Cruise to Murder (Z & C Mysteries, #2) Read online

  “We have with us tonight, right in this very room, a very notable man. I am sure you all have heard his name, or at least read his magazine, American Citizen. Previous to this show, he volunteered to disappear for us. Well, actually he volunteered Mrs. Belmont to disappear for us.”

  The crowd chuckled.

  “There he is—Mr. Belmont!”

  Belmont’s booth was laughing it up as the spotlight beamed on him and his smiling wife.

  “Did you see him, Claire?”

  “Well, not really. The light was too bright and washed out his features.”

  A rabbit ran up on stage and stopped in front of the magician. Larry Potter, seeing him, said, “Not now! It’s too late. You’re fired!”

  It looked like the rabbit threw a silver dollar as it popped up from the stage.

  “Oh, so that is what you’ve been doing.” He picked up the dollar, polished it and stuck it into his pocket. Then he picked up the rabbit and looked him in his eyes. “All is forgiven. Can you get more of these? …What do you mean you can, if I would stake you to fifty bucks?!”

  He set the rabbit down, and as it was running off stage to a woman waiting to take him, Potter called after him, “And lay off the bourbon, you know it causes your feet to swell!”

  The audience laughed and applauded.

  “Wait!” The magician trotted over to the lady who was about to leave the stage. He reached into his pocket and removed his wallet and took out some bills. Potter lowered his voice a little, but the audience could still hear him. “Give this fifty dollars to the rabbit.”

  She hesitated, to which he replied, “Trust me.”

  Having returned to the spotlight, the show continued: “Good evening, everyone. As I said, I am Larry Potter; no relation to Harry. And although I do wear glasses, you will see I have blond hair and I am in my thirties; by the way, very handsome and single… hint, hint.” His eyes seemed to meet Claire’s for a moment and she blushed.

  “He was looking at you.” Zo nudged her.

  “That is simply because mostly everyone in here needs the assistance of a walker.”

  “And,” he continued, “I would like to start tonight off with a trick—a classic card trick. Don’t worry, I will have the cameras zoom in on me, so you can see every suspenseful moment projected on the screens to the left and the right of me. Let’s see…”

  He started walking back and forth looking for his non-voluntary helper. “Who will I ask?”

  Quickly he ran back to Claire with a deck of cards in one hand, while welcoming her to shake his other hand. “Hi, what is your name?”

  “Claire.” She smiled, a bit embarrassed.

  “Claire,” he repeated into his little microphone attached onto his black vest. “L’Amour mi Claire.” He gazed longingly into her long lashed, large brown eyes which entertained the crowd some more. “Pick a card, any card.” He shuffled and fanned out the options.

  Claire went to grab the one third to the right.

  “Uh, not that one,” he whispered loud enough for the crowd to hear and laugh.

  She went to take another.

  “Not that one either…”

  Claire laughed and shook her head. Finally she was able to pick one he would let her have.

  “Now look at it and don’t tell me what it is.”

  Claire put it close to her face and then buried it against her black dress.

  “Was it the Queen of Hearts?” He raised his eyebrows flirtatiously.

  “Yes!” she exclaimed and showed it to the camera.

  The crowd clapped.

  “I knew it. Let me ask you, Claire, do you have any king in your life?”

  “No!” Zo called out, answering for her daughter.

  “Mother!” Her eyes widened.

  “Well then, thank you… And for being such a great volunteer, I have something for you.” Larry put a hand behind his back and it suddenly reappeared with a red rose.

  As Claire went to take her flower, Larry grabbed her hand and kissed it, but in doing so lost grip of his deck of cards and they fell to the floor of the stage, all face up. The camera zoomed in and the audience saw projected on the screens that every card was a Queen of Hearts.

  “Oops,” the magician said sheepishly as part of the act.

  Larry continued with a new unwrapped deck to perform many great classic magic tricks and it soon neared the end of his show, where he said he had saved the best for last.

  “Now, for the last magic trick, would the special couple please come front and center. Felix Belmont and his lovely wife, Sharon, are going to join me on stage.”

