Death on the Bella Constance (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 6) (26 page)

“I agree with Ruby,”
Savannah
said. “Bella and
Jena
obviously need to reconnect if it
isn’t too late already.”

“They can patch things up,” Ruby replied. “All Mom has to do
is say she’s sorry. That’s all it would take for
Jena
to get her self-esteem back. She’s mighty down in the dumps, and has been for a
while. She just covers it up.”

“Holding back one’s feelings can take a serious toll on a
person,” Billy added. “Now take my Jesse here. She doesn’t hold anything back.
That’s why she’s so well-adjusted.”

Everyone laughed at his remarks. He, too, was good at
lightening the mood. He knew the right thing to say at any given time.

The bus pulled up in front of the Welsh Clinic, stopped, and
then Ollie opened the bus door, saying, “Everyone off who wants to get off.”

Billy and I stood up and headed to the exit.
Savannah
and McCoy followed with Raphael the
bodyguard behind them. Ruby and Jeff elected to stay and be dropped off at the
ship.

“Bertie isn’t my biggest fan,” Ruby said. “Jeff and I will go
back to the ship and wait for Mom and Dad. We have our bodyguards, so don’t
worry about us.”

The bus pulled out leaving the five of us standing in front
of the clinic with our beach bags in hand.

“We’ll be in the waiting area,” McCoy said. He looked at
Raphael.

“I can go with them, or I can stay.” He looked at Billy. “You
decide.”

“Stay with
Savannah
and McCoy. We can handle this.”

Billy and I turned, walked over to the glass window, and were
immediately waved in.

“Hello. I’m Faye Hamilton. I’ve been instructed to show you
right in. Bertie Callahan and Mabel Leigh are waiting in our family crisis
room. They’re with Donna Dorman, our crisis manager. She’s the one who comes in
and talks with the family, and tries to help them adjust to the loss of their
loved one.”

“I know all about that,” I said, sadly, thinking of the time
my father died. We were taken to one of those rooms. “Let’s hurry. I know how
sad a time this can be.”

We rounded the corner and saw Bertie standing outside the
door to the crisis room. She was smoking a cigarette—something I hadn’t ever
seen her do.

“Mrs. Callahan!” Faye Hamilton said, admonishing her. “You
know you can’t smoke in this clinic. It’s against the law!”

“So, call the police! I don’t care! My sister was murdered,
and you think I’m worried about the police hauling me off to jail for smoking
in a hospital? Think again, lady!”

I walked over to Bertie, took the cigarette from her and
handed it to Billy, who immediately looked for a restroom where he could douse
it. When he returned, Bertie, Mabel, and I were sitting in the crisis room
talking about what happened to their sister.

“Someone pushed me into Dorothy,” Bertie accused. “I was the
one who was meant to fall and break my neck, but it didn’t turn out that way.
My poor sister, Dottie…”

“How can you be so sure this was done on purpose?” Mabel
questioned her. “It could’ve been an accident.” She looked at us.

“I’m so sorry,” Billy said as he knelt down in front of
Bertie. “If what you say is true, we’ll find the one who did this. I promise.”

“When Billy makes a promise, he keeps it,” I added.

“Then you’d better have
Jena
locked up,” Bertie blurted out. “She’s behind the plot to kill her father. The
only thing is—Loukas is in no danger.”

“What are you saying, Bertie?”

“Listen to me very carefully.
Jena
hates the
Bella Constance
. She almost died on that ship. The incident
traumatized the poor child, and over the years I saw how it affected her. I
suggested to Bella that she might need some therapy to help her cope, but Bella
said she was handling it just fine. But she wasn’t.
Jena
resents the fact that this is the only ship in the
fleet that Loukas and Bella want to keep for themselves—the one ship she almost
died on, and had to hear about it every waking minute of the day. I think it’s
driven her to the brink of insanity. And… I did not push her into the pool like
she claims.”

“I never heard that one before,” I said.

“There’s more.
Jena
is the mastermind. She had the ridiculous idea that if a lot of bad things
happened on this cruise her mother would give up the ship. Bella despises
calamity. She likes for everything to go her way.
Jena
would be free at last.”

“I can’t believe
Jena
could pull this off by herself. No way.”

“She couldn’t do it alone,” Bertie said. “She has help.
Captain O’Riley and Steven are her flunkies.”

“Do you have evidence to back up what you’re saying?” Billy
asked.

