“Maybe Daniel Taylor and Stephanie Gomez knew each other?” Odelia suggested.

  It was all very much a mystery, and the solution would have to wait, for our next ‘witness’ had walked into the captain’s office. This time Eric had graced us with his presence. He didn’t look comfortable, but graciously complied.

  “So what would you like to know?” asked Harry’s best friend.

  “Just a few routine questions,” said Odelia. “Like where you were last night between midnight and three.”

  “In bed asleep,” he said promptly.

  “Anyone who can vouch for you?”

  “I slept alone, if that’s what you mean.”

  “So Chloe…”

  “Chloe and I have split up,” he said curtly.

  “Oh? Is that a recent development, or…”

  “A very recent development. It happened last night, in fact.”

  “This wouldn’t be connected to the murder of Daniel Taylor, would it?”

  “Is that the name of the dead man? No, there’s no connection. The reason Chloe and I…” He frowned. “Is it really important that you know?”

  “It might be relevant,” said Odelia.

  “Okay, we had a fight. A big fight. And so Chloe walked out and I spent the night alone in our cabin. I don’t know where she went, but she wasn’t with me.”

  “So you and Harry, Chloe and Kim went swimming last night. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “When did you return to the boat?”

  “Um… must have been… eleven-ish?”

  “And you didn’t go out again?”

  “I didn’t go out again,” he said, shuffling a little uneasily.

  “It’s just that…” Odelia leaned back and smiled. “It’s come to my attention that you confessed to Harry last night that you’re gay.”

  Eric’s jaw dropped, and his face immediately flushed. “Harry told you that?”

  “It’s not important who told me. Is it true?”

  His flush deepened, and he was wringing his hands nervously. “I really don’t see how this is relevant.”

  “Let me be the judge of what is or isn’t relevant, all right?”

  “Okay, so yeah, it’s true. I told Harry that I’m gay. I also told him that…” He licked his lips and cast down his eyes. “I-I told him that…”

  “That you like him more than just as a friend.”

  Eric stared at her. “How do you… Look, this is all getting very personal. None of this has any bearing on what happened to that guy Emily stabbed.”

  “Isn’t it possible,” said Odelia, tapping her notebook with her stylus, “that after Harry turned you down, you became very upset? You returned to the boat, where you had a fight with Chloe, who had learned from Harry that you were in love with your best friend. As a consequence you became even more upset. So you took a vessel to shore, where you proceeded to frequent some of the nightclubs and got well and truly drunk. Which is when you met Daniel Taylor and invited him back to the boat with you. Only you stumbled into the wrong cabin by mistake, where Emily was fast asleep. I don’t know what happened next, but it’s not inconceivable that Mr. Taylor expressed his regret about agreeing to join you on the boat and turned down your advances. You flew into a rage and killed him, then left to return to your cabin.”

  Eric had been shaking his head all throughout this long harangue. It all sounded very plausible to me, but Eric wasn’t having it.

  “That didn’t happen, all right?” he said. “I never left the boat, I never met this Daniel Taylor person, and I definitely didn’t bring him back with me and killed him. I mean, you’re just making all this up!”

  “I agree there are a few loose ends,” said Odelia. “Like the key to Emily’s cabin. But I’ve checked these cabin doors, and they all look pretty flimsy to me. One good push might have done the trick.”

  “Okay, I’m out of here,” said Eric, getting up. “I agreed to do this interview out of respect for Harry’s dad, but I don’t have to sit here and listen to a bunch of nonsense.”

  “If you’re innocent, then why are you so upset?” asked Odelia.

  “Because you’ve just accused me of murder, that’s why!” He was gripping the back of the chair like a vise, and his face was beet-red. “You’re not a cop, lady, and besides, you’ve got no jurisdiction here as far I’m aware. So respectfully buzz off, will you? And go and spout your filthy theories somewhere else.”

  And with these words, he promptly walked out and was gone.

