Death on the Bella Constance (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 6) Read Free

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him some of my past. He thought it was a good idea, and when we reached the Fort Eustis exit, we took a ride down memory
lane—at least it was for me. I had a pang of sadness when I saw my folks’ home
and thought about my father.
    “I really miss him,” I said as we rode passed.
    “You always will, `ge ya.”
    `Ge ya is the name Billy calls me occasionally. It’s Cherokee
for— woman . 
    I smiled up at him through my tears and said, “Finally, we
can get away from all the drama and chaos for a while. Being a P.I. is a real
scary business sometimes. It takes a lot out of a person.”
    “Tell me about it. I’ve been doing this all my life. No
wonder Ruth left me.” He stopped short. “I didn’t mean…”
    “I know what you meant. If she wanted to work with you like I
do, we wouldn’t be together. I’m the lucky one. I know I’m the only `ge ya for
you.”
    Billy chuckled as he pulled out onto Denbigh Boulevard heading back toward the interstate.
An hour and forty-five minutes later, after leaving the 4Runner in the parking
lot for the week, we embarked on the cruise ship, Bella Constance . We
were ready for some fun in the sun!
    “This is going to be the absolute best week!” I said, looking
up at Billy. “I’m so excited!”
    “I can see,” he said, looking at me with that charming smile
of his.
    Billy is a Cherokee Indian. He’s over six feet tall, dark,
handsome, well-built, and has the personality every woman wants in a man.
Sometimes, I wonder what he sees in me. I’m 5’5", skinny, and I used to
have long, dyed red hair until I had it cut to shoulder length—having long hair
and trying to keep it out of the fingers of babies was too much work. Besides,
shorter hair seems to suit my face, and I am fairly decent looking, if I do say
so myself. As you can see, I’m still working on my insecurities.
    We were going to be like newlyweds on their honeymoon. We
promised each other before we left Charlottesville that we would spend the whole time concentrating on each
other, leaving all our concerns back home. Life would continue without us for
seven days. No computers and no spy gadgets, only our cell phones for
emergency, and the digital camera we brought along for our personal use. This
vacation was about us… Billy and me.
    The Bella Constance was one of the older cruise ships.
It had been built in the sixties by a Greek named Loukas Constance, a young man
who started out with nothing but his wit and skill, and was fortunate enough to
hire on the right men for the job. His goal was to build a fleet of ships,
eventually. Loukas built the Bella Constance , named after his southern
wife with an Italian name, Bella, and as time went by, he added five more ships
to his line. After he retired, he made a point of taking a cruise on the Bella
Constance with his wife at least once a year—the ship that started it all,
and the woman he shared it with.
    Even though the Bella Constance was a small ship
compared to most, the information on the web stated that the service and
ambiance were beyond belief. Sounded good to me. The last thing I wanted was to
spend seven days at a place resembling a shopping mall. When there are
fifteen-hundred people in one place, it’s too much for me. This ship had a
total of seven hundred souls on board, including the captain.
    We found out after boarding as the porter showed us to our
room on deck six—there were only seven—that Bella and Loukas Constance would be
joining us on the cruise. That announcement just added to my excitement. We
would get to meet the man who actually built the ship.
    “How lucky can we get?” I asked as Billy and I walked into
our room.
    “We will put to sea at precisely nine o’clock . The ship’s horn will sound our departure. The first one is
a warning, and the second one means we’re leaving dock. Then we’ll be off,” our
porter announced. “The horn will sound again at eleven o’clock , and we’ll assemble on deck for the