Motherhood is Murder(6)

She shrugged him off. “Why did you even come on this cruise?” she said to Evelyn. “You aren’t a member of Roo & You anymore. I’m sure Helene made that clear to you!”

Evelyn’s face flushed bright red. A lock of blond hair slipped from her barrette and fell across her face; she fiercely brushed it aside, then jutted her finger out at Sara. “I saw you and Helene arguing at the top of the stairs. I saw you. I saw you fighting!”

Indignation crossed Sara’s face, but before she could reply, her husband noisily pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “Come on. We don’t need to sit here and listen to this.”

Sara seemed torn. She looked as though she wanted to stay and fight with Evelyn, but couldn’t find the courage to stand up to her husband.

She pressed her lips together as her husband grabbed her arm. She stood and glared at Evelyn, then walked with him to the lounge area.

Evelyn’s husband, Fred, patted her arm. “Honey, don’t upset yourself or the baby.”

Evelyn huffed an inaudible response.

Our table fell into silence.

A fight?

I remembered Sara, Miss No-Nonsense, in the bathroom and how disheveled she looked. Why had her dress been wet?

I imagined Helene throwing a drink at her and Sara pushing Helene down the stairs.

No.

Too dramatic.

Jim leaned close to me and whispered, “I didn’t know we’d get to see fireworks on this cruise.”

I elbowed him.

“And we didn’t even have to pay extra!” he continued.

One agency or other was always advertising firework displays on the San Francisco Bay, whether it was after a ball game or during a dinner cruise. Usually there was an extra charge at those events.

I shook my head at him, conjuring visions of the medical examiner hovering over a pasty Helene.

Poor thing!

Fred leaned in toward Evelyn. “What did she mean, you aren’t a member of Roo & You?”

Evelyn flicked her hand about as though to distract us or at the very least indicate to her husband to move off the topic. “I saw Helene and Sara bickering at the top of the staircase that Helene fell down.”

“Over what?” Fred asked.

Margaret and Officer Lee approached our table. Evelyn fanned her hand at Fred, silencing him.

Margaret reached her chair and seated herself, tucking in her tutu around her. Lee scanned the room. I followed his gaze, which settled on Sara and Howard arguing in a corner of the lounge. I turned back to face Officer Lee, only to see him leave our table and head toward Sara.

Margaret’s lipstick had faded to nothing and her eyes looked drawn. I glanced at my watch. It was well past midnight now and I was feeling sapped. With Margaret’s return, the table had fallen into silence and I longed to be alone with Jim.

Jim wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Are you cold, honey? You want me to get you some hot coffee?”

I perked up. “I’ll go with you.”

We stood to leave and ended up taking orders from our table for hot teas and coffees. As we made our way to the bar, I noticed that several passengers were speaking with officers at strategic locations throughout the dining and lounge area. One silver-haired woman was speaking animatedly with a female officer. She was gesticulating wildly while the officer scribbled notes on a notepad.

I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but Jim was walking too fast. At six foot two, Jim has serious long legs, so they don’t even have to be moving all that fast to leave me in the dust. I pulled at his arm to slow him down.

He stopped walking and smiled at me. “Sorry, honey.” He kissed me. “It’s terrible about your friend. I hope she’s okay.”

“She’s not. When I called Mom, I bumped into Nick Dowling,” I said.

Jim’s eyes narrowed. “Isn’t he the coroner?”

“Medical examiner, yeah.”

Jim paled. “Does his being here mean Helene is—”

“Dead,” I whispered.

“Does anyone else know?” Jim asked.

I shrugged. “Well, I suppose the cops do and I’m sure Margaret’s podiatrist husband knows. Right? I mean even though he’s—”

“Okay, okay. I know a podiatrist can be a doctor. I meant, do you think anyone at our table knows?”

“I think they all know a podiatrist can be a doctor.”

Jim shook his head at my bad joke. “Do they know about Helene?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, don’t say anything, all right? It looks bad that the ME is here, but we don’t know anything for sure, right? So let’s not say anything and get anyone more upset than they already are.”

I nodded in agreement. We reached the bar and placed our order. Officer Lee appeared next to me.

“Mrs. Connolly, I’d like to have a word with you next.”





CHAPTER THREE





Digging





Officer Lee and I situated ourselves in a corner of the bar, each of us in a black lounge chair, a video console game of Pac-Man between us.

I placed my coffee on the video game tabletop and fingered the recycling logo on the Styrofoam cup. “What can I do to help?”