Cruising for Murder: Myrtle Clover #10

Chapter Ten

Red may have been expressing condolences, but his gaze was sliding thoughtfully from one face to another, searching for a reaction.

Myrtle was searching, too. What she noticed was that no one had much of a reaction at all to this news. It was almost as if they'd just been notified that the kitchen was out of salmon and they'd have to change their order at a restaurant.

The only one of the group who seemed to have any sort of a reaction at all was Bettina. She shook her head and said, "That poor child."

Terrell said petulantly, "Well, and now what happens to all that money and property? Surely Eugenia doesn't have a will. How stupid this all is."

Bettina's voice was sharp in response. "Respect for the dead, Terrell."

Maisy asked politely, as if she were a child who had just remembered her manners, "What happened to Eugenia? Did she ... well, was there some sort of medical event?"

"Did she drown?" asked Randolph, frowning. "Too much to drink and then fell asleep?"

Terrell snorted. "That little mouse, drink? I never saw her drink."

"So now she's a mouse?" asked Maisy with a hard note in her voice. "You've been saying for the last couple of days that she was a schemer."

Red said carefully, "You're right. She didn't appear to have been drinking. She appeared to have been strangled."

The faces were all still blank, although Bettina put her well-manicured hands in front of her mouth.

"What on earth was she doing in a hot tub anyway?" blustered Terrell. "That hardly seems the kind of place she would go."

"Perhaps she was trying to pick someone up," said Randolph with a slight smile on his lips. "After all, she'd just become an heiress."

Miles cleared his throat. "Actually, Myrtle and I can likely offer some insight on that. We spent some time with Eugenia in Haines. She had either pulled a muscle or overworked one somehow. We recommended that she might want to use the hot tub as therapy for it."

"How sad that someone took advantage of that opportunity," said Myrtle, giving them all a hard look.

Red said, "You're all free to be on your way, but I'll be wanting to talk to each of you in the next couple of days."

Maisy said in an angry tone, "It's unbelievable that the ship isn't doing anything about this."

"I agree, but that's just not the way it works on the sea," said Red smoothly. "The security man they have is out of commission and wouldn't be launching much of an investigation even if he weren't."

The family dispersed, muttering to themselves as Myrtle, Miles, and Red looked thoughtfully after them. Red said, "Mama, you need to really watch your step. You made it sound as if you and Eugenia have been hanging out. If someone killed Eugenia because of what she knew, they might well think that you know the same information she did."