clearing.’ I recalled the curve of water, sparkling in the distance. ‘It had a view of the cove. That’s where she was.’

‘Could the clearing be seen from the path?’

I shook my head. ‘Not at all. Just the steps. She must have gone up there to take photos. I saw her shoe first.’

‘Describe the scene,’ said Ashley gently.

I closed my eyes for a moment, opening them to see both Ashley and Petra watching me carefully. ‘She was covered by some brush. It was piled on her, with just her shoe poking out.’

‘How was she positioned?’

‘Face down.’ I took another deep breath, remembering the moment I had thought it was Ruby. ‘I pulled the brush away and saw her T-shirt. One arm was out, a little bent. I felt for a pulse but there wasn’t any.’

‘Describe her,’ prompted Ashley. ‘As if we’d never seen her before.’

I stared at him, feeling a surge of anger. I didn’t see the point of all this.

‘Sometimes it’s the smallest things. Trust me.’

My anger dissipated as quickly as it arrived. I did trust him. I spoke quickly. ‘Rose-coloured T-shirt and cream pants. Gold bracelet. Short brown hair matted with blood.’ I patted the back of my own head. ‘Her hat had come off.’

‘Her hat?’ repeated Petra, a forkful of risotto halfway to her mouth.

‘Yes. A crushed-velvet number. Quite nice. She was wearing it earlier.’ I finally began eating my meal, which was definitely cold. It also tasted like tomato-flavoured Play-Doh. I ploughed through several pieces to balance out the wine. When I put my fork down, I noticed that the other two were still staring at me. ‘Seriously? That’s it! There’s nothing else!’

Petra gave Ashley a quick glance. ‘Um, what were
you
wearing that day?’

I blinked. Then shook my head. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘Light-coloured pants,’ said Ashley, his eyes still on me. ‘Black hat. Pink shirt.’

‘Coral, actually. And they were cargos.’

Petra pushed her plate away. ‘Shit, Nell. They thought it was you.’

‘Why on earth would someone want to kill me?’

‘Why would someone want to kill Kim Satchwell?’ replied Ashley. ‘From behind, the two of you would have looked much the same. And if you’re going to lump the two deaths together, then you’ve got a greater connection with our list of suspects than she had.’

I was somewhat mollified by the fact he didn’t seem very happy about it. The ravioli had formed molten lumps in my stomach.

‘They wouldn’t even have seen her face,’ continued Petra, still gazing at me. ‘They just saw her heading back to the bus and followed.’

‘No.’ Ashley shook his head. ‘Kim went into the other bus to get her gear so the perp would have realised then that it wasn’t Nell. If this scenario works, then it’s more likely they just came back early, maybe because they were already stewing about something, and just happened to see her going down the path. Bad timing.’

‘I’ll say,’ said Petra. She drained her glass.

‘Well, that definitely rules out Darcy,’ I said, searching for something positive. ‘He has much more reason to want me alive than dead. For starters, he’d get Quinn. And believe me, he doesn’t want a teenager living with him full-time.’

‘Well,
that’s
a relief,’ said Ashley.

‘What about Tessa?’ asked Petra. ‘Maybe she’s jealous of your history.’

I thought back to Tessa, head in her hands. ‘No. Definitely not. She has enough on her plate. She’s pregnant again, and not happy about it.’

‘Oh, you have to be kidding me.’ Petra shook her head in disgust. ‘Have they ever heard of contraception? There’s quite a range nowadays. Readily available.’