Free 1 Shore Excursion by Marie Moore Page B

in the black coat knocks on your door, you gotta go!’ ”
    “Well, I think Ruth would want us to dress up tonight and have a few little drinks.” Brooke S hyler looked down at the emeralds on her perfectly-manicured fingers . “Why, Ruth herself was really looking forward to the masquerade ball,” she continued . “ She even brought a costume. Think of it as a memorial.”
    “Yeah, a memorial,” Ethel Goldstein nodded. “A memorial. That’s nice. We’ll think of it as a memorial.”
    “I still think they should have buried her at sea instead of keeping her in the iceb ox with the radishes,” said Gladys Murphy. “I never seen a burial at sea.”
    Time for moi ... Sh erlock Marsh. I began carefully, mindful of Vargos’ warning. “Girls ...” They love to be called girls.
    “Did any of you notice anything odd about Ruth Sunday night during dinner? Anything strange?”
    They nodded in unison, like old bobble-headed dolls, letting me know that this topic had already been well-discussed.
    “She wouldn’t eat,” Ethel said.
    “All that gorgeous food a nd she wouldn’t eat,” Hannah added. “ Steamship round of beef, roast spring lamb, white asparagus, barely tasted it. She just picked, picked, picked. When I asked her why she didn’t eat , she just looked out the window and said something about the bus and her little red suitcase.”
    “That’s right, she wouldn’t eat , ” Maria Petrone added. “And she didn’t even stay for the Crepes Suzette . She just got up and left, right after our waiter, Vlamin, fired it up.”
    “I can’t wait for the B aked Alaska tonight , ” said Hannah . “I just love those f laming desserts. So good, so pretty. ”
    “What is B aked Alaska ?” asked Muriel Murphy.
    “What, you never had B aked Alaska?” Ethel peered at her over her big black bifocals.
    “She never had B aked Alaska.” Hannah looked at others, shaking her head, and then at Muriel and explained, “Baked Alaska is this delicious cake, filled with ice cream and then covered all over with that sweet, fluffy stuff — I can’t think of the name of it right now — and then baked. Then the waiters flame it up , turn out all the lights and march around the dining room singing, “ Hot, Hot, Hot ” with the B aked Alaskas on their heads. It’s beautiful. You should see it. And it tastes so good.”
    Her sweet little wrinkled face glowed with nostalgia .
    “ That was the B aked Alaskas that we saw this morning in the big freezers when we went on the galley tour,” Hannah continued. “They looked so delicious, all lined up on the racks and ready for tonight.”
    “The fluffy stuff, Hannah, is meringue , ” Gertrude snapped. “And that ’s not on the menu tonight. The B aked Alaskas are on Caribbean Night. That’s tomorrow night . If you would read your Daily Program, you would know that we have French cuisine tonight, because of the Bal Masque . ”
    She finished with an acid smile. “ Did you see Ruth while you were in the freezer?”
    “Now, Gertrude , you know they wouldn’t keep Ruth with the B aked Alaskas. You’re just trying to make everyone sad again and spoil the whole thing.” Ethel made a vicious cut into her turnip and turned her back on Gertrude .
    Gertrude had the last shot. “ I just don’t think it shows the proper respect, that’s all, ” she said, for the fifth time. “And I’m not dressing up tonight like some hootchie-cootchie dancer, either!”
    “ Just imagine , Sidney, Gertrude Fletcher as a hootchie-coochie dancer!” Jay said in my ear.
    He stepped over the back of the chair and plopped down beside me. “Still mad?”
    “Hell, yes, I’m still mad, party boy.” I whispered, “ We’ve got this big mess on our hands, and the High Steppers to take care of, and we still haven’t talked to Itchy, and, oh, by the way, sugar britches, a killer roaming around the ship, and you get hammered and hide in the hot tub with the magician. I’d like to make you