A Cruise 2 Die 4

A Cruise

2 Die 4

Marcia Slow-Sandler

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: 1-800-839-8640

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

© 2011. Marcia Slow-Sandler. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/29/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0516-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0515-1 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011908756

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

For my Herb

Chapter One

Friday, May 26th

Chapter Two

Saturday, May 27th

Chapter Three

Sunday, May 29th

Chapter Four

Monday, May 29th

Chapter Five

Tuesday, May 30th

Chapter Six

Wednesday, May 31st

Chapter Seven

Thursday, June 1st

Chapter Eight

Monday, June 5th

Chapter Nine

Tuesday, June 6th

Chapter Ten

Wednesday, June 7th

Chapter Eleven

Thursday, June 8th

Chapter Twelve

Friday, June 9th

Chapter Thirteen

Saturday, June 10th

Chapter Fourteen

Monday, June 12th

Chapter Fifteen

Wednesday, June 14th

Chapter Sixteen

Thursday, June 15th

Chapter Seventeen

Friday, June 16th

Chapter Eighteen

Saturday, June 17th

Chapter Nineteen

Sunday, June 18th

Chapter Twenty

Monday, June 19th

Chapter Twenty-One

Tuesday, June 20th

Chapter Twenty-Two

Wednesday, June 21st

Chapter Twenty-Three

Thursday, June 22nd

Chapter Twenty-Four

Friday, June 23rd

Chapter Twenty-Five

Saturday, June 24th

EPILOGUE

About the Author

For my Herb

Even now when I have come so far

I wonder where you are

I wonder why it’s still so hard without you

Even now when I come shining through

I swear I think of you

And how I wish you knew

Even now

By: Barry Manilow and Marty Panzer

Dedicated with love to the memory of my dear friend

Thomas A. Magill

Chief of Police Hallandale Beach Police Department

with love and thanks

to my family

Howard, Lori, Eric, Michelle, Nicole,

and with appreciation

for your help and support to

Irene (Renee) Staskin

Catherine (Cathy) Reside

Samantha Mavrak

Matthew (Matt) Banzin

Wil Hererra

Ilene Sultan

Chris Hock Assistant Chief of Police

Hallandale Police Department Retired

Mardi Gras Casino

to my friends

who gave me the encouragement to follow my dream.

I couldn’t have done it without you

In this sequel to her thrillers A Murder 2 Die 4 and A Campaign 2 Die 4, Marcia Slow-Sandler again transports her readers to Sunset Beach, Florida and reconnects with The Ladies That Lunch.

Was the body that was discovered aboard the cruise ship The Bahama Majesty the result of an accident or is something more sinister at play?

Follow this group of spirited women as they use their intuition and common sense to help solve the mystery in the suspenseful pages of

A Cruise 2 Die 4

Chapter One

Friday, May 26th

It was another South Florida Chamber of Commerce perfect day and the Mardi Gras Casino’s staff was putting the finishing touches on the front patio entrance in order to transform it into a red, white and blue tribute for the Memorial Day weekend.

Checking his watch, Dan Lynch, the Mardi Gras bus driver, pulled up to the front entrance of the casino at exactly ten thirty a.m. The ten finalists in the Casinos’ Texas Hold-em tournament and their guests were anxiously awaiting his arrival.

Having earned a seat at the final table, Maxine Greene was busy chatting with her friends Pam Aymes and Judy Fairchild. The three of them were known at their Sunset Beach condominium as The Ladies That Lunch (TLTL).

Pam and Judy still couldn’t believe Maxine’s good fortune. Going on this all expense two night, three day cruise aboard the Bahama Majesty was a dream come true.

Since the finalists were allowed to bring only one guest, the ladies decided that instead of having Maxine chose between them, they would upgrade her cabin and pay for a third person. They weren’t going to let a thing like a cruise break up their friendship. Not them. They did everything together including, lunch, shopping, golf and Police work. Yep, that’s right. Police work. They were the secret weapon/senior sleuths for the Sunset Beach Police Department. Not only did they help in solving two homicides, but had Police I.D. to prove it.

