Murder Above the Silver Waves Read online

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please, Felix. Surely you cannot be serious?”

  He smirked. “And you can tell me that you were not gazing at him, as well?”

  I returned his grin with one of my own. “It does not do for a young lady to look for another reason to give away an already broken heart,” I said.

  “True, true,” he said. “All right, let’s go, then.”

  We started down the deck, in the opposite direction to the one Mr. Osbourn and his sister had taken. I unfurled my sunshade and set it against my shoulder, twirling the handle gently as we walked.

  I caught the eye of three – no, four – young men as we passed, and I wore a small smile to let them know I had noticed, but did not entertain them any further.

  We made our way down the stairs to the next deck, passing through a set of handsome doors. We continued down to the sixth deck, where the dining room, the lounges, and the ballroom were all located…and also where our cabin resided.

  “I wonder what we will be enjoying for dinner this evening,” Felix said as we wandered through the ballroom, taking a shortcut across to the starboard side of the ship. “Dare we hope for Oysters Rockefeller?”

  “I certainly hope we are offered some of that ginger ice box cake again…” I said. “I must be honest, the cuisine on this ship – ”

  “ – Cannot be serious.”

  Felix held out his arm, preventing me from turning around the corner of the ballroom doorway we had reached. I looked up at him, and mischief danced in his eyes as he pressed his forefinger to his lips.

  I nodded, accustomed to his eavesdropping habit, and peeked around the door.

  A man and woman stood in the gap between two halls leading out to the walkway that wrapped around the outside of the ship. His hands were against his hips, the edges of his white jacket flaring out like the wings of an agitated bird protecting its nest from predators. He paced up and down the narrow gap between the halls and the outer walk, most of his form silhouetted in shadow. The woman leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, her head fixed squarely upon him as he walked.

  Something in their tense attitudes told me we had been about to walk up on some sort of argument, and my initial amusement faded.

  “I am perfectly serious,” the man said, stopping in his regimented gait, his neck extending like the annoyed fowl he seemed to be portraying. “I expect not to hear another word about it.”

  “Victor, I realize the anticipation of this deal you might possibly be making is exciting, but that does not mean you should needlessly gamble away every penny we have – ”

  “You know nothing of our finances,” the man called Victor snapped, his voice reverberating off the walls.

  “That is the problem, isn’t it?” the woman said, her own voice rising. “How can I be certain we will not be arriving back in New York in three weeks time destitute and – ”

  “Destitute…” he muttered, and barked with derisive laughter. “Ha! As if I could ever find myself in such a state.”

  I tugged on the inside of Felix’s sleeve, and he silently turned to look down at me.

  I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Surely that is not Victor Nelson and his wife?”

  Felix squinted, trying to allow his eyes to adjust to the shadowy hall. “You know? I think it is.”

  We were vaguely familiar with the couple, through acquaintances. In New York, it was difficult not to know who anybody of wealth or importance was.

  “That deal is a certainty,” Mr. Nelson said. “And I will not hear another word against it.”

  “I have said nothing against the deal, darling,” Mrs. Nelson said, a note of desperation in her voice. “I hope more than anyone else that you manage to secure it – ”

  “Hope I will secure it?” he spat. “Do you doubt me?”

  “I do not doubt you,” she said. “I doubt the sellers. Have you not had trouble with them in the past?”

  “Pah…” Mr. Nelson said with a swat of his hand, batting away the gnat of doubt. “They know better than to cross me now…”

  He stopped suddenly, his back toward us, staring out over the ocean at the end of the narrow hall.

  “I will do my best not to worry you so greatly,” he said, though the begrudging tone told me that it was difficult for him to swallow his pride. “You know I do not mean to.”

  “Of course, dear,” Mrs. Nelson said, and she pushed herself away from the wall, crossing the distance between them.

  “How could I possibly stay angry with such a beautiful woman?” Mr. Nelson asked, his voice softening ever so slightly.

