Jaine Austen 8 - Killer Cruise (2 page)

Bidding adieu to the cares and woes of my workaday life, I took off with a smile on my lips and a song in my heart.

And—what I didn’t know at the time—a cat in the trunk of my car.

Chapter 2

P
rozac, the little devil, had undoubtedly slipped out of my apartment while I was dashing around looking for my crossword puzzle book. Like an idiot, I’d left the front door open.

Now as I opened the trunk of my car in the pier’s parking lot, she sauntered out from where she’d been hiding behind my suitcase and looked up at me in triumph.

Anchors aweigh!

Oh, Lord. Fifteen minutes till final boarding. There was no way I could possibly get her back to my apartment. And they’d never let me on board with a cat.

Of course, I could always come clean and confess all. But I wasn’t about to give up my free cruise. Not to mention my chances of ever working for Holiday Cruise Lines again. Here was my golden opportunity to wow them with my lecture skills, and line up a whole roster of glam cruises around the Pacific. I’d already mentally booked a twenty-one-day excursion to Tahiti. I simply couldn’t give all that up and spend the next seven days back in my apartment watching The Weather Channel with my parents.

No, there was only one sensible thing to do under the circumstances:

Smuggle Prozac on board.

“Okay, kiddo,” I said, plopping her into my tote bag. “You’re about to become a stowaway.”

I zipped up the bag, leaving it open just enough so that she’d get some air.

“And if you don’t want Grandma putting bows in your hair for the next week,” I hissed as I made my way to the embarkation area, “then stay put and be quiet.”

My palms were sweaty as I handed over my suitcase to a burly baggage handler. I prayed Prozac wouldn’t blow it and start wailing from the tote. But Prozac had obviously gotten the message and was keeping her mouth shut.

Once my suitcase was loaded onto a dolly, I headed inside a cavernous barn of a building where passengers were chattering happily, waiting on line to get through security.

I quickly called Lance on my cell and left a message on his voice mail, telling him what happened and asking him to please tell my parents I had Prozac with me. Then I took my place at the end of the line, behind a couple with a toddler in a stroller.

All was going according to plan as we inched our way to the security scanner. Nary a peep from the tote bag. I was beginning to think I was going to get away with my stowaway scheme when the toddler in front of me shrieked:

“Kitty cat! Kitty cat!”

I looked down, and to my horror, I saw that Prozac had wriggled her head out of the tote and was looking around, surveying the scene. I promptly shoved her back down again.

“Mommy! Mommy! Kitty cat!”

The kid tugged at his mother’s jeans, getting her attention. She turned around, a harried brunette with an armful of tour books.

“What is it, Devon?”

“Kitty cat!” he screeched at the top of his lungs, in case anybody didn’t hear it the first seven times.

“A cat?” his mom asked, looking around. “Where?”

“Oh, that was Snuffles,” I said, with a moronic giggle. “My stuffed animal. I never go anywhere without Snuffles. It’s a security thing. I’m working on it in therapy. My therapist says I’m making very good progress, especially with my new meds….”

I tend to babble when I’m nervous.

“Now, Devon,” the kid’s mother murmured, wheeling the stroller as far away from me as possible, “don’t bother the crazy lady.”

Okay, so she didn’t call me crazy, but I could tell she was thinking it.

By now we’d reached the security scanner.

Holding my breath, I put my tote bag on the conveyor belt.

I cringed as I saw it moving from within. I fully expected a zillion alarms would go off and I’d be arrested as a cat-smuggling terrorist. But thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice.

Now it was my turn to walk through the human scanner. I pasted a sickly smile on my face and stepped inside, my heart racing at Indy 500 speed, guilt oozing from every pore.

But the security guy just waved me through with a bored flap of his hand.

My heartbeat returned to normal as I retrieved my tote bag and headed outside. I was just about to cross the threshold to freedom when I felt someone clamp my arm in an iron grip.

“Just a minute, miss.”

I whirled around to face another security guard, a beefy Brunhilde of a woman with biceps the size of volleyballs.

The jig was clearly up. Man overboard. Time to walk the plank.

“You forgot your crossword puzzles,” she said, handing me my
Giant Book of New York Times Crossword Puzzles
.

