Sea Salt Caramel Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 4) (2 page)

A
fter changing
into a green and white long-sleeved dress, Nikki grabbed her purse and exited her cabin. Returning to the lounge, she wandered over to a small store area. A pretty young girl with short red hair was standing behind a wooden counter. “Can I help you with anything?” she asked in a polite voice.

“A bottle of water?” Nikki asked, spotting a cooler holding refreshing drinks.

“Of course,” the girl said and quickly retrieved Nikki a bottle of water.

“How much?”

“All expenses are included in your ticket,” the girl smiled at Nikki.

“I see,” Nikki smiled back gratefully, taking the bottle of water and opening it. “I have to say, from the outside of the ship you would have never guessed the inside was so lovely.”

“Oh yes,” the girl quickly agreed, “the owner of
Open Sea Queen
is very old-fashioned. Rumor is his grandfather was one of the men who helped design the Titanic...that's a rumor, of course.”

“Why a rumor?”

The young girl shrugged her shoulders. “The owner of this ship is a very private man. No one really knows that much about him and...” The young girl stopped talking. “Oh my, I've been babbling. I'm not supposed to...uh, I didn't mean—”

“I understand,” Nikki assured the girl and patted her hand.

“Thanks,” the girl told Nikki. “This is only my second voyage. I'm still getting used to this ship and being a part of the crew.”

“Well,” Nikki said, sipping her water, “you couldn't ask for a better job. A lovely ship that sails the shores of Alaska. My, what I wouldn't have given as a young lady to be in your shoes.”

“Hey there,” Hawk said, walking up to Nikki, “all settled?”

“In my palace,” Nikki smiled.

“You too, huh? My stateroom looks like a prince should live in it instead of a detective who never gets caught up on the hockey scores.”

“Princes come in all shapes and sizes,” Nikki told Hawk, spotting Lidia and Herbert. “When is lunch served?” she asked the girl.

“We'll be departing in less than twenty minutes,” the girl explained. “Lunch will be served one hour after departure.”

Hawk checked his watch. “It's 11:10AM,” he told Nikki. “We have some time.”

“We better get Lidia a candy bar, then,” Nikki said. Feeling relaxed, she pushed every worry from her mind. Glancing at Hawk, she felt safe. “I'm glad we came. I needed to get away.”

“So did I,” Hawk agreed. “I have to admit, Nikki, at times I'm feeling my age. When I tangled with Judge Stewart's son, it took every ounce of energy I had to take that guy down. I left New York because I was beginning to feel old before my time. All I want is a nice, quiet cruise.”

“And a nice, quiet, little town to go home to,” Nikki added.

* * *

“
H
ey
, you two,” Lidia said, walking up with Herbert. Smiling, Lidia quickly told Nikki all about her cabin. “Fit for a king. Oh, how I wish Tori could be here! But no, she insisted on staying and tending to the store.”

“I wish she were here, too,” Nikki told Lidia. “We're about to set sail in twenty minutes. Lunch will be served at 12:30PM. You might want to grab a snack.”

Lidia patted the gray and blue pocketbook she was carrying. “I read the dining schedule in my cabin. I came prepared. I am loaded down with peanut butter crackers and—”

Lidia stopped talking. “What's wrong?” Nikki asked.

“It's him,” she whispered. With her eyes, she pointed to the rude Chinese man who had brushed past Herbert on the dock.

Nikki found the Chinese man stepping off the guest elevator. He looked around and then hung a right, walking toward the ship’s dining area. “Look,” Hawk said, “let's not paint a bulls-eye on some guy who lacks manners. Herbert, I asked about the gym. I was thinking we could go work up a sweat before lunch.”

“Oh,” the girl told Nikki, “I forgot. Tea and muffins are being served in the tea room, if anyone is interested.”

“I am anxious to break in the steam room. I don't want tea and muffins,” Herbert told Hawk. “Ladies, the gym comes equipped with a pool, a steam room, an exercise room, and a small lounge. Would you like to join us?”

