“And throughout your trip, all of these exquisite dishes prepared in the galleys will be served to you, our treasured passengers,” the onscreen voice said.
The scene jumped back to our dining room.
“That’s our Executive Chef,” the bartender told me, pointing at the TV.
Andrew Sandkeep stood aside the stairwell, soon to be introduced to us that evening.
Behind him, I entered the room behind a young brunette who looked elegant. I looked frumpy beside her, I decided, watching myself following her into the room. I met Jane and Tetter at our table and hugged them. Tetter looked unhappy, as she would for most of the remainder of the trip.
Executive Chef Sandeep stepped nearer, staring at us.
No, he wasn’t staring at all of our group. The lecherous smile stamped across his face made confusion wrack my brain and my stomach knot.
Like Randy, he aimed his leer at a woman.
That woman was me.
Chapter 22
I wandered out of the bar. What had those scenes of our first evening in the dining room meant? The television screen inside had jumped to a new scene right after I witnessed the Executive Chef’s reaction to me.
I stopped in my tracks and tapped the side of my head. “Oh, come on, Cealie,” I said, not caring that teens gave me looks saying I was weird. The chef could not have actually thought I was hot! What an imagination I had.
But he had sent me champagne and a note with two fluted glasses.
I needed a replay of the chef’s face when he looked toward our table. I could purchase a tape, but knew they wouldn’t complete them or sell them until the trip was almost over and they added scenes from lots more events.
Would they add the scene that took place right after we ate that first dinner? I wondered with a smirk, ambling on. The excitement we witnessed down that stairwell would really sell, a man lying dead. And if they showed Tetter across that iceberg, their sales would surely swell. But not their bookings.
Now that the media had swarmed this ship and told the world about the two people dying during one cruise, would anyone ever want to sail on it again?
The next possibility struck like a book full of thoughts slamming my forehead.
Suppose dead bodies
increased
their passenger list?
The idea seemed so strange I couldn’t believe I’d actually considered it. But what if the possibility of people dying onboard actually enticed some folks, just like many visitors flocked to see and sleep in supposed haunted houses?
“Absurd, Cealie,” I said, shaking my head in case cobwebs settled in there. I needed to find people I knew. I had to know what happened to Tetter.
Able to move better with my leg rested and no ache from my ankle, I moved with a quicker pace. I glanced in each store but did not know anyone. I moved through the smoky casino. Machines clanged. People bid at tables.
Randy sat in the same cove as before. He pressed the Max button. Two sevens stopped in a line on his machine.
“You won’t win like that.” I stopped at his side.
“I never do.” Without glancing at me, he again pressed Max. Still no luck.
“You certainly had the hots for her.”
“Who?”
“Tetter.”
“Lots of people did.” He pressed the button. His machine whirred, its sevens swirling one way and another as it went haywire.
“What do you mean—lots of people did?”
“You didn’t really know her, did you?” He kept his eyes trained on the machine. “Damn, I win four but bet six. Great winnings, huh?” He reached for the Max button.
I stopped his hand. “Tell me what I didn’t know.”
He shook his head, mouth pinched in a frown. “She was so exciting and sexy. All the boys thought so.” He stared at me, eyes narrowed. “She still was.”
I ran my mind through the possibilities of what he meant. “Randy?”
He jerked his hand away from mine. “Don’t you get it? She was a player. Tetter ran around and jumped in the sack with every guy around.”
I shook my head. “No way. No way would that sweet girl…”
He hopped up from his seat and pressed his face close to mine. “That sweet girl screwed almost every boy at our school. Damn, were all of you gals so naïve?”
“She might have been with one or two of you, but—”
“And even now—on this ship.”
My face loosened like dough someone might mold but hadn’t yet started. I didn’t know whether to sob or laugh in his face. Tetter? He was talking about her?
“But she was a grandma.” I voiced the only sane words coming to mind.
Randy’s laughter roared out.
I struggled with the urge to slap his face until every inch of it stung.
