Free 4 Death at the Happiness Club by Cecilia Peartree Page B

and headed for the steps. Mr Smith and Maisie Sue looked at each other. She noticed he had very bright, alert-looking eyes of an indeterminate blue-grey-green colour. Now Mr Smith must be around the same age as she was, and she guessed he was single, now that he had appeared at two singles events. She fluttered her eyelashes very slightly and stared up into his face as he spoke.  Nobody could possibly object to the future wife of a detective inspector getting a UK visa.
    Operating her eyelashes took such concentration that she wasn't sure what he was saying, but that could come later. First catch your fish…
     

Chapter 11 Queasy on Inchcolm
     
    Amaryllis had been more unnerved than she would have thought possible by Mr Smith's sudden move. There were only two explanations she could think of for him to loom over her and Maisie Sue like that. One was that he had been tipped off by the immigration authorities about Maisie Sue's impending visa problem, and was keeping her under not very subtle surveillance. The other, and much scarier possibility was that he fancied either her or Maisie Sue and had deliberately come along to the Happiness Club to get close to one of them.
    Her first reaction was to hope fervently it was Maisie Sue and not her.
    Her second reaction was to resolve to thwart him in whichever of these aims he was currently pursuing.
    Downstairs in the cabin, Jock McLean sat and stared at the water outside. He seemed even more miserable than usual. Amaryllis sat down next to him.
    'Happiness! Hmph!' he said.
    'I agree,' said Amaryllis. 'It's completely over-rated.'
    'It's a rough day,' he said, watching the waves. 'I hope we won't sink - that'd be the last straw.'
    They looked out together for a while. There was no sign of their destination. Suddenly he stood up and said, 'Sorry, lass, I've got to go now. Can I get past?'
    He rushed off. He had looked a bit grey in the face, and Amaryllis wondered if he was all right. It wasn't like Jock to show any sign of human weakness.
    Surveying her fellow-passengers, she noticed some of the other inhabitants of the cabin weren't looking too good either. One woman had her eyes shut, and moaned softly every time the boat swayed, which was frequently. A middle-aged man clung to the back of the row of seats in front and had a glazed expression on his face.
    The people on the top deck had been all right, as far as she could tell. Had the cabin-dwellers been drinking? Or was something else wrong. Diesel fumes from the engine? What else could it be? She sniffed the air.
    Sean appeared, opening a little door that seemed to lead behind the bar.
    'Have these people been drinking?' Amaryllis asked him, thinking as she did so how much like a dowager duchess she must sound.
    He shrugged his shoulders. 'Maybe half a pint or so.'
    'A few of them don't seem very well,' she said. 'Do you think it might be the diesel fumes?'
    'There's no knowing with boats,' he said. 'Some people are just very susceptible to sea-sickness.'
    'That's ridiculous,' she said. 'It's the middle of July and we aren't even out at sea. And why should all the people in the cabin feel ill and nobody on the top deck?'
    'Look,' he hissed. 'Keep your voice down - you'll get the rest of them started. If there's one thing I know about, it's mob psychology. Do you want to start a panic in here?'
    'No, of course not,' she snapped. 'Do you want people poisoned by fumes? Why don't you get them all up on deck in the air just to make sure?'
    'We're nearly there anyway,' said Sean. 'They'll get more air than they know what to do with on the island, or so I've heard tell.'
    He was right about that anyway, Amaryllis reflected as they went ashore.
    For some reason she wished Christopher were here. She had texted him earlier in the day to let him know where she was going – not that he had been showing much interest in her movements lately, and she despised texting as a form of communication, but she wanted to show she wasn’t just