Cruel Capers on the Caribbean: A Kate on Vacation Mystery (The Kate on Vacation mysteries) (9 page)

Skip took off after him. “Not so fast,
hombre
.” His long legs quickly closed the gap between them. He grabbed Jorge’s arm and steered him back to their cabin.

The others followed them in. Kate closed the door. She grabbed Skip’s robe from the end of the bed and handed her own to Liz. Somehow it seemed weird to interrogate someone regarding murder while wearing a swimsuit.

Skip nudged Jorge down on the loveseat.

“I have work to do,” the man protested.

“We won’t keep you long.” Kate wrapped Skip’s robe around her and sat on the end of the bed. She looked at Liz and gestured toward the desk chair.

Skip was still standing, looming over the cabin steward. “The sooner you tell us what we want to know, the sooner you can get to your work. Ms. Beall had a lump and a cut on her head. The doctor thinks she hit it on something. You know anything about that?”

Jorge shook his head vigorously. “I no hurt Miss Cora Beall. She nice lady.”

“Yes, she was a nice lady,” Kate said. “That’s why we want to figure out who killed her.”

“She kill self.” Jorge mimicked shooting a needle into his arm.

“Whoever killed her didn’t do their homework,” Kate said. “She hated drugs. That would’ve been the last way she’d have chosen to kill herself.”

For a moment, Kate thought the man might pass out. All the blood drained from his face. He dropped his head into his hands and moaned. “I no kill her.”

“Okay, we’re willing to believe that,” Skip said. “But you know something about that lump.”

Jorge raised his head. “I knock on door. She no answer so I tink Miss Cora Beall, she better an’ go ashore. I use my pass key, go in to straighten room. She come outta de bat’room. I musta scare her. No mean to. She jump back, trip, fall down, hit head on de dresser. I run to get doctor. No can find him. Go back and knock. No answer. Use pass key and alarm make loud noise. I close de door again.”

He stared at them for a beat, wide-eyed. “I tink she must be okay. Set up her alarm and went back to bed.”

“So you knew about her alarm?” Skip asked.

Jorge nodded.

Skip turned to Liz and Kate. Liz shrugged.

“When did all this happen?” Kate asked.

Jorge didn’t answer right away. His eyes darted around the room. “Not sure. Some time in de afternoon.”

Skip raised an eyebrow. But before he could say anything, Kate asked, “So when you delivered her dinner later, how was she?”

Jorge’s expression morphed from confused to scared to calculating. Finally he said, “I no bring her dinner. That kitchen staff’s job.”

“Then whose tray were you placing outside her door around six-fifteen?” Kate asked.

She hadn’t thought the man’s eyes could go any wider but they did.

“
No entiendo
.”

Skip translated her question into Spanish.

Jorge’s eyes almost popped out of his head. He swallowed hard. “Tray for...from cabin next door. I put in hall for kitchen staff to get.”

“That’s funny,” Liz said. “I’ve seen other cabin stewards carrying room service trays away. But you leave yours outside the door?”

“And it was still there later,” Kate said, “when we went to check on Cora and discovered her body.”

Jorge shook his head. “I leave de tray for kitchen staff. What s’posed to do. Others might take away but I do what s’posed to do.”

Skip stepped back. He leaned against the desk next to Kate’s chair. “What do ya think?” he asked out of the side of his mouth.

Kate frowned. Not all of Jorge’s story added up, but most of it was plausible. And she found it hard to believe this little man would commit murder for no apparent reason. “Where does it say you’re supposed to leave the tray for the kitchen staff?”

Jorge gave her a blank look. Again, Skip repeated her question in Spanish.

This time, the cabin steward seemed grateful for the translation. “In de manual. Can take away if have time, but can leave in de hall. Not our job. We got other tings must do.” He looked around the room. “I need go now. Many tings to do.”

Skip raised an eyebrow at Kate. She exchanged a look with Liz, then nodded.

“You can go,” Skip said. “But it might be in your best interests to keep our little chat to yourself.”

Jorge was out of his seat and bolting for the cabin door before Skip had finished his sentence.

Liz yawned. “I’m ready for my afternoon nap now. I’ll leave you all to yours.”

