Grave Seas: A Maddie Graves and Rowan Gray Mystery Read online

  “You wouldn’t want to consider it,” Maddie argued. “Part of you would still feel the fear. I think he’s letting the fear overwhelm him. I can see how that might happen ... and I’m not just saying that because I was the person who let fear derail our lives for ten years.”

  Nick’s expression softened. “You didn’t derail our lives. You caused a delay in our happily ever after. Quite frankly, I’ve come to realize that things happen when they’re supposed to happen. We found each other again at the exact right time.”

  “And look at us now,” she teased. “We’re on our honeymoon.”

  “We are.”

  “So were they.” Her voice was soft. “I feel like we should be doing something, Nicky. This is just awful.”

  “What do you want me to do, Mad? This isn’t my jurisdiction.”

  “I don’t. I know you can’t stick your nose into the investigation. I just wish I knew what was going on.”

  “You and me both, Mad. You and me both.”

  Six

  Rowan found nothing on the photographs. Lindsey was in a few but there was no death omen. To her knowledge, that meant the woman had to be alive ... at least at the current time. She checked in with Quinn long enough to tell him what she’d discovered and he asked her to meet him at the tiki bar. She was surprised, but game.

  “What’s going on?” she asked when she found him sitting at the bar with Demarcus. The establishment was largely empty, although that wasn’t entirely surprising given the fact that it wasn’t even ten yet.

  “I found Lindsey and Ben on the footage,” he replied, nodding in thanks to Demarcus when the bartender delivered an iced tea to him. “They looked like they were having more than a little tiff. I obviously couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it appeared heated.”

  “So you’re here to question Demarcus,” Rowan deduced.

  “I am a fountain of information,” Demarcus agreed, winking. “And, luckily for you two, I was here when they made their appearance last night. My shift ended about ten minutes later, so I saw it all.”

  “And what is it that you saw?” Quinn prodded.

  “Well ... they didn’t look happy.”

  The security chief managed to refrain from rolling his eyes ... but just barely. “Can you expand on that?”

  Demarcus’ grin was impish and Rowan could tell he was entertaining the idea of torturing Quinn. She wanted to nip that little impulse in the bud.

  “We’re dealing with a missing woman,” she reminded him, forcing him to sober. “We don’t have time for games right now.”

  “I’m sorry.” He held his hands. “Now is definitely not the time to be funny.”

  “You’re never funny,” Quinn muttered.

  “I am a funny guy and you know it.” Demarcus jabbed a finger in Quinn’s direction and then returned to his story. “Here’s the thing: I wasn’t paying attention at first. Those three idiots — er, those lovely female customers you saw me with earlier in the evening — took up a lot of my time.”

  “You’re talking about Violet, Lana, and Connie,” Quinn noted. “I’m familiar with their work. Were they hitting on you, too?”

  “They figured out relatively quickly that it wasn’t going to work with me but that didn’t stop them from hitting on pretty much any man who walked through the door. That includes that tall Michigan detective and his smoking hot new wife, the ones we’ve been instructed to cater to because his parents are big spenders.”

  “Nick and Maddie Winters,” Quinn surmised. “They hit on him?”

  “I want to know more about them hitting on you,” Rowan pressed. “Did you tell them you were engaged?”

  “Of course I did.” Quinn shot her a look. “That’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth whenever I meet someone new. Hello, my name is Quinn Davenport. I’m engaged to the most beautiful woman in the world, so don’t even try it.”

  Rowan turned rueful. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I just ... well ... I don’t like people hitting on my man.”

  She was so adorable when she delivered the line that Quinn could do nothing but smile. “I don’t like it when people hit on my woman either. Huh. How comes it sounds like a Neanderthal speaking when I say it? Anyway ... they’re here for a good time. I had to shut them down in the lobby yesterday afternoon because they were causing a commotion.”

  “Oh, wait.” Her faux jealousy forgotten, Rowan tapped her bottom lip. “I know which girls you’re talking about. They look young, barely old enough to drink probably, and they check out every piece of man candy they spy even if he looks like a candy bar that’s been left out in the sun for three straight days.”

  Quinn barked out a laugh at the visual she painted. “That’s basically it in a nutshell,” he agreed. “I hate to break it to you, Ro, but a lot of the women who come on this ship hit on me ... just like I’m sure a lot of the men hit on you.”

  “I have the camera as a buffer,” she countered. “That’s a delightful way to turn away unwanted advances.”

  “Or you could tell your fiancé and he’ll beat up any guy who hits on you,” Quinn suggested.

  “Oh, geez.” Demarcus made an exaggerated face. “You know I love you guys — I really do — but this needs to stop. We have a missing woman.”

  Chagrined, Rowan straightened. “He’s right. We need to focus on Lindsey. You said you didn’t see much of her and Ben but you saw enough to remember them.”

  “They were fighting because the girls hit on him when he was coming out of the bathroom,” Demarcus explained. “They wanted to take a bite out of him, too. She was drunk and didn’t like it. Said something about another woman making her life hell. He told her she was overreacting.”

  “Maddie said they were arguing about how much she’d imbibed when she saw them on the deck,” Quinn noted. “It doesn’t sound like they were enjoying their honeymoon at all last night.”