To make sure they would be the first in line to board the bus to Port Everglades they arrived early.

Looking around Maxine noticed a woman dressed in Mardi Gras attire standing alone. Recognizing her from the Poker Room as one of the finalists, she walked over and introduced herself. After chatting for a few minutes she found out that her name was Margaret Baldwin, she was a Judge and traveling alone. Maxine pointed to her friends and asked the Judge if she would like to join them. Grateful to have someone to travel with, Margaret Baldwin, who asked to be called Maggie, followed Maxine to the front of the line that had already been formed and was introduced to Pam and Judy.

Boarding the bus Pam and Judy took the first two seats on the left hand side of the aisle and Maxine and her new found buddy Maggie took the seats across the aisle directly behind the driver. After the rest of the passengers filled the remaining seats, driver Dan Lynch headed north on U.S. 1 to Port Everglades.

Settled in for the short ride, Maxine and the Judge began to chat about the Texas Hold-em Mardi Gras Casino tournament set for Saturday night with the winner receiving $10,000 in cash.

Dan Lynch listened intently to the conversation behind him and began to scheme on how he could get to meet the Judge. After all she was a Judge and had the two qualities he admired most in a woman. She had money and, she had money. He made a mental note to make sure when he took the group back to the casino he helped the Judge with her luggage. He also decided not to blow off the other ladies, and wrote down their names when he stopped for a light.

After they boarded the ship the Mardi Gras Group were told that their rooms would not be ready for at least two hours. They chose to stay together, have lunch, get to know each other, and meet on the Aloha deck where lunch was being served.

Pam, after declaring herself the cruise director for the group, went ahead to secure the tables. She quickly arranged that the poker players would sit together at one table and their guests at another. By the time the rest of the group entered the lunch room each of them had on a name tag that a member of the cruise staff had graciously provided.

The table of the ten poker players consisted of :

Margaret Baldwin - age 68, a retired Broward County Judge, with brown hair, slight built.

Frank Collins – age 59 owner and operator of a local family restaurant. At 5’11, he blamed his overweight physique due to eating too much of his own pasta. It was rumored that he had also had been known to run a few illegal poker games in one of the back rooms of his restaurant.

Juan Garcia - Owned a local Public Relation firm and had just reached the frightening age of 40. With dark hair, 5’9, medium build he pictured himself as a Latin lover.

Micayla Geary, age 32, was the youngest in the group and a Paramedic. At 5’9, dark hair, green eyes she looked more like a model. She volunteered that her fellow Paramedics taught her to play poker during their long shifts.

Maxine Greene who was one of The Ladies That Lunch would only say that she was 65 plus and was enjoying her golden years. She wouldn’t discuss her age, height, weight. As for the hair color of her hair, she said it was difficult to describe, because as she put it, it changed by the day.

Corey Jenson, was the first Black Math Professor at the local college. He was 45 years old, and just one semester short of his doctorate. Tall and muscular he was a commanding sight.

Harry Miller, a 72 year old retired Insurance Agent from New York, had played poker since he was a kid back in Brooklyn. A husky 5’10 he was proud of being the oldest player at the table.

Keith Parker, age 43, was a Computer Technician at a local Accounting firm. At six feet tall, blonde hair, dark tinted sun glasses, and baseball cap, he looked as though he just played on the televised poker show the WPT (World Poker Tournament).

David Simmons, age 45, an unemployed Stock Broker insisted he took up poker because he had too much time on his as hands when he lost his job and was thoroughly enjoying it. David had dark hair and regularly worked out in a gym.

Completing the table of ten was Emily Watson age 38. She was a former Poker Dealer from Las Vegas. At 5’4, green eyes, 120 lbs., she had earned the nicknamed of Trouble.

