Cruise to Murder (Z & C Mysteries, #2) (4 page)

Claire reached a plateau of dirt at the top. She was sure the football flew up there in that direction, but could not see it on the very flat and exposed ground. She saw a rocky wall to the right, and shrugging her shoulders, she thought,
Maybe it could have gone behind there
.

She walked toward the wall. Hearing some flirtatious laughter between a man and woman, she froze in her steps. Taking a moment to think, she decided to slowly take a peek, just in case she could spot the football at all.

Claire saw a back of a woman with blond hair, wearing a white bikini and floral wrap-around. “No, you’re so smart,” she said in a syrupy voice.

They were holding each other and they suddenly started to kiss.
Oh dear
, Claire thought.
Should I be watching this? …No. I just need to look on the ground for the ball
.

“You’re just so perfect, darling. Who could resist?” the man said.

Claire listened in, her ears like radars, after that comment. Her brown eyes tried to see what the man looked like, but a large-leafed bush spread itself beside his face. She waited a moment, and to her great surprise, he stepped aside, revealing who they were. Her jaw dropped. Quietly, she walked back over to the edge of the rocks to wave her mother to come on up and see.

“Did you find the football?” the father called out to Claire.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head and moving her arms. Honestly, the football could have been a cow patty at that moment, for all she cared.

“Where’s our ball?” the boys called.

“Shhh!” Claire put a finger up to her mouth.

“Where is it?!” they called again.

Zo quickly got out of the water, seeing the urgency in Claire’s movements and eyes.

“Where’s our ball?” the older one asked again.

“It’s gone forever,” Zo blurted out, upset at their obliviousness to her daughter’s request to stay quiet. She then trotted toward the rocks to climb up.

“Hey,” the little one said and started to cry.

“Oh, they were just asking,” the father said.

“Oh, now Junior’s crying,” the mother added. “Come here, baby.” She called him over.

Zo huffed, speechless, then continued until she reached the top where it leveled out.

“Come on, kids, let’s go to the big waterfall,” they heard the father add loud enough for Claire and Zo to hear on purpose.

Claire shook her head and Zo rolled her eyes and whispered, “What?”

“Just come here.” She motioned quickly.

The two went to the rock wall and slowly peeked around it.

“What?” Zo asked.

“It’s Mr. Belmont.” She pointed to some figures in the distance walking by what appeared to be a path. “They must have heard all of us and took off for privacy. He was with someone other than his wife.”

“And you were being a Peeping Tim?”

“Peeping
Tom
?”

“Are you sure it wasn’t his wife? Isn’t that her same cut and color hair?”

“I’m sure. This woman was well-endowed.”

“Dear, you saw Mrs. Belmont briefly on stage last night, and you think you are an expert on her cup size?”

Claire sighed. “…Okay, maybe it could have been his wife. I don’t know. If we see her tonight, then I will know for sure.”

“Give it no thought, dear. I’m sure it was his wife. Come on, let’s go find something good to eat and buy some games. We can just wear our beach shirts and dry as we go.”

“Okay,” Claire exhaled.

From the snorkel and swim excursion, Zo and Claire went shopping in the “tourist trap” of the island. But they both agreed they loved tourist traps! The shops were filled with so many colorful crafts, clothes and jewelry that they could never get back home in Riverside. After that, they decided to attend a feast that included pit-barbecued ham with a sweet fruity glaze that fell apart in tender bits on their forks.

Claire got only mildly sunburned from their day of fun. Zo was slathered up with SPF 100 sun block to protect against damaging, wrinkle-promoting rays. The evening was comfortable outside in the soft, warm breath of the ever-so-slight breeze.

Claire was sipping the last of a coconut drink, when big drums intruded her thoughts with a rhythm that promised exotic excitement.

Sure enough, out leaped six lean men—except for one, who was broad-shouldered with a bit of a paunch. They were all tan and wearing loin cloths. Arms swung aggressively from sturdy stances, and thighs and calves—that Zo imagined bulged in strength from running up palm trees—kicked in warrior moves.

“Heeegh Huuu-ho!” they chanted.

Fiery spears, twirling like batons, were tossed to the contenders.
Thwang!
One of the warriors had thrown his flaming spear into the sand next to Zo and Claire’s table. The pole vibrated back and forth.

The bigger man strode, beating his chest with each step—kick-stamp, kick-stamp, kick-stamp. He then stopped in a straddle-squat in front of Zo and Claire. “Hah!” His black striped face broadened with a wide smile of pearls for teeth. “Hello, ladies.”

He looked at Zo with eyes that looked like black marbles to her, all shiny, and said, “Especially you, with hair like soft fire.” He backed up, raising fists above his head, accentuating a large ribcage while minimizing the paunch.

Younger native men ran from either side of the show with fire extinguishers. They smiled at the audience and doused the flames. It got a chuckle.

“Good heavens!” Zo exclaimed, having an amazed look to her eyes.

“Oh, you loved it and you know it, Mom.” Claire chewed on a bit of sweet pineapple. “I think we ought to go down to the water, take a little walk and look around.”

“Okay, I’ll leave the tip.”

As they enjoyed the wet sand between their toes, having left their sandals safe from murmuring waves, they enjoyed the huge expanse of ocean and sky. “That moon is almost scary it is so large.” Zo went on to say, “It almost looks like it is in a collision course with the earth.”

“I know,” said Claire. “No need for a flashlight. It’s plenty bright.”

“I’d love to find shells. Do you see any, sweetie?”

“I think, Mom, that these beaches are pretty well picked over. Consider all the thousands of tourists from everywhere.”