“Not me,” Lidia said, putting the pack of peanut butter crackers back into her purse. “I get all the exercise I want at home. I think I'll go have some tea and muffins. Nikki, are you with me?”

“Sure,” Nikki said, looking in the direction the Chinese man disappeared in.

Hawk caught Nikki's mind beginning to wander off into an area that concerned him. “Please, Nikki, let's have a nice, quiet, peaceful cruise. Whatever you're thinking, stop. We're on this ship to relax, remember?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure,” Nikki replied, taking her attention back to him. Offering an innocent smile, she shooed Hawk away. “Go work out, okay?”

“Lidia, watch her,” Hawk pleaded.

“We'll meet you ladies in one hour,” Herbert said and walked away with Hawk.

As soon as Hawk and Herbert were out of sight, Nikki bit down on her lower lip. “No,” Lidia said, seeing the look in Nikki's eye. “Nice and quiet, okay?”

“Okay,” Nikki promised. “I'm just a little curious as to who that Chinese man is.”

“I don't know his name,” the girl told Nikki, taking a risk, “but I do know he was on the last cruise.”

“Are you sure?” Nikki asked, spinning around.

“Oh dear,” Lidia sighed. Before the girl could answer, Lidia grabbed Nikki's arm and pulled her away. “Nice and quiet. We'll forget all about Mr. Rude and enjoy ourselves, dear.”

Nikki allowed Lidia to drag her into a lovely passageway with signs giving directions to the ship's dining rooms, entertainment room, library, sitting room, smoking room, and tea room. “Let's go to the tea room,” Lidia told Nikki. “We can relax, sip tea, eat muffins, chat about girly stuff, and rest.”

Catching her detective instincts trying to dominate her need to relax, Nikki looked at Lidia. “Oh dear, Lidia, I'm sorry. Old habits are hard to break. Tea and muffins sound great.”

L
idia began
to speak but stopped when the Chinese man stepped out of a public restroom into the passageway. Without saying a word, he looked at Lidia and Nikki and then hurried away. “Say, he wasn't carrying a briefcase when we last saw him,” Lidia quickly pointed out, and then, like a guilty cat caught with its paws in the milk bowl, she looked at Nikki. “You're rubbing off on me.”

Before Nikki could speak, a second man stepped out of the bathroom. The man was Captain Mayfield. “Ladies, I better get us under way.” He smiled and vanished down the hallway on fast legs.

“Lidia, take me to the tea room before I follow the captain,” Nikki begged.

Lidia quickly grabbed Nikki's hand and pulled her into an elegant tea room lined with antique furnishings and open bay windows looking out into the stormy harbor. Two women in their early sixties, both wearing authentic maid uniforms, greeted Lidia and Nikki. One of the women escorted them to a table next to a marble fireplace. “Today’s teas are peppermint, lemon, English breakfast...” The woman politely began to name off the teas being served and finished with the muffins.

Nikki glanced around the tea room. She and Lidia were the only occupants. “Uh, peppermint tea with a blueberry muffin,” she told the woman.

“Lemon tea with a bran muffin,” Lidia put in her order. Reading the woman's name tag, she added: “June, can you also bring me some honey if you have any?”

“Of course,” June told Lidia, “I drink my tea that way myself.”

As soon as June was out of earshot, Nikki spoke: “I'm going to forget what I saw. I'm here to relax, relax with my friends.”

“You say that in a very pained voice,” Lidia told Nikki. Looking out at the stormy harbor, she wrinkled her nose. “Honey, let's just enjoy our time on this lovely ship. What are the chances a crime—or murder—will take place? That rude Chinese man may just be ship security or something.”

Nikki considered Lidia's suggestion about the Chinese man possibly being ship security. “It's possible,” she agreed. Taking a very deep breath, she put her purse down on the table and smiled. “Silly me, here I am ready to dive into an empty pool.”

“You and me both,” Lidia laughed. “Now, let's talk about girl stuff. You must tell me where you purchase your dresses and where you get your shoes.”

