She was all tangled up in sheetsand blankets and had apparently been groaning and thrashing over that strangedream.
The morning light pouring inthrough her stateroom window was a welcome sight.
“Don’t worry,” she said to SirReggie with a reassuring pat on his head. “I just had a bad dream. Everything’sOK.”
But is everything really OK? she wondered.
Yesterday a prominent beer critichad drowned in a vat of beer, and London herself was a potential suspect in hismurder.
And today …
Well, she didn’t know what mighthappen next. She could have a really rough day ahead.
Then, as she got out of bed …
“Ow!” she groaned,discovering that she ached all over.
That was from helping the man outof the beer vat, which had turned out to be a useless effort.
As she dressed in a fresh uniformand got ready to go to work, London couldn’t shake off the feeling that she wasstill soaked in beer. For one thing, the whole stateroom seemed to be full ofthe smell.
That wasn’t surprising. She’d beendripping wet when she came in last night. And her nice festival outfit wasstill wet and smelly and hanging in the shower stall.
As she pulled a brush through herhair, the smell seemed to get stronger.
Didn’t I shampoo all of it out? she wondered.
She even thought she could stillsmell beer on her hands and arms. Had it gotten so far into her pores that shecouldn’t get rid of it?
She briefly considered takinganother shower—not only to get cleaner, but also to relax her sore muscles. Butthen she would have to deal with those smelly clothes hanging there and itprobably wouldn’t do much good.
Anyway, it was time to get her daygoing.
She poured fresh water and foodfor Sir Reggie. As she watched him eat eagerly, she realized she was prettyhungry herself.
She asked him, “Do you want tojoin me for breakfast in the Habsburg Restaurant, boy?”
Sir Reggie let out an affirmativeyap.
As they headed out of the room,London felt grateful for the loyal animal’s company.
On their way up one flight ofstairs to the Adagio deck, London found herself worrying about Audrey again.She remembered the peculiar conversation they’d had through Audrey’s stateroomdoor.
“This is not a convenient time,” the woman had said.
Now London wondered—what couldAudrey have been doing that was more important than talking about a murder?
I’d better check up on her again, London decided.
Instead of going into therestaurant, she and Sir Reggie headed down the passageway that ran amongpassenger staterooms on that level.
When she knocked on Audrey’s door,there was no reply. Remembering how hard it had been to get the woman’sattention yesterday, London wasn’t especially surprised.
She knocked again and called out.
“Audrey, it’s me, London.”
But there was still no reply. Shewondered if maybe Audrey wasn’t awake yet. After all, she, too, had had a toughday yesterday and was probably tired.
Maybe I shouldn’t bother her, she thought. She could be sleeping late.
But she reminded herself that DetektivErlich was probably going to be here soon, and he was going want to talk toAudrey as well as to London.
“I will be prepared,” Audrey had said yesterday when London had mentionedErlich’s impending visit.
But that visit was likely tohappen soon, and if Audrey really was still sleeping …
She knocked on the door again.
“Audrey, are you there?” sheasked.
There was still no reply.
London felt a tingle of worry. Shewondered whether she should use her master key to let herself inside just tomake sure …
Make sure of what? she asked herself.
She didn’t even know exactly whyshe was worried. Again she wondered—did a part of her imagine that Audrey hadhad something to do with Herr Forstmann’s death?
What a ridiculous idea, she told herself.
Anyway, she certainly wasn’t goingto make matters better by entering Audrey’s room and invading her privacy,especially if she found her still in bed. And if Audrey wasn’t in her room, shewas probably somewhere on the boat, perhaps even having breakfast in therestaurant.
She and Sir Reggie went back downthe passageway and into the attractive restaurant in the bow of the ship.Sunlight glowed through the Habsburg’s big windows, sparkling on clean whitetablecloths and silver serving dishes, but only a few passengers were there toenjoy the morning’s offerings.
She didn’t see Audrey anywhere.She did, however, see Bob Turner sitting alone at a table, wearing hisever-present mirrored glasses and hunched over a red beverage that London waspretty sure must be a virgin Bloody Mary.
London remembered that the ship’ssecurity man and his friend the would-be mystery author had seemed to be puttingaway a lot of beer at the festival yesterday. It looked like the poor guy wasn’tfeeling too great this morning.
In fact, several other passengersthat she’d seen partying quite enthusiastically yesterday also looked prettyhaggard.
Things might be kind of subduedon board today, she thought.
Then she saw that at least two ofthe ship’s staff appeared to be unaffected by the hangovers that afflictedothers in the room. Captain Hays and Elsie were sitting together at a tablewith well-loaded breakfast plates. The captain was talking on his cell phonewhile Elsie was devouring her meal. London knew that the captain had the goodsense to exercise moderation and that Elsie was generally unaffected bywhatever she chose to imbibe.
When Elsie saw London, she wavedher over and then whispered so as not to disturb the captain’s phoneconversation.
“Hey, London! It’s good to seeyou! Sit down with us!”
Pulling an empty chair up next toElsie, London sat down and Sir Reggie jumped up in her lap.
Elsie dug around in a pocket andthen gave Sir Reggie one of the dog treats that Bryce had specially made, andthat everybody seemed to be carrying around these days.
Then Elsie pointed to the captainand whispered to London, “He’s talking to the boss.”
London nodded uneasily, wonderingwhat Mr. Lapham might be saying this morning. The drift of the conversation washard to pick out from the captain’s minimal statements.
“Yes, sir … That sounds like anexcellent idea, sir … Yes, I suppose that is a possible consideration … If yousay so, sir …”
While the captain continued inthis mode, Elsie leaned toward London and whispered again.
“I heard about the murder,” shesaid. “Are you holding up OK?”
“I guess,” London said. “I’m glad