  “That went well,” said Odelia as she blew out a breath.

  “I thought so,” I said.

  “He looked guilty to me,” said Dooley. “I think you’ve got your killer, Odelia.”

  “I thought you said Daniel Taylor’s death was an accident?” I said.

  “I’m having second thoughts about that,” Dooley said. “It could have been murder. And my money is on Eric. He had the motive, he had the means, and he had the opportunity—and the temper!”

  “He has the temper, all right,” said Odelia. She gave us an uncertain glance. “If he comes back with a knife in his hand, you guys will protect me, right?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “If Eric takes a swipe at you, I’ll take a swipe at him.”

  “Me, too!” said Dooley enthusiastically. “Wow, three interviews in and already you have nailed two killers! Way to go, Odelia!”

  CHAPTER 37

  Of all the interviewees Amanda proved the most reluctant to talk to us. “When Steven told me you wanted to see me I thought he was joking,” she declared. “You can’t seriously think I had something to do with that poor man’s death?”

  “We’re simply trying to get to the bottom of what happened,” said Odelia. “And I’m sure you’ll be able to shed some light on the tragic events, considering one of the theories I’m toying with is that this murder was perpetrated by the same person or persons who sent Emily those threatening messages I mentioned earlier. And you, Mrs. Griffiths, have never been shy about expressing your disapproval of Emily.”

  Amanda studied her fingernails. “That doesn’t mean I would commit murder in order to get rid of the girl. I’m not a killer, Mrs. Kingsley. And besides, I may not approve of Emily, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect Harry’s wishes. If he loves this girl and wants to marry her, that’s his business.”

  “So where were you last night, let’s say between midnight and three o’clock?”

  “In my cabin.”

  “Can anyone confirm that?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes.” She smiled finely. “Heather was with me. In fact we stayed up half the night talking. You see, Emily isn’t the only one who’s wrestling with some personal issues right now.”

  “I would hardly call being arrested for murder a personal issue.”

  “Be that as it may, not everything has to revolve around Emily,” Amanda insisted. “Heather is my dear friend, and she’s currently in the process of divorcing Brian, so naturally she needed my support.”

  “Which is what you spent half the night talking about.”

  “Exactly,” said Amanda, who was clearly satisfied with the way this interview was going. “Anything else you would like to know?”

  “It’s come to my attention that you’re having a baby. Is that true?”

  Amanda was taken aback by this. “How do you know?” she snapped. But when Odelia merely smiled, she continued, “Please don’t tell Steven. I want to be the one who breaks the news to him. And the kids, of course. Besides, I don’t see what this has to do with this murder business.”

  “If Emily found out about the baby, and you were desperate to keep it a secret from your family, it may have given you an extra motive to get rid of her by any means necessary. And seeing Emily convicted and locked up for murder would do the trick: no more talk about a baby, since Emily would have bigger fish to fry than some gossip she overheard, plus it would put a stop to that wedding once and for all.”

  “Well, I didn’t do it,” said Amanda. “I don’t care who knows about the baby, but I want to be the one to break the news to my family. Is that too much to ask?” She directed an almost pleading look at Odelia, who seemed to waver.

  “No, absolutely,” she said finally. “My lips are sealed.”

  “How did you find out, by the way?”

  “It’s a boat, Amanda. Filled with crew members. And as we all know, people talk.”

  “I should have been more discreet,” Amanda confessed. “When I find out who has been gossiping about me behind my back, I’ll…” But then she remembered who she was talking to, and plastered an insincere smile onto her face. “Was there anything else, Mrs. Kingsley?”

  Amanda’s husband Steven was next on our list, and contrary to his wife he was most happy to talk. “Look, I’m not going to hide the fact that I didn’t like Emily, all right? I figured she was an unsuitable match for my son. But to sabotage the wedding? Make her look bad? Even commit murder to get rid of her? I would never resort to such crude tactics. Mostly because if Harry found out I’d lose my boy. And that’s the last thing I want. I even told Amanda that we needed to respect Harry’s decision if we didn’t want to alienate him from us.”

