Ransom at Sea Read online

  “Who would’ve thought it!” Samantha Farraday exclaimed. An attractive smile lit her features, as if despite the circumstances she was rather charmed by the surprise.

  “I suppose we should have checked his references,” the captain said.

  “I don’t know what good it would’ve done,” Ransom replied. “There’s very little in one’s work history to indicate homicidal tendencies. Usually.”

  Farraday’s lips pursed for barely a second, all the time he gave to consider this. “Still, we’ll make sure to do it in the future. Matter of form.”

  Samantha Farraday laughed, then reached up and tousled his hair. “Come on, Neil, we’ve got to get ready to sail!”

  He shot her a disapproving glance, belied by the amusement in his eyes. They said their good-byes, and then went to the wheelhouse arm in arm.

  “Shall we go?” Ransom asked.

  “Just a moment,” said his companion, who had noticed the approach of Lily DuPree.

  The slightly hunched, frail little woman wore her usual befuddled smile. “I wanted to say good-bye, Emily. It’s been most exciting, hasn’t it? To think that that young man was a murderer! I always knew there was something not quite right about him.”

  “Did you?” Emily said.

  “Oh, yes! He was so nice and so pleasant. He was simply too good to be true, wasn’t he?”

  “As a matter of fact, he was,” she replied thoughtfully.

  “I think you’re very, very clever to have figured it out.”

  “Oh, no, Lily. You were the one who held the key.”

  Lily’s eyes widened with delight. “Really?”

  “Of course! It was your astute observations that gave us the solution.”

  “Really!” Lily beamed. Then she extended a hand to Emily. “I’ll miss you on the way home.”

  “That’s very nice of you to say, thank you. I will most likely see you in church.”

  The little woman shook her hand, said a warm good-bye to Ransom, then hobbled away.

  “Astute observations?” Ransom said, his right eyebrow arched.

  Emily smiled. “After all, Jeremy, she did hold the key.”

  “She’ll be dining out on this story for the rest of her life,” he replied with a curled lip.

  They took one last look across the deck. The paltry remainder of the ship’s complement was scattered across it. Martin and Laura Miller were seated on the port side, chatting excitedly. A few chairs down from them, Stuart Holmes sat poring over a newspaper. Bertram Driscoll was alone on the starboard side, sleeping in his chair. Along the aft railing, looking out over the water, were Jackson Brock and Muriel Langstrom, their hands clasped together, suspended dreamily between the chairs.

  Emily smiled. “It looks as if Lynn isn’t the only one who found a new friend.” She slipped her hand through Ransom’s arm, and they started down the gangplank.

  “By the way, Emily, I really must say you’ve surprised me.”

  “Why is that?”

  “You got all the way through this case without once citing the bard. I’m amazed that you couldn’t find a Shakespearean correlation in this situation.”

  “Oh, there was one for the situation, but it didn’t have any bearing on the murder,” she replied, a twinkle in her eye.

  “And what was the correlation?”

  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream, of course!”

  Also by Fred Hunter

  THE RANSOM/CHARTERS SERIES

  Presence of Mind

  Ransom for an Angel

  Ransom for Our Sins

  Ransom for a Holiday

  Ransom for a Killing

  Ransom Unpaid

  Ransom at the Opera

  The Mummy’s Ransom

  THE ALEX REYNOLDS SERIES

  Government Gay

  Federal Fag

  Capital Queers

  National Nancys

  The Chicken Asylum

  RANSOM AT SEA. Copyright © 2003 by Fred Hunter. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010.

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

  First Edition: April 2003

  eISBN 9781466881617

  First eBook edition: August 2014