Gardening Cruises and Grudges: A Humorous Cruise Ship Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 25) by Winters A.R

Author:Winters, A.R.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Not yours, huh?” Turner stared at the well-known bracelet sitting in the middle of his desk. The man had an eye for jewelry, and he recognized it right away. One of his superpowers.

Steve stood behind him, arms crossed. I wondered if this was the reason Alexandra hadn’t received a threat or a demand. Deb hadn’t gotten rid of the evidence yet. It seemed impossible that this woman had murdered Chelsea and tried to put the frame, or at least blackmail, Alexandra for the crime.

“This is a prank. It has to be.” Deb looked forlorn, seated by herself at the desk.

The rest of us stood over her, accusing, but not speaking. I was hoping the psychology of it all would make her crack.

“You know what this looks like,” Turner frowned, doing his best Bad Cop impression.

“I’ve never seen that before in my life,” Deb said.

“Believe it or not, this is not the first time I’ve heard that,” Turner said.

She shook her head. “I was shopping the duty-free shops. There’s nothing like this in any of those stores. I couldn’t have stolen it. And it’s nothing I could afford anyway. I’m a government employee.”

That made me wonder how Alexandra, also a government worker, could afford the bling she sported. Maybe that job came with a significant pay increase.

“It’s not so much the ownership that’s at issue here,” Steve said.

Deb shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Steve gave me the nod. “Addi?”

I shifted my weight, leaning a little closer. “Alexandra Offenhauser received a warning, a threatening note, possibly blackmail. It’s a photo of a handful of nightshade drupes, the wrist bearing this bracelet. Without context, such a photo could easily be falsified.”

Turner took his cue. “But only with someone with a fairly accurate copy of the jewelry. A copy like this one.”

“The bracelet is the only identifier,” Steve said. “And obviously, Dr. Offenhauser didn’t send the photo to herself.”

Deb blinked. I hadn’t smelled alcohol on her this time. Still, her confusion was palpable. “Wait. You think I threatened Alexandra? But she’s my boss. And I want her job.”

“This might be a way to convince her to hire you,” Turner said.

“Or not hire someone else,” Steve added.

“This is silly! It’s a prank! All those botany students are huge practical jokers. They blew their whole presentation trying to out-prank each other. Now they’re doing it to me. It has to be one of them. Raif is who I suspect. The others are good at pulling this stuff off, but Raif is a master. Of course, Sabra could’ve done it too. This is such a crazy stunt. She was locked up for being crazy one time, you know. They pull pranks constantly. Like they caught some kind of virus.”

Turner put on his best hard look. “This hardly seems like a joke, Deb.”

“You were the one who caused a commotion at the dinner,” Steve said.

“Which gave you the opportunity to drop those berries into Chelsea Mintage’s salad.” Turner brought the point home. From the look on his face, I thought he was going to hive-five Steve.

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