Free The Body in the Fjord by Katherine Hall Page Page A

running through her head—something like wouldn’t Lynette have rather had root canal work than come to Norway with her in-laws on her honeymoon—was not appropriate. She settled for a straightforward introduction.
    â€œI’m Pix Miller, and yes, I am traveling with my mother, Ursula Rowe. We’re from Aleford, Massachusetts.”
    â€œMassachusetts, now that is a coincidence. Roy was there for a convention in 1985. It was in Boston. That’s the capital, right?”
    â€œYes, it is.”
    â€œI watch Jeopardy ! a lot. I know all the state capitals. Everyone tells me I ought to go on, but I’d be too nervous, and besides, I don’t think it’s fair. Those buzzer things don’t always seem to work right to me.”
    â€œHave you been with the tour since Copenhagen?” Pix was pretty sure she hadn’t seen the name Peterson among the new arrivals, and the woman was a gift, a veritable font of information.
    â€œOh, yes, and it’s been a dream come true. We’re going to Kristiansand at the end of the tour. I have some cousinsthere I’ve never met. We wanted to stay in a hotel, but they just wouldn’t hear of it.”
    Pix interrupted. It was close to 10:30 and she didn’t want another chance to slip by. The buses would board at eleven.
    â€œOne of the people at our table last night was telling us about some trouble. That one of the staff drowned. It must have been horrible.”
    â€œWell, we didn’t see him drown”—Carol Peterson was clearly of the “out of sight, out of mind” school—“and none of us really knew him.” She paused, but Pix was sure she’d go on. There was empty air to fill. “The young people who took their place are much, much better. More efficient and, believe me, much nicer.” She punctuated the last comment with an extremely knowing look.
    â€œThem? I thought it was just one person.”
    â€œHe had this girlfriend. She was working on the tour, too. They slipped off to get married, which, I told Lynette, was very irresponsible, because if you elope, you’re always sorry later. No gown and no presents. Oh, maybe a few, but nothing good.”
    â€œSo, you thought it was irresponsible of them?” Pix tried to get her back on track, prying her away from place settings and a lifetime supply of Tupperware.
    â€œOf course it was! To leave us all in the lurch like that. Why, Jan and Carl couldn’t manage all the bags, and we got delayed while they tried to find out what happened to them, so we missed dinner in Bergen the first night!”
    Pix tried to appear sympathetic, but it was hard. Very hard.
    â€œYou said the new people are nicer?”
    â€œThe boy was all right, although he seemed a little moody. I think when you’re working on a tour like this, you should at least try to look cheerful. But the girl was a witch, if you know what I mean.” Another look.
    Pix did know and she was glad her mother wasn’t there. All restraint might have vanished and Ursula could very well have clocked Carol Peterson one.
    â€œOh dear. It sounds as if you had a problem with her.”
    â€œI’ll say I did. First off, we had this poky little room in the hotel in Copenhagen—the staff hands out the keys—and she wouldn’t change it.”
    â€œMaybe all the keys had been given out,” Pix said before she could stop herself. She wanted information and that meant not interrupting the silly woman’s tirade, and certainly not sympathizing with Kari. “Although,” she added quickly, “they can usually do something.”
    â€œExactly!” Carol said triumphantly. “We did get switched, but I had to go over her head, and after that she really had it in for me. Every time I asked her to do something, she either took her sweet time or pretended not to hear me. She knew what I’d said, too, because she heard me telling