Mr. Monk Gets on Board by Hy Conrad

Author:Hy Conrad
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9780451240958
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2014-01-07T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Mr. Monk and the Bill

It felt odd and sad, coming back to Mariah’s cabin, seeing her clothes stuffed in the tiny closet and her things on the bathroom shelf, as if she’d just walked out without a care and expected to return, which was pretty much what had happened.

The night of her death, when I came back, I had slipped into detective mode and searched through everything. I don’t know what I’d been expecting. If she had indeed been pregnant, her affair with Captain Sheffield would be easy to prove, thanks to the wonders of DNA. I didn’t even worry about her laptop and getting into her e-mail. All of this would come out. The mystery wasn’t in the motive. It was in the captain’s ironclad alibi.

Since yesterday I’d been sharing her cabin, and I was grateful that no one had questioned me, not even the two lounge performers next door, who seemed to come and go at all hours. Perhaps they thought I was some stowaway friend. Or perhaps they assumed I was employed by the ship, which I guess I was now.

I felt good about our agreement with Dennis and Sylvia Sheffield. This would be our first nonpolice job as an incorporated business, my incorporated business. Dennis had not wanted us on the case—that much was clear—especially not with an all-access pass approved by his wife. And that made me feel even better.

I guess I’d been surprised to learn that Sylvia owned the ship, but not shocked. If anything, it made the captain’s motive clearer, his situation more desperate. Poor, love-struck Mariah. Did she really believe he would give up all this for her and their unborn child?

As for the B. to Sea conference, I was ready to forget the whole thing. I know. What a waste. But with two cases to investigate, I didn’t really have time to sit in a conference room and find out how to drum up new business.

At four that afternoon, I knocked on Monk’s door, ready for our strategy session. We’ve never had formal strategy sessions. Ever. But a book I’d just finished reading, Business Management for Idiots, had suggested it, and I thought I’d give it a shot. Monk had shuddered and made several faces and finally agreed.

“Adrian?” I kept knocking and calling his name until I realized I’d been stood up. Well, this is annoying, I thought. Monk doesn’t forget appointments. He doesn’t forget anything. Either this was part of some defiant power play, which didn’t bode well for our working relationship, or he was distracted. Or he was in trouble. Or dead. There was always that possibility.

I started scouring the ship in an orderly fashion, trying not to take his absence too personally. The halls and decks were full of passengers enjoying their lazy day at sea. But nowhere could I spot the owner of a brown wool jacket topped with an orange life vest, not until I passed the window to a small meeting room on the lounge level, just beyond the jewelry shop and the T-shirt boutique.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.