  Everyone cheered exuberantly in anticipation, especially Claire, who suddenly felt nervous for no apparent reason. The spotlight went to their celebrity faces again, which were now projected on the screens. The dashing publisher with black hair, perfect teeth and mustache stood, with his gorgeous wife appearing at least fifteen—if not twenty—years younger than him. She had chic, shoulder length blond hair and a pale blue dress. Mr. Belmont kindly helped pull his wife’s chair out and escorted her on the arm, walking between tables to the stage.

  Once they were on stage, the couple waved to the crowd. Larry interrupted the continuously clapping attendees by saying, “I have to my left a six-foot-five-inch tall box. I am going to ask Mrs. Belmont to join me inside the box and Mr. Belmont will lock it shut, so we can’t get out. When he hears me say the magnificent magic words, which I told him secretly beforehand, he will open the box again and Mrs. Belmont will have vanished away. Gone!” He turned to Mr. Belmont, saying, “I hope it won’t be forever,” and then tugged at his collar nervously.

  The box wasn’t very wide. First, Mrs. Belmont stepped inside. She pushed her body right up against the side wall of the box and then Larry entered. “Now close the door and lock it,” he told Mr. Belmont, who quickly obeyed, shutting it and turning the key. Several seconds went by where the audience heard banging and shifting around from inside.

  Mr. Belmont looked at his watch, making fun of how much time it was taking.

  “Okay,” everyone heard from Larry inside on his microphone, “shlama-lama-bing-bong!”

  Mr. Belmont put the key back into the lock and opened the door. To the audience’s surprise, Mrs. Belmont had indeed disappeared and for added entertainment, the cameras zoomed on Larry whose hair was now mussed up, his glasses were crooked on his nose and his white collar unbuttoned a few. Lipstick was also smeared across his mouth, neck and shirt.

  Seeing Mr. Belmont’s upset look on his face, Larry quickly said, “Nothing happened. It’s not how it looks!”

  Mr. Belmont punched a fist against a hand in warning and Larry took off running behind the curtains. In less than thirty seconds, Larry came back through the curtain pulling Mrs. Belmont by the hand. His hair was fixed and he now had a clean buttoned shirt on, everything looking back to normal. She, of course, was perfect as before.

  The crowd cheered, Zo whistled and Claire sat back clapping in approval.

  That was the end of the show. Larry thanked everyone for coming and the lights went dim on the stage, while the lights in the room brightened.

  Fifteen minutes later, music kicked up. A blond bombshell danced her alluring way onto the stage in a glittering, slinky dress. “Hello!” she breathed.

  “Well, if that isn’t Marilyn, I don’t know who is,” exclaimed Zo.

  “Mother, what do you say we get some dessert to relax over and get ready to retire? We have a big day at the island tomorrow.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  They managed to walk through the crowd and get on an elevator up to their suite.

  Once inside their room, the two kicked off their heels and sat on a luxurious black leather couch. Zo grabbed for the TV remote while Claire grabbed for the phone.

  “Yes, room service?” Claire said. “We would like a slice of tiramisu cake and a slice of key lime pie. Yes, and put a cherry on both,” she added, smiling. “Ten minutes? Thank you�
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  Zo switched the channels until it came to one dedicated to The Sunburst’s daily and nightly activities. “This is the life, huh, daughter.”

  “Oh yeah…” Claire couldn’t agree more.

  CHAPTER THREE

  You know that delightful little feeling, when everything is going right and you lay thinking on your bed about all the fun you are about to have coming up the next morning, if only you could get to sleep, so it would arrive faster? That was how Claire felt.

  But her thoughts were distracted, when she suddenly heard the Belmonts enter their suite. There was some loud bumping and thumping around. She shifted in bed, sitting up and placing an ear against the wall beside her, to try and hear better. Voices that came across as muffles through the wall were completely unclear; not one word was discernible. She could only make out the tone of the conversation. There were sharp, short sentences—quick and angry. Claire picked up her cell phone and read the time—1:17 a.m. Pretty soon it was quiet and Claire started drifting…

  In her dreams she was suddenly aware of something on her foot. It was a white dove, trying to hide its head under her big toe nail. It seemed perfectly reasonable. Then a loud pounding of drums started, disturbing the dove and it flew away, disappointing Claire.