“No, I do not,” Bertie replied. “All I have is my word. I’ve
heard them talking. They plan to kill Bella!”

“Bella? That’s ridiculous!” I said, frustrated that Bertie
would even say something like that. “Perhaps you misunderstood.”

“I most certainly did not,” she replied in a not-so-nice
manner. “That’s not all. I saw something strange happen before the ship pulled
out of
Norfolk
. I saw
Jena
’s husband, Steven, go into the room of Jimmy Carlson.
Remember him? He was the first causality on board. The guy turned up dead
shortly thereafter, so I had to ask myself how Steven knew this guy. I put it
aside for the time being, and then other stuff started happening. That’s when I
started snooping around.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Billy asked.

“That’s where we were headed, but things didn’t work out like
we planned.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I want you to stop them! I want them
put in jail!
Jena
is…”

“…coming unglued.” I finished her sentence.

“You do believe me! You have noticed her erratic behavior!”

“I think
Jena
is upset about something, but I find
it hard to believe that she would do anything to harm her parents. She loves
them both dearly.”

Billy stood up and said, “We’re going to investigate your
claim.”

Bertie seemed delighted that Billy might actually believe
her. “You’re a fine man, Mr. Blackhawk. I knew I could count on you.”

I had a feeling she was going to get sad and whiney on us, so
I told Billy we’d better hurry.

“Please keep us informed,” Mabel requested as we were
leaving.

“Oh, you can bet we’ll let you know what we find out,” Billy
replied.

When we met up with everyone in the waiting room, Billy said,
“We need a cab, and I need to call Loukas.” He reached into the beach bag and
pulled out his cell phone while McCoy walked over to talk with the lady at the
front desk.

“What is it, Jesse?”
Savannah
asked as she walked up to me. “What did you find out?”

“Accusations… that’s all,” I replied. “You wouldn’t believe
what Bertie Callahan had to say. It was as if…” I paused as an idea formulated
in my head. Bertie Callahan could be trying to get us out of the way. I didn’t
tell that to
Savannah
. All I said was, “We need to get
back to the ship.”

“What is it, Jesse?”
Savannah
asked. “What were you going to say before you drifted off into la-la land?”

“It was nothing. Sometimes my mind drifts.”

“That’s what Billy says, but he’s also said that when your
mind wanders, something helpful usually comes out of it.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Savannah
didn’t push for more information, and I didn’t offer. I wanted to discuss my
thoughts with Billy first before I lay blame anywhere.

“A cab should be here in a minute,” McCoy said, walking
toward us.

Billy closed up his phone and said, “Loukas isn’t answering.
Something must be wrong.”

“Did you try to call one of his bodyguards?”

“I don’t have a number.” Billy turned to Raphael and asked,
“Would you call one of them for us and find out what’s going on, please?”

Raphael made the call, closed up his cell phone, and then
announced, “Jacob said that Loukas turned off his phone by mistake.
Jena
has calmed down, and they are now at the
Constance
stateroom. All is well.”

“Let’s go!” Billy commanded. “We have many questions to ask.”
He looked at Raphael and said, “I want you to go to Bertie and Mabel, and tell
them you have been assigned to protect them. They’ll soak up the attention
quicker than a thirsty dog lapping water from a bowl. That way we can keep an
eye on them.”

“Yes, sir,” Rafael replied, and then took his leave of us.

“Do you believe what Bertie said?” I asked Billy as I grabbed
the beach bag and walked briskly, trying to keep up with him.

“Everyone in the car!” Billy said as he just about shoved us
in. He jumped in the front seat with the driver, handed him a twenty, and said,
“Take us to the cruise ship,
Bella Constance
, and make it fast!”

The driver sped off as if his wheels were on fire. The funny
thing was that we didn’t have far to go. Billy could’ve saved his twenty
dollars.
Savannah
and I chuckled at that when we got out
of the cab. However, Billy was in no mood for jokes. He was all business.

“We must check on Bella and Loukas!” he demanded. “If what
Bertie said is true, things are going to get ugly—fast!”

“What if they aren’t true?” I asked Billy. “Shouldn’t we
consider the possibility that for whatever reason unbeknownst to us that Bertie
might have an ax to grind?”

“Those thoughts are in my head, too, `ge ya. Either way, we
must protect Bella and Loukas. We need to ensure the safety of our clients!”

“Our friends,” I corrected him.

