The place was packed tonight, with not a foot of dance space left and all the tables taken. Around the back of the room and surrounding the tank were people standing in lines, drinking, chatting, laughing.
The lounge was swinging.
I gave a wave to Gilbert as he swam buy, then pulled my hand back feeling foolish. I swear he smiled at me though.
Hunter put his hand on my lower back and led me toward the bar. Two seats were empty but had drinks in front of them. My Coors Light in the bottle and Hunter’s Scotch on the rocks. My feminist side should be miffed that he assumed that he knew what I wanted, yet I needed a swig of the cold beer right about now-and it was kind of nice to have it there waiting.
“Pauline, help yourself to your drink. I have to go appease some of the passengers. I’ll be right back though.” He bent forward.
I eased back a bit, but he managed to kiss my cheek. I wanted to smack him and yell that he shouldn’t have gotten rid of my Jagger. Instead I mumbled that was fine and thought to myself that he could stay away all night and I wouldn’t care.
Edie came over and chatted a few minutes, but she was so busy she couldn’t stay long.
“This seat taken?” I heard from behind.
“I’m afraid it-” I swung around to address the guy then stopped. “Do you Feds have jurisdiction over dolphin bar stools? If so, have at it.”
Tim chuckled and moved Hunter’s glass to the side and then sat. “I’ll leave when he comes back.”
I was about to say don’t, but then Tim would think that I wanted him to stay! Ah, the dilemmas of dating. The swinging singles could have them. “Hey, I found something out today.” I told him about the damn tee-shirt follies and took a swig of my beer.
He seemed to ponder what I’d just said.
“You don’t think I’ve seen Remy at all, do you?” I said.
He looked at me over his glass while he drank. “Do you?”
Damn it. I blew out a breath. “I was so sure that I had, Tim. I mean after finding his stuff in that room and seeing him in the picture, I was sure. Besides, who tried to throw me overboard?”
“It was a foggy night, Pauline. The deck was very slippery. Maybe you slid toward the railing when you ran after what you thought was Remy. Or it could have been that you surprised whoever it was and couldn’t clearly see him because of the weather.”
That was a possibility. I polished off my Coors and waved to Edie. “You want another one?” I asked Tim.
He looked taken aback that a woman would even ask that, and I remembered that he probably didn’t think I should be working a case either, despite what Goldie had said about him not being a chauvinist.
So, I proceeded to tell him all that I found out about the billing. Tim seemed very interested and even made a few notes. Suddenly I felt more like we were working together, and it felt kind of nice.
I looked in the mirror behind the bar, and all of a sudden, I felt a chill race up my spine.
Stella Sokol fast approached.
“There you are, Pauline. My goodness, it has been so long since Daddy and I have seen you. We’ve been to the movies, two shows, Daddy won a hundred dollars on the slot machines and I won three.”
“Dollars?”
“No, silly. Three hundred dollars.” She patted me on the arm. I wanted to ask who she was and where was the real Stella Sokol. So far, she hadn’t even acknowledged Tim or tried to fix me up with him.
Then the world screeched to a halt.
Mother leaned over and gave Tim a hug!
I started to introduce them, but the words stuck in my throat.
Mother waved at me as if erasing what little I could say midair. “Don’t be silly, Pauline. We’ve met. Dear Tim-” She looked at him and I think gave him a kind of sexy smile.
I looked away too fast to see the entire incident, twisting the muscles of my neck in the process. “Ouch!”
Mother ignored me. “-would I say ‘interrogated’ Daddy and me, Agent Harwinton?”
I gasped.
Tim chuckled. “Questioned, Stella. Questioned is fine.”
I pushed my hand past my mother’s arm and grabbed Tim on the sleeve of his-what else-dark gray suit. “You questioned my parents?”
“Take it easy. We questioned everyone onboard, Pauline. You should know that.”
I let go and sat back. It dawned on me that my parents knew about Jackie’s murder and hadn’t summoned me to their cabin to stay with them the rest of the trip. Edie hadn’t brought my drink yet, which turned out to be a good thing. Probably I would have downed it in one gulp.
“Daddy is still in the casino, having the time of his life. I’m just here to find Goldie and Miles. They are meeting us for dinner on the upper deck. My treat.” She laughed.
I was about to check her forehead.
Stella Sokol had to be feverish.
“I haven’t seen them,” was all I could manage. Living in the Twilight Zone had taken away all my intelligence. Sitting silently for a few minutes, I watched Tim and Mother converse, then she kissed him on the cheek, gave me a wave, said she was glad I was with him for safety and was gone.
Who was that woman?
I needed pine-scented Renuzit.
And I needed my mother back to normal!
Maybe the fog of the Bermuda Triangle had had some kind of paranormal effect on her. I only hoped Daddy and Uncle Walt were not affected too!
After what seemed like hours but had to be only a few seconds, I looked at Tim.
He smiled and gave me a look like, Why can’t you be as carefree as your mom?
“That is not really her!” I yelled above the tango music. “That’s not my mother. Stella Sokol does not…” What was I doing?
“She’s not really your mother?” I could see a faint grin as he took a sip of his drink.
“Of course she is. I’m sure you know all about me, down to my parking tickets.”
“Tickets? Unpaid? How many?”
“Never mind. Are you going to question them anymore?” I wanted desperately to change the subject.
If only I could have Gilbert the dolphin swim me back to Connecticut.
Hunter came up from behind and cleared his throat.
“Oh, hi,” I said. “Everything all right with the Lee women?”
His eyebrows rose. “How did you know they were the passengers that complained?”
Because you threw Jagger off the boat because of them. “Let’s just say…I’ve met them and it was a lucky guess.”
He looked at Tim and said, “Fine. They are happy and everything is fine. Now we can enjoy our date.”
Tim stood and picked up his drink. “Actually, I have to borrow Ms. Sokol for a few minutes. She’s the last on my list to question.”
My eyes widened. I wanted to scream that I had nothing to do with the murder and that I’d already given statement after statement. But if I did that, I’d have to stay with wishy-washy Hunter, who placated passengers like the Lee women.
So, I smiled and said, “I’m really beat too. As soon as Tim is done with me…is done asking me questions, I’m going to head back to my cabin. Thanks for a nice night.” Nice night? I hadn’t spoken two words to Hunter, but it seemed an appropriate goodbye.
Once out of the lounge, I grabbed Tim’s arm. “Look, I’ve go nothing more to tell you about Jackie’s death. That night I told you guys all I knew. All I’d seen. I have no motive other than once I caught her painting her toenails on my bed.”
With a typical FBI solemn face, he took his notebook out of his breast pocket, pulled out a little pencil like the one I’d gotten from Uncle Walt’s golf bag and sneaked into a mental hospital on my last case, and started to write.
I froze on the spot.
“Color?” he asked.
“What?”
“What color nail polish?”
The old phobia of being arrested when I was not guilty sped through my Coors-affected mind. “What…what are you…I didn’t do…Tim, you have to believe…I had nothing-”