  She reached him and laid her hands against his chest, and he wrapped a single arm around her waist. “All I ask is that you do not spend the entire rest of this voyage at the card tables?” she suggested.

  “I cannot promise anything…” he said, turning the pair of them down the adjacent hall, and together, they strolled out of our sight.

  Felix whistled between his teeth as they moved out of earshot. “Good heavens. How embarrassing for them.”

  “I had no idea they were on this ship,” I said, my brows drawing together.

  “Oh, I did,” Felix said.

  I glared at him. “Of course, you would have. How much money has he lost to you this trip already?”

  Felix grinned, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets and starting down the hall toward our cabin.

  I let out a low laugh. “Oh, Father would be quite conflicted to learn this,” I said. “I wonder if he would be angrier with you for gambling in the first place, or rejoice in the fact that you have taken Mr. Nelson’s unearned wealth.”

  Felix snickered as well. “How is it that such a detestable man has managed to keep his place among New York’s elite? Father has assumed for years that Nelson’s downfall was imminent.”

  “Well, perhaps he is not too far off,” I said. “If what Mrs. Nelson said has any value to it.”

  “Poor Mrs. Nelson,” Felix said, stopping just outside our cabin door and pulling his key from his pocket. “It must be difficult to be married to such a fool.”

  “Yes, I do pity her,” I said. “He married her only for her beauty, of course. That was the only hope she had of being snapped up by someone like Mr. Nelson.”

  Felix unlocked the door and pushed it open. “The daughter of a penniless family cannot be choosy, I suppose. She should consider herself fortunate she was noticed at all.”

  “I imagine that is precisely why she will not press him too far,” I said. “She likely worries that if she annoys him too greatly, he will be rid of her.”

  “Yes, and we all know how easy it is to annoy Nelson,” Felix said. “Still, I do not think the match was a wise one for him, either.”

  He stepped through the door and I followed him in.

  “It is always better to marry for advantageous connections than looks,” he continued. “Influential associations with the right families are more valuable than beauty…which is why I know even you will eventually receive another proposal, my dear sister.”

  In no mood to be teased, I wrinkled my nose at him, as he turned to close the door behind me. “Must you continue to bring that up?” I grumbled.

  “Should I not?” Felix asked. “I had not realized marriage was still such a sensitive topic –”

  “I am not sensitive. I am nothing of the sort…” I grumbled, but I could not stop the image of Thomas Williams creeping into my mind before I shoved it away in disgust.

  I had not embarked on this journey to dwell on the past, I reminded myself. I was here for distraction and I would not allow anything unpleasant to mar this voyage.

  2

  “Felix?” I called through the open door connecting our rooms. “Felix, would you come here?”

  I turned as footsteps echoed from the other side of the wall. “My word, Lillian, what could you possibly need now?”

  “Could you get my jewelry box from the shelf there?” I asked, pointing with my chin toward the pai
nted, wooden box sitting on a shelf beside the window.

  Felix stood just between our two doorways, his hands knotted in the bowtie he attempted to secure around his neck. His eyes shifted to the box and then back to me.

  I glared at him, knowing he could clearly see my own hands twisted around the back of my head, attempting to secure a painstakingly perfect curl at the back of my head, the pin clamped tightly in the corner of my mouth.

  We stood there for a minute, both of us trying to determine who was in the more dire of predicaments.

  Felix’s whole body finally sagged and he rolled his eyes as he dropped the bowtie and wandered over to the painted box. “Surely you would have realized that you needed – ”

  “I don’t need the chiding,” I said as he set the box down on the table beside me, where I stood in front of the full length mirror. “I forgot it. Simple as that.”

  “All right…” he said. “Then move over and give me some space to use your mirror.”

  I pulled the pin from my lips and slid it into the curl after one final twist. “You have your own mirror that you were surely just using.”