Billy’s cell phone beeped a tune that indicated he had a text
message. He checked his phone, and then closed it back up without saying a word
as to what was in the message. I didn’t ask.

“What did we miss?” McCoy asked. “What’s the…”

“Let’s hurry!” Billy demanded, and started walking as if he
was in a real big hurry.

McCoy caught up with him, stepped in front of him, and then
said, “Slow down a minute, buddy. Tell us what’s going on. Don’t let us walk
into this blind.”

Billy stopped long enough to tell McCoy and
Savannah
about Bertie’s accusations. “If
there’s any truth to her words,
Jena
is the one we’ve been looking for the whole time.”

“That can’t be true!”
Savannah
said. “Not
Jena
! She’s as gentle as a butterfly. She
wouldn’t hurt a soul. No, I don’t believe it for one minute.”

“Then I guess we’d better hurry up and find out. Let’s go see
what’s going on over there.”

“Come on, Billy,” I said as I stood next to McCoy. Now was my
chance to add my thoughts to the situation. “You don’t really believe that
crazy woman, do you? She’s upset about her sister. She wants someone to pay,
and that someone is
Jena
. Why is that?”

Billy hesitated in his tracks for a second, and then replied,
“I never said I believed her.”

“Ah, I get it now. You have your doubts about Bertie, too. I
thought it was just me being my suspicious self. I can’t help it. I didn’t
believe her either. Oh, there might be some validity to some of her story, but
I can’t imagine…”

“She could’ve been trying to get you out of the way of what’s
really going to go down,” McCoy said.

“Why?”
Savannah
asked. “What would she have to gain
by…”

A moment of silence was just enough to give us time to think
about the situation. Whatever the truth may be, there was no time to lose. Once
the seed of doubt had been planted, we knew that danger would be fast
approaching.

The four of us took off running.

Once on board, our sprint slowed down to a brisk walk as we
made our way to Loukas and Bella’s stateroom. On the way we ran into Maura and
Joe Rodrigus.

“I’m so glad we found you!” she said with urgency in her
voice. “We just went to your room, but you weren’t there. Joe and I saw
something we think you should know, Mr. Blackhawk… Jesse.”

“We’re in a real hurry, Maura,” I said. “Can it wait?”

“No, it can’t. I’ll make this brief. Something’s going on in
Loukas and Bella Constance’s stateroom. Jacob and Allison are standing guard
outside the door, leaving no security in the room. That’s odd considering that
Mr. and Mrs. Constance are never without security. And… we saw the captain
enter their room through a private back door that very few people know about.
Joe has a friend who used to work on this ship a while back. That’s how we know
about the door. He told Joe that no one was allowed to use that door, except
Bella and Loukas unless there was a dire emergency. So, we decided to come tell
you. When we passed their room on the way to yours we heard people yelling,
which made us even more concerned. Allison and Jacob just smiled as if nothing
was going on. We know someone is trying to kill Mr. Constance. We could be
wrong, but we felt obligated to tell someone. Jesse was the first person I
thought about. I knew we could trust her… and you.”

“You’re right, Maura,” Billy said. “I’m afraid something bad
is going down right now. You might just have saved someone’s life by telling us
this. I want you to show me where that door is.”

Billy turned to us and said, “McCoy, is your gun in that
bag?”

“Yes, it is.”

“I want you and
Savannah
to go to Loukas and Bella’s room. Act as if nothing is wrong. See if you can
get past Allison and Jacob. Jesse and I will sneak in the back door.”

“It’s locked,” Joe said. “You can’t get in.”

“Oh, yes I can.” Billy pulled out his cell phone, punched in
a few numbers, and then waited for an answer. “
Tex
,
this is Billy Blackhawk. I need for you to give me five minutes, and then
unlock Loukas’ private door. Don’t ask any questions. Just do it.” Billy closed
up the phone and dropped it back in the bag. He pulled out the snub-nosed .38
and slipped it into his swimming trunks’ pocket. He looked at Maura and said,
“Thank you so much for your help.” He handed her our beach bag. “Take this for
us, and go to your room where you’ll be safe. When you hear my cell phone ring,
you’ll know everything is okay. Joe is going to show us where the door is, and
then he’s coming back to your room. Is that okay?”

She reached into her handbag, pulled out a small handgun, and
then handed it to me. “You might need this.”

“Everyone has guns!” I looked at Maura and then smiled. “And
I’m glad they do.”