  “Amanda took a different view, did she?”

  “Oh, Amanda is all talk and no action. She would never do anything like the kind of stuff you’ve described. Hacking phones and stealing pictures? Murdering a person to frame Harry’s girlfriend? Never. And besides, Amanda spent half the night talking to Heather again. When those two start chatting they lose all track of time. Once they managed to talk on the phone for twelve hours straight. Twelve hours!”

  “So while Amanda was talking to Heather…”

  “I was in bed, alone. I shot off a couple of emails, read a little, then must have drifted off to sleep around one, one-thirty.”

  “You didn’t hear anything? No sounds of a fight?”

  “Nothing. Which is odd, since our cabin is right across the corridor from Emily’s. So if this fella they found dead put up a struggle, I should have heard it. But instead I heard nothing out of the ordinary.”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary? So what did you hear, exactly?”

  “Oh, you know. The usual. The water splashing against the hull. Amanda and Heather gibbering away in the next room. Some boats arriving in the night—you can hear those diesel engines chugging away. But no sounds of a struggle or a fight or anything like that.”

  “Okay,” said Odelia, looking disappointed.

  “Listen, I don’t like this any more than you do,” said Steven, folding his arms across his chest. “This won’t do our reputation any good, and Amanda’s next garden party is probably going to be a bust, since no one will want to be associated with us after what happened. But if Emily is tried and convicted of this thing, and has to serve an actual prison sentence, it’ll be the end of her and Harry’s wedding plans.”

  “Because of the clause.”

  “Because of the clause. More than anything the clause is a morality clause. To prevent people of ill repute from marrying into the family. And a convict isn’t exactly the kind of person my grandfather wanted to see marrying a Griffiths, so that wedding is definitely off. Which means Harry is going to be very upset with us, and that’s the last thing I want. No father likes to tell his son he can’t marry the girl of his dreams.”

  “And if Harry insists and marries Emily regardless of what you tell him?”

  “Then the stipulations of my grandfather’s will are clear. He will still be a member of the Griffiths family, but he will forfeit his claim to any monetary or other benefit deriving from being a family member. So no inheritance. No role in the family firm. Nothing. He’ll have to make his own way through life, and will suddenly find himself penniless and homeless.”

  “That’s a little harsh.”

  Steven shrugged. “Them’s the rules, Mrs. Kingsley. I don’t like it either, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Which is why I would very much like you to succeed in finding out what happened to Daniel Taylor. It’s my fervent wish that Emily is found innocent, and that the wedding will go through, her name cleared of all wrongdoing. So we can all go on with our lives and put this dreadful episode behind us.”

  CHAPTER 38

  “Look, I don’t know what this is all about,” said Chloe. “But I had nothing to do with any of it, I swear. Okay, so I’m not exactly Emily’s biggest fan, but that doesn’t mean I’d try to harm her or anything.”

  Eric’s girlfriend seemed a lot less high-handed than usual, and displayed none of the swagger she had shown yesterday, when she had laughed at Emily’s surprise meeting in the street with Oliver Rose.

  “But it’s true that you’re in love with Harry yourself,” said Odelia, “and so if Emily were out of the picture, that would be very convenient for you, wouldn’t you say?”

  Chloe gaped at our human. “How do you… Did Harry tell you that?” She quickly recovered, though. “Okay, so it’s true that I like him. But as a friend. I can see how happy he is with Emily, and because he’s my friend, I’m happy for him.”

  “So you didn’t feel Emily was getting between Harry and his friends? Driving a wedge between you?”

  Once again Chloe paused. “I don’t know where you’re getting all this, but I can assure you that—”

  “You and Eric broke up last night, didn’t you? That must have been some fight you had.”

