Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark

“I’ve been through many such storms that have caught us by surprise. If this is like most others, it will go as fast as it came. And that’s what I predict.”
    â€œAs long as there are no icebergs out there,” Ivy said cheerfully. “I’ve had enough surprises for tonight. Well, here comes Benedict Arnold.”
    â€œWhat?” Regan asked, puzzled.
    â€œMy roommate, Maggie.”
    Maggie Quirk was crossing the room toward them, followed by Ted Cannon, who had removed his beard and cap. “Whoa!” Maggie cried as the ship suddenly lurched again. She grabbed Ted’s arm.
    â€œThe ship didn’t roll, Maggie!” Ivy called out sweetly. “You just imagined it!”
    Maggie smiled as she approached the table. “Ivy, I’m sorry. At first, we all thought you staged that scene because you wanted so much to have a murder mystery on board. Now everyone knows that something really frightened you.”
    â€œThere certainly is something going on,” Jack agreed, as he and Dudley stood. Introductions were made and extra chairs pulled up to the table.
    â€œTed knows I’m your roommate, so he asked me about you,” Maggie explained.
    Alvirah noticed the cap in Ted’s hands. “That’s where it came from!” she exclaimed.
    â€œWhere what came from?” Regan asked.
    Alvirah fished in her pocket. “The little bell we found in the chapel. It’s the same as the two on the tip of Ted’s cap.” She turned to Dudley. “How many bells are supposed to be on those caps?”
    Dudley hesitated. “Two.”
    â€œDudley,” Alvirah said, “we should check the eight caps the Santas are wearing and see if they all still have two bells. If they do, then it looks as if someone who had one of the stolen Santa suits was in the chapel.”
    Regan stared at Dudley. He would certainly have recognized the bell as coming from one of the caps. He hadn’t mentioned it before. Clearly, he doesn’t want us to think that the person or persons who stole those outfits is wandering around the ship in them. And if that were the case, were they somehow connected to whatever it was that Ivy saw?
    Another rolling motion of the ship knocked their glasses over.
    â€œTime to call it a night,” Jack said as they all pushed back from the dripping table. “Be careful,everybody. This storm feels as though it’s getting worse.”
    Trying to be cheerful, Dudley proclaimed, “Don’t worry, everyone. You’re snug as a bug in a rug in this old tub.”
    The psychic’s warning flashed into Alvirah’s mind. “I see a tub. A large tub. You are not safe in it. . . .”

21
    T his is nuts!” Bull’s-Eye spat out the words as he and Highbridge huddled behind the barn, driving rain hitting them from every direction. “We’re getting soaked. When it gets light, what are we going to do? Even if it’s stopped raining, we’re gonna look like a couple of drowned rats. There’s no way we’ll be able to walk around in these Santa suits.”
    Highbridge longed for his Greenwich estate with the wonderful bubbling Jacuzzi in the master bathroom and its view of Long Island Sound. I had so much family money I didn’t even need to cheat investors, he thought. But it had been so much fun. Now, as he sat miserable and wet, wearing a scratchy Santa suit, he realized he should have gone into therapy and worked out his criminal instincts. And all the money he had wasted on his gold-digging ex-girlfriend who was now schussing down the slopes of Aspen with someone else.If he didn’t get to Fishbowl Island there was one thing he could count on—she’d never qualify for a cruise like this by visiting him in the clink. The thought of trading his Armani wardrobe for an orange jumpsuit riddled him with even more anxiety, if that was possible.
    â€œEric’s got to be