The Creepy Cruise: A Humorous Cruise Ship Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 20) by A.R. Winters

Author:A.R. Winters [Winters, A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-05-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

We shuffled through the corridor, the fluorescent lights making us all look like extras from a zombie movie. My feet pinched in my dancing shoes, reminding me that I'd been standing for way too long.

"Back to dancing?" Cece suggested, already doing a little shimmy. "We can't let some weirdo in a fur hat ruin our girls' night!"

I rubbed my temples. "Sorry, I'm not in the mood anymore."

"Oh, c'mon," Cece whined, grabbing my arm. "I'm on call until we reach Anchorage. This might be my last chance to cut loose."

"I'll dance with you," Waldo offered, his face brightening like someone had just told him Star Wars was real.

I couldn't stop the grimace that twisted my face. Waldo was sweet in a puppy-who-chews-your-shoes kind of way, but the mental image of him dancing was enough to send me running in the opposite direction.

Cece caught my expression and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Sam will dance with me, won't you Sam?"

Sam, who had been quietly examining her nails, looked up with all the enthusiasm of someone being asked to volunteer for a root canal. "Do I have a choice?"

"Nope!" Cece linked arms with her. "The night is young, and so am I!"

"You're twenty-three. That's practically ancient in dog years," Sam grumbled, but allowed herself to be pulled toward the elevator.

Morris checked his watch. "We should probably get back to IT before someone notices we've been gone."

"And delete some hacking evidence," Waldo added in what he clearly thought was a whisper but was actually loud enough to be heard in Canada.

"That's... that's not what we're doing," Morris hissed, dragging Waldo toward the stairs.

Just like that, our group disbanded, leaving me alone in the corridor with my thoughts—which were currently a jumbled mess of dead Russians, missing tech entrepreneurs, and ghostly figures in the fog.

"You coming, Addi?" Cece called from the elevator.

I shook my head. "I'm going to the library. Need to clear my head."

"The library?" Cece looked at me like I'd suggested swimming to Alaska. "It's midnight!"

"It's open 24/7," I reminded her.

"That doesn't make it less weird," she muttered as the elevator doors closed.

I took the stairs up to Deck 9, my dancing shoes clicking against the metal steps. The sound echoed in the empty stairwell, making me jump at every tap. Great. Now I was getting spooked by my own footsteps.

The library on the Cygnus was one of my favorite places on the ship. Unlike the rest of the vessel, with its Vegas-meets-nautical aesthetic, the library was all old-world charm—dark wood shelves, plush armchairs, and the soothing smell of books. At this hour, it was deserted except for a college kid snoring softly in the corner, a textbook sliding off his lap.

I kicked off my heels and sank into an armchair by the window. Outside, nothing was visible except our own lights reflecting off the dense fog. I could hear the gentle thrumming of the ship's engines and feel the slight vibration through the floor.

How did any of this fit together? There was

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.