Part 3 of Episode 2 of Curated Chaos!

Chapter 3

Joey sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This mess was starting to give him a headache. The stupid kid had finally admitted to starting the fight on purpose after some guy bribed him with a Rolex. The problem wasn’t that it was all a setup. No. The problem was who had set it up.

“We have to stop here,” Joey said, looking down at the old woman who had somehow managed to coerce him into joining her little investigative escapade. He still wasn’t sure exactly how he’d ended up here. Even looking back at the exact events that led to him standing outside the VIP suite, he just couldn’t understand how he’d let himself be led around by the nose by an old lady clutching a knitting bag.

“Nonsense,” Geenie said in a perfectly reasonable tone. “A true detective never ignores a lead, no matter where it takes her!” Her wrinkled face beamed at him, and then she turned and smartly rapped on the door with the head of her cane.

Joey couldn’t hide the wince on his face as he stood half behind the older woman, wishing she was tall enough to hide behind. He wouldn’t be employed after this, he concluded. He would be lucky if they didn’t strand him at the very next port!

“Can I help you?” Corbin Strauss said, glancing at Geenie and then at Joey in confusion.

Mr. Corbin Strauss. Genius. Philanthropist. Multimillionaire. And most importantly, the man who owned the ship on which they now stood. Making him Joey’s boss’s, boss’s, boss’s, boss. Yep. He was so not using this job as a reference on his resume.

“Perhaps you can, young man!” Geenie said with her usual exuberance. Joey didn’t know where the woman was getting her energy. She was at least three times his age, and he was already swaying on his feet after the hectic day, but she showed no signs of slowing down.

Strauss chuckled and swept a hand through blonde hair streaked through with silver, “Well now, it’s been a very long time since anyone has called me young, and flattery will get you everywhere! What can I do for you?”

“This might be something of a… sensitive nature. Perhaps we could talk in private?” Geenie said.

Strauss hesitated only briefly before nodding and inviting the pair inside.

“So. What brings you to my cabin, accompanied by one of my crewmen,” Strauss said, eyeing Joey.

Joey coughed and glanced at Geenie who seemed content to let him suffer as she examined the lavish suite.

“Ah, uh. Sir. Um. This is Ms. Evangeline Porter, she’s… a detective. I think?” he glanced at the woman who had wandered further into the room and, to his embarrassment, was closely examining what appeared to be a rather well-endowed male fertility statue.

“Retired schoolteacher, dear,” Geenie absently corrected him, “’twas my late husband who wore the badge, I’m afraid.”

Joey grimaced. “Then why have you been dragging me all over the ship, chasing a murder that we don’t even know is a murder?!”

Geenie settled her watery blue eyes on Joey, “Because it is murder. Just ask him.” The old woman pointed a wrinkled finger at Corban Strauss.

The relaxed, if curious, expression on Strauss’s face turned to anger, “Just what are you accusing me of? How dare you come into my room, on my ship, and suggest I had anything to do with something so heinous!”

Geenie waved away his protests, “Don’t be silly. I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just informing young Joey here that what happened to that poor girl wasn’t simply an accident. It’s obvious you’re quite aware of that.”

At that, the young man winced. Now his boss even knew his name. There was no possible way he wasn’t about to be violently unemployed. He’d be lucky if the Strauss family didn’t have him blacklisted everywhere.

Strauss’s reddened face slacked a bit, “I don’t know why you think that, but I need to ask you not to go around spreading unfounded rumors.”

“They are hardly unfounded. The victim was found in a pool of her own blood with obvious signs of at least one other person present at the scene at the time of her death. Considering that you have yet to announce the girl’s death as an accident, the only possibility that remains is…”

“Murder,” Strauss finished. “Are you certain you’re just a schoolteacher? Sounds like you should have been the detective, Ms. Porter.”

“Just a schoolteacher?” Geenie frowned her wrinkled face, earning a few more. “Teaching is a noble calling. One should never disparage educators.”

“Of course,” Strauss placated the older woman, “But certainly you can understand my hesitance to share sensitive information with an unqualified passenger. Especially one who, as you rightly pointed out, doesn’t wear a badge.”

“I may not have carried a badge or fired a gun, but I hardly think thirty years as a professor of criminal psychology would make me unqualified. And I still maintain close contact with a number of my students who have gone on to have exemplary careers in law enforcement.”

Strauss sighed. “Alright, Ms. Porter-“

“Mrs. Porter.”

