Page 63 of Transatlantic Terror Cruise

Was she? Oh, good grief. I have no idea where Elvie was at the time of the murder. Heck, I don’t even know thetimeof the murder.

“Actually, I was speaking with Reed.” Elvie shrugs and looks just as stupefied by my lucky guess as I am.

“Well, there you go,” I say, slightly bowing to the woman before me in the burgundy dress. “I’m sorry for Tinsley’s crass behavior.” I turn to the crass woman in question and whisper, “Some of us prefer proper procedures.”

“Some of us prefer solving cases,” she whisper-shouts back, to my horror.

“Ladies,” Sassy snips, despite the fact only one lady here is privy to her haunted vocals. “You’re both pretty good crime fighters. Now, can we please focus on the suspicious widow?” She wrinkles her nose at her old friend. “If she did it, I say we shake her hand and call it a night. I’d hate to see her rotting away in some prison just because she married someone so rotten.”

I nod her way because frankly, I agree.

“Elvie.” I soften my voice as I look at the woman. “I’m sorry things have been so tragic for you on this trip. But I am glad that you’re surrounded by so many supporters in your time of need. Especially Reed. I mean, he was Brad’s best friend.”

“Thank you, Trixie.” She tips her head to the side but doesn’t look as convinced by that last fact as I am. “Reed has been my staunch supporter for some time now.”

“Oh? Before the murder?” I ask.

“Heavens yes.” Her eyes enlarge for a moment as if that were a given. “The man has many talents, and making a woman feel better is definitely one of them.”

“I can vouch for that.” Sassy blows on her nails then rubs them on her glowing dress.

“I’m glad he’s been there for you,” I tell her and I mean it to my core. There are few worse feelings than that of having a disloyal spouse. “I hear among his talents is noticing when money goes missing from accounts.” Okay, I couldn’t help myself. But it’s Elvie’s fault for practically rolling out the red carpet to that one.

Her champagne glass freezes halfway to her lips. “Pardon me?”

Tinsley scoffs in my direction. “What my colleague means to say is that we have evidence of financial irregularities.”

Oh my word, why in the world did I let her tag along?

I shake my head at Elvie with an emphatic vigor. “We are not in any way investigating your husband’s case.”

And now we can add lying to my long list of indiscretions.

“Is that so?” Elvie says with a dark laugh. “Oh honey, if you weren’t, you’d be the only two people in the room. I hate to break it to you, but this entire ship is trying to track down my husband’s killer.”

A moment pulses by as the chatter from the room fills the void.

“How about you?” I ask with a shrug. “Are you trying to solve it as well?”

Sassy zooms in as if she, too, wants to hear the answer.

“No,” Elvie says defiantly as she glares out at the water. “I wanted him out of my life. Albeit this was one scenario I didn’t think of.”

“I knew she didn’t do it,” Sassy says with more than a hint of relief in her voice.

I’m not that as easily convinced.

“Elvie”—I take a careful step in—“we know Brad was dipping into the Luscious and Delicious accounts.”

Her mouth opens and closes. “Oh, well”—she tosses her hands in the air—“at this point, so what? Yes, Brad was helping himself to my money, and do you want to know why? To help fund his affair with some floozy.” Her voice breaks as she says it.

Both Tinsley and I recoil just hearing the pain behind her words.

“I’m so sorry,” I say.

“Oh, don’t be,” she growls. “You know, I used to have this assistant. Her name was Sassy.” She gives a mournful laugh as she says it. “Well, that was what we all called her. And it’s during stressful times like these that I really miss her most.”

“Aww,” Sassy coos at the thought, patting her hand to her chest. And if I’m not mistaken, tears are rolling down her cheeks.

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