Skip tilted his head to one side. “I think Kate and I are gonna take a little stroll first, to the infirmary. I have a couple questions for the doc.”

Kate nodded. She had some questions of her own. Grabbing fresh clothes from the dresser, she headed for the shower.

~~~~~~~~

“T
hat’s BS,” Madigan said, when they’d told him Jorge’s story.

“Which part?” Kate said.

“About looking for me and not finding me. All he had to do was pick up Ms. Beall’s cabin phone and call. If I wasn’t in the infirmary, they would page me.”

“That’s what I figured,” Skip said.

“What about the rest of his tale?” Kate asked.

The doctor pursed his lips. “It’s feasible. Like I said I’m no forensics expert, but it looks to me like the bump and cut happened a little while before she died. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been any swelling or bleeding at all.”

“But if she hit her head hard enough to be knocked out,” Kate said, “I’d think the bump would be fairly good-sized.”

Madigan nodded. “So the swelling may have just started when she died.”

“Should we report all this to the captain?” Skip asked.

Madigan was silent for a moment. Then he let out a sigh. “I don’t know. This guy’s new to this ship. I don’t have a good read on him yet. I’m not sure what he would do.”

“I’m thinking not yet,” Kate said. “If Jorge’s telling the truth, I’d hate to get him in trouble for an accident.”

Skip thanked the doctor and they left the infirmary. Once in the elevator, he punched the button for the top deck. “Let’s take a walk on the jogging track.”

Kate nodded. It was a place where they would have relative privacy.

Once out on the deck, Skip took her hand and they walked toward the stern. The breeze was strong up here. Kate shivered a little in her short-sleeved blouse and capri pants. Skip dropped her hand and put his arm around her instead, drawing her up against his warm body.

There was only one other person on the track. A man in his twenties, wearing nothing but running shorts, was doing laps at a fairly brisk pace.

“Bet he runs marathons,” Skip said.

Kate gave a mock shudder. They walked in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet, a sharp contrast to the crowded decks below them.

“The whole thing with the room service tray is bothering me,” Kate finally said. “I saw Jorge hovering over it. I assumed he was picking it up, but he could’ve been putting it down. But he was definitely in front of Cora’s door, not the cabin next to hers.”

“The tray was right beside her door later,” Skip said.

Kate nodded. “And the dishes were practically licked clean. I guess they could’ve been from the other cabin, and the tray slid down there when the boat rocked. But I can’t help thinking that the tray was put there by the killer, to buy some time before the body was discovered.”

“And to confuse the issue regarding time of death. If she ordered dinner, then the assumption would be she’d died in the evening.”

“But Jorge says she hit her head in the afternoon,” Kate said. “And the doc thinks she died just a little while after that, before the knot on her head could swell to full size.”

The runner breezed past them for the third time. Skip steered her off the track and over to the railing. The sun was starting to sink toward the horizon.

“If the killer put the tray there,” he said, “why would Jorge say it was from the other cabin? Unless he’s the killer.”

“What motive would he have? Dead passengers don’t tip well.”

Skip gave her a half smile. “No, they don’t.”

“Maybe the tray I saw him hovering over was a different one than the tray that was there later.”

“Could be.” Skip started to pull her closer to him.

“Then again,” she said, “why did Jorge run off to find the doctor, instead of using the phone?”

Skip sighed. “My guess is he just ran, period, figuring he would get in trouble for scaring her and causing her fall. Then he came back later to make sure she was okay.”

“By which point, the killer had been there and had set up the alarm.”

“Yup.” He pulled her firmly against him and wrapped his arms around her.

“Ouch. Watch the sunburn.”

“Sorry.” He loosened his hold on her, then used one hand to tilt her chin up. “Enough murder and mayhem for now,” he murmured as he lowered his lips to hers.

Kate started to close her eyes. Something moved in her peripheral vision. She jumped, breaking off the kiss.

“What’s the matter?”

Kate looked around. The runner was gone. They were alone on the deck. “Sorry. I thought I saw something moving over by the elevators.”

“Probably Mr. Marathon leaving.”

“Let’s go back to the cabin,” Kate said.

Skip glanced at his watch. “We’ve got time for a quick
nap
before dinner.” He wiggled his eyebrows as he gave her a suggestive leer.