“Mrs. Porter,” Strauss conceded, “Maybe you can help. To be honest, I’m finding my head of security’s response to this matter lackluster at best. It’s been hours since the girl was discovered, and he’s come up with absolutely nothing. Even the ship’s doctor is a disappointment. The man came with the highest recommendation, and he can’t even string together a simple report on how the girl died!”

To Joey’s abject horror, Geenie gently patted Strauss on the arm, “Don’t fret. We’ll discover what happened to that poor dear. We will unerringly pursue any clue we discover,” Geenie said. “Which brings us back to why we came rapping at your chamber door.”

“Sir,” Joey said. He figured he was already fired anyway; he might as well just go for it. “The fight that broke out on the upper deck after the body was found. We know how it started. A passenger initiated it. Intentionally.”

Strauss’s eyes widened a bit, “Excellent work. We’re already being bombarded with calls from lawyers. The settlement costs of that scuffle alone will end up costing me more than this entire ship! If you can prove a passenger did it intentionally, they can’t find us liable.”

Joey winced. “I’m not so sure about that, sir. The teenage boy who started the fight… he was paid… by your son.”

Strauss stared at Joey, not comprehending what the crewman just said. After a moment he frowned and glared at Joey. “I do not appreciate your joke, boy. My son would do no such thing!”

Joey reached into his pocket and pulled out the Rolex he and Geenie had claimed as evidence. “Does this look familiar, Mr. Strauss?”

“It’s a watch. So what?” Strauss’s eye twitched when he saw the watch in Joey’s hand.

He would make an abysmal poker player, Joey thought.

Joey flipped the timepiece around, showing the back plate. Engraved in the precious metal was the inscription Happy 18^th Birthday, Callum. Love, Dad.

“Callum isn’t a very common name. According to the ship’s manifest, only two people onboard have that name. One is your son. The other is a three-year-old toddler.”

The change in Strauss was obvious. He went from defensive and protective to instantly enraged. “Cal! Get your ass out here now!”

“Honey? What’s wrong?” An elegantly dressed woman appeared in the doorway of one of the suite’s private bedrooms. Behind her, a much younger man in swimwear easily peered over her shoulder.

“Cal, stop hiding behind your mother and get your butt over here!” Straus snapped.

“Corbin,” the woman frowned, “you shouldn’t talk to him like that. Especially not in front of the help.” She barely glanced at Joey and Geenie.

Strauss’s face darkened, his eyes narrowing, “Do you want to tell her what you did, or should I?” He glared directly at his son.

“I didn’t do anything,” the younger man protested. He laid a hand on his mother’s shoulder and eased by her. “I don’t know why you’re yelling.”

“Where is your watch?” Strauss suddenly asked, catching Callum off-guard.

The younger man froze for a moment, then shrugged. “I took it off. I didn’t want to get it wet.”

At that, his mother turned to him in surprise, “You haven’t taken that thing off in months. Not since your father gave it to you.”

Callum flinched, “I just don’t want to risk losing it.”

“So, you decided to give it away?” Strauss snapped, then gestured to Joey who still held the Rolex.

The mother and son looked at Joey in shock, and Callum’s face paled. “I…y… you found it! I’ve been looking everywhere for it. I thought I lost it! I was afraid to tell you, I knew you’d be disappointed.” Callum said to his father as he strode forward to grab the watch from Joey’s hand.

Joey snatched his hand back and tucked the watch back into his pocket. With a deep breath, knowing how much trouble he was already in, he said, “We have a witness who said you gave him this watch so he would distract the crowd on the upper deck this morning. This watch is evidence.”

“That’s mine! You can’t just say that and keep it!” Callum shouted, grabbing at Joey.

Joey dodged the younger man and before Callum could try again, a heavy wooden cane knocked him back with a short poke to the chest.

“Restrain yourself, young man!” Geenie said. Her voice was soft, but she practically roared with authority. Four pairs of eyes turned to Geenie at once, shocked into silence and stillness.

“I believe everyone should take a moment and calm down. We are not here to throw accusations or pick fights. Everyone must remember we are here to find out who murdered that poor girl.” Geenie paused to meet each pair of eyes individually, before settling back on Strauss, “And we will unerringly pursue any clue we discover.”

With a moment of hesitation, the man nodded. “Fine.” He turned to face his son, who still looked shocked at how easily the old woman had shoved him back. “Cal. Why did you need to distract the crowd?”

Callum grimaced. Pulled from his frozen shock, he absently rubbed the spot where he’d been jabbed. “I…” he glanced at his mother. “I recognized her.”