  “Claire… Claire.” Her mom entered her dream, wearing a gold Cleopatra costume with the neckline dropping immodestly.

  “No, you don’t! You are not wearing that dress.”

  “What? Claire, wake up! Let’s get going. We’ve got fun and food ahead of us today, and I already want breakfast!”

  Reality came zooming in as her eyelids fluttered open. She stretched and said, “Hurray! Morning is here. Mom, you aren’t planning on any Cleopatra costume for Halloween or New Year’s, are you?”

  “Heavens, no! I would want to go in the knickers and long coat of a colonial patriot. I rather fancy that tri-corn hat. If I pull my hair back and band it, so it hangs down my back, I think that would be a very attractive look.”

  “Thaaat’s good.” Claire was off to shower and get ready for the day.

  Zo called after her, “And your mother doesn’t look good in a black wig!”

  “I know.” Claire giggled.

  The captain came back on the intercom. “Good morning, guests. This is your captain again, Vladimir. We made it to Kinikiwiki Island at approximately 6:30. The weather outside is a perfect seventy-two degrees with a light breeze. Have a lovely day of play on the island. We are staying the night tonight, so stay on the island as late this evening as you wish. Please enjoy your day. And thank you again for choosing The Sunburst for your cruise getaway.”

  Although the captain was speaking happy words, his voice came across as dull and uninterested.

  “It is probably his bedtime now,” Zo commented.

  Finally, they were ready, and were exiting their suite, when out from the suite to their left came Kathryn again.

  “Hey, Kathryn! We saw you having fun last night.” Zo smiled.

  “You bet. Did you get to talk to the Belmonts?”

  “No, not yet,” said Claire.

  “Well, I don’t think you could have had much of a conversation with them last night anyway. They were pretty well sloshed up in drinks, when I last saw them. I left the lounge before them, ya know. I know my limit.”

  Zo and Claire leaned forward, ready to hear more details.

  “Glad to see you girls again, but I’ve got to run. I’m late. See you around.” She hurried down the hallway.

  “Well, I thought I heard them clankin’ around last night,” Claire remembered. “They must have been really, really drunk, like Kathryn said.”

  “Well, on the ship is the best time for partying I guess. No drinking and driving.”

  “Hm…” Claire nodded in agreement.

  “But the Belmont’s seem like such a perfect couple. I can’t see them getting slap-silly drunk, unless they were alone I suppose.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Anyway, Mother, do you think that I will be able to see Mr. Belmont today? I would really like to talk to him about my experience in journalism, if not just to meet the man face-to-face and get a handshake.”

  “I think you will at least get a handshake out of him during the trip.”

  “The odds are good. But maybe I should just wait outside his door until he gets out.”

  “Yeah right,” Zo said, then her eyes brightened. “But I have an idea!”

  “What?!”

  Zo opened her purse and fumbled through the mess inside until she came upon a piece of paper and a pen.

  “What are you thinking , Mother? Write him a note?”

  “Precisely!”

  “No, Mom!” she whispered loudly with embarrassment. “We aren’t going to write him a letter. I’ll just run into him by accident like you said.”

  Zo put the paper on the wall between the two stateroom’s doors and began to write.

  “Please, Mom. I was kidding about waiting outside of his room.” She tried to grab the pen, but Zo moved and quickly finished.

  “I’m writing him a letter, not you, Claire.”

  “But you are my mother and that will look ridiculous and desperate. I’m begging you.” Claire clenched her fists, pleading.

  “How are you my daughter? You have really got to loosen up, my dear.” She folded the note in half.

  “At least tell me what it said.” Claire followed her to where she was about to slide it under Belmont’s door.

  “It says, ‘Your neighbors, Zoey and Claire Kane—in room 202— are inviting you to a small midnight party in their stateroom. Hope to see you there!’” She quickly pushed it under the door.