  “No,” Felix said. “I gave you the bigger room. Mine must have been meant for children. There is nothing more than a small mirror at a vanity table. I’m too tall to sit on that stool and still be able to see what I’m attempting to do.”

  I let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine,” I said, and shifted ever so slightly to allow him room to stand beside me and slightly behind me.

  I picked up my brush to run it through the ends of my short, bobbed hair. I had it trimmed before we left New York, ensuring that it fell stylishly just below my ears when it was curled properly. When I reached for my setting spray, Felix took a hard sidestep away from me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I don’t want that horrendous spray caking the side of my dinner jacket,” he said, adjusting the bowtie that he had swiftly done up.

  “It is not horrendous,” I said, raising it above my head and beginning to spray. “And it is no worse than your smelly pomade.”

  “Are you almost ready?” he asked.

  “Nearly, why?” I looked over my shoulder in the direction of the clock hanging on the wall.

  “Well, its half past six,” he said.

  I smirked. “You are becoming like Mother, a bit too preoccupied with the time,” I said. “Father always says that one arrives when one needs to and not a moment before.”

  Felix let out a hollow laugh. “This from the same man who insists his motorcar be inspected every thirty days, nearly to the hour. He demands punctuality from everyone but himself.”

  I smiled at my brother in the reflection of the mirror. I checked the placement of my curls before reaching toward my jewelry box. Opening it, I looked through my assortment of earrings.

  “I like these,” Felix said, pointing to a simple pair with emeralds inlaid into gold. “Didn’t they belong to Grandmother?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I usually keep them for special occasions.”

  “Well, why can’t tonight be a special occasion?” Felix asked. “We are to enjoy a lavish meal and then entertainment provided by a famous pianist. We are on our way to our brand new lives, leaving all past difficulties behind us. We have a great deal to be celebrating.”

  I grinned, and selected the emerald earrings from the box. “I could not agree more.”

  I clipped on the earrings and slipped on a gold colored wrist cuff that complimented them nicely, before selecting a long string of beads from the box and looping them around my neck.

  I stood back from the vanity to admire the full effect of my outfit, a sequined shin-length dress with exquisite beadwork above the loose waist and a fringed hem that danced when I moved. A pair of low, ankle-strap heels decorated with rhinestones completed the look.

  It would do, I decided. It would do very well.

  We made our way to the dining room just after seven, which seemed to be the appropriate time to arrive. Half the passengers had arrived and were either mingling with one another, or seated at their tables enjoying their meals.

  The dining room might have been one of the more impressive I had ever seen. The ceiling stretched three decks above our heads, just one deck below the Promenade. A balcony from the two decks above wrapped around the room, creating an impressive, tiered effect as one looked up. A trio of chandeliers hung from the very top, surrounded by painted ceiling medallions with intricate designs anchoring them all. Their glittering light sparkled in every corner of the room like thousands of stars.

  “I see the table near the fountain is open,” Felix said, gesturing to the center of the room. A large, ornate fountain, bubbling merrily, grounded the space. A table just beside it was open.

  “We haven’t sat there yet. I think it will do,” I said.

  He held out his arm to me, and walked with me around the clusters of tables toward our chosen table. I smiled at other guests, keeping my head held high.

  What a thoughtful brother I have, giving me the chance to be seen by everyone.

  Not that I needed the attention. But given our situations and the things that people may or may not have heard about us before boarding the ship, perhaps it was for the best. The more people saw me the way that I should be, enjoying myself in proper company, the more quickly the stories and rumors would be diffused. It was always easier to believe the smiling exterior of a person than the whispered suspicions behind his or her back. My brother, too, ought to be seen out and behaving normally.

  “Ah, Lillian, I do believe that is Mr. McDonough and his wife,” Felix said under his breath.

  I looked up at him, and saw him looking off in the distance. Sure enough, a couple had just walked into the dining room, a couple who exuded the very definition of what it meant to be the societal elite.

