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

down the hall knocking on doors, and repeating the same thing as he
continued.
    “Guess we’d better hurry up,” Billy said. “We don’t want to
miss leaving port.”
    I locked my suitcase containing my diamond bracelet, and then
put it in the closet.
    “Hey, wait a minute,” I said, looking around the room.
“There’s supposed to be a safe in each room. It’s behind a picture.” I looked
straight to the only picture on the wall. “There it is.”
    Billy walked over to the picture and pulled it back to reveal
a small safe. He turned and looked at me. “There’s a slot on the side for a
keycard. Let me try ours.”
    Billy slipped the keycard in and then pulled it out, turned
the handle, and the safe opened. “Here you go. You can put your bracelet in
here. It will be safe.”
    “Forget it! I think I trust my suitcase more than I do a safe
that anyone could have a keycard to. No thanks.”
    Billy closed the safe and said, “Okay. It’s up to you.”
    “I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
    Billy locked the door and then slipped the keycard in his
pocket as we walked down the hall, following everyone else.
    For a second, I wondered why the doors to the rooms didn’t
open out onto the deck instead of the hall. Maybe Loukas Constance didn’t want
to make it easy for anyone to walk out of their room in the middle of the night
and fall off the ship. I also noticed that all the rooms had silver numbers on
them, but the room at the end of the hall had gold numbers. The room was at a
dead end. We had to turn left or right to exit. What did that mean? Perhaps
room six-hundred was a special room. Silly thoughts like that went through my
head as Billy and I made our way to the deck.
    As I was standing beside Billy, holding his hand, I took a
deep breath and inhaled the salty air. It had been a long time since I had been
to the beach, or on a boat. And then I remembered why. I can’t swim, and I’d
never been fond of boats. I’d only been boating a few times, and that was a few
times too many. I got seasick each time, and the whole time I was scared I was
going to fall overboard and drown. But this was different. We were on a large,
safe ship, and I wasn’t going to drown. I had Billy by my side. Everything
would be great. I squeezed Billy’s hand and leaned closer to him.
    “I love you,” I whispered.”
    “I love you, too,” he replied. He leaned down and kissed me.
    My heart fluttered… just like a school girl.
    “Aw…” a woman standing beside me said. “Isn’t that sweet?”
    Slightly embarrassed, I turned to look at her and smiled as I
did. “We’re celebrating our first year of marriage,” I remarked.
    The woman was probably around seventy years old, less than
five feet tall, thin, and had short, white hair. Her alabaster skin was smooth,
and she didn’t have the heavy wrinkles one would expect to see on someone her
age. The man beside her, who most likely was her husband, was the same height,
a little heavy, and his skin was tanned as if he had spent most of his life on
the water. They might have taken a lot of cruises.
    “Hello,” I said as I held out my hand to her. “I’m Jesse, and
this is my husband, Billy.”
    “It’s very nice to meet you,” she replied as she gently took
my hand in hers. “My name is Bella, and this is my husband Loukas.”
    “I’m honored,” I gushed. I looked at Billy. “This is…”
    “I know, Jesse.” He held his hand out. “How do you do, Mrs.
Constance… Mr. Constance? Jesse’s right. It’s a real honor to meet you.” Billy
shook the man’s hand, and then leaned over, took Bella’s hand in his, and
kissed it. “A real honor, Mrs. Constance.”
    “Oh, you can call me, Bella,” she said, softly. “Everyone
does.”
    “And you can call me, Loukas,” her husband replied with a
chuckle.
    I was a little humbled by their presence and was at a loss
for the proper words to say to folks who had accomplished so much in their
lives. Then I