Kate managed to smile back at him, but the hairs were standing up on the back of her neck.

K
ate and Liz strolled along a shop-lined street in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. This time the men had elected to return to the ship without them.

Kate snickered as her mind recalled the morning’s activities.

Liz flashed her a grin. “All the years you’ve known Rob, I’m surprised you’d never seen him in swim trunks before.”

“Yeah well, consulting on mutual cases and going out to lunch don’t usually require swim gear.” Kate snickered again.

“You really must stop laughing at my husband,” Liz said in a mock offended tone.

Kate grinned. “It wasn’t so much the swimsuit. The flippers on his feet and the snorkel kinda tipped me over the edge.”

“I must admit it’s not his best look,” Liz said. “Weren’t those stingrays awesome? I thought they’d be a lot scarier than they were. I’ve never petted a live, wild creature before.”

“They were pretty docile. I guess they’ve gotten used to humans, with all the boatloads of tourists that go out there every day.”

“And they get fed all the time by those tourists,” Liz said.

“Now that was a little creepy at first, especially considering how huge some of those rays were.” But the big, gray creatures had gently sucked the pieces of squid from their hands, then glided gracefully on by.

“I can’t believe Skip actually rubbed their bellies.”

Kate chuckled. “They seemed to enjoy it. And the snorkeling over the reef was incredible.”

Her mood sobered as she felt again the pang of sadness she’d unexpectedly experienced that morning. She’d been drifting along near the surface of the water, awestruck by the bright-colored fish and the coral, when Skip swam over and took her hand. That gesture had triggered a memory. She was back in the waters of the Bahamas for a moment, snorkeling on her honeymoon with her first husband.

It had been eight years since Eddie was murdered. She realized she rarely thought about him anymore. That made her even sadder.

“You okay?” Liz asked.

“Yeah. Just thinking about Eddie.”

Liz took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Of course, thoughts of Eddie’s death brought her mind back to Cora. Skip had pointed out that they’d done all they could. But she was having trouble letting it go. She stifled a sigh, not wanting to dampen Liz’s pleasure in their shopping expedition.

“Hey, that place looks interesting.” Liz tugged her toward a side street and a sign over a doorway advertising crafts made by local artisans. Inside the little shop, she made a beeline to a display of hand-woven blankets.

Liz rummaged through them. “I thought I was about shopped out, but the throw on the sofa in the family room is getting ratty.”

“Do you really need an excuse to buy something else?”

“No, but it adds to the pleasure when a souvenir also serves a practical purpose.” She pulled a blanket out of the stack, unfolded it and held it up in front of her. The silhouette of a native village was woven into the muted pattern of blue, black, gray and cream. “I love it!” Liz’s voice boomed from behind it.

Kate smiled indulgently as her friend refolded the blanket and headed for the cashier.

“Now every time I walk through the family room, I’ll look at this blanket and remember our cruise.” Liz let out a happy sigh.

The ladies were back onboard a comfortable hour before the ship was supposed to set sail. They found Skip and Rob at a table near the railing, admiring the view of the harbor.

Tenders were busily moving back and forth, transporting the last of the passengers back to their cruise ships. The sun sparkled on the water and the blue sky was a perfect backdrop for the brightly-colored buildings. Many were painted rose, turquoise or terra cotta, and parts of the retaining wall were covered with murals depicting the coral and sea life they had seen earlier while snorkeling.

Skip looked around the table. “Just one more port of call and the party’s over. Have y’all had a good time?”

Rob and Liz both nodded.

Kate hesitated, but only for a second. She nodded too. It had been a good trip for them, if not for Cora and Clem.

~~~~~~~~

A
fter dinner, Rob and Liz led the way back to their cabins, down the opulent but somewhat narrow corridor. “Bet these hallways wouldn’t pass building codes in the U.S.,” Rob said. “In an emergency, people wouldn’t be able to get out very fast.”

Skip gave a slight shake of his head. “Seems like cruise ships get away with a lot, because they’re registered in another country.”

Kate frowned.
Yeah, like ignoring a murder.

The sigh escaped her lips before she could catch it.

Rob glanced her way. “Uh oh, I know that look. Something’s bothering you.”