He grabbed both of my hands, moving closer. “Listen, it didn’t matter what age your girl was. She was hot. She wanted sex most of the time. Yes, she was married and had kids and grandkids. And she liked sex. With lots of people. With me on this ship.”
“But… No, she had a problem. She came on this cruise with a problem.”
“She always had problems. She
was
a problem. She affected lots of us guys with our girlfriends when we were in high school and a bunch of us since then, too.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Cealie, she and I made out a couple of times since we boarded this ship. I let her know I was serious about her. I’ve always wanted her.”
I shook my head. Its shaking slowed as the chance of his words being true sank in. Lots of boys in school
had
liked Tetter. I recalled the smiles some of them had given her in the hall. They were different from the flirtatious looks guys gave many other girls.
“She was seeing some other guy onboard, too.” Randy tightened his grip of my hands. “I don’t know who, but that really pissed me off.”
“But if you knew she liked other guys, why would it bother you if she was seeing somebody else on the ship?”
“I wanted her to leave her husband and come away with me. I told her that before we came on this cruise. She was going to give me her decision after we sailed.”
I didn’t want to believe his words. But Jane had said that after Tetter declined coming on this trip, she’d called to say she’d changed her mind, even though she still had a major problem.
Had her difficulty been what Randy suggested?
And he’d told Jane he’d heard we were having this reunion and wanted to come. Had Tetter told him we were coming?
“Did Tetter give you her decision?” I asked.
He stared toward the hallway where a crowd had gathered. “No. She said she’d decide before we finished this cruise.”
“But she finished her cruise early,” I uttered, not wanting to believe what he was telling me. “What do you think happened to her? Did she have a drinking problem? Could she have gotten drunk and fallen off the ship?”
“You’ve got to be kidding. And don’t make yourself even think she could have jumped, either. Somebody shoved her.”
My breaths caught. “But who?”
He gave the top of my head a pat. “It wasn’t me.”
Shoulders slumped, Randy wandered off into the crowd.
What would I do with the information Randy gave me if it was actually true?
Talk to security?
No way.
Share what he’d said with Gil?
Absolutely.
I located a phone on the wall and connected with Gil’s cell.
It wasn’t in service. I rang his room. Nothing. Where might he be?
Possibly he’d be checking a galley, but if I barged into one, cooks would most likely scream bloody murder, especially after two unsolved deaths. They might try to stop an intruder with their large sharp knives. Besides, Gil could be standing on the Lido Deck, peering out to sea, wondering what to do about me.
I shook my head. How could I think about myself when people died?
He would be working to sort out what had happened to them, mainly my friend Tetter.
I snagged an elevator up to the Lido Deck and stepped outside. The brisk damp cold made me shiver. I hurried along, skimming faces of people, and almost tripped over one of the new signs that stood everywhere warning passengers to hold on to railings and walk carefully.
I jogged through the turquoise covered housing for one of the swimming pools. The enclosed dampness clogged my sinuses.
My need to find Gil intensified. Heart pounding, I dashed through the sliding door into the buffet area, frantically searching for him in every seating area. Before reaching the pizza station at the aft, I stopped. Gil would not be eating pizza.
I inhaled gulps of air, struggling to get rid of my panicky mode. What was the crisis I needed to take care of so quickly?
I had to have someone I could talk to, that I could tell everything Randy had said to me about Tetter as she was in high school. And as she was now—before her fall. We needed to sort out the truth.
“Excuse me.” A bearded man with a walking cane nudged against me.
“Sorry I was in your way,” I said, noticing I stood in front of the ice cream machine. Exactly what I needed. I waited behind him and once he was done, fixed myself a cone, making the curly top as high as I could. I walked off from the dining area, momentarily satisfied to lick my velvety soft vanilla ice cream.
Where would I go next? To talk to Jane? Surely she wasn’t really mad at me for going on a couple of dates with her brother.
But she’d mentioned something earlier. In my stateroom. She’d seemed to wish for all of the neatness and space I had.
After hearing that, maybe I should have asked Tetter to room with me.