  “I can’t comment on that,” Demarcus countered. “They were fighting about the women when I saw them ... and they were still fighting when they left.”

  “Were they heading in the direction of the Neon Mermaid?”

  “I have no idea. They didn’t say.”

  “I guess that means I need to question Ben again whether I like it or not,” Quinn noted, downing a huge gulp of iced tea before handing the glass to Rowan so she could finish it off. “Can you do me a favor, Ro, and see if you can track down the chatty threesome? I don’t need you to question them but, if you find them, text me and I’ll come up and question them, too.”

  “You just want them to flirt with you again,” Rowan countered, pouty.

  “I only want you to flirt with me,” Quinn said. “You can flirt the entire night when we get to our new room. How does that sound?”

  Even though he knew they weren’t addressing him, Demarcus answered. “Like I want to throw up.”

  Quinn pinned him with a look. “I want you to be on the lookout for the flirty girls, too. I expect a call if you see them.”

  “Will do.”

  MADDIE AND NICK WERE IN THE HALLWAY in front of their room when Quinn approached Ben’s suite. They had their heads bent together and looked to be deep in conversation.

  “Is something going on?” Quinn asked, quickening his pace.

  “We were just about to ask you the same thing,” Nick replied, sliding his arm around Maddie’s slim back. “We invited Ben to have breakfast with us this morning, but he took off before we could really talk to him. He seemed worked up.”

  “I’m the one who suggested he get some food in him,” Quinn admitted. “I thought it might be a distraction if we found her right away.”

  “I’m guessing that didn’t happen.”

  “No, and now I have to ask him some hard questions.” Quinn was thoughtful as he held Nick’s gaze. “You’re not the only one who saw them arguing last night.”

  “I don’t know that ‘arguing’ is the right word,” Nick insisted. “He wasn’t yelling at her.
He wasn’t screaming. He seemed ... concerned. I guarantee Maddie and I have held similar conversations that others might misconstrue as an argument. We rarely fight, though.”

  Quinn let loose a world-weary sigh. “I get that. I’m the same way with my fiancée. The thing is, the individual I talked to said that Ben and Lindsey were at the tiki bar at some point ... and they were fighting over the fact that three women there were flirting with him. That seems to be a different argument than the one you described.”

  “Yeah, that’s definitely not what they were talking about when we saw them,” Nick agreed. “I can guess which three women you’re talking about, though.”

  “Yes, Demarcus said they hit on you, too. Join the club.”

  Maddie’s forehead wrinkled. “You were hit on by women at a bar and I missed it? How did that happen?”

  “You were in the bathroom,” Nick replied. “You were also drunk. You probably wouldn’t have noticed if I wandered off with them.”

  “Oh, I would’ve noticed.” Maddie’s expression darkened. “I want you to point these women out to me later. I’m going to give them a stern talking to.”

  Nick merely shook his head and focused on Quinn. “I don’t know what to tell you. The guy we had breakfast with was clearly broken ... although he seems to be already resigned to the fact that she’s gone, which I found strange.”

  “Because you would refuse to believe your wife was gone under similar circumstances,” Quinn volunteered. “I would feel the same way. I need to talk to him, though. He’s comfortable with you. I thought maybe you would want to sit in on the interview with me.”

  Nick was surprised by the offer. “Oh, well ... .” He looked to Maddie for her opinion.

  “I think we should help any way that we can,” she said. “That’s the right thing to do.”

  Nick nodded in affirmation. “We’ll go with you ... although I don’t know what you expect us to do.”

  “Just be there ... and tell me if you see anything weird about his demeanor.”

  “I can do that.”

  ROWAN FOUND IT HARD TO focus on work. She spent all her time thinking about Lindsey ... and searching any nooks and crannies she thought the security staff might have missed. That was ridiculous, of course. Quinn’s men knew what they were doing. She still couldn’t stop herself.

  While she conducted the search, she scanned for the trio of women that Quinn asked her to be on the lookout for and snapped random photos of other guests so it wouldn’t look like she was shirking her duties. Essentially, she and Quinn had decided that they would remain on the ship together until her contract — and now his — ran out. After that, he planned on going into a partnership with his former military buddy Fred Delmore and she ... well ... she wasn’t quite sure what she was going to do. She had time, though.

  Rowan smiled when a pair of young boys waved at her, taking a moment out of her day to snap them in the children’s area. They looked to be having a great time, which was something she always liked to see, and she took a moment to think about what any children she had with Quinn would look like. It was a schmaltzy indulgence. They weren’t ready for children yet. It would be impractical on the ship. Still, it was something to dream about.

  “They might get melanoma if sunscreen isn’t applied to them every forty-five minutes in this heat,” a dour voice said from behind her. “Most skin damage is done when we’re children and there’s no taking it back after the fact.”

  Rowan briefly pressed her eyes shut. She didn’t need to look to see who was talking. She recognized the voice ... and it belonged to the one person she had no interest in talking to. Still, she turned anyway, pasting a bright — but fake — smile on her face. “Hello, Dylan.”

