Page 24 of Transatlantic Terror Cruise

“Elvie!” I paste on a manufactured smile, the kind that screamsI’m certainly not here to accuse you of murder. “So nice to see you again. We met yesterday. Although with everything you’ve been through, I’m sure you don’t remember.”

“Of course, I remember you.” Elvie’s perfectly lined lips curve upward and her features soften as she says it. Her brown eyes are the color of root beer and they look as warm as can be. “You’re the one who solves all the crimes around here.” She turns to Tinsley and picks up her hands. “And I certainly know who you are—you’re the superfan.”

“That I am.” Tinsley puffs up like a peacock at a beauty contest—if that beauty contest ended in a homicide. And if she puffed up any more, she’d float away. A part of me wishes she would. I’m not sure how I feel teaming up in an investigation with Tinsley.

Besides, I’ve already teamed up with Ransom and Wes. I think.

“We’re so sorry about what happened to your husband,” I say to Elvie and her chest expands and quivers.

“Yes, I’m so very sorry as well.” She closes her eyes for a moment. “But, like I mentioned earlier, he would have wanted me to go on with things.” She waves an arm around the room. “Despite our differences, he was my biggest cheerleader when it came to my little cosmetics empire.”

“It’s true.” Sassy ticks her head to the side. “But it’s most likely not for the reasons Elvie might think.”

I gasp as I look at the waifish wraith.

I’ll have to quiz Sassy later on exactly why she’d say something like that.

“What’s the matter?” Elvie leans my way. “You’re not having a reaction to the food, are you?” Her mouth rounds out in horror as if this were a real possibility.

“Oh no,” I say, quickly looking around for a grounded reason for my reaction and spot Bess and Nettie getting their faces dusted with sparkling rouge and bright blue eyeshadow.

Oh my word, they both look like clowns!

I clear my throat. “I was just looking at all the wonderful makeover transformations taking place.”

Honestly, I’m a little shocked at how easily I spilled the lie.

“Oh please, girls.” Elvie motions to a couple of empty chairs next to her. “Take a seat. I’d be glad to give you both a makeover. In fact, it will help me a ton—you know, with the grief. I just need to take my mind off of things until this ship gets to port. I can’t believe this awful thing happened, and here I am stuck on a cruise ship for the next week and a half.”

“Well, if you really don’t mind,” I say, shrugging at Tinsley and we both promptly plop in a chair.

“Ooh.” Sassy floats before us. “You are in for a treat. No one knows their way around Luscious and Delicious cosmetics like the queen of beauty herself. You’re both going to look like royalty once she’s through with you.”

Here’s hoping.

I cast a side glance back at Bess and Nettie and see that they’re having their lips drawn in at exaggerated angles.

Oh, good grief. The only position in a royal court those poor women are fit for is the part of court jesters.

“I hope you like lots of glam,” Elvie says as she begins to brush a liquid foundation on us, alternating from Tinsley to me. And is she using the same brush?

Tinsley and I have very different skin tones. Maybe this is one of those self-adjusting foundations. Not that I believe in their ability to adjust across such a vast spectrum.

Tinsley’s skin has a constant warm glow, while on most days I look as if I’ve crawled out from under a rock.

“I just love glam,” Tinsley says as she lifts her face toward Elvie’s artist brush strokes. “In fact, I think I’ll get dolled up later now that I’ll be looking my best and see if I can’t find me a man to entertain.”

Entertain?

I shoot Tinsley a look, but she’s stoically staring at the ceiling.

Sassy snorts. “If she finds herself a man to entertain, I’ll be entertaining myself by pulling up a front-row seat.”

I can’t help but frown at the glib ghost for thinking it, let alone speaking it out loud. Although, as far as the bedroom peanut gallery goes, she’s already done as much with me.

Hey? Maybe Tinsley and her man can take the spotlight off of Ransom and me for a while?

Hand to Heaven, Tinsley would be my new best friend if she could pull off that feat.

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