Strauss and his wife, Madeleine, stared at Callum in surprise and confusion.

“You knew her?” Madeleine asked.

Callum shook his head and waved his hands in denial, “No! I’d never met her! I just… I recognized her. Well, not her. I recognized the suitcase.”

“Suitcase?” Strauss asked. “I don’t recall Breck mentioning a suitcase at the scene.”

“That’s because it disappeared during the riot,” Joey said, squirming as all three members of the Strauss family turned to him. “I tried to tell Mr. Breck, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Then…” Strauss looked back at his son.

“Yeah,” Callum said, looking down, unable to meet his father’s eyes. “I took it.” He glanced at his mother, then back to his father as frustration entered his voice, “I had to! I couldn’t let anyone find out about her! Especially not…” His eyes settled on his mother.

Madeleine frowned, looking between her son and her husband. “What is it?”

Callum met his father’s eyes, “It was a red leather suitcase with two birds embossed on the side.” Callum swallowed hard, “A crow and a dove.”

Strauss hissed between his teeth, “How do you know about that?”

“I saw a photo when I was a kid. I was playing in your office and found it buried in a drawer. It was you and a woman that wasn’t Mom. She was holding that suitcase… and you were holding her. You looked… happy together.”

“Allegra,” Madeleine said.

Strauss looked at his wife in surprise.

“What? Did you think I married you without having you investigated? I knew about your ex, and the daughter you had together. You didn’t exactly make it difficult to discover, even if I didn’t take the initiative to have your background checked. You’ve been sending monthly support payments since before we were even married.”

“I never wanted to burden you with my past mistakes.”

“Your only mistake was abandoning your daughter. It’s not as though you had an affair.”

“So, I gave up my watch for nothing?!” Callum said, looking between his parents.

“It looks like it,” Joey said.

“Dammit.”

“Do you still have the suitcase?” Geenie said suddenly, disrupting the boy’s sullen pout.

“Oh, ah… yeah. Hold on.” Callum retreated to another of the private bedrooms and emerged with the case in hand. “I probably should have just tossed it overboard, but…” Callum shrugged.

“It’s lucky you didn’t. Maybe we can find some kind of identification here. Though,” Joey paused and glanced at Strauss, who looked stricken at the sight of the suitcase. “It’s possible she’s your daughter. She looked to be in her twenties.”

Strauss slowly nodded, “It’s very probable. But I don’t understand. Victoria, my ex’s sister, approached me to request a private suite for herself and her niece, Annette. But when I saw her onboard, Victoria claimed her niece couldn’t make it. Something about being too busy with school.”

With a click the suitcase opened, and Joey sorted through the meager possessions inside. A dress, clean but worn. A few underthings that Joey quickly shoved aside. A cheap hairbrush and a small bag of generic personal hygiene products. A sewing and embroidery kit. And finally, a purse with a handful of bills and some loose change. That was it. All that remained of what may have been Corbin Strauss’s estranged daughter.

The older man stared down at the pitiful contents, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white, and his eyes brimming with unshed tears. “I don’t understand. How could this be everything…” Strauss hesitated. “Check the bottom of the case, there should be a hidden compartment.”

Joey felt along the bottom of the suitcase until his fingers touched a small grove in the lining. Digging his fingernails in, he pried the door to the hidden pocket open and a single piece of paper fluttered out.

A photograph.

It was similar to the one Callum had found in his father’s office. But in this picture, the woman’s smile was brittle, and her hands cradled her protruding stomach. The man stood beside the woman without touching her and he wore a forced smile. On the back of the photograph were two names written in a feminine hand. Allegra and Corbin.

Joey gaped at the photo. The woman in the picture bore a startling resemblance to the dead girl. They could almost be twins, if not for their hair color. While Allegra had a deep, rich brown, the girl was blonde. The same blonde as the man that stood over him now.

“They look exactly alike,” Joey said aloud.

Strauss let out a choked sob, and his wife moved to rub a comforting hand on his back.

“I need to know what happened!” Strauss said, “I need to know why Victora lied about Annette!” He spun on his heel and marched out of the cabin, leaving the rest of them stunned. All except Geenie.

The spry old woman quickly caught up to the man, hobbling along at a clip that left a surprised Joey gaping.

“Wait up!” the crewman said and leaped up to follow the pair of them.

Behind him, Callum moved to follow, but his mother placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Joey could make out her words, just as the door shut behind him, “Give him some time.”