Miss Morand: The Cruise

Chapter 2

Miss Morand grinned in accomplishment and set her manicured hands on her hips. She then noticed Charlie who stood, staring at her with irritation.

She paid no attention to his obvious agitation. "Ah Charlie, I see you have joined our little get-together." She said with a sly smile before returning to shouting at the couple, who seemed much more pleasant than earlier. Perhaps they had just been irritated earlier.

"Katherine Morand! What on earth has gotten into you? You're acting completely mad! You've been running around this boat for 20 minutes like a complete lunatic looking for this poor innocent couple and now that you've found them you're shouting at the top of your lungs. It's inappropriate." He yelled at Miss Morand in a small but powerful fit of rage.

"Katherine? You never call me Katherine." She replied softly and confused.

"Katherine? KATHERINE?! You're confused on why I've called you by your FIRST NAME? My lord you never listen!" He stormed off leaving Katherine in awe.

Miss Morand stood there silently for a moment processing Charlie's rant. Not much later she ran off after Charlie, eventually finding him in their suite. "Charlie?"

"What?" He asked not looking up while rummaging through his luggage.

"I'm sorry."

He sighed and looked away from her. "You do this all the time Miss. You're sorry for acting out and you're sorry for not listening yadda yadda. You never change, you need to learn to look at things in a positive light and learn to calm down in these types of situations. Those people have probably done nothing wrong, just got the room mixed up and you're ranting at them, you've probably scared them half to death!"

"Charles, they stole our room and ran when we called to get things straightened out. People don't just do that unless they're hiding something! They've probably already killed half a dozen people or stashed away 12 million worth of stolen euros or something!"

"Katherine! If they were guilty why would they have been just sitting in the main entrance? They're just a normal couple, nothing more, nothing less." He spoke in a calm yet strict tone.

"Don't you see Charles darling? That's just what they want you to believe! I'm telling you."

"Enough! You knock it off or I'm going to split before the boat takes off."

She sighed "That's not fair."

When he didn't respond but started to pack up his things she in a panic agreed.

"Fine I'll stop, just don't leave me alone here. Plus you know it's my work that makes me so frantic"

"Good, and yes I know. Dealing with death and murder all the time will do that, just try and calm down." He looked back at her. "You should probably fix your ponytail, it's a mess."

Miss Morand walked to the bathroom to fix her hair up.

"Miss Morand?"

"Yes, Charlie?"

"I was only bluffing. I wouldn't have left."

"I know Charlie."

"No Ma'am I mean I couldn't have, the boats already started."

Miss Morand Laughed and finished walking to the bathroom. By the time she came back out the luggage was closed and Charlie was sitting in one of the chairs.

They changed into their dress clothes, brought especially for the dinner and then sat down in the large chairs in their room. They relaxed for quite a bit with light chatter here and there filling up what would be dead silence.

Eventually, Charlie looked up at Miss Morand. "Are you about ready to go miss?"

"Huh?"

"To the dinner party Miss Morand. It's in ten minutes."

Katherine looked over at the wall clock which read 4:48. "Oh no!" Miss Morand scattered around to grab her things. "My purse! Where's my purse?"

Charlie watched her for a second unsure of what to do. "Miss, your purse is on the chair where you left it."

Miss Morand spun around to see her purse sitting on the chair. Right where she left it. "Oh, I am sorry Charlie. I really don't know why I'm such a fritz today."

"It's fine Miss, please let's just get a move on." He spoke sweetly and carefully. He felt bad about getting so mad at her earlier.

Together they walked out of the room and down the hotel hallway, they went up two levels and took some further turns until they reached a restaurant esc dining hall with glass walls and a glass ceiling. Two sides of the boat led to other rooms and were a solid wall. You couldn't tell how far they had gotten. Miss Morand and Charlie sat on the right side in the middle of a long dining table, which was nearly the length of the entire room. Many of the seats were already filled but a few wandered into the room after a few minutes.

Once everyone seemed situated the Host of the dinner, a very rich man named Kenneth Dale, arose. "Welcome everyone. You are all here because you are pillars of the community. Each of you does amazing things and you all deserve recognition." He started dishing out personalized toasts to each guest, including one Dylan Coraine. A detective whom Katherine worked with on several occasions, though they do not technically work together they occasionally made quite a pair. The was the top detective of his precinct in England.

Eventually, he got to Katherine. "and who could forget Miss Morand. A brilliant young woman who has been an incredible aid in solving many investigations and making the world a safer place, Cheers to this strong lady who has served her community well."

Everyone clapped for Miss Morand and she thanked him for his kind toast and smiled sweetly. He continued on with toasts. On his last toast the cook, probably in his early 30's, ran out of the kitchen. "BODY! THERE'S A BODY IN THE KITCHEN!"

Everyone rose to their feet in awe and Katherine and Charlie looked at each other with shock.