Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries 11 - Cruise Control Read online

  Sam reached over to her phone and snatched it away.

  “Hey! What are you doing? Give that back!”

  Sam was typing away at it instantly. “I’m telling Ryan that you want to meet his family as soon as possible.”

  “You can’t do that!” She reached for the phone, but Sam played keep-away as she typed the message with her thumbs. She didn’t relent until the send button was pressed.

  “I did do that. Enjoy meeting his folks, Cece.”

  “I can’t believe you. A bond between a girl and her phone is sacred, Sam. Now how do I cancel messages? Oh, no, it says he read it.”

  “Exactly. You’re seeing his parents whether you want to or not.”

  “Oh, no! He wants me to meet them now. I don’t even have time to get prepared. I wanted to rent a fancy dress, and show up in a limousine, say I was a billionaire heiress, of, I don’t know, a flyswatter empire.”

  I threw a hand on Cece’s shoulder. “Calm down. They will love you, Cece. Really.”

  “Oh, God.” She was freaking out. “I should at least go and try to take a shower and put on clean clothes? Maybe makeup?”

  “See? That’s reasonable. Go do that.”

  “Although,” Sam added, “if we find out you’ve gotten cold feet again, Addy and I will hunt you down and find you and personally drag you to meet Ryan’s parents.”

  “Wow, you guys sure are supportive. And mean. Oh God, I don’t have time for this.”

  Cece darted up and dashed down the street back to her room to get ready for the parental judgment day that she was about to face.

  “That works for me. I have a date of my own,” Sam announced.

  My smile grew wider. “Do you now?”

  “Scott wants to take me out for dinner and drinks tonight. A night on the town.”

  “And Scott is the water aerobics instructor you haven’t shut up about the whole last trip?”

  “Hey! I only obsessed over him just a little. We had no internet. I needed something to entertain myself.”

  “You go have fun.”

  “Will do,” she said, gathering her phone and other things. “Call me if we need to hunt Cece down and drag her to Ryan’s parents.”

  “I think she’ll manage without us.”

  “With Cece? I can never be sure.”

  She scrambled off, leaving me all alone. I didn’t get the time to feel wistfully abandoned for long though, as my fella always had a habit of showing up right on time.

  “You’re usually not the one to dine alone, Adrienne.” Ethan, still in his first officer’s uniform, was approaching me.

  With everyone gone, I hastily left a tip and stood up, ready to move on. “Sam and Cece were here, but they took off.”

  “Sorry I couldn’t join you guys. You know how it is. Authority means more responsibility.”

  He held my hand as we walked along. “There, there, the bureaucracy is all over now.”

  “It is. I finished the paperwork sending Monica off to jail. She’s the justice system’s problem now, and one of our security guards is probably going to sue her for assault on top of everything else she’s facing.”

  “Piling it on, I suppose?”

  “She broke the security guard’s nose, Addy. She brought it upon herself.”

  “Hopefully he heals quickly enough.” We turned a corner, strolling deeper into the streets of New Orleans. “We’re letting Sebastian off?”

  “Why? He did nothing wrong. Well, not as far as breaking the law goes. If they find out he’s responsible like Monica keeps saying he is, they’ll haul him in. He doesn’t seem like a hard man to find.”

  I almost wanted him to be guilty, but I wasn’t going to fret over it. Karma would catch up eventually, even if it took its sweet time in doing so.

  “On the plus side, our progress continues. We’re down to five more names on our list. We can comfortably say Herman has nothing to do with it.”

  “You’re right. The guy is way too serious about following the rules to the letter.”

  “And I double-checked his claim to have never been in Arizona with some contacts of mine. He’s telling the truth.”

  In a way, I was relieved that my instincts about Herman had been right.

  Apparently, HQ wasn’t too concerned with getting back to us, our bosses off on a vacation of their own. Turns out Vernon did get what he wanted: for his employees to go five days without being totally wired to the world.

  I don’t believe it helped them as much as he thought it would.

  “Hopefully we can find out who’s behind the clues soon,” I said. “Having this constantly on the back of my mind is troublesome.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got you, Addy, ready to back you up while you shove all of our problems into pools.”

  “Hey! I’m not doing it on purpose. The pool seemed like the easiest way to knock her off balance. Pure coincidence and nothing more.”

  More laughter, him pulling me closer. “Last thing I wanted to relay before I can shut it and let us enjoy New Orleans for the sake of New Orleans… Kelly wanted me to pass along that she’s upgrading the rooms for you and Sam on a more permanent basis, citing your senior position as ‘head of social media.’”

  “Really?” My eyes went wide. “I get a VIP suite forever?”

