Cruising for Murder: Myrtle Clover #10

Chapter Three

 Everyone turned in early that night after the long day of travel. Although Myrtle was usually plagued by terrible insomnia, she slept soundly with the ship rocking her to sleep like a baby. She did wake very early in the morning, though, and checked her watch, making a face. It was too early to even get a buffet breakfast. She decided to get ready for her day, dress, and explore the ship for a while before eating.

When she opened her cabin door, she smiled. It was a pleasure to walk out a door and not have to see if Erma were outside, stalking her. Even better, Miles was carefully closing the door to his stateroom so that it wouldn't make much noise for everyone still sleeping on their hall.

"Did you sleep?" asked Myrtle in a quiet voice. "And are you feeling well?"

"Surprisingly, I slept. And even more surprisingly, that woman's wristband seems to be doing some good. I was hoping for breakfast," said Miles as they walked down the long hall, made a sharp turn, and walked down another long hall.

"You'll have to keep on hoping because they don't open the buffet until seven. But the upside is that we'll probably be the only people there and don't have to wait in any lines. I want to go to that omelet maker and have an omelet with salmon in it," said Myrtle, a gleam in her eye.

"You're becoming fixated on salmon," murmured Miles. "Must be because of all the salmon-eating bears you saw."

"It's not like daily salmon is an option in Bradley. That's one reason I wanted to see bears. You don't see bears every day in Bradley, either. And thank heavens for that or else I'd have to put poor Pasha up in the house," said Myrtle.

"Hardly an option for a feral cat," said Miles. "What's our plan? We're not going to hover hungrily in the dining room watching them get the food ready, are we?"

"Certainly not. We'll tour our ship. I want to see all the different promenades. And maybe look out the window, too. It's broad daylight practically all the time here. Maybe we can see whales," said Myrtle.

The ship was tremendous and it took a while for them to see the dining rooms, the bars, the disco, the gym, the pool and hot tubs, casino, auditorium, and the basketball and tennis court.

"I might want a nap after this," said Miles.

"It's just fascinating to me," said Myrtle. "It's like a city on the sea."

"A city of sleeping people," said Miles. "I have a feeling a lot of these passengers stay up very late at night."

"There did seem to be a lot of hubbub out there last night," said Myrtle. "But I couldn't say that I was interested in anything but sleeping."

Miles nodded his head over to the left. "If you had, maybe you'd have ended up like that guy."

Myrtle looked over and made a face. There was an attractive older man around Miles's age in the piano bar. He was sound asleep in a very uncomfortable-looking position in a tall-backed armchair. His mouth was open in a snore and beside him on the floor was an empty glass with a red cocktail straw in it.