Read Online Sailing to Capri by Elizabeth Adler - Free Book Online Page B

them than their current lives show.
    Here’s something else to think about, Daisy: It’s my belief that if you take folks out of their normal habitat and put them in a strange place with other strangers, they become different people, or rather they show themselves for the people they
really
are. And now I’ve come up with the perfect idea to test out that theory.
    My feeling is if I have been killed for my money then at least let’s have some fun out of it. So now I’m going to play a game, and I’m setting it up for you.
    Remember those old movies where all the suspects are gathered together in the big country house? Somehow there’s always a thunderstorm with the lights flickering on and off and a sinister old butler; there’s creaking floorboards and poisoned wine and knives gleaming, and faces at the window and shadowy figures glimpsed in darkened hallways. Well, it’s going to be a bit like that, only instead of a gloomy country house, Daisy lass, it’s going to take place on a high-class yacht, namely the famous
Blue Boat,
and at the Villa Belkiss.
    I’m sending you and all six of the suspects on a Mediterranean cruise. Tell them it’ll be a kind of wake, a “celebration of my life” as the pompous funeral people insist on calling it, though personally I rather enjoyed celebrating my life when I was alive to enjoy it. This is not thereal reason I’m inviting them though. I involved myself in these people’s lives. Now I want them to acknowledge the truth about themselves, to reveal their deepest emotions to each other, and also to you, Daisy. I want you to find out their reason for living and how what I did affected their lives. Maybe then they will come to terms finally with who they are. And if they do, maybe they would have surprised me, and maybe they’ll get a second chance.
    It’s an interesting thought, and a perfect way to find out the truth before they finally get to hear my will read and discover if there’s anything in it for them.
    How can I get my suspects on board? you might ask. Money, of course. It’s always the bait rats are eager to snap up. Again, Montana will have all the details.
    So you see, I’m looking to you and to Montana to solve my murder. Montana will also guarantee you will never be in any danger. And trust me, Daisy, that wherever you are … and wherever I am … I will be always there, keeping an eye on you.
    The large sealed envelope marked “Do Not Open” contains a copy of my Last Will and Testament, fully executed by me in the presence of my lawyers, who have the original in their safe. It’s to be read by Montana on Capri on the last day of the cruise, and I can guarantee it’s full of surprises.
    Do not read the will now, no matter how tempted you are. It’s to be a surprise for everybody. And by the way, everyone will be
your
guests on this cruise, so don’t let any of those toffee-nosed snobs try to patronize you. Remember, I could buy and sell all of them and they know it. After all, isn’t that the reason they’ll be there?
    The third envelope is to be opened by you after the “game” is all over and the mystery solved. This one is personal, lass, just between you andme. I never said this to you in life but I must say it to you now. I love you, Daisy Keane. You have integrity, even though you do tend to lie a bit. You had no designs on my money. And you certainly never had any designs on this big, common, ugly old Yorkshire lad. I can’t blame you for that, though I must admit that, with your red hair and freckled nose, it crossed my mind a couple of times. Only joking, only joking. Pure love is pure love and that’s all there is to it, dead or alive.
    I know you’ll take care of Rats for me. And please, lass, take good care of yourself. Find yourself some happiness, I know it’s out there waiting for you. In fact, I guarantee it.
    Bob had signed his missive the way he signed all his notes to me, simply with the gigantic “BH.”
    I sat for a