Nikki smiled. “I order from a store online,” she admitted and dove into a full conversation about dresses and shoes as the ship slowly began to get underway and moved out into a stormy sea. She sipped her tea and munched on her muffin and allowed her mind to forget about what she saw in the hallway.

* * *

A
s Nikki and Lidia talked
, the Chinese man walked back to his cabin. Once securely inside, he locked himself in the cabin's bathroom, placed the suitcase down onto the counter, and opened it. A sea of diamonds appeared before his eyes. With an angry hand, he snatched up a single diamond, examined it, and then growled. Throwing the diamond down, he slammed the briefcase shut. “Play games with me...” he whispered through clenched teeth.

W
hen dinner arrived
, Nikki sent a polite message to the captain, informing him she wouldn't be able to sit at his table. Knowing it was wiser to stay clear of the captain in order to silence her need to seek answers, Nikki sat with Hawk, Lidia, and Herbert on the far side of a dining room that, if Nikki didn't know better, resembled the same design as the dining room on the Titanic. This one was smaller of course, but the design, atmosphere, and taste in the air was somehow connected to a ship that now lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. “Delicious salmon,” Herbert said, complimenting his meal.

Sitting across from Herbert with Hawk on her right and Lidia on her left, Nikki watched Herbert take another bite of salmon. Turning her attention to Hawk, she watched him take a bite of sea bass. Hawk was dressed in a gray button-up shirt tucked into a pair of jeans. For him, that was fancy. “How is your meal?”

“Not bad,” Hawk confessed, enjoying the sea bass. “Lidia, how is your cheeseburger?”

“Delicious,” Lidia said, eating a double-stacked cheeseburger dripping with grease. “I never was one who liked the taste of fish.”

Nikki grinned. She didn't like the taste of fish, either. Looking down at her plate, she examined the large grilled chicken salad sitting before her, along with a bowl of tomato soup and dipping bread. Picking up a water glass, she took a sip. “The food is delicious. I'm still surprised at the interior design. I simply wouldn't have expected the interior to be this magnificent.”

“The heart of a ship is what matters,” Herbert pointed out to Nikki. After a good soak in the steam room, a hot shower, and a change back into his blue suit, Herbert felt refreshed. After the ship had moved out into open water, the mood of the ship changed into a festive behavior. Other passengers were moving around more freely, stretching their legs, wandering here and there, familiarizing themselves with the ship’s interior. Sure the seas were rough, but that didn't matter. People were having a grand time, regardless of the rough seas, and that's what mattered.

“True,” Hawk supported Herbert’s statement. “When I was younger, I had a rundown 1967 Ford. The outside was pretty rusted, but the inside was something to see...white leather seats, the works. Cost me a fortune. I had to work digging plumbing lines all summer to earn money for that car. I'm just glad this ship turned out to be like my car.”

Nikki picked up a piece of bread, dipped it in her soup, and took a bite. With her mind focused on Hawk, she didn't see the Chinese man enter the dining room, spot the captain, and then leave. But Lidia did. She didn't say a word. “Hawk, what did you do with your Ford?”

“Well,” Hawk laughed to himself as his mind wandered back in time, “I sold that old Ford to a junk dealer and bought a used motorcycle. I was getting ready to leave for college, and I wanted to look cool. I couldn't be seen driving a rusted Ford around, no matter how the inside looked.”

“What's so funny about that?” Nikki asked.

“Well,” Hawk explained, “my first day on campus I crashed the motorcycle into a tree. I was kinda looking at this girl, you see...”

Herbert and Lidia laughed. “We understand.”

Nikki shook her head at Hawk. “Boys will be boys,” she sighed.

“Boys will be boys with a broken shoulder,” Hawk added. Nikki laughed. It was good to see Nikki laugh. Hawk stared into her beautiful face with eyes that swore he was seeing a part of Heaven.