I took it from her, my hands trembling with relief.

“Have a good trip,” she said, with a big-toothed smile.

“Thanks so much,” I managed to sputter.

Then I stepped outside to the dock, where I got my first glimpse of the
Holiday Festival
, a sparkling white behemoth of a ship trimmed with gleaming wood railings and lavish balconies.

Wow, I thought, gazing up at the beautiful vessel. This was the life!

Down below I could see workers loading crates of food supplies. I only hoped some of them contained chocolate.

I headed for the gangplank, where two ship’s officers, handsome Scandinavians clad in white, wanted to see my passport. It was my one final hurdle, and I passed it with flying colors, if you don’t count the nasty scratch Prozac gave me when I reached into my tote for my passport.

Operation Stowaway was a success!

At last, my carefree vacation at sea about to begin, I scooted up the gangplank.

Of course, if I’d known the hell that was in store for me, I would’ve scooted right back down again.

According to my ticket, my cabin was on the Dungeon Deck. Okay, technically, it was called the Paradise Deck, but it was so deep in the bowels of the ship, I practically got the bends riding down in the elevator.

But I didn’t care. I was thrilled to have made it past security.

I was making my way along the corridor, looking for my cabin, when Prozac, clearly irritated at having been cooped up in a tote bag with nothing for company but my hair dryer, sprang out of the bag and began prancing down the corridor.

“Stop this instant!” I commanded in vain, bolting after her.

Then, just as I was about to catch her, a woman came out from her cabin, an attractive blonde with the statuesque good looks of a Vegas showgirl.

Of all the rotten timing.

“What do we have here?” she cooed, scooping Prozac up in her arms.

Instantly Prozac shot her one of her wide-eyed Adorable looks. Somehow, when it comes to strangers, Prozac always manages to turn on the charm.

“Oh, god,” I started babbling, “she snuck out of my apartment when I was looking for my crossword puzzles and it was too late to bring her back home so I had to hide her in my tote bag because I couldn’t give up seven days in the sun with a 24-hour buffet and it was all going so smoothly until I found her in the trunk of my car. The last thing I need on this cruise is Prozac.”

“I don’t know about that, honey. You might want to take one of those Prozacs. Sounds like you could use one.”

“No, you don’t understand. Prozac is my cat.”

“What a sweetheart,” she said, scratching the little monster behind her ears.

“You’re not going to tell anyone about her, are you? They’re sure to quarantine her in some horrible cage, and even though that’s just what she deserves, I couldn’t bear for that to happen.”

“Don’t worry, hon.” She flashed me a friendly smile. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thank you so much!”

“I’m Cookie Esposito. I sing with the band in the Sinatra Lounge.”

“I’m Jaine Austen. No relation,” I quickly added, to forestall the question I’ve been asked 8,756 times in my life. “I’m one of the ship’s lecturers. I’m teaching a course in Writing Your Life Story.”

“A writer! How wonderful! Welcome to the Paradise Deck, Jaine. This is where they put all the hired hands. C’mon, I’ll walk you to your cabin.”

“It’s right here,” I said, spotting my cabin number.

“Great! Right next to mine,” she grinned. “We’ll be neighbors!”

What a stroke of luck. At least I’d have one neighbor who wouldn’t get suspicious if she heard meowing in the middle of the night.

“If there’s anything you need, just knock on my door. Bye, snookums.”

This last endearment was addressed to Prozac, whom she reluctantly handed back to me and then headed off down the corridor.

I took the keyless entry pass card I’d been given and put it in the electronic door lock. A green light flashed, and I turned the handle.

Because I was traveling for free, I wasn’t hoping for anything lavish in the way of accommodations. I’d kept my expectations low. But apparently not low enough. I blinked in dismay as I stepped into a windowless cubbyhole of a room with all the charm of a broom closet. There was barely room for me and my suitcase, which had been jammed between two narrow twin beds.

Prozac surveyed the scene.

For this I spent forty minutes in the trunk of your car?

With that she leaped up onto one of the beds and began sniffing around, no doubt hoping to uncover some minced mackerel on the bedspread.