  “Hey.” He sounded like Debbie Downer from the old Saturday Night Live skit. “I put on the highest sunscreen available. I put it all over my body, even the places covered by clothes.”

  He was extremely pasty, Rowan noted. “You did a good job.”

  “Yeah.” He pursed his lips. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m taking photos of the guests. That’s my job.”

  “What do you do with them after you take them?”

  “I load them to an online portal. Guests can order copies when they get home and they’re digitally delivered.”

  “That sounds interesting.” He lifted his hand and tugged at his collar, revealing what looked to be two angry welts on his neck. “I’ve always thought I would be a good photographer. I don’t have a camera, though. Can you recommend a camera?”

  Rowan ignored the question. “What happened to your neck?”

  “What?” Dylan shrank back, the question clearly throwing him for a loop. “Nothing ... I ... nothing. Why do you think something happened to my neck?” He clutched the shirt collar tighter, making sure to cover up the marks she’d previously seen.

  “Because you have long scratches or something just here.” Rowan demonstrated on her own neck. “Did something happen?”

  “Oh, that? No. It’s the sun. It always does weird things to me.”

  “Under your shirt?”

  “Yeah. I don’t react well to the sun.” Dylan took an exaggerated step away from her. “I should probably be going. We’ll talk about that camera thing later.”

  Rowan opened her mouth to call out to him, but she was distracted by the sound of squealing voices. She jerked her head to the left and managed to sidestep two laughing women at the exact right moment, protecting the camera Quinn had bought her as a gift months before in the process.

  “Look where you’re going,” she chided, her eyes flashing as she glared at Connie and Lana.

  “Oops.” Lana started giggling uncontrollably when she realized she’d sloshed her drink onto the front of her white shirt, which was now plastered to her body ... and she wasn’t wearing a bra. “I didn’t see you there.”

  “I didn’t either,” Connie offered solemnly. It was clear she was trying to pretend she was more sober than her friend. “I apologize. Truly.”

  Rowan managed to hold back her temper, but it took considerable effort. “If you guys want to drink, you should do it somewhere besides where the kids play. There are literally fifty places on this ship to drink. You don’t have to be here.”

  Lana made a face. “Since when are you the boss? You don’t look like a security guard to me.”

  “I can get one if you like.”

  “That would be great.” Lana was in her own little world as she twirled. “Make it a hot one, if you please.”

  Rowan took a moment to glance around. Violet wasn’t with them. She was probably still passed out in their room, Rowan guessed. Either way, she’d found at least two of Quinn’s potential witnesses. She dug for her phone. She would watch the women until he arrived and then she was out of there. She wanted nothing at all to do with these women.

  “IT WASN’T A BIG DEAL,” Ben protested, his voice shrill. “I don’t understand why you’re even here when you should be out looking for Lindsey.” Quinn had delved deep into the serious questions within minutes of entering the room.

  “He’s not trying to upset you,” Maddie offered helpfully. “He’s just trying to find answers. You should answer his questions. That’s the best way to find Lindsey.”

  “How do you know?” Ben challenged. “Since when are you employed by the ship as a security guard?”

  Nick cleared his throat to get Ben’s attention. He understood the man was dealing with an untenable situation. That didn’t mean he was going to sit back and allow him to snap at Maddie for no good reason. “You don’t need to talk to her like that,” he warned. “This is not her fault. She’s trying to help.”

  Ben was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry. I really am. I just don’t understand any of this. You should’ve found her by now.”

  “We’re still looking,” Quinn reassured him. “If we have to go room by room, we will.”

  “Don’t you need search warrants for that?”

  �
�No. If you read the fine print when you check in, you basically wave all your rights while on the ship. We can search the rooms whenever we want.”

  “So ... why aren’t you doing it?”

  “Because we haven’t reached that point yet,” Quinn replied simply. “I need to understand what you and Lindsey were arguing about last night. Are you sure the last time you saw her was at the Neon Mermaid?”

  “Yes. How many times do I have to tell you the story? That wasn’t a big fight. She was drunk and making a big deal out of nothing. She forgot it even happened five minutes later. Like ... literally forgot. We weren’t fighting when we separated.”

  “And yet you left her alone even though she was clearly inebriated,” Quinn pointed out. “How come?”

  “Because I was drunk, too,” he shot back. “My head was spinning. It’s not like college. I can’t handle more than a few drinks. That on top of the heat ... I was ready to pass out. I actually threw up when I got back to the room. That’s how drunk I was.

  “If you don’t think I’m kicking myself for not watching her, then you’re wrong,” he continued, his voice cracking. “She’s my wife. I love her. I just ... why can’t you find her? Is it possible she went over the side of the ship?”

  Quinn stared at him for a long beat. The question might be construed as suspicious by some people, but he knew differently. It was a natural curiosity. “We don’t know anything right now,” he replied after a beat. “We’re going to keep looking because that’s all we can do. I need you to hold it together, though.”

  “How am I supposed to do that? My wife is missing.”

  “Just do the best that you can.” Quinn slowly got to his feet and glanced at his phone screen when the device dinged to signify an incoming message. “I have to head up to the deck. I’ll be in touch.”