  “No, I’m afraid not. But it’s an upgrade. She was waiting for an opening in the ship’s staff quarters, and it did. You’re about twenty percent on the way to a VIP suite now.”

  “Oh, yes. I’ll take that. Twenty percent more comfortable is still a lot more comfortable.”

  “I trust you’ll tell Sam for me?”

  “Of course.” Maybe I would wait until the absolute last minute, though. Spring it on her as a surprise as we’re walking to our typical cabins on the next voyage.

  “Streets are lively today,” he said, listening to the ambiance surrounding us. “Is there a parade or event that I don’t know about?”

  “I’m not sure, but it’s coming from the French Quarter. I don’t have any urgent matters I have to address. You?”

  He gave me that dazzling smile of his. “All my worries are back on the ship.”

  “Then let’s do it. Let’s enjoy N’Orlins,” I said in my best faux Cajun accent.

  Arm in arm, we headed into the French Quarter, ready to experience the sounds, the sights, and the culture, and most importantly, to enjoy our well-deserved day off.

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  BLURB

  Cake Tastings and Killers: A Bed and Breakfast Cozy Mystery

  Murder in Paradise…

  Wedding photographer Laura Fisher is back in the Keys to help her sister manage the Paradise Bed and Breakfast. Business has been slow lately, but when a guest is poisoned at a cake tasting, they’re in danger of going under.

  It doesn’t help that Laura confronted the victim, her high school boyfriend Charlie Porter, in front of the entire wedding party, declaring he’s going to answer for his actions one day. Charlie taunts her and laughs off the entire exchange, but the joke’s over when Laura becomes the prime suspect for his murder.

  With her sister Danielle and Granny Margaret on her side, Laura’s prepared to confront her past to catch the real killer and prove she’s innocent. If she can’t, not only will she be branded a murderer, the struggling Paradise B&B’s reputation will be ruined and her family will be forced to sell the property.

  Laura soon learns how many secrets islands can hide—and if she’s not careful, she may find herself the next victim…

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  SNEAK PEAK: A BERRY DEADLY WELCOME

  Chapter One

  "C ome on, come on." I gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. My car was out of gas. Rather, my ex-husband's car was out of gas. I had "borrowed" it to make the trip from Chicago, Illinois down to Camden Falls, Kentucky. I'd had to make the trip somehow, and I'd been too broke to buy a bus ticket.

  I rocked back and forth in my seat a couple of times, trying to will my momentum into the car. I knew that wouldn't help it inch forward off the road and into the curbside parking spot, but I did it all the same. I couldn't stop myself.

  "Just a little more!" The engine gagged, coughed, spluttered and then bucked before rattling and dying. That was okay, though. When it bucked, the car lurched forward that little bit more that I'd needed to get it off the road. I wasn't going to have to abandon it with its butt end sticking halfway out into the road.

  I eyed the road around me. It was huge. It wasn't eight lanes huge or anything like that. There were only two lanes, one coming and one going, but the main street of little Camden Falls could have accommodated four tractor trailers driving side by side. Even with so much room, the traffic was slow and lazy, cars meandering instead of rushing. There were two and three car-lengths between each car that passed. I was used to seeing cars in Chicago drive headlight to bumper, but that wasn't happening here.

  On top of that, there were almost no people. I eyeballed around thirty or forty people walking around. They walked in small groups or alone, but always spread out with plenty of distance in-between.

  I turned my attention toward a pickup truck that was driving past. The truck's driver nodded his head at me and then lifted his palm in a small side-to-side wave. Panic flooded me, and my heart skittered and jumped as badly as the engine had a moment earlier. My ex probably already had a warrant out for my arrest, and it would be just like him to hire someone to keep an eye out for me.

  I twisted to see if anything was coming from behind and then jumped out of the car. It was a pearl white Mercedes S-Class, and I'd probably never get the chance to drive anything like it again—especially if my ex had me put in jail. If that happened, I wouldn't even need to worry about how I'd look when I renewed my driver's license. I wouldn't need to worry about where my next meal was coming from or where I was going to sleep tonight.

  "Maybe I should get arrested." I couldn't keep the hopefulness out of my voice as I glanced around, but I didn't see any police. "Live to fight another day," I said with a scowl before forcing my features to relax. I didn't want to get wrinkles.

  Popping the trunk of the car, I used all of my not-impressive strength to lift a navy canvas suitcase out of the trunk. Then, I hesitated, looking wistfully between the car keys I held in my hands and the car. With a sigh and a shoulder shrug, I did what I had to do. I clicked the lock button on the key fob, and then tossed the keys into the trunk and slammed the trunk's lid down. I'd gotten this far, but tempting fate wasn't my style.

