Read Online Death on the Bella Constance (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 6) by Ann Mullen - Free Book Online

surprised.
“And you work with your husband. That’s interesting. I’m sure you both have a
few tales to tell.”
    Billy and I looked at each other and chuckled. I handed him
the photo, and then looked back at Maggie and Teresa Anderson and said, “More
than just a few, I can assure you of that.”
    Billy looked up from the photograph and asked, “Have you told
the captain of your suspicions?”
    “No,” Maggie responded. “Bertie from Georgia told me that you were the ship’s
private detective, and that you were staying in room 610, so we followed you.
The only problem we had was that Teresa forgot to bring the photo and had to go
back and get it before we could approach you. We have a restraining order. He’s
not supposed to come within five-hundred feet of her. If you could catch him,
he would have to leave the ship.”
    “Bertie from Georgia , huh?” I mimicked. “Why am I not
surprised?”
    “She’s a very nice person, but she argues with her sisters
all the time,” Maggie said. “She was starting to get on my nerves, but I did
get something valuable from her. She told me about Mr. Blackhawk. I didn’t know
that you were a private eye, too. That means both of you can work on the case.
Money is no object.”
    “The first thing I want you to do is go to the captain and
tell him everything you told me. Show him the photo. Do you have another one?”
    “Yes,” Teresa replied. “I have several, but they’re back in
our room. When I saw him on board, I told Mom, and she went with me to the
Computer Café. I downloaded a picture of him I have on my cell phone and had a
few copies made.” She started to cry. “All I wanted was to get away from him
for a while. I wanted to be able to stop worrying whether or not he was hiding
behind every bush or sitting in a car somewhere watching me. He does that all
the time.”
    Her mother reached over, tried to soothe her daughter, and
then looked back at us. “If we go to the captain, will you help us then?”
    “We are on our vacation,” Billy said. “But I promise that we
will keep an eye out for him. If we see him, we’ll have a chat with him.”
    “I need for you to do more than that,” Maggie Anderson
pleaded, almost demanding. “I need your services, and I’m willing to pay you
whatever you want. I’m a widow. My husband and I ran a very successful dry
cleaning business for many years. I’ve since sold the business and have plenty
of money. How much do you want?”
    “Let me see what I can do for you before we talk about
money,” Billy replied. “I’ll need to know Teresa’s social security number, so I
can do a background check.”
    “Why do you have to check my daughter’s background? I can
promise you she’s got a clean record.”
    “Through your daughter, I can find out about Peter Dawson.”
    “You want to see if we’re telling the truth, don’t you?”
    “No, that’s not it at all,” Billy said. “I can trace down Peter
Dawson through Teresa. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
    “I thrust you,” Teresa said. Her tears had dried up. “I’ll
write the number down on the back of the photo.”
    “Don’t write the number down on the photo. Just tell me what
it is. I’ll remember it.” She discreetly rattled off her social security
number. “Give me the photo you have with you now, and then go to your room and
get another one. After that, go straight to the captain.”
    “What room are you staying in?” I asked.
    “We’re on the fifth deck,” Teresa offered. “Room 525.”
    “We’ll get back with you,” Billy said. “I’ll need to talk
with the captain and let him know that we’ll be on the lookout for this guy.”
    All of a sudden, Teresa got a frightened look on her face.
“That’s him!” she screamed, her arm extended, pointing to someone. “It’s Peter
Dawson! Go after him!”
    Billy and I looked to where she was pointing, but didn’t see
anyone who looked like the guy in the photo. “I don’t see