[Lady Justice 11] - Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders Read online

  REVIEWS

  Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders…another home run for Thornhill

  Being a fan of other novels in Robert Thornhill’s Lady Justice Series, I was eager to jump into this new offering. Thornhill, in his usual creative manner, has woven yet another witty murder mystery. In this work, we find Walt Williams, one of Kansas City’s finest, back at it again.

  On the heels of the unbelievable capture of a serial rapist, Walt, his wife, his partner (Ox) and Ox’s new wife, all head on a much-deserved adventure (and honeymoon). This time, they move offshore to enjoy an excursion on an Alaskan Cruise line.

  On a separate (but simultaneously connected trip) they are joined by attorney, Mark Stewart and his wife. They, too, are embarking on an adventure. A prominent archeological professor, eager to locate the long lost gold of Mark’s ancestors, has contacted Mark—believing he has been successful in locating the treasure. Mark, a skeptic by nature, agrees to make the trip regardless of the outcome.

  We find Walt and his crew on offshore games of cat and mouse, bait and switch, and the search for lost prospector’s gold. Spinning its way through email account hacking, warding off revenge from newly released inmates and salmon bakes—this contribution continues to offer the clever capers we’ve come to enjoy from Thornhill.

  Through wonderfully interlaced complications and unexpected outcomes, Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders easily joins its series predecessors as equally funny and uniquely entertaining.

  Kudos, again, to Thornhill on his latest series addition!

  Avis Jenkins, Article Write Up

  There's something about a murder mystery aboard a ship at sea...the culprit can't escape easily; but neither can the intended victim. Writers like Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming have used this vehicle to set up plots and sub-plots to make the reader roll with the waves as they sort through events and clues. Robert Thornhill skillfully brings this setting into the world of Walt Williams as he presents us with mystery/comedy #11, LADY JUSTICE AND THE CRUISE SHIP MURDERS.

  The story unfolds as Walt Williams, retired real estate agent, now a member of the Kansas City Police Force's City Retired Action Patrol (C.R.A.P.), and his wife, Maggie, have been invited to join Walt's partner Ox, and Ox's policewoman wife, Judy, on their honeymoon. The decision is to take a weeklong Alaskan cruise that includes panning for gold (Ox's dream) and a salmon bake for Judy.

  With Thornhill's skill of interweaving story lines, we learn that another couple from KC is also headed to Alaska to hopefully retrieve a hidden treasure trove of gold. The plot thickens when a murder is committed on the first night aboard the ship right down the hall from Walt's room. Continuous action will hold the reader's attention, but Thornhill also provides moments of prose about the beauty of Alaska and humorous events that occur on the ship. Finally, the culprits are caught and Lady Justice triumphs once again. This is a pure fun and entertainment...keeps you turning the pages until it's done!

  Christina Fullerton-Jones, Independence, MO.

  Robert Thornhill hits the mark again in Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders.

  Walt and Maggie accompany Ox & Judy on their honeymoon cruise to Alaska. Once on board, two people end up dead, and it looks like a case of mistaken identity. Another couple's life is in danger if Walt and gang can't catch the murderer first.

  Fantastic read, with a bit of Alaskan history and great photos. A must read for mystery lovers.

  Sheri Wilkinson, Goodreads

  LADY JUSTICE

  AND THE

  CRUISE SHIP MURDERS

  A WALT WILLIAMS

  MYSTERY/COMEDY NOVEL

  ROBERT THORNHILL

  Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders

  Copyright October, 2012 by Robert Thornhill

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, incidents and entities included in the story are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, events and entities is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America

  Cover design by Peg Thornhill

  1. Fiction, Humorous

  2. Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General

  DEDICATION

  Peg and I would like to thank the Captain and crew of the Statendam for making our first Alaskan Cruise a memorable one.

  Our cruise and our shore excursions were used as the foundation for Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders.

  While many of Walt's adventures were based on our own personal experience, this is obviously a work of fiction.

  Although the ship, the ports and the places we visited are real, the story itself is a product of my warped imagination.

  Also, while much of the historical content is accurate, I must admit that some facts were altered to fit the plot.

  With all that being said, Peg and I have returned to Missouri with a much deeper appreciation of our northernmost state, its citizens and its colorful history.

  LADY JUSTICE

  AND THE

  CRUISE SHIP MURDERS

  PROLOGUE

  Mark Stewart examined the postmark on the letter that his wife, Amy, had handed to him when he arrived home from work.

  "Skagway, Alaska," he muttered. "We don't know anyone in Alaska, do we?"

  "Not that I know of," she replied. "Maybe if you opened it instead of just staring at it, you would find out who sent it."

  Mark, a junior partner in a Kansas City law firm, was the cautious one in the family. Amy was the more adventurous of the two.

