Cruel Capers on the Caribbean: A Kate on Vacation Mystery (The Kate on Vacation mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

if the ship was rolling a bit. She’d lost track of the glasses of wine, something she almost never did. She looked down at the plastic cup in her hand–provided by the bartender at the lounge they had gone to after dinner. She suspected it was her fourth. No wonder she had a buzz going.
    They’d lingered awhile in the lounge after the Franklins had gone off to bed, relishing the freedom from demanding little people. Then they’d decided to take a nightcap back to their cabin.
    Skip unlocked the door. Kate handed him her cup. “I want to check on Cora.”
    “It’s kinda late.”
    “I’ll knock softly. If she’s asleep, it shouldn’t wake her.”
    Skip nodded as he took her cup of wine and went into their cabin.
    Kate walked down the hallway, staggering a little as the world tilted.
    Okay, that was the boat!
    She tapped a knuckle lightly against Cora’s door. After a minute, she knocked softly again. She was about to turn away, when she glanced down. Cora’s dinner tray sat beside the doorjamb.
    Kate debated about knocking louder. She looked again at the tray. The dishes were dirty but not a scrap of food remained on them. Her stomach clenched. Alarm bells were going off in her head, but her brain was too fuzzy to figure out why at first.
    She knocked hard on the door and called out Cora’s name. The cabin walls were sound-proofed but the doors weren’t. She’d heard people conversing in the hall outside her own door.
    She rattled the knob and called out louder, “Cora! Cora, are you okay?”
    A door down the corridor opened. Kate turned to apologize for disturbing someone. It was Rob, in his bathrobe. He stepped out into the hall. “I thought that was your voice.”
    “Get Skip. I think something’s wrong with Cora.”
    Rob opened his mouth, then clamped it shut and turned toward Kate’s cabin.
    A minute later, Skip and Rob joined her at Cora’s door. Kate pointed down to the tray. “Cora doesn’t eat much when she’s feeling fine. I doubt she’d clean her plate now, unless she figured it didn’t matter anymore whether she gained weight.”
    The men gave her confused looks.
    “She’s not answering.” Still confusion on their tired faces. “I think she might have done something to herself.”
    Skip nudged Kate aside. He put his shoulder to the door. It didn’t budge.
    Kate spotted the cabin steward coming their way. “Jorge, can you open Ms. Beall’s door for us? We think she may be in trouble in there.”
    The wiry little man stopped, then took a step backward. “I cannot disturb Miss Cora Beall.”
    Skip scowled at him. “It’ll disturb her a lot more if I kick the door in.”
    Jorge hesitated for another beat, then took out his master key card and inserted it in the door’s lock.
    The door caught on something. A screeching noise blasted out into the hallway. Jorge jumped back. He grabbed the knob to pull the door closed again.
    Skip moved him aside and pushed on the door. Nothing happened except renewed screeching. He put his shoulder into it.
    “Stop! You get me fired.”
    Shouting to make herself heard over the racket, Kate tried to reassure the cabin steward. “It’ll be ok–” The sound of the door crashing open drowned out her words.
    She tried to rush in, but Skip held an arm out in front of her. He took two steps forward and quickly scanned the room, then gave her a small nod.
    She and Rob stepped into the cabin. Jorge stayed in the hall, wringing his hands.
    Skip leaned down and wrestled a wedge-like object out from under the door. The screeching stopped.
    The curtain separating the sleeping area from the rest of the suite was pulled closed. With trepidation, Kate crossed the living room and pushed it aside. Cora lay on her bed, eyes closed, honey blonde hair fanned out around her slack face.
    Kate stared at the sheet pulled up to the woman’s neck. It wasn’t moving.
    Skip stepped past her. He put two fingertips against Cora’s neck, shifted them around a couple times,