Steele-Faced (Daggers & Steele Book 6) (24 page)

Jimmy shook his head and gritted his teeth. “No.
No way.
I may not remember everything that’s happened over the last couple days, but I know myself. I’m not a killer. I was angry, yes, but I didn’t murder Verona, or anyone else for that matter. And I’m sure as
hell
not going to admit to anything I have no memory of, not when all you have to go on is speculation.”

“You’re sure that’s how you want to play this?” asked Shay.

Jimmy nodded, still refusing to make eye contact. “Yes. Now get me a lawyer. I still get one at sea, right?”

“You’ll get one,” I grumbled. “But you might have to wait a while. In the meantime, enjoy your stay.”

I motioned to Shay. We exited the cell, past the brig door, and into the waiting area outside. Our sailor friend James was there, more to watch Jimmy than for any other reason. I waved for him to head back in.

“Jimmy’s right, you know,” said Shay.

“About what?” I asked.

“His motives.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who pointed out Verona knocked him from the tourney.”

“Yes, but we need to look beyond Verona,” said Shay. “We’re assuming he killed her, because he had the strength, motive, and opportunity to do so—assuming his story about being in the lounge all evening doesn’t check out. But what about his attack on you? Or his attack on Ghorza? What are his motives for going after either of you?”

“Well, Ghorza won the tournament.”

“And his plan was what? To strangle the cash out of her? Ghorza hadn’t received her money from the ship’s escrow account yet, though she may have by now. And Jimmy got knocked out two days ago. If anger were his motivation, why go after Ghorza? And why go after you last night? Of all the competitors, you actually showed him some compassion.”

I rubbed my chin and chewed on my thoughts.

“There’s more than that, though,” said Shay. “You pressed Jimmy about Lumpty’s murder, but Jimmy, along with Theo and Verona, were the only ones who couldn’t have murdered him. The waitstaff confirmed their presence in the bar area. And what about Wanda? She’s the one Steck initially tracked to the engine room.”

“You need to stop bringing up important points of information, because the more you do, the less certain I become that Jimmy was involved in anything but the attack on Ghorza. I’m even doubting if he’s the one I hit with the rebar.”

Steele knew I was joking, but she still gave me time to process my thoughts. For a minute, anyway. “What’s the other problem you hinted to Jimmy about?”

“Pardon?”

“While talking to Jimmy about Verona’s murder, you mentioned we had a number of problems. You only mentioned Jimmy’s lack of an alibi for the time of her death.”

I sighed. “Right. Well, the problem I had in mind is more one for us than him.”

“Being?”

“Being that people who are drugged don’t behave the way we’re supposing Jimmy did,” I said. “Suffer from dizziness and sweating and headaches like I did? Check. Black out so they can be taken advantage of? Check. Get sloppy and aggressive and get into fights if provoked? Check. But lurk around, tracking people, and murdering them in secluded areas? No check. Anti-check. X. Whatever the opposite of a check is.”

“It could be Jimmy is simply lying about the drugs,” said Shay.

“Except we didn’t volunteer that possibility. He offered it himself. And it matches the behavior I observed out of him as he got knocked from the tournament and when I talked to him in the lounge.”

Shay crossed her arms and frowned. “So what do you want to do?”

I smiled. “Same thing we always do. Keep investigating until we’re convinced we know the truth beyond a shadow of a doubt. We’ll start in Jimmy’s stateroom. If we can find the knife he used to kill Lumpty, I’ll change my tone. And we should send word to Steck. We need to check Jimmy’s story about being in the lounge all evening two nights ago against the waitstaff’s accounts.”

“I’m sure he’ll love the extra work,” said Shay.

“It’s the curse of being a cop.” I waved toward the exit. “Come on. Let’s go.”

36

I closed a dresser drawer and threw up my hands. “Well, I give up. There’s nothing here.”

Shay stepped from Jimmy’s bathroom. His stateroom largely mirrored our own, except his had only a single bedroom and the living area was smaller and less ornate.

“Agreed,” said Shay. “I didn’t find any knives or weapons of any kind. No drugs, either, unless you include the booze—and that doesn’t really count because it’s all gone.” She shook an empty bottle at me as evidence.

