“Well, I must say you’ve done a lousy job. Our most prominent passenger has been murdered and the necklace has been stolen. And it’s obvious you’ve made no progress finding the Man with One Thousand Faces. All this time you were busy throwing ashes over the side of my ship. If you were my employee, I’d fire you.”
“Fortunately, I am not your employee, Mr. Morrison. I work for the best international detective agency in the world. And I might add that under no circumstances would I ever consider working for you.”
When the jewelry presentation was finished, Devon lingered near the door long enough to see Celia leave with Ted Cavanaugh. A romance in the making? he wondered. I don’t care one way or the other. There are less than two days left on the cruise. Before we reach Southampton, I intend to find that necklace. And I’d love to shove it down Morrison’s throat, he thought.
70
Professor Henry Longworth had not intended to go to Celia’s third presentation, however after his lecture was finished and he had had a quick lunch, he decided to go. He got to the auditorium just a few minutes before Celia was introduced and stayed at the back until just before the program was set to begin.
When he saw Brenda come in, he shrank against the wall. The last thing he needed was to be subjected to her tiresome comments during the jewelry discussion. He waited until she had settled into a seat before he circumnavigated and took a seat as far away as humanly possible.
When he sat down, he took a good look around. To his chagrin, Celia had almost twice the audience he had had for his talk. She’s talking about jewelry, base baubles, he thought. I’m talking about the Bard, the finest writer the world has ever known!
Jealous? I admit I am, he told himself. Nevertheless, she is a rather nice young woman. Is she poor Cordelia, falsely accused and misunderstood, or is she Lady Macbeth, a cold killer encased in lovely femininity? he mused.
He recognized that he was engaging in his favorite dalliance, trying to decide if anyone would guess who murdered Lady Em.
By the end of Celia’s lecture, he was sure no one would suspect her. Then who would people suspect?
He looked around. How about Brenda Martin? There she was, sitting five rows ahead of him and far to his left. He thought of how she had bolted up from the table after the Captain’s announcement that Lady Haywood had died in her sleep. But then she had returned only a few minutes later. It was obvious that what should have been distressing news, that her employer had died, had not affected her appetite. To his disappointment she did not discuss what had happened when she reached the suite. Of course, by then speculation was widely available on news sites that Lady Em had been murdered and her famous necklace stolen.
He glanced over at Brenda inadvertently and caught her eye. I’d love to read your mind, he thought. I wonder what I’d find there. False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
When the hour ended, he stood up with the others, waited until Brenda had left the auditorium, then sauntered out with the few remaining guests. He did not feel any need for company and went directly to his suite. There he opened the bar and made himself a gin martini. With a sigh of satisfaction, he settled in the club chair, put his feet on the hassock, and began to sip.
This trip may be crazy, he thought, but even so it does have all the amenities they promised. And a murder on board is such an interesting plot twist. He began to laugh.
71
When she left Ted Cavanaugh, Celia went straight to her room. She admitted to herself that she had really enjoyed sharing a cocktail with him, but did not want to dwell on it. Instead she was desperate to know what people really thought of her.
She had spotted Yvonne and her two friends in the audience. She could only imagine how Yvonne was feeling. I hope my presentation took her mind off things for a while, Celia thought. She had barely reached the suite when the phone rang. She hoped it was Alvirah, and she was pleased to hear her voice.
“Celia, your presentation was simply wonderful,” Alvirah said. “I thought you were terrific the other day, but you were even better today.”
Take refuge my heart, Celia thought to herself. But she had to admit Alvirah’s compliment made her feel much better.
“I’ve been giving a lot of thought to your situation,” Alvirah continued. “I’d like to come see you in your room.”
“I could use a friend. Come on over.”
She was so used to seeing Alvirah and Willy together that it was a surprise to see Alvirah alone at her door. When she let her in, Alvirah anxiously asked, “Are you sure this isn’t an intrusion? I know you might be tired after your presentation.”
“Frankly, I’m glad to have your company, Alvirah. When I’m alone, I have too much time to think.”
“Well, that makes me feel better,” Alvirah said, as she sat on the couch.
“Celia, Willy and I know perfectly well that there is no way on God’s earth that you ever would or could have harmed Lady Emily or stolen her necklace.”
“Thank you,” Celia murmured. Should I? she asked herself. She decided the answer was yes.
She reached into her pocket and took out the Cleopatra necklace. Seeing the shocked expression on Alvirah’s face, she said, “I didn’t steal it. Lady Em gave it to me. Let me explain what happened.
“Right after I got back to my suite last night, Lady Em phoned and asked me to come to her suite. She told me to bring my loupe, the eyepiece I use to examine jewelry. When I got to her suite, she handed me a bracelet and asked for my opinion regarding how valuable it was. It was easy to see that it was composed of inferior diamonds. It was virtually worthless. When I told Lady Em, she looked terribly sad. She told me that she believed her assistant Brenda had been switching her good jewelry for cheap imitations.
“?‘But Brenda has been with you for twenty years,’ I said. Lady Em told me that she was very sure of what she was saying, and that Brenda looked extremely uncomfortable when Lady Em told her the jewelry didn’t look right.
“Then she said that she felt so disappointed because she had always been so kind to Brenda and very generous.”
“How sad,” Alvirah sighed.
“That isn’t all,” Celia continued. “Lady Em also told me that she was convinced that Roger Pearson was cheating her. Apparently she told him yesterday that she was planning to have an outside accountant go over all of her affairs, and he looked very distressed.”