Nikki began to tease Hawk but was interrupted when she saw a man wearing a black and white uniform rush into the dining room, hightail it to the captain's table, and hand him a piece of paper. Nikki watched Captain Mayfield take the paper and read it. Captain Mayfield's face went from pleasant to alarmed in a matter of seconds. Excusing himself from the guests sitting at his table, he calmly left the dining room, even though his body language was stiff and tense. “Now, what was that all about?”

Hawk put down the fork in his hand. He had watched Captain Mayfield's face grow concerned when the second officer in command handed him a weather report. “I'll go find out,” Hawk said, standing up. Nikki began to stand up, but Hawk shook his head. “No,” he said in a firm voice. “Nikki, if it's something serious, I'll come and get you.”

“Let him go,” Lidia urged Nikki.

“Hurry,” Nikki pleaded.

* * *

H
awk
, not wanting to draw attention to himself, excused himself from the table. He casually exited the dining room. Looking to his left and then to his right, he searched for Captain Mayfield. Hearing voices coming from his right, he eased down a passageway that spoke of time and better days, days when people were more real in heart rather than mind. “Sir, this storm system is moving in from behind us. We can't return to port,” Hawk heard a man tell Captain Mayfield in a worried voice.

“Contact the local ports and see if we can swing in for a stop,” Captain Mayfield replied, staring at the weather report in his hand. Shaking his head, he moved to a porthole and studied the darkening night outside. The seas were rough but manageable. The waves were angry, bitter, and deadly; dark and filled with a hunger rising up from a deep abyss.

“I already did,” Captain Mayfield's second in command replied. The man's name was Brody Lane. Short, plump, and well into his late forties, Brody Lane resembled a clown rather than a man who had spent his life daring the open seas. Yet, Hawk saw, peering around the corner of the passageway in order to see better, the man also held a very fine, intelligent expression underlined with a cleverness he couldn't quite put his finger on. “All ports are full. This storm is pushing the ships in.”

“No one has room for us?” Captain Mayfield asked in an unbelieving voice. “Come now, this is impossible. You get on the line and force someone to place out a welcome mat for us.”

“Well, we could try to return to home port,” Brody suggested.

“Out of the question. If we do, every passenger will request refunds. Absolutely not. We will find a port to dock in long enough for the storm to pass and—”

“Captain Mayfield, if I may sir...perhaps we should try and stay ahead of the storm system? We can push farther out to sea and then swing back in,” Brody politely interrupted. “The storm system is driving northwest. We may lose a few hours, but—”

Captain Mayfield squeezed his hands into two tight fists and struck the wall. “You dare question me, Lane?” he exploded. Hawk watched Captain Mayfield turn around. The man's face was no longer pleasant. Now Captain Mayfield's face was consumed with a deadly anger that caused Hawk to place his hand on his service gun strapped around his ankle. “You will stay on course. If no one will take us in, we will ride the storm, is that clear?”

“Ride the storm?” Brody asked, backing away from Captain Mayfield. “That's insane. The swells are forecasted to—”

“Need I remind you who is captain?” Captain Mayfield hollered at Brody. “Listen to me, you pathetic drunk. No one dared—
dared
—take you on as their second in command. The tragedy of the
Blue Pearl
has destroyed your life, Lane. But I took you in, didn't I? I made you second in command, didn't I? And if you want to remain second in command, you better obey my every order, are we clear? If you refuse, you can tell your wife that it was your fault that you can no longer pay for her medical treatments.”

Like a beaten dog, Brody looked down at his feet. “Yes, Captain. I'm very sorry, sir. I didn't mean to question you. I...you have been very kind to me and my wife. I will keep us on course, sir.”

Captain Mayfield stared at Brody, took a few breaths, and then put on a fake smile. Patting Brody on the shoulder, he nodded his head. “That's a good man, Lane. I know that I can trust you. I see good things for you in the future. You have always served me well. I will see to it that you get your bonus. Now, get back to the bridge. I will join you shortly. And not a word to anyone. If the passengers begin to ask questions, we will assure them that we have sailed into a minor storm which is of no grave concern, are we clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Brody said and hurried away with his tail between his legs.