I finished my cone, watching a family frolicking in the pool, while my thoughts ran around in a maze. I would find Gil. I’d tell him everything Randy had said and together, we would know what to do next.
His chef, Adam Hebert, might know where he was, but I didn’t know where to find him. The only other person Gil knew well on this ship was his uncle. He might know where Gil was, or possibly Gil was visiting with him.
I took an elevator down to the undecorated deck three.
No security staff stood around. Probably most still questioned people and guarded rooms, trying to fend off the media and curious onlookers.
I stepped inside the medical center. A light was on, but no nurse sat at the counter. Everything appeared empty. The hall leading to the rear was dark.
“Hello? Anybody here?” I said.
Tension gripped my shoulders. One of my friends lay back there, somewhere with no light or warmth.
I wanted…
What do you want, Cealie?
I asked myself, stepping toward the back. I knew I did not want my friend dead and did not want her to be alone, no matter what she did or whether she was the person I thought I’d known.
“Can I help you?” Dr. Thurman stepped out from the rear, the click of a door he’d opened and stepped through registering.
I jumped back. “You scared me.”
“Sorry. I was in my office doing paperwork.”
“Yes, probably for…well, for my friend who just died.”
He nodded, the skin between his eyes creasing.
“I don’t want to see her now, do I?” I asked, struggling against my fears but wanting to do what was right.
“No.” The cold look he gave made me take a half step back.
I pointed toward the front office. “I didn’t see nurses or anyone up there.”
“They’re going to dinner and for questioning by the security staff. If anyone has a medical problem, I will be called.”
It was time for me to go. I knew that. Yet I wasn’t satisfied. My curious nature and desire to probe for the truth kept me in place. “Tetter was my classmate.”
The drab expression in his eyes told me he wasn’t interested.
“At Westside High School,” I said. “Good old W.H.S. And she was my friend. But I just discovered she wasn’t the person I thought she was.”
A spark ignited in his eyes. “What did you learn?”
“She—” I pointed toward where I thought a rear room held her body. “I shouldn’t be telling her personal business.”
“It might help.” A concerned expression swept over his face, and he stepped back. He held up a page he’d been writing on. “I’m working to gather all of the information I can to assist authorities and her family and friends like you discover what caused her demise. Your information might help police put things together.”
He looked solemn. Concerned about my dead friend.
Too concerned about what I knew.
The shiver of fear inching along my spine like the slowest caterpillar told me I should leave.
Could I be staring at a killer?
Chapter 23
“Doc,” I said, “I don’t really know much about Tetter. And I really came down here hoping I might find my boyfriend.”
Dr. Thurman’s eyebrows knotted.
“You know, your nephew Gil Thurman.” I worked to force my voice even, although my pitch rose. “You remember he introduced us when you were sitting with him, and you received a message on your pager and had to hurry away.”
Surely you won’t hurt anyone who goes out with your nephew
. “We’ve gone out with each other for a long time,” I said, trying not to whine. “In fact, Gil loves me. And I love him.”
“Love,” he said with the slightest nod, eyes going out of focus. “Love is good.”
“Yes. So you see I was just searching for Gil and thought you might know where he is. But I see he’s not here, so I’ll just go find him.”
“No!” The doctor’s body shot forward as quickly as his word. He stood so close we could have hugged, although I was certain neither of us had that intention.
“But he’s probably looking for me, too,” I said, the knot in my chest thickening, the dark environment squeezing in on me. “And you know Gil. He just doesn’t give up.” The smile I forced felt like it came out as a sneer.
“I don’t know Gil much anymore. His dad and I had a falling out when we were in our early thirties, and I moved out of state. I never kept up with him.”
“But now you can.” I jammed my lips into a smile. “Gil is the nicest man you’ll ever know. He’s loveable and considerate. I don’t know about his daddy, but Gil is the best.”
“During our few exchanged e-mails, I’ve asked Gil to meet me sometime on a cruise and bring one of his chefs. I never thought he would decide to come on the same one as Tetter.”