“None of which means anything,” I said. “He wouldn’t have drugged himself, and if he did murder Lumpty, he could’ve thrown the knife overboard or into a maintenance hatch. Therefore, we keep digging.”

“So where should we place the next hole?”

“I was thinking I’d get your input,” I said. “I’m not the only one with ideas worth paying attention to.”

Shay smiled. “I know, but I’m willing to let you take the reins more often than not. With that said, though, I think either Wanda or Johann should be our next targets for interrogation.”

I pursed my lips. “The nice thing about being on a ship is the suspects can’t disappear on you. Why don’t we start with Johann? He clearly suspected Verona’s death, he was in the general vicinity of the pool the night she was murdered, and he knew about his own man’s demise.”

“Works for me.”

We headed back to the promenade deck and in the direction of Johann’s stateroom. Before heading to Jimmy’s, we’d rendezvoused with Steck. To his credit, he’d stayed true to his word and hadn’t balked at the additional task of talking to the waitstaff again. While there, he’d given us a list of all our competitor’s room numbers, and we’d liberated the skeleton key from his clutches. Steck hadn’t been sure if Boatswain Olaugh would approve of the transfer, but he and his captain had thrown us their full support, so I didn’t see why he wouldn’t.

We reached Johann’s room. I knocked on the door. After a moment, it cracked open.

Humpty stood in the gap. “Yes?”

“We’re looking for Mr. Preiss,” I said. “And chance he’s in?”

“It depends. Who’s calling?”

I took a gamble. “Tell him detectives Daggers and Steele are here.”

The tough’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ll check.”

He closed the door. Shay glanced at me. “Sure that was wise?”

I shrugged. “The man hasn’t been particularly chatty when he thought us simply his competitors. His mood only soured after Verona and Lumpty’s deaths. The threat of the law might loosen his lips.”

We stood there tapping our toes for a minute. The door reopened. Humpty again. “This way, please.”

We followed him to a living room much like our own but more opulent. More filigrees on the furniture’s arms and legs, more crystal in the bar, more flowers on the hearth, and more gold inlay on the decorations. More of everything. Apparently the police department hadn’t spent quite as much on our undercover operation as it could’ve.

Johann stood in front of one of the sofa chairs, dressed as always in an impeccably tailored three piece suit. “So. Detectives Daggers and Steele, is it? I must admit I’m surprised by your visit, although I’m even more surprised by the information you related to my man. I’d suspected you hadn’t been entirely honest about your relationship to the rest of us, but
detectives?
Tell me, in what capacity do you function? Private? Municipal?”

“We’re with the NWPD,” said Shay. “5
^th
Street Precinct.”

“And your specialty…?”

“Homicide,” said Shay.

Johann’s jaw hardened. “So…
you knew?
That someone would be killed? And you did
nothing?”

“No,” I said. “It’s complicated, but suffice it to say we weren’t here in our capacity as homicide detectives. We came to investigate a fraud that was supposed to take place during the poker competition. The fact that anyone died during our time aboard was simply an…unlucky coincidence.”

Johann’s face fell. “Ah. I see. So you heard the rumors.”

“You heard them, too?” asked Shay.

“Everyone heard them.” Johann waved at the sofa. “Please, have a seat. Both of you. I’m assuming you have questions for me, so let’s have at it. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“You will?”
I helped myself to a free spot on the couch, and Shay sat next to me.

“Well, of course. What? You expected me to stonewall you? Why?”

“Well…”

Johann eyed me and took note of the look on my face. “Oh. I see. You thought me a suspect. Well, I imagine you think everyone guilty until proven innocent, but I assure you, I want this solved as much as you do. I was very fond of my man Ignatius. I considered him not just a bodyguard, but a friend. And as for Verona… I suppose if you’re here, you can tell me what actually happened to her?”

Shay cleared her throat. “She was murdered, in the ship’s pool area. Someone broke her neck. We found her floating in the water.”

Johann’s face darkened. “And you don’t know who did it?”

“We have our suspicions,” I said. “But for now, no.”

Johann ground his teeth together. “The
bastards.
How dare they, whoever it was?”

“You seem surprisingly bent out of shape about Verona’s death,” I said.

“Well of course I am, you idiot,” he barked. “I loved her.”