While their guests were getting acquainted at a nearby table, the ten Mardi Gras Casino poker finalists opened the packets Dan Lynch, the Mardi Gras bus driver, handed them when they exited the bus.

Pam pointed out all of their staterooms were on the Crystal deck and was delighted to discover that Maggie Baldwin’s room was directly across the hall from TLTL.

Included with the ships weekend schedule of events was an invitation to a five p.m. cocktail party on the Atlantis deck sponsored by the Mardi Gras Casino. It listed their dinner reservations were for the six-thirty p.m. seating.

Hearing over the ships’ intercom system the rooms on the Crystal deck were ready for occupancy, the group headed for the elevators, excited to settle-in and have the cruise begin.

Finding their cabins, TLTL chose to rest before they dressed for the cocktail party. They got into robes, jumped on to one of the king sized beds and then, like three teenagers, began to gossip about the group.

Since Judy and Pam were at a different table than Maxine, Maxine decided to go first and began to talk about the two young women that were sitting next to her during lunch. Commenting she found it difficult to remember what it felt like to be that young and impressionable, she added she quickly warmed up to Micayla, the paramedic, but found Emily, the poker dealer, to be a little standoffish.

Continuing the discussion about the players, she went on to Maggie Baldwin and Harry Miller. She described Maggie as someone she would like to get to know better, and Harry as an extremely charming man. Blushing slightly, she quickly added he reminded her of her brother, and both he and Maggie were at least their age.

Okay, let’s not get off the track, Maxine said. What about the other player’s guests? Not wanting to sound too obvious she asked did anyone other than Maggie Baldwin not bring a guest?

Picking up on why Maxine was questioning her, Judy said yes and added with a chuckle Harry Miller brought his brother as his guest.. I guess they’re both available.

Choosing to ignore her, Maxine checked her watch and said We’d better start to get ready. We don’t want to be late for the cocktail party. Pam with a grin on her face said We can continue this conversation after we finish checking everyone out tonight.

As TLTL prepare to leave their stateroom, Judy suggested they stop at Maggie Baldwin’s room and ask her to join them. When Pam opened the door she was surprised to see Maggie standing in front of the door to their room.

Breaking out with a smile, Maggie said Guess I just got caught. I’ve been standing outside your door waiting for you slow pokes to come out. I really dread going to the cocktail party alone.

Maxine, on the way to the elevator put her arm through Maggie’s, turned to Pam and Judy and in a sing song voice began to sing Hail, Hail the gangs all here.

The Mardi Gras cocktail get-together was well underway when the ladies arrived. They quickly noticed the ‘younger generation’ had already bonded, leaving TLTL, Maggie, Harry Miller, and his brother William, Frank Simmons and his wife Nina, feeling like chaperones at a high school dance.

Making an effort to get to know the other players, Maxine started to, as she put it, work the room.

After about five minutes, Maxine returned to the group that somehow had gravitated to the corner of the room. Shaking her head, she told them it was just too much work to try and understand the conversations of the younger generation.

Harry agreed and after checking his watch, he suggested they head to the dining room and find a table for eight. Before anyone could question his decision, Harry added Let the youngsters fend for themselves.

Following dinner the other nine finalists, except Maggie, decided to head for the poker tables while their guests went straight for the slot machines.

Maggie had elected not to play poker that evening because she had an ulterior motive. She made this decision so she could check out the competition. You see, one of the skills she had developed as a Judge was the ability to read other peoples’ body language. Little did she know when she started to play poker that her hidden talent would enable her to get an insight on other poker players. The poker pros called peoples idiosyncrasies, tells. Maggie felt that knowing her competition’s tells could increase her chances of winning the $10,000 Mardi Gras cash tournament.

She then spent the better part of an hour watching her competition and after most of the younger players left the tables to head for the late night show, she decided to call it quits. Spotting an empty table in the corner of the Casino she pulled out a pad and pen from her hand bag and began to write:

Frank Collins leaned forward when he was