  “We did have a fight,” she admitted. “But I’m sure that we can still work things out. I love Eric and he loves me. All couples go through this, and—”

  “But Eric told Harry he’s gay, and that he has feelings for him. And Harry told you. That must have stung.”

  Chloe’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times. “I admit that…”

  “And then when you tried to kiss Harry, and he rejected you, that must have stung even more.”

  There was more mimicking of a fish on dry land. “But… I didn’t…”

  “So after all of that you must have felt betrayed, angry—furious, even. So did you decide that Emily had to pay? That she had to go, so you could have Harry all to yourself? Maybe without Emily he might be more susceptible to your charms?”

  “No!” said Chloe. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you have been Emily’s worst enemy from the moment she stepped on board the Audrey. Gossiping behind her back. Hacking her ex-boyfriend’s phone and stealing Emily’s private pictures.”

  “What? No!”

  “You showed some of Emily’s messages to Harry last night. Messages Emily supposedly sent to Eric, even though you must have known full well that Emily would never do such a thing.”

  Chloe was staring daggers at Odelia, and if looks could kill, Odelia would have been dead ten times over. She abruptly rose to her feet. “I don’t have to listen to this. It’s all lies. Lies and innuendo.”

  “Oh, one more thing,” said Odelia as Chloe’s hand grabbed the door handle. She turned. “You didn’t sleep in your cabin last night, so Eric informs me. So where were you between midnight and three?”

  “I asked a crew member to give me a different cabin,” said Chloe. “Where I slept. Alone. Satisfied?”

  Odelia merely smiled and jotted down a note.

  “And for your information, Eric isn’t gay. He just thinks he is. And I promise you that we will work through our problems. And also, Harry is simply a dear, dear friend, and I am absolutely not in love with him. I never was. So that kiss meant nothing. And I think Emily is lovely, and I wish them all the luck in the world. The rest is malicious gossip, and it is beneath you to believe any of it. Goodbye, Mrs. Kingsley.”

  “Goodbye, Miss Adams.”

  “Well, that was interesting,” said Odelia once Chloe had left the office. “I’m starting to understand why Chase likes these interview so much. You learn a lot from a person when you pressure them a little.”

  “You’re the good cop and the bad cop all rolled into one,” I said.

  “Yeah, I guess I am,” Odelia said with a grin. “So what do we think? Is Chloe capable of murder?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “I definitely wouldn’t put it past her.”

  “I think she’s very pretty,” said Dooley.

  “The fact that she’s pretty unfortunately doesn’t mean she’s innocent,” said Odelia with a laugh.

  “How many more?” I asked. I was starting to get a little antsy. Being cooped up in a small room always has that effect on me. Especially since the captain didn’t keep kibble in his office. Or even a litter box.

  “We’re almost through,” said Odelia, grabbing her notes. “The Johnsons are next, and then Matthew Brown, and that’s it for the guests. And as far as the crew is concerned… Oh, will you look at that? Ella Nakamura was on board last night. I wonder what she’ll be able to tell us.”

  “She probably figured this out already,” I said. “Maybe we should have talked to her first.”

  “All in good time. But at least we’ll be able to compare notes. She is a colleague, after all. In a sense.”

  “Oh, I’ve just thought of another important witness,” I said. “Frankie!”

  “Of course!” Dooley cried. “How could we have forgotten about her!”

  Which reminded me of something. “Have you seen Frankie this morning?”

  “I haven’t seen her,” said Odelia. “Why, do you think something happened to her?”

  I wasn’t sure, but it was odd that we hadn’t seen her since the day before. But then Heather and Brian Johnson strode in, and all thoughts of the little Shih Tzu had to take a backseat.

  “Can we make this quick?” said Heather as she breezed in like a galleon under steam. “I have an important call lined up that can’t wait.” She looked entirely too pleased with herself, I thought. But then when I saw Brian’s gloomy face I figured that important call just might be with a divorce lawyer.