  I pulled up the suitcase's telescoping handle and started walking, dragging the suitcase behind me on its tiny wheels. The name tag attached to the handle flopped and jiggled as I walked, listing my name in block letters: KYLIE BERRY. It was my maiden name, not the name I'd left behind with that dirty, rotten piece of pond scum I used to call a husband. No, Kylie Berry was a good name, and it, the suitcase and its contents were all that I owned. But that would be enough. It had to be. I'd figure out the rest as I went, and where I was going now was my cousin's cute little café. When she'd invited me to come down to "help her out," I'd jumped at it. If it meant one less night of having to sleep at the women's shelter, then I was game.

  I paid attention to the people around me as I walked. All around me were a myriad of tennis shoes or flat sandals, various types of denim, a few Walmart-style short skirts, and a lot of t-shirts. I was wearing a black polka-dotted sleeveless, torso-fitted dress with a flared skirt, gold high-heel pumps, and I knew from experience that my shoulder-blade length fire red hair would be shining in the afternoon sun.

  I didn't fit in, but I didn't see anyone picking up any rocks to throw at me, so I figured that must be okay. A man exited a store with a green awning twenty or so feet ahead of me wearing what had to have been a thousand-dollar suit, and no one paid him any attention either.

  "Things are going to be okay," I mumbled to myself. Yet my feet were not convinced. Camden Falls' Main Street seemed to go on forever, and my pretty gold pumps soon pinched my feet in ways that made me work hard to hide a limp.

  A group of barely twenty-somethings sauntered through a door a little ways ahead of me laughing, and one of them was holding a to-go cup of what looked like iced tea.

  My heart sped up but my feet slowed. This was it. My new beginning. My second chance. I'd be the best waitress, assistant, whatever I could be to Sarah. And hopefully, Sarah would make room for me on her couch until I crawled my way back up to standing on my own two feet.

  This would work. I would make it work.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I won't lie, when I reached for the glass-front door with the scrawling script "Sarah's Eatery" on it, my hand was shaking, but I kept my eyes bright and an excited smile on my gloss-painted lips as I pulled the door open. A little bell jangled, announcing my entrance.

  That's when I stepped into cousin Sarah's "tiny" little café, and my smile slipped as my mouth fell open. It was huge! I had imagined some ten foot by ten foot space with as many little round tables and chairs as could be crammed into it per the laws of physics, but instead what I found was spatial extravagance. There was room to walk between the tables. People could have conversations without the absolute certainty that the words they spoke were being overheard by the person sitting two inches behind them. A ladder on top of another ladder would be needed to reach the ceiling. And it had big, sunny windows on two sides, all along the wall that faced Main Street and all along the wall that faced the corner side street, making it look even bigger.

  "Wow." I felt like I was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I'd been swept up from the churning bustle of Chicago and dropped right in the middle of a magical place where people could stretch their legs, lean back in their chairs and prop their arms behind their heads without worrying about blocking the path of another.

  "Kylie!" Sarah exclaimed.

  I turned my head to the left, toward Sarah's voice and a grill-style bar. Over the bar was a large banner that read, "We'll miss you!" with Sarah's name taped on at the end on a large piece of colorful construction paper. Sarah had her hands thrown up in the air as if to celebrate, and all of the patrons at the bar were swiveled around on their stools to stare at me.

  Sarah didn't exactly come running from around the bar to greet me. It's more like she bounced. She was wearing denim overalls that were rolled at the ankle, a sleeveless tee with a scoop neck, and cute little white canvas shoes without socks. Her eyes crinkled heavily at the corners from her enormous smile, but it looked good on her.

  "Hey!" She threw her arms around me in a warm, snuggly hug. Her hair smelled like apples with a hint of grilled cheese. "I knew you'd make it in time."

  "Hi," I said, with a panic-smile plastered on my face. "You going somewhere?"

  Sarah sighed and got dreamy-eyed. "I just couldn't wait a minute more to go join Jon in Seattle. All my stuff is packed and ready to go."

  Breathe. Keep breathing, I told myself while another little voice inside my head screeched, Homeless! You're going to be sleeping on the streets!<
br />
  I should have kept the car keys. I could have at least slept in it. A crowbar. I could break into the trunk in the middle of the night. And the trunk was roomy! No one would have to see me sleeping in the car. I could use the clothes in my suitcase to make a cozy little bed for myself.

  "That's great." My voice barely wavered, but I felt a cold sweat breaking out on my upper lip.

  "Come on," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind her. "I want you to meet the regulars. This going away party was their idea."

  I eyed them, wondering if one of them would take over the café. Then I wondered if they would give me a job.

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  7. Vernon

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Blurb

  Untitled

  Sneak Peak: A Berry Deadly Welcome

  Chapter Two