Joe handed the keycard to their room to her and said he’d see
her shortly. She was not to worry.

A plan was set in motion. Billy and I would sneak in through
the back door while
Savannah
and McCoy tried to gain entrance
through the front.

Ten minutes later, Billy and I were standing in the shadows
of Loukas and Bella’s bedroom listening to the arguing going on in the living
room. We crept stealthily to the bedroom door to get a better look, and
stumbled onto Captain O’Riley.

“What are you doing here?” Billy whispered.

“Yeah, what are you doing here?” I asked as I crouched down
next to him. This was definitely not what I had expected.

The captain was holding a shiny, silver gun in a very shaky
hand. It was finally obvious to me that he was not the bad guy, and he was out
of his element. He was more scared than I was.

“I got a 911 beep from Loukas,” he said in a whisper. “That’s
my signal that something really bad is happening—and it is. Their arguing is
really getting heated. I thought about calling the marshal for help, but I was
afraid my phone would do something stupid and I’d be heard.”

“You did the right thing by doing nothing,” Billy said. “Has
a gun been displayed?”

“Yes,” the captain said. “Steven pulled one out just a second
ago.”

“Then we don’t have much time.”

Billy slowly opened the bedroom door a smidgeon more so we
could get a better look. My hand shook as I held Maura’s gun by my side… and
waited. We didn’t have to wait long. The shocker of it all came when I realized
that
Jena
had obviously been just as surprised
at Steven’s display of the gun as her parents were. She stood close to her
mother and begged her husband to put the gun away.

“What’s the matter with you, Steven?” she asked. “Where did
you get that gun?”

“What does it matter,
Jena
?
You knew it would come down to this,” he replied.

I looked at Billy in the dim room and whispered, “This isn’t
good.”

“Nothing surprises me anymore, `ge ya.”

Steven Nelson held a gun pointed directly at Bella while Loukas
stood next to his wife, holding her hand.

“Stay here for backup,” Billy told the captain. “If one of us
goes down, you come out… and shoot to kill. Don’t hold back. It might be your
last mistake. If you’re not up to this, say so now.”

“I can handle it,” the captain replied.

Billy and I went into attack mode. We pulled our guns, lunged
from behind the door and swung around the room to confront Steven. We both had
our guns aimed straight at Steven’s head.

Steven was so shocked, he didn’t have time to react. He stood
firm, his arms still outstretched holding the gun in place.

“Party’s over!” Billy yelled defiantly. “Drop your weapon, or
I’ll drop you where you stand!”

“He’s not kidding,” I said angrily as I edged over to the
other side of Bella and
Jena
with my gun still aimed at Steven’s
forehead. “You’re in over your head.” I glanced at Loukas, Bella, and
Jena
, and then said, “You know what’s going to happen
here, don’t you? He can’t allow the three of you to walk out of this room
alive. He has crossed the line and he can’t go back. Am I right, Steven?”

Steven remained silent.

Jena
looked at her husband and pleaded, “Put down the gun, Steven. It’s over. Mother
has made her choice. I’m not going to argue over it anymore. She wants her
boat, she can have it, but she won’t have a daughter.”

“
Jena
, please don’t say that,” Bella
begged. “I love you. I love my ship. One has nothing to do with the other.”

“Oh, Mother, but it does,”
Jena
said, getting agitated. “I have suffered so much because of this boat. This is
where my life took a wrong turn. I was just a child, Mother. I almost drowned
because of Bertie Callahan. You praised her, gave her money, and me, you sent
to my room. I thought you would be glad I was still alive, but you punished me
instead. When I got older, I began to piece it together. I never could
understand why it took Bertie so long to come to my aid when I got that leg
cramp and couldn’t swim anymore, and then I realized that she did it on
purpose. She almost let me drown so she could save me and reap the rewards. Why
didn’t she just take me back to my room? That would’ve been the right thing to
do. It was late at night, and anyone with half a brain should have known that I
wasn’t supposed to be out. No… she saw an opportunity to be a hero and get paid
handsomely for her efforts, so she took it. I’ve lived with this lie for too
long. It has consumed my life. I swore I would tell you the truth on this
cruise.”

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?”

“I tried to tell you many times, but I just lost my nerve.
Even as an adult, I didn’t think you would believe me.”

“Of course, I would,
Jena
.
You didn’t give me a chance.”