Somehow I managed to jam my clothes into the cabin’s microscopic closet, then locked my wallet in the room safe, thrilled that I wouldn’t be needing it for the next seven days.

I was about to stretch out on one of the beds for a much deserved rest when I realized that there was only one pillow in the cabin—and Prozac was sprawled on it.

“Upsy daisy,” I said, lifting her up. “Mommy needs to rest.”

She shot me a laser look.

You’re not my mommy and I want my pillow back.

I had no sooner rested my head on the pillow when I felt her land with a thud in the general vicinity of my left ear. The next thing I knew, her tail was in my mouth. I gave her a gentle push, and she gave me a not-so-gentle scratch. One thing led to another and we were in the middle of a most undignified scuffle when I heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” I called out.

A soft unintelligible reply came from out in the corridor.

I quickly stashed Prozac in the glorified wash-basin posing as my bathroom and poked my head out the door.

A skinny guy of indeterminate nationality, dressed in what looked like a bellhop’s uniform, stood in the corridor.

“I’m Samoa,” he said. “Your steward.”

At least I think his name was Samoa. His accent was so thick I couldn’t be sure.

“Samoa show you around your cabin.”

Not much of a trip there. Besides, I doubted there’d be room for both of us.

“No need,” I said. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

His big brown eyes peered over my shoulder into the cabin. In the background I thought I heard Prozac meowing, but thankfully, Samoa didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Just wonderful.”

“You need anything, just call Samoa.”

What I needed was another pillow, but I couldn’t risk having him come back to the cabin.

“Right. Great. Thanks so much,” I said, shutting the door on his smiling face.

I clamped my ear to the door until I heard his footsteps fading down the hallway. Then I let Prozac out of the bathroom and sank down into the cabin’s one and only chair. Obviously I was going to have to keep my DO NOT DISTURB sign on my door the entire trip.

“Thanks to you, Pro, I’ll be making my own bed for the next seven days.”

I’d have to call housekeeping and cancel steward service. Maybe I’d tell them that I was allergic to cleaning products, and that I couldn’t have anyone in my room who’d even touched a can of cleanser or I’d break out in hives. That might work.

I was just about to reach for the phone when I heard another knock on the door.

Drat. Not again.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me. Cookie.”

I opened the door and found her standing there holding a large plastic bin filled with sand.

“A present for Prozac,” she grinned. “A litter box.”

A litter box! I’d forgotten all about that.

“C’mon in,” I said, ushering her inside. Cookie was clearly shaping up to be my shipboard guardian angel. “Where on earth did you get it?”

“I filched the tray from the busboys’ station at the buffet and the sand from the kiddie sandbox.”

“What do you think, Pro?” I said, putting the makeshift litter box down in the bathroom.

She walked over and sniffed at it, clearly unimpressed.

What? No Mountain-Fresh Pine scent?

“I’m afraid she doesn’t like it,” Cookie sighed.

“She’ll learn to like it,” I said, glaring at Prozac. “Meanwhile, how can I ever thank you? You’ve been such an angel.”

Just as she was assuring me that no thanks were necessary, the captain’s voice came over the public-address system announcing the ship’s safety drill.

“C’mon,” Cookie said, grabbing two life vests from my closet. “We’ll go together.”

Leaving Prozac lolling on the fought-after pillow, I headed out for my first official event of the cruise.

“First we have to pick up Graham,” Cookie said when we were out in the corridor.

“Graham?”

“Graham Palmer III.” Her eyes lit up. “He’s my boyfriend. Wait’ll you meet him. He’s a real dreamboat.

“Graham, sweetie,” she called out, knocking on one of the cabin doors. “It’s me.”

Cookie did not lie. Graham Palmer III was a dreamboat of the highest order. He came to the door in white slacks and blue blazer—tall, tan, and graying at the temples. In a former life, he may well have been Cary Grant.

“Hello, darling,” he said, in a British accent that reeked of high tea in the Cotswolds.

“And who might this be?” he asked, flashing me a dazzling smile.

“This is Jaine,” Cookie announced. “She’s a writer. And one of the ship’s lecturers.”

“Welcome to paradise, Jaine.”

Another dazzling smile, this one accompanied by a wink. The guy was a charmer, all right.