  “How silly,” Claire said. “Do you think they’ll actually come?” Her voice became serious with hope.

  “You never know unless you ask.”

  “You said ‘party.’ Who else will be our guests?”

  Just then a group of ladies in red hats came out of two other suites across from them, promptly followed by a group of young ladies wearing pink hats.

  Zo’s golden brown eyes looked keenly at them. “Oh, ladies!” They turned to see her. “There’s going to be a midnight party in our stateroom. You’re all invited.”

  “Really?” They chirped and commented amongst themselves cheerfully.

  “Are there going to be games?” one, most elderly, woman asked.

  “Absolutely,” Zo said.

  Claire’s face became hot. She could barely look the women in their faces.

  “So, I hope to see you all tonight. Mr. Belmont and his wife are invited also; so, they may show.”

  Their expressions deepened with interest. “Oooh…”

  “Then we will definitely try to make it,” one young woman said.

  Claire buried her head in her hands and stood behind her mother, her sleek brown hair covering her face completely.

  “Oh, and if any of you see Kathryn from room 200, let her know she is invited, too!” Zo added.

  They thanked her and then quickly scurried off to go play shuffleboard on the deck.

  “Oh my goodness,” Claire exclaimed. “This has just become even more complicated.”

  “No, it hasn’t.” Zo grabbed her hand to lead her along down the hall toward the elevators. “We will just order room service. Why have money if we don’t use it?! All we have to do is figure out some games… and I’m sure they’ve got some great shops on the ship and Kinikiwiki Island. Maybe we’ll find something while we’re shopping.”

  The two went down to the elevator to get a breakfast buffet to start their day on the island with lots of energy. Then they would go back to their stateroom, get their giant beach bags, bathing suits and matching straw-yellow sun hats for the island.

  The two rented a golf cart which was customary transportation on the island. It was nothing like either of them had imagined, even though there were pictures at the customer service desk aboard the ship. It was very lush with greenery. The beach accented t
he fact by its white sand. They zipped around the curves of the narrow roads, feeling the wind in their loose hair. The volcanic mountain had the appearance of having aged into a tropical temple.

  They soon spotted two waterfalls. One waterfall that was very tall looked like it was coming out of the mountain where they would have rather expected to see lava bubble out from, near the top. The two took in as much of the breathtaking scenery as they could, switching places as driver along the way, giving the other moments for drinking iced mango drinks.

  “Mother, what do you say we take a dip in the bottom of the little waterfall?”

  “Sure. And I can hardly wait for our snorkeling appointment tomorrow at three o’clock.”

  “How could we forget?” Claire said. “I am so excited to do that!”

  “So am I!”

  Zo was driving this time and quickly took a turn around toward the small waterfall. She stopped their cart and they removed their wrap-arounds, revealing their swimming suits. Zo was wearing a black, draped-bosom, one-piece suit, sprinkled with a cherry pattern. Claire had on a velvety mauve two piece.

  The two both carefully pointed a toe into the water.

  “Oh! I thought it would be cold water. This is actually warm,” said Claire.

  “Probably warmed someway by that ‘dormant’ volcano there.” Zo smirked.

  It was nice and warm; perfect on the skin. Claire went down to submerge herself completely, feeling the water wrap around her hair and against her scalp. She opened her eyes for a moment seeing her mom’s legs extend down to the bottom where there were many pebbles among large stone-like rocks. She came back up, taking in a deep refreshing breath and slicking her straight wet hair off her face. “It’s perfect. Let’s swim a little.”

  “Oh, that’s ok, dear. I don’t want to get my hair wet.” Zo’s hair was wrapped up into a high thick bun. “I want it to look nice for tonight’s party. You know how difficult long hair can be. Yours was once long.”

  “Yeah, when I was in the sixth grade,” Claire said. “What about snorkeling?”

  “I have a special swim cap saved for that.”

  “Okay, and it can’t be used now?”

  “No,” she said simply with a smile.