  Mr. McDonough was a particularly tall man. His shoulders were broad and his waist narrow, which combined with his polished bald head, gave him the appearance of a Greek statue of a god. He smiled all the time, a mischievous sort of look that spoke of secrets and wishes, luring people in like an angler fish in the dark depths of the very sea we were sailing across.

  His lovely wife, likewise, strode alongside him with enough grace and poise to match any ballerina. She wore a red silk dress that complimented her slender figure. The fur shawl she had draped over her shoulders might have seemed too warm on someone else, but I knew without a doubt it would be making many of the other women in the dining room wonder why they themselves had not thought to wear one.

  Felix and I both lifted a hand in greeting to them as we continued on, and my smile widened ever so slightly when Mr. McDonough caught the gesture, and returned it with a passing but deliberate wave in return.

  Ah, to share a greeting with a millionaire.

  My smile lingered as we reached our table. At one point, Mother would have been elated to know we had been acknowledged by the McDonoughs.

  Felix pulled my chair out for me and allowed me to take my seat before helping to push me in. The bubbling of the fountain was a soothing sound and instantly set my heart at ease as I turned to look at its sparkling surface.

  “I believe I saw Mr. and Mrs. Dobbs looking our way,” Felix said as he gracefully took the seat beside me.

  “I thought I saw them as well,” I said. “I am surprised to see Mr. Dobbs chancing another voyage. How long has it been since that last ship nearly sank in the harbor?”

  Felix gave me a sly smirk. “Lillian, you are too much…”

  I returned his grin and the unspoken pleasure we both shared at still being able to rub shoulders with some of the most prominent figures in New York. I knew how envious Mother would be, and I had to resist the urge to write up a letter to send her upon our arrival in London to tell her all about it.

  A steward approached our table in a pristine, white apron. “Good evening. Might I start you off with something to drink?” he asked as he picked up my sparkling glass goblet and began to fill it wit
h water from a fogged, silver pitcher.

  “Just water for me,” I said as he set my glass back down before me.

  “A coffee for me,” Felix said. “Cream and sugar, if you would.”

  The steward smiled and inclined his head. “Certainly, sir. I shall return with that in a moment. Here is tonight’s menu. Take all the time you need.”

  “You may leave two more of those here,” said a velvety voice.

  I looked up, and to my great surprise, I saw Mr. McDonough standing at the opposite side of the table.

  “If our companions do not mind, of course,” he added.

  “Not at all, sir,” Felix said, his own voice as calm and cool as a sleeping cat. “We would be honored to have you and your lovely wife join us.”

  “Thank you,” Mrs. McDonough said in a breathy tone as her husband pulled her chair out for her.

  My heart began to race with excitement and I could not help but smile at them across the table. “My, my, those furs are absolutely divine, Mrs. McDonough.”

  She gave me a gentle smile as Mr. McDonough helped her shrug the fur shawl from her shoulders and drape it over the back of her chair. “Oh, you are too kind. It’s an old thing, really. But I felt a chill in the air and I could not bear to face the theater without it.”

  “Of course, of course,” I said, brushing one of my curls behind my ear. “I am quite looking forward to the concert this evening. I have heard a great deal about Mr. Osbourn.”

  “Yes, we heard him play once at the Lyceum Theater,” Mrs. McDonough said. Her eyes shone. “And what lovely earrings you have, Miss…Crawford, isn’t it? Forgive me if I have forgotten.”

  “You are too kind, Mrs. McDonough,” I said with a grin. “And I am honored that you remembered.”

  “Well, how could I forget Annalise’s daughter?” she asked.

  “My mother will be so sad to have missed you,” I said.

  “I am surprised not to see your parents accompanying you on this voyage,” Mr. McDonough said. He and Felix had been exchanging similar pleasantries. “I had hoped that I would have the pleasure of seeing your father, when I recognized both of you boarding the ship.”