  Mark tore open the envelope and pulled out a letter that had been neatly typed.

  Dear Mr. Stewart,

  By way of introduction, let it suffice to say for now, that I am a historian and amateur archeologist in Skagway, Alaska.

  My studies have led me to some documents that are linked to your great-great grandfather, John D. Stewart, a prospector during the Alaskan Gold Rush.*

  * See photo, page 215

  Your great-great-grandfather arrived in Skagway in July of 1898 bearing a bag of gold weighing nearly fifteen pounds.

  The gold was taken from him by two men that were part of Jefferson (Soapy) Smith's gang of con men.*

  It was this theft that led to the demise of Soapy Smith in the infamous shootout on Juneau Wharf.

  During the melee that followed Smith's death, your great-great grandfather's gold was never recovered and it was assumed that it had been hidden away by Slim-Jim Foster and John Bowers, the con artists that had taken it from him and who were arrested shortly afterward.

  My studies and the documents that I have found have given me clues as to the whereabouts of your great-great grandfather's gold.

  You, of course, would be the rightful heir if the gold does indeed still exist.

  The gold would be worth in excess of seventy-five thousand dollars in today's market.

  My interest is that of a scholar and should you be interested in joining me to locate your great-great-grandfather's legacy, I would only ask for the rights to the story of the discovery and a modest sum to cover my expenses.

  * See photo, page 215

  I realize how preposterous this may sound, but I urge you to give it some thought. If you are interested in pursuing this quest with me, please respond by email to: [email protected].

  If
I don't receive a reply within a month, I will assume you have no interest in the venture and I will pursue other means to locate your great-great grandfather's gold.

  Sincerely,

  A. Prospector.

  Mark stared at the letter for just a moment before wadding it up and throwing it across the kitchen.

  "Well that's a new one," he said with disgust. "I wonder if this jerk is related to the Nigerian guy that keeps trying to send me money on the Internet?"

  Amy retrieved the wadded-up letter and smoothed it out on the countertop.

  "Is this true?" she asked. "I mean the part about your great-great grandfather being a prospector in Alaska? I've never heard you talk about it."

  "I heard stories from my grandfather when I was a kid, but the old guy told a lot of tall tales. I guess I just figured that this was another one."

  "There's a lot of detail here," she said, reading the letter again.

  "Amy!" he said sarcastically, “surely you don't think there's anything to this!"

  "I don't know, but I think it's worth looking into. It wouldn't cost anything to do some research of my own and he did give us a month to respond. Would it be okay with you if I did a little digging into your family's history?"

  "Knock yourself out!"

  CHAPTER 1

  “There’s gold in them thar hills,” Ox, my partner in the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, declared as he perused his searches on the Internet.

  Ox had married Judy DeMarco, a fellow officer, just a month ago and he was like a kid in a candy store as he and Judy planned their honeymoon.

  They had decided on an Alaskan Cruise and had invited me and Maggie, my wife of just over a year, to tag along.

  At sixty-nine years of age, neither of us had been on a cruise, so I had to admit that we were pretty excited too.

  Ox had been looking at the array of shore excursions that were available at the ports of Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway.

  “Look,” he said with enthusiasm, “we can pan for gold! I always wanted to pan for gold!”

  “You do realize that those places are just tourists traps?” I asked. “There hasn’t been any gold in those old mines for years.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he replied. “I just want to learn how to do it. I’ve read the stories of the old prospectors who braved temperatures of sixty below zero up in the Klondike searching for the one big strike. Alaska was the last great American frontier and those guys were tough as nails. I just want to relive a little bit of American history.”

  “Then by golly, we’ll pan for gold,” Judy declared, “as long as we can do the wild salmon bake out on an open fire.”

  The sixty below zero got Maggie’s attention. “Exactly when are you planning this cruise? I hope we’re not going in the dead of winter.”

  “No, it’s pretty harsh up there about nine months of the year,” Ox replied, “so we’re thinking the first of June.”

  “Great! Then we’ll have a few months to get ready.”

  “Get ready? For what?” Ox asked. “We’re just taking a little boat trip and doing some sightseeing.”

  Maggie and Judy exchanged looks. “Don’t worry about it, Big Guy,” Judy said smiling. “Maggie and I will take care of the details. All you boys have to do is jump when we say jump and do exactly what we tell you to do. Understand?” she asked jokingly.

  Now Ox and I exchanged looks.

  We understood perfectly.

  “Have you decided on a cruise line?” I asked.

  “Not for sure,” Ox replied. “These Alaskan cruises are pretty pricey, so we’ve been looking for the best deal. Actually, that’s what I want to talk to you about.

  “We got this thing in the mail that says that if we attend a special presentation about vacations at the Drury Inn, they will give us a cruise --- for free --- and there’s no obligation to buy anything! Even better, they said we could bring friends and they would get a free cruise too. Isn’t that great?”

