The Riverboat Mystery (Jenny Starling #3)(31)

So just six more hours to go.

But the cruise wasn’t over until the final evening meal, of course, and for that the cook intended to excel herself. In fact, she was beginning to feel quite cheerful again just thinking about it.

What was said between the guests over lunch Jenny had no idea, nor did she care. It was because of these moody, squabbling people that her little cruise had been quite ruined. Some people could be so damned thoughtless, she fumed crossly, as she added grated chocolate to her coconut and chocolate trifle.

As soon as lunch was over, and the debris had been cleared, cleaned and put away, Jenny took herself off for a nice leisurely stroll. It felt good to get away from the boat for an hour or so, but as much as she enjoyed her ‘me’ time, and delightedly watched the antics of a pair of kingfishers with chicks, much later Jenny was going to wish that she had stayed firmly put on the boat.

Or maybe not.

*

Dorothy felt keyed up and nervous. She paced in the games room, casting anxious glances at her husband every now and then and sighing morosely. But, as is sometimes the way with things, in direct contrast to his spouse David now seemed almost happy. It was as if whatever bogeyman had been pursuing him these last few months had suddenly taken a sabbatical. She was glad of that, of course. David had always been her rock and her anchor, and she felt lost whenever he was upset. In these modern days, Dorothy knew she was considered by many of her friends to be something of a throwback, being content as she was to be simply a wife, and soon now a mother. It made her sick with worry whenever she contemplated the thought that she might lose him.

David was unaware of his wife’s tender eyes upon him. As he leaned back in his chair, his thumbs lazily twirling in his lap, his eyes slowly wandered over in Gabriel’s direction. It was all set. He had everything planned at last. It had all seemed to fall into place, as if it was meant to be. Never a religious man, or even a particularly superstitious one, he now felt as if there might be something to this fate malarkey after all. It certainly felt as if something or somebody was on his side all at once, lining all the dominoes up in a neat row, just waiting for him to topple the first one. All he needed now was the right opportunity. And surely it would come. With his newfound belief in providence, how could it not?

On the sofa, Jasmine Olney lazed with all the instinctive, sybaritic indolence of a cat. Every now and then she turned a page of her fashion magazine, and cooed or sneered at the pictures revealed.

Tobias Lester looked in tentatively from the French doors that led out onto the port deck and coughed discreetly. ‘The cook’s not back yet, Lucas,’ he said quietly, and glanced at his watch. But he was not angry. In fact, it suited the captain of the Stillwater Swan very well to have a slight delay before starting off.

It would give them more time.

Lucas, who was sitting in a big black leather armchair, staring at nothing in particular, shrugged lethargically at this news, nearly upending the parrot, which squawked indignantly on his shoulder.

‘It won’t make much difference if we wait another hour,’ he said drearily, and Tobias nodded. His thoughts exactly. He scratched the back of his neck, finding the hairs there to be stiff and cold. He was getting too old for this sort of thing. He was beginning to wonder if he should have let Brian talk him into it.

By the drinks cabinet, Gabriel, who was busy pouring himself a whisky and soda, stifled a sneer. Such slipshod timetables would not be permitted once he took over.

‘I know,’ Dorothy said quickly, as if she could bear the simmering tensions no longer, and must do something — anything — to make things more lively and friendly, a bit more . . . well . . . normal. ‘Why don’t we hold a darts tournament?’ she asked hopefully.

Lucas glanced at the full-sized dartboard attached to one wall, his blank gaze altering not a whit. Then he looked at Dorothy’s pretty, unhappy face, and silently cursed. He made a valiant effort to rouse himself.

‘Well, we haven’t played yet,’ he agreed, and glanced at Gabriel. ‘Olney?’ he asked curtly.

Gabriel shrugged. ‘Why not?’

‘David?’ Lucas glanced at the young solicitor, who shrugged without much enthusiasm but without any undue reluctance either.

‘Suits me.’

‘Tobias, perhaps you’d join us?’ Lucas asked, looking a shade guiltily at the captain. Tobias loved the Swan almost as much as himself. And the captain had told him just this morning that Olney had informed both himself and Brian O’Keefe that their services would no longer be required once the papers transferring ownership were signed. So a final afternoon’s get-together could surely do no harm.

Tobias stepped fully — not to mention eagerly — into the games room. Everything was going better than he could have hoped. Nevertheless, the smile he gave seemed rather wooden. He glanced slyly at his watch, then forced the smile on his face into a fully-fledged beam. He had to be careful. ‘Sure. I used to be a bit of a player once.’ He laughed and rubbed his hands together. ‘Perhaps we can give the ladies a run for their money.’

Lucas gave him a rather curious look.

‘Oh, count me out,’ Jasmine Olney said at once. ‘I never learned to play.’

Nobody was surprised. Anybody in the room would have bet money that Jasmine Olney wouldn’t know a double top from a dart feather.

‘And I don’t mind just watching,’ Dorothy said firmly in a show of feminine solidarity, and settled herself onto the nearest chair, arranging her pretty powder-blue skirts around her.