“Well, you have one now. You can dump Bertie Callahan as one
of your friends, and you can sell this ship. I can’t even look at it anymore.”

“Would you let your husband kill your mother over it?” Loukas
asked.

“He’s not going to kill anyone,”
Jena
said nervously. She looked at Steven. “Put the gun
away.”

“Not this time,” Steven said, looking at
Jena
for a brief second. “No… this has to be settled now.
This ship has ruined everything for us.”

“You can’t stop him,
Jena
,”
Billy said as he edged over closer to Loukas. “He’s got too much to lose. Don’t
you, Steven?”

Jena
looked at her husband and asked, “What’s he talking about, Steven? What’s going
on?”

“Nothing,” Steven replied, getting a little fidgety. “He’s
just running off at the mouth. He’s trying to turn you against me.”

“It’s too late for that.” The look on
Jena
’s face clearly indicated that she had no idea what
Billy was talking about, but it didn’t matter. All she wanted was for Steven to
put the gun away. “What are you going to do?” she asked him.

“He’s going to save his butt,” Billy said, slipping back into
their conversation. “You see,
Jena
, your husband has hefty gambling
debts. He crawled into bed with some pretty bad people, and now he has only one
way out. He used you to get to your mother. He thought that after you told
Bella the truth about Bertie and that night, she would see how it has hurt you,
and give in. A mother would never allow her daughter to continue to be
tormented. The ship would have to go. And… if that didn’t work… well, then he’d
just have to kill Bella and Loukas… and you.”

“That can’t be true!” Bella exclaimed as if she were irate at
the idea.

“Oh, but it is, Bella,” Billy said as he edged closer to
Steven. “Loukas was never the intended victim—you were. You’re the one with the
controlling interest, so all someone had to do was to scare you into selling.
Steven used simpleminded tactics to accomplish that—poisoned champagne,
sabotaged footwear—the list goes on. Between that and your daughter’s plea for
you to dump the
Bella Constance
, he was sure you’d give in and he’d get
plenty of the money. If you didn’t cave, he’d have to come up with another
alternative. Do I need to tell you what that alternative is? You see, I’m
really good at my job. I just got a text reply from one of my buddies, and
Steven’s name came back. A major corporation called Byrd Enterprises is the
intended buyer. Sound familiar, Steven? You would use whatever it takes to get
Bella to sell the
Bella Constance
with the rest of the cruise ships in
the line, and then you’d get the goons off your back. Wasn’t that the deal they
were offering?”

“What’s so important about the
Bella Constance
that
makes everyone so determined to own it?” Bella asked. “All these big
corporations…”

“Your ship is an icon,” Billy said. “It’s been around for a
very long time. It’s smaller than the rest, but it has so much class. It’s
mysterious and everyone wants to take a cruise on it. The
Bella Constance
is respected.”

Jena
looked at Steven and said, “Why didn’t you come to me? I didn’t know about your
gambling problem. I could’ve helped. I could’ve saved you all the hassle of
trying to kill my mother.” She was definitely being sarcastic. “If that’s all
you wanted, to get a bunch of goons off your back, you sure don’t have much
ambition. I could’ve paid them off, you idiot. We could’ve worked it out. But,
no! You had to use me! I wanted my mother to give up this ship so I’d never
have to see it again—not to save your butt!”

“I have plenty of ambition,” Steven said, snidely. “I’m just
tired of catering to the great Bella and Loukas Constance.”

As angry or hurt as
Jena
had obviously been with her mother for however long, his words must have struck
a nerve. “I didn’t know you felt that way about my folks. You told me that they
deserved to retire on some tropical island and forget about the cruise line.
And the only way to make that happen was if I told them how I felt. You lied to
me! You weren’t trying to help me.”

“Whose idea was it to kill people?” I asked, looking directly
at Steven.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Steven said. “I admit that bad things
happened because of a few things I set into motion, but…”

“You sent a young kid out to take potshots at a bus that was
being heavily guarded,” Billy interjected. “Did you actually think he was going
to get away with it?”

“An unfortunate event,” Steven said.

 “What?”
Jena
asked, fuming at her husband. Her
hands started to shake as she continued. “Tell me that wasn’t your doing. Kody
was just a young kid.”

“There’s just no honor among killers, is there?” I snidely
asked.

She glared at me and said, “I’m not a killer! I had no idea
that Steven was the one behind all this. I still can’t believe it.” She started
to cry.