  Now it was time for Maggie and I to exchange looks.

  Maggie and I had been to Hawaii and to Branson and had been lured into timeshare presentations with offers of free luaus and dinner shows and, yes, even a cruise.

  “Ox, haven’t you ever heard the old saying, ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’?”

  “Actually,” Ox replied, there is going to be a buffet of appetizers --- all for free!”

  “No, you’re missing my point. They are offering all of this stuff to get you to buy into their vacation program. They’re selling timeshares in fancy resorts, and they’re very good at it.”

  Ox pulled the mailer out of his pocket. “No obligation. It says so right here. Judy and I are going,” he said with conviction, “and we want you and Maggie to come with us.”

  I figured that we’d better go or Ox might end up owning a studio apartment in Fiji.

  At the second shift squad meeting the next day, Captain Short had some disturbing news.

  “There’s been another incident on the Trolley Track Trail. This was not just another confrontation with the attacker demanding wallets and jewelry. A woman was brutally beaten and raped.

  “She had been at The Well, a bar and grill at 74th Terrace and Wornall. She lives just a few blocks south on 78th Street and rather than drive, would walk the Trolley Trail to her home.

  “The incident occurred about eleven last night. The woman described her attacker as a white male, close to six feet tall and weighing one hundred and eighty. He was wearing a ski mask.

  “We need to canvass the area and see if anyone saw or heard anything. Your assignments are posted.”

  The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail is nearly seven miles in length running from 85th and Prospect on the south to Volker Boulevard on the north.

  As the name implies, the trail lies where the tracks of the old trolley cars took passengers from south Kansas City to the urban shopping districts.

  It winds between Brookside, Main and Wornall Roads. Much of the trail runs adjacent to the backyards of residential neighborhoods but some of it runs straight through busy shopping districts lined with bars and fast food restaurants.

  Dark wooded areas, away from lights and people, surround a few stretches of the trail. Most of the trail users know not to travel those areas after dark. However, pretty much any part of the trail, with the exception of the part through the shopping districts, could harbor an attacker after sundown.

  Ox and I were to interview the patrons and staff at The Well.

  Word of the attack had spread through the Waldo community and people were on edge. No one is comfortable knowing that a rapist is roaming the streets of their neighborhood.

  The woman that was attacked was a regular at the The Well.

  A local band from just across the state line, The Stolen Winnebagos, had just finished their first set when the bartender saw her leave alone. As far as he knew, no one from the bar had followed her.

  We questioned other patrons that had been at The Well the previous evening, but none of them had seen anything out of the ordinary.

  We hoped that other officers canvassing the neighborhood had better luck because we had come up empty.

  Ox was chomping at the bit to get to the Drury Inn. He just knew that before the evening was over, he would have his free cruise.

  The four of us piled into his SUV and headed to the motel.

  A bubbly young woman met us in the lobby and directed us to a meeting room where another comely lass took over.

  She gave us information sheets to fill out and told us that when we had them completed, we could help ourselves to the buffet.

  The form wanted us to reveal pretty much every detail of our financial history. I suppose they needed that to decide how much time they would spend ‘helping’ us come to a decision.

  When the forms had been turned in, we headed to the buffet. This was an evening of our life we would never get back so I figured that we might as well make the most of it.

 
They had a big pot of little weenie things steaming in BBQ sauce, which was one of Ox’s favorite treats. As I watched him fill his plate for the third time, it gave me a warm feeling knowing that he wouldn’t be leaving empty handed. I didn’t have high hopes for the cruise.

  There were maybe twenty other couples attending. Some were young yuppie types, a few middle-agers and a lot of old farts like me. I guessed they were leaning heavily toward the group with the largest disposable income and the most free time to travel.

  When most of the paper plates were empty, a guy that looked like a cross between a used car salesman and a lounge lizard picked up a mike and welcomed us all.

  He had his banter down pat and ushered us into the wonderful world of vacation travel.

  For twenty minutes, a huge screen on the wall behind him displayed slide after slide of exotic tropical wonderlands, lush golf courses and magnificent resorts.

  Ox’s eyes were glued to the screen and I expected him to start drooling any minute.

  When the last slide disappeared, the emcee began his close.

  “All of these wonderful places can be yours, simply by enrolling in our vacation club.”

  I saw Ox’s lips move silently, but I know he was asking, “How much?”

  It turned out that one week per year could be ours for a mere $45,000 plus an annual maintenance fee of $585.00.

  That was approximately Ox’s annual salary.

  I saw the disappointed look on my friend’s face when he heard the news and I felt for the big guy.

  After the presentation, a vacation club rep, whose job was to get our signatures on a contract, joined each couple. When we politely declined, we were told to hang on a moment, there just might be something they could do for us.