He dipped his face to mine and kissed me.“Sounds like a plan.”
ChapterSix
Ezra and I returned to our room.We made the decision to save the news of what happened to Sebastian until morning.It was late, and no doubt Gilly, Scott, Jordy, and Pippa were already down for the night.After crawling into our comfortable bed, sleep hit us fast and hard.We were out like the lights in seconds, not minutes.
The following morning, we gathered everyone in Pippa and Jordy’s room.The walls were paper thin, but their room was the farthest from the new widow’s.It felt safer to discuss her husband’s death there than in our room.Coffee was passed around while Ezra and I filled the group in on everything from the night before.
“We see a few drownings every year in the emergency room,” Scott said.“It’s possible to drown that quickly, but since you administered CPR right away, I’m skeptical he was alive when he went into the pool,” Scott said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.“I’d love to get my eyes on the doctor’s medical findings to see if there was actually any water in the lungs.”
Gilly, looking much better than she had the night before, shook her head as she gave me the stink eye.“Why am I even surprised that if there’s a dead body on our vacation, you’re the one to stumble over it?”
She aimed that at me, but Ezra spoke first.“More like the dead body stumbled over us.”
“Okay,” Pippa said, her voice brisk and no-nonsense.“Let’s say we’re running with the idea that someone else was at the Resplendent last night.Someone dragged the body onto that chair or something like it.Who, though?And how did they get him to the top deck without anyone noticing?Did they have an access card?Wouldn’t their room number register when they swiped it?”
“All good questions with no good answers,” I said.“The obvious suspect is Callie, the wife.This is her second husband to die.She’s either got awful luck, or she’s involved.Then there’s Charise, our clumsy steward.”
“Oh!”Pippa grabbed her phone from the coffee table.“I downloaded this video at the wifi bar last night.”She tapped the screen and pulled up the clip.
Our steward Charise, her hair longer when she was on the show, appeared on stage wearing a sparkling red dress and matching glittery blue heels.She belted out a lyrical and haunting rendition ofThe Star-Spangled Banneras if she belonged on a Broadway stage.Her high notes soared, and her low notes were rich and powerful.
“She sounds terrific,” Gilly said.“Her voice is amazing.”
The camera shifted to the judges.Sebastian sat in the middle, not just unimpressed but bored out of his mind.Charise’s expression changed as she noticed his lack of enthusiasm.When Sebastian glanced down at his phone mid-song, her expression fell even more.Next, he yawned as she sang a run, and that was it.Her voice cracked on the final, powerful note.
“That was so rude,” Scott said, wincing.
“That’s not even the worst part,” Pippa said.“Wait for it.”
The first judge, who I recognized as Emerson Lake, an R&B singer from the seventies, leaned forward, smiling warmly.“Charise, your voice is stunning.You’ve got something really special.Your raw, emotional tone gave me chills.”He splayed his hands.“But I noticed you holding back a little.Trust yourself, child, you got this.”
The second judge, Molly Damsel, a pop diva from the eighties, nodded eagerly.“I agree with Emerson.In the beginning, you connected with the song beautifully, and that’s rare.But as the song went on, I could see your confidence waver, especially on the big notes.”She smiled at Charise.“That’s okay.It happens to the best of us.It’s something you can work on.When you let go of all that fear, you’re going to be unstoppable.”
Charise fidgeted with the microphone, nodding.“Thank you, Molly.”
“You’re great, you’re great,” Molly repeated as she leaned back in her seat.“Sebastian,” she said.“What did you think of Charise’s performance.”
And then it was Sebastian’s turn to speak.
He made a show of looking down at the table before dragging his eyes up to Charise.“Total, one hundred percent dreadful.It makes me wonder if you two were in the same room as me.”He turned his words to Charise.“Your voice is a six out of ten, but your stage presence is a zero.It was about as bad as it gets.I don’t know why you’ve had any encouragement whatsoever.”
“Come on, Sebastian,” Molly said.“She wasn’t that bad.”
“She wasn’t good either.”He gestured toward Charise, who looked like she’d been slapped.“Whatever the opposite of entertaining is, that was you.Pathetic.”
The host stepped in, placing a hand on Charise’s back.“Is there anything you’d like to say to the judges?”
“I...I...I’ve been taking vocal lessons since I was five,” she managed, her voice shaking.“I know I can sing circles around the other contestants.If you give me another chance, I’ll prove it.I’m a fighter.”
Sebastian scoffed.“From what I just witnessed, you couldn’t fight your way out of a paper chippie cone.As for your vocal instructor, what he’s taught you is criminal.He should be blindfolded and made to listen to you sing while a firing squad takes aim.”
“That’s not fair,” Charise said, her voice breaking as tears fell.“I?—”
“If you want to be rude because you can’t handle constructive criticism, you can leave the stage.”
“But—”
“I said, leave.”
