Baked Alaska by Josi S. Kilpack Read Free Book Online Page B

boat?
    Sadie stood up and walked closer to the deck chair. The woman’s head had fallen to the side and her hair—there was so much of it—covered part of her face. She reached out to move the woman’s hair out of the way.
    She hesitated when her hand was a few inches away, but she couldn’t stop herself and carefully brushed the braids back from the woman’s face, touching the woman’s cheek in the process. It was cold. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly open. Her face looked soft in the dim light. She was definitely the woman Shawn had been talking to. Sadie had seen her just a couple of hours ago. Had it been two hours? Two and a half? Who was this woman?
    Sadie pulled her hand away, and her eyes traveled to a wine bottle placed near the leg of the deck chair. She bent down to read the label because her investigative mind couldn’t not do it. Pinot noir. There was a pale green ribbon tied around the neck and what looked like a gift tag attached to it, though it was facing the bottle. Sadie put her hand in the pocket of her jacket like a glove and leaned forward awkwardly so she could turn the label around.
    To Ben & Tanice—May you continue to find every happiness together.
    “Tanice?” Sadie said as she dropped the label and looked at the woman again. Like Janice but with a T? In her photo, this woman had been with a younger woman, not “Ben.”
    The sound of the whooshing door and footsteps on the deck broke the spell, and Sadie jumped to her feet moments before two security officers, someone who looked like a doctor, and Pete arrived.
    Pete and Sadie backed up while the men assessed the woman in the chair. One of the security guards picked up the wine bottle, and Sadie considered telling him not to tamper with evidence. He wasn’t even wearing gloves. Were these men trained for this kind of thing? Wait, why was she acting as though a crime had been committed?
    The security guard shook the bottle. From the sloshing of the remaining wine inside, it sounded nearly full.
    “Too much alcohol,” he said in thickly accented English.
    The medical staff member told the other security guard to alert the onboard physician and order a stretcher.
    “I need to talk to Shawn,” Sadie whispered to Pete a minute later when it seemed the men had forgotten all about them.
    “Not yet,” Pete whispered back.
    Another medical worker joined the group, and a few minutes later two more security guards arrived with a gurney.
    Eventually, another man joined the others and, after talking with everyone already there, introduced himself to Pete and Sadie as the head of security. Officer Jareg was from the Philippines like many of the other staff members on the ship, but he carried himself with a more official air. He asked both Sadie and Pete to explain how they’d found the woman. He took notes on their answers in a small notebook just like the ones Sadie had seen numerous detectives and police officers use.
    “Do you know her?” he asked after they finished recounting what had happened.
    “Um, no,” Sadie said. “Though I’ve seen her on the ship.” She wanted to talk to Shawn before she told this man too much.
    Officer Jareg asked for their cabin numbers and told them he’d contact them if he had any questions; he also invited them to come to him if they remembered anything else. “Unfortunately this happens from time to time,” he explained. “Too much vacation.” And yet, when he looked back at the woman in the chair, he looked decidedly worried. As though there was something about this situation that bothered him more than he was letting on. Or perhaps Sadie was simply paranoid.
    He turned back and smiled reassuringly. “If you should need me, the security office is located on deck eleven, starboard forward.” He put his notebook away. “We would very much appreciate for you to keep this quiet. A problem like this can be very upsetting to the other passengers. You understand?”
    Sadie and Pete