Sea Salt Caramel Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 4) Read Free

the steam room. I don't want tea and muffins,” Herbert told Hawk. “Ladies, the gym comes equipped with a pool, a steam room, an exercise room, and a small lounge. Would you like to join us?”
    “Not me,” Lidia said, putting the pack of peanut butter crackers back into her purse. “I get all the exercise I want at home. I think I'll go have some tea and muffins. Nikki, are you with me?”
    “Sure,” Nikki said, looking in the direction the Chinese man disappeared in.
    Hawk caught Nikki's mind beginning to wander off into an area that concerned him. “Please, Nikki, let's have a nice, quiet, peaceful cruise. Whatever you're thinking, stop. We're on this ship to relax, remember?”
    “Huh? Oh, yeah, sure,” Nikki replied, taking her attention back to him. Offering an innocent smile, she shooed Hawk away. “Go work out, okay?”
    “Lidia, watch her,” Hawk pleaded.
    “We'll meet you ladies in one hour,” Herbert said and walked away with Hawk.
    As soon as Hawk and Herbert were out of sight, Nikki bit down on her lower lip. “No,” Lidia said, seeing the look in Nikki's eye. “Nice and quiet, okay?”
    “Okay,” Nikki promised. “I'm just a little curious as to who that Chinese man is.”
    “I don't know his name,” the girl told Nikki, taking a risk, “but I do know he was on the last cruise.”
    “Are you sure?” Nikki asked, spinning around.
    “Oh dear,” Lidia sighed. Before the girl could answer, Lidia grabbed Nikki's arm and pulled her away. “Nice and quiet. We'll forget all about Mr. Rude and enjoy ourselves, dear.”
    Nikki allowed Lidia to drag her into a lovely passageway with signs giving directions to the ship's dining rooms, entertainment room, library, sitting room, smoking room, and tea room. “Let's go to the tea room,” Lidia told Nikki. “We can relax, sip tea, eat muffins, chat about girly stuff, and rest.”
    Catching her detective instincts trying to dominate her need to relax, Nikki looked at Lidia. “Oh dear, Lidia, I'm sorry. Old habits are hard to break. Tea and muffins sound great.”

Chapter Three
    L idia began to speak but stopped when the Chinese man stepped out of a public restroom into the passageway. Without saying a word, he looked at Lidia and Nikki and then hurried away. “Say, he wasn't carrying a briefcase when we last saw him,” Lidia quickly pointed out, and then, like a guilty cat caught with its paws in the milk bowl, she looked at Nikki. “You're rubbing off on me.”
    Before Nikki could speak, a second man stepped out of the bathroom. The man was Captain Mayfield. “Ladies, I better get us under way.” He smiled and vanished down the hallway on fast legs.
    “Lidia, take me to the tea room before I follow the captain,” Nikki begged.
    Lidia quickly grabbed Nikki's hand and pulled her into an elegant tea room lined with antique furnishings and open bay windows looking out into the stormy harbor. Two women in their early sixties, both wearing authentic maid uniforms, greeted Lidia and Nikki. One of the women escorted them to a table next to a marble fireplace. “Today’s teas are peppermint, lemon, English breakfast...” The woman politely began to name off the teas being served and finished with the muffins.
    Nikki glanced around the tea room. She and Lidia were the only occupants. “Uh, peppermint tea with a blueberry muffin,” she told the woman.
    “Lemon tea with a bran muffin,” Lidia put in her order. Reading the woman's name tag, she added: “June, can you also bring me some honey if you have any?”
    “Of course,” June told Lidia, “I drink my tea that way myself.”
    As soon as June was out of earshot, Nikki spoke: “I'm going to forget what I saw. I'm here to relax, relax with my friends.”
    “You say that in a very pained voice,” Lidia told Nikki. Looking out at the stormy harbor, she wrinkled her nose. “Honey, let's just enjoy our time on this lovely ship. What are the chances a crime—or murder—will take place?