“Well, I think I will wade out a little then.”

“Okay.” Claire joined in the salty water. “Everything is so clean-looking. You can see down the beach for miles.”

Zo continued in a little deeper. “Yeah, but there is always going to be kelp or seaweed of some kind.”

“Why is it called sea
weed
? How does anyone know what are weeds or what are sea flowers?”

“I don’t know, but I do have some seaweed—or sea flowers—wrapping around my ankles,” Zo said, walking back toward shore, to more shallow water, to get it off.

Claire was shocked to see a bloated hand emerge out from the water behind her mother, like a ridged shark fin following after her.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Mom! Mom, you are perfectly okay. I am right here with you.”
Claire rushed over.

“What is wrong with you, Claire? Of course I am okay. Do I look like I’m having a stroke or something?” Zo touched her face to feel if it was normal.

“No, not yet.”

“Daughter, sometimes you can be so weird! I want to untangle this seaweed from my leg now.”

“Okay, let me help you. Just move up a little more and don’t… don’t turn around. I need to see how to untwine you.”

Zo walked a little more forward.
“This kelp has got quite a drag on it.” She looked down and saw something that looked white in the moonlight, floating with the motion of the waves and tying itself around her right ankle. “Crapper! What is that, Claire?! It… it looks like hair. Clairrrre?”

“Now, Mom…
just hold still.”

“Clairrrre!” Her voice became a squeal.

“I almost got it all.”

Zo could feel the resisting tug of the body being pulled back and forth by the ebb and flow of the waterfront. She wanted to look back down, but didn’t at the same time. If the body were to flip over, she would have to face it, and who knew how long they had been dead. Her daughter’s fingers dug into her ankle as she worked to remove the tangle.

“There!” Claire exclaimed.

The last tendril was released and Zo took off in a leap and r
an up on the beach.

“Where’s your phone?!”

“Already dialing…,” Claire answered.

“That body with the claw hand will float away!” Zo called from a safe distance.

“I’ve got my foot standing on the hair.”

The police pulled the body out of the water and Zo and Claire saw the blue face of Mrs. Belmont. Her eyelids were open, giving a deadpan stare, and a mean gash was across her hairline.

Zo shivered, shaking off the creeps from being tangled up with a corpse.

“The last we saw her she was up on a hillside, talking with her husband,” they told the police. “No, they weren’t arguing. In fact, they seemed very sweet together.”

Walking through the ship’s casino to take an elevator to their cabin on top deck, Zo said, “There she is. Hi, Joan!”

“I told you
she’s a look-alike.”

“That is what she wants you to believe. And, who is that sitting next to her?”

“Where?”

“Right there. See him? Big ears, whiskers. There, see the white hair?”

“Good one, Mom…I see the white hare. Is the bunny winning?”

“Why don’t you ask Joan Rivers?!”

“I’m going to ask the bunny if that is really Joan Rivers.”

“Oh, now you are being ridiculous… of course it is.”

Upon nearing their room, Claire stopped in front of the Belmonts’ cabin. “Hear that?”

“What?”

“Nothing. I think we beat Mr. Belmont back. His suite has a sense of no one in there.” Claire reached up and gave the door a knock. “If he is here, I’m going to tell him we were the ones who discovered his wife and that we are sorry.” With the first rap the door moved open.

“Mr. Belmont?” she called.

“Push a little more on the door, Claire…”

It creaked as it opened. “No one?” She then looked up and down the hall. Still no one.

“All neat and clean,” Zo assessed as they walked inside, closing the door quietly behind them.

They went and stood in the middle of the sitting room for a moment, as if crippled by the fear of possibly getting caught, or perhaps catching someone else. They could see into the one bedroom
on the left that the bed was made.

“Why are we in here? What were you expecting?” Claire asked.

“Blood! All over the place. If not that, then it was just an opportunity and a question. The husband is always a suspect first.”

Claire looked around while
remaining in the one spot. Even the folds of the drapes were looked over. Something shiny caught her attention. She went and picked up a gold starfish earring and placed it on the coffee table. “We better get out of here,” Claire urged.

“I know. That would be horribly embarrassing to get caught snooping.
Let me just quick-check the restroom.” Zo headed around the corner.

“Hurry,” Claire whispered.

“Aha!” she called upon entering.

“What is it?” Claire stepped cautiously in her heels. “Is it another body?”

Zo popped her head out, waving a magazine. “Nope just some gossip journal on the floor.”

“And that is important why?”

Zo met her back in the sitting room, with it still in hand. “Everything else is just impeccable. Why was this on the floor?”

“He likes to read while he does his business? I don’t know. Let’s go, Mother.” She was feeling the gnawing pressure of worry.

“Okay, let’s go.” Zo rolled it up and headed to the door.

“Hey, Mother, you can’t take that! Leave it here.”

“Oh, come on. If anything, housekeeping would be blamed, not us. Come on.” She waved.

“Wait…” Claire’s eyes fixed on a picture on a wall in the bedroom. “That picture is tilted and hanging a bit low.”

“Well,” Zo spun in heels, “go look!”

Claire glanced back and forth from her mother to the picture. She finally ran and hopped on her knees onto the bed, next to the wall. Zo jogged over to see her daughter scoot the picture. Upon doing that, it fell off its nail and came to a crash between the bed and wall.

The two cringed.

“Oh no, Mother, what have I done?” She pulled it up and the glass was shattered.

Zo’s mouth dropped. “There’s a hole in the wall.” She pointed frantically.

Claire looked up, and to her further horror, she did in fact see that there was a hole smashed into the wall. She dropped the picture back between the bed and the two bumbled for the door.