I glanced at Shay. She looked as surprised as I felt.

Johann took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My apologies. You’re here to help. I shouldn’t have exploded like that. I’m just…having a hard time dealing with the news.”

“Mr. Preiss, I’ll admit, you’ve caught us off guard,” I said. “Perhaps you could fill us in? Specifically, could you tell us everything you know about the night Verona died?”

The old man nodded. “Certainly. I’ll try to keep it brief. Verona and I…well, we go a long way back. Some thirty years ago we dated. At the time I suspected I would some day wed her, but I was too busy establishing my business. I spent too much time on it and not enough on her. Verona forgave me for it as best she could, but one day I lost a large sum of money on—of all things—a gamble. She left me shortly thereafter. I suspected it was because she didn’t want to marry a pauper, but over the years I realized perhaps she took more offense to my reaction to the loss than the loss itself. Perhaps it was a combination of factors.

“Regardless, we parted ways, and the loss struck me deeply. I’d see her at social events here and there, sharing the occasional word, but we never had much time to ourselves. Until now. And seeing her here? Well, the encounter sparked feelings that had lain dormant for decades.

“Honestly, I didn’t think she still harbored any feelings for me, but I’m an old man and not as inhibited as I used to be. Following the end of the first day of poker and my own elimination, I approached Verona and asked her to dinner. She hesitated, thinking my request was in some way related to my loss, but I assured her it wasn’t and she accepted. We ate, drank, and had a merry time, connecting on a deep, human level—I think, in part,
because
of my elimination from the tourney. Due to it, Verona knew my interest in her was genuine. Anyway, after dinner we walked the ship, which was largely empty due to the opera, before our feet eventually carried us to the pool.”

“So you were there that night?” said Shay.

Johann nodded. “It seemed a secluded enough place, and though neither of us harbored any delusions of youthful indiscretions, I think we both wished for our discussions to remain private. But it wasn’t long after we’d arrived, while reminiscing about a party we’d attended long past, that a twinkle sparked in Verona’s eye. She excused herself but told me to remain. I waited anxiously. Fifteen minutes later she returned wearing a brooch, one with an emerald at its center.”

I’d almost forgotten about it. “Right. We found it on her but weren’t sure where it had come from.”

Johann smiled. “I gave it to her. Not that night of course. Years before, at the party we’d been discussing. I thought she’d kept it for its beauty, but Verona assured me she’d held on to it for more than aesthetic reasons. And so we continued to chat, each of us warming to the other. An electricity crackled around us, and I—again, being an uninhibited old man—told her to say put while I retrieved something of my own. I went up to my room, looked for it, and couldn’t find it, so I asked one of my men where it was. They suggested it might’ve gotten lost and placed in the luggage down in the hold. I was forced to track down a porter, have him bring up the bags in question, and then, once I’d retrieved my item, I headed back down to the pool, hoping Verona hadn’t become irritated by my delay. And that’s when I chanced across the two of you.”

“And this item…?” said Shay.

Johann reached into his jacket pocket. From it, he produced a small box wrapped in black felt. He flicked it open. Something small and round gleamed within.

“A ring,” said Johann. “The one I’d bought so many moons ago when I’d intended to ask Verona to marry me. I never got rid of it, and knowing she’d be a competitor…well, I decided to bring it. I don’t know if I would’ve asked her to marry me there in the pool room. Probably not. But I wanted to show her she wasn’t the only one to hold onto such mementos.”

Shay sighed, a pained expression of the sort women give while reading romance novels. If I wasn’t so jaded, I might’ve acknowledged that the sniffle in my nose might’ve not been from allergies.

Johann snapped the box shut. “And now, this memento has become something else. A reminder that if I hadn’t packed it away, resulting in my tardiness, Verona might still be alive. It’s a…bitter pill to swallow.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” I said. “That sort of thinking only punishes the victims. But if we could continue…? When we met, you said you were meeting an old friend. Someone you weren’t sure was aboard?”

“Yes. Verona,” said Johann. “Admittedly, it was a rather metaphorical way of putting things, but I thought the woman I’d loved had been lost to drink and the steady march of time. She hadn’t. At least…she hadn’t to me when I uttered those words.”

Shay cleared her throat. “And after you met us…you headed back to the pool?”