Pumpkins and Peril: Psychic Sleuths and Talking Dogs (A Jaz and Luffy Cozy Mystery Book 5) by Max Parrott

Author:Max Parrott
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2020-11-09T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

In keeping with the rest of her morning, it took Jasmine more than half an hour to make it into the bridge. The doors were still locked, and she had to call Harper to gain entry. Harper stuck with her after that, and in the brief walk to find the captain, Jasmine tried to explain everything that was going on.

Harper was in awe of most of it, but the note Jasmine had found on her door troubled her.

"They threatened you? Do you want me to assign additional guards to your room? I can do that if you aren't feeling safe."

"I'll be alright. I have Luffy."

"Are you sure? Just one second ago you were telling me the victim was alive when he got on the ship—that means someone must have killed him. We're dealing with a murderer."

"I know," Jasmine said. She was aware the pair of them were probably better equipped to handle that reality than pretty much any of the guards Harper could have assigned to her room. "I'll still be alright."

"If you're sure," Harper said with a shrug. They walked a few steps, then she started musing. "You know, the checks at the gates are strict. Some European cruise line had a stowaway who got trapped in a closet he hid in, and ever since then people have been paranoid about it. I doubt that guy could have gotten on without a ticket, especially if he was standing around in plain sight."

"They checked every room. No one was missing—the only empty rooms were the ones that didn't sell."

"Yeah, but the registry they checked them against can be changed if you have the right clearance. They need it to be flexible in case someone reserves a spot or drops out at the last minute."

Jasmine stopped in her tracks at the new revelation. "So if the killer had a high enough rank, they could try to cover their tracks by deleting the victim from the system?"

"I guess."

It was a brilliant smokescreen. Jasmine and the others had spent all of yesterday clinging to the idea he had been dead when he got on the ship—it had shaped who they investigated and what theories they formed. Not knowing who the victim was left them without a direction to go and with no motivation to build on.

"You know, the captain could still have called the authorities," Jasmine said, ideas already forming. "I know Liam pressed him in this direction, but he's the captain and would have been fully capable of making his own decisions."

"I guess."

"I don't know," Luffy pondered. "He seemed to want to report this last night. It was Liam and that weird military guy who wanted to carry on as normal."

"Or maybe he was pretending he wanted to report it so he didn't look so guilty," Jasmine said, thinking out loud. "He has to have access to the system, and he's seen Liam's costume, so he could have taken it without permission."

"Taken what?" the captain said, appearing at the other end of the hallway.

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