Murder on the SS Rosa: a cozy historical mystery (A Ginger Gold Mystery Book 0) by Lee Strauss

Author:Lee Strauss [Strauss, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781988677019
Publisher: La Plume Press
Published: 2017-05-03T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“T hat man is infuriating!” Ginger tossed her hat onto her bed as Boss reclaimed his spot on the pillow.

Haley sat up with interest. “Which man?”

Ginger peeled off her gloves with exaggerated flair. “Chief Inspector Basil Reed.”

“Full name declaration. Must be love.”

“This is no time for jokes, Haley. He suspects me, us actually, of murder.”

Haley looked stunned. “That’s ridiculous.”

Ginger bobbed her head. “It most certainly is! Apparently, Captain Walsh owed my father money. Even if I had known about that, which I hadn’t—you know how tight-lipped father was when it came to money—why would I kill him? I certainly wouldn’t be any richer.”

“Well,” Haley said, tapping her lips with a pencil. “Assuming you were behaving logically and not full of passion and spite.”

“I’m not spiteful! The inspector is still in one piece.”

“For now.”

Ginger calmed enough to sit at the mistress and unbuckle her suede double-strapped shoes. “I may be passionate, but I’m not vengeful.”

“Perhaps I am, then,” Haley said with a smirk. “Perhaps I knew about the injustice and killed the captain in a failed attempt to honour your father’s memory.”

“Haley Higgins! You mustn’t joke like that!”

Haley chuckled. “I couldn’t have moved him to the pantry without help, and you’re the only friend I have.”

Ginger was warmed by Haley’s admission. In normal circumstances, they wouldn’t have forged a friendship, each of them running in different circles—Ginger part of the upper class and Haley in the middle. If it weren’t for her ailing father, and the wartime experiences they shared—a nightmare that removed class and equalized men—they’d never have met.

“As much as the inspector’s suspicions offend me, I suppose he is merely doing his job,” Ginger said. “I can’t begrudge him that.”

“There’s common sense talking.”

Ginger poked at the air. “We must get into the captain’s room.”

“And there goes the common sense.”

“I’m serious Haley, and you need to be too. We need to clear our names.”

“And trespassing in a dead man’s room will help us to do that how?”

“We won’t know until we do it now, will we?”

With Boss walking inconspicuously between them they headed for the Walshes’ staterooms.

Haley glanced at the dog. “Do you think it is a good idea to bring the boss?”

“Boss is very bright. He might sniff out something we’d miss.”

“Or bark and give us away.”

“He won’t bark if I tell him not to.”

“Smartest dog on the planet.”

“You said it, and Boss and I both heard it.” The terrier’s knob of a tail shimmied in response.

They stopped at Mrs. Walsh’s door, and Ginger tapped.

“Mrs. Walsh?”

There was every chance Mrs. Walsh would be in her room, but even as a newly minted widow, she wouldn’t be expected to ride out the rest of the journey trapped in her personal quarters. Ginger tapped and called out again, but it remained quiet on the other side of the door. Haley tried the knob. “It’s locked.”

Ginger removed a hairpin from her hat, wiggled it through the keyhole, and moments later the lock gave.

“Mrs. Gold, you never fail to amaze me.”

“The war,” Ginger said in way of explanation.

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