“Yes. It usually takes a few seconds for people to make up a lie.”
“Good then, the whole conversation wasn’t in vain. Though it may not mean anything, Vera just confessed that she wasn’t asleep at the time of the murder. Because how could she be so sure that Beau was actually there sleeping if she herself had not been awake?”
Chapter Ten
They made a circuit of the decks, Aunt Julia becoming more irritated on each pass as they didn’t run into any of the other suspects. As they walked along the lower cabin deck, she cocked her head. “Do you hear music?”
Nora listened. She thought she heard the mournful notes of a saxophone. “Maybe, but the dining room is closed.”
“Yes, but if someone is there perhaps we can wheedle our way backstage and get into Delilah’s dressing room without having to wait for Giles.” Aunt Julia headed toward the stairs.
As they descended, a few notes drifted up, but the music stopped before they got to the bottom. The dining room was empty except for the saxophone player, a tall fellow with friendly eyes and a ready smile. He was putting his instrument away.
“I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your playing.” Aunt Julia nodded toward the shiny brass instrument.
“Thank you so much, ma’am, that means a lot.” The man lovingly laid the saxophone in a blue-velvet-lined case.
“I’m Julia and this is my niece, Nora.” Aunt Julia stuck out her hand.
“Kenny.” The man shook her hand. “I was just practicing. I like to practice in the actual room as opposed to the dressing room. Helps me get a feel for the sound. I hope I didn’t disturb you.”
“Not at all. I have a great appreciation for music and I realize it must have been hard to play given what happened to Delilah Dove. Did you like working with her?”
Kenny shrugged and snapped the case closed. “She was okay. It’s awful what happened.”
“Yes, but I appreciate how professional you all are, never missed a beat.” Aunt Julia tittered at her joke.
Kenny simply nodded. “Well, I best get to work. We’re changing the stage to a moon and stars theme tonight.”
He started taking the banners off the podiums that he and the other instrumentalists stood behind on stage. Currently the stage was decorated in a motif of musical notes.
Aunt Julia glanced toward the door that led backstage. “Let us help you. I’ll get the door.”
Before Kenny could refuse, she ran to the door and opened it. Since Kenny’s hands were full, he nodded his thanks and passed through. Nora hurriedly picked up a decoration—a string of glitter G-clefs—and followed him.
They walked behind Kenny down the hall passing Delilah’s dressing room with its closed door.
“Oh, how nice, you still have Miss Dove’s name on the door.” Julia tried the knob.
“Mr. Oxley is going to pack it up tomorrow. It’s locked now, though.” Kenny’s brow furrowed as he noticed Julia’s hand on the knob.
“Sorry, just curious.”
“We need to put the decorations in there.” Kenny nodded toward the locked room they’d seen on the tour with Giles.
Aunt Julia perked up. “We can go in there?”
“Right now we can. To switch out the stage. Usually it’s locked too,” Kenny said.
The room was about the size of Delilah’s dressing room, but much less organized. As they’d been told, it was a storage room with various decorations, podiums, chairs, music stands and trunks full of costumes.
“It looks like you have plenty of things to work with here.” Aunt Julia helped Kenny put the banners on a shelf.
“Yeah, we like to change it up,” Kenny said.
Aunt Julia started wandering around. “Look at these decorations, so colorful!’ She opened a trunk. “And these look like Christmas things. Wouldn’t it be fun to travel on the Miss Delta Belle for Christmas, Nora?”
“Sure, if you don’t like snow for Christmas.” Nora handed the sparkly G-clefs to Kenny, who put them away.
“Uh… Mr. Oxley doesn’t like us lingering around in here.” Kenny started toward the doorway.
“Oh no?” Aunt Julia made her way around the room. “Why is that?”
Nora did her own survey of the room. She didn’t see anything valuable, unless it was hidden in one of the trunks along the wall. She doubted that, as they were banged up and scruffy, with scratched paint, brass corners worn down to the black metal underneath and one even missing one of the oak straps.
“I guess he doesn’t want things stolen. He had a problem with that in the past. He’s usually here supervising.”
Aunt Julia looked intrigued. “Really? I wonder where he is now?”
“Beats me.”
“Oh, well, we won’t linger then.” Aunt Julia headed for the door. Kenny exited the room, making sure to leave the door closed.
Aunt Julia hovered in front of the star’s dressing room. “It’s so sad what happened. But you know I do wonder… what was Delilah doing up on the sun deck in the middle of the night fully dressed in a gown? Was there a staff party that night?”
Kenny shook his head. “No. Mr. Oxley frowns on late-night parties.”
“She must have been with someone,” Nora said. “Do you know who?”
Kenny’s eyes shifted to the left, indicating that he might know but probably wasn’t going to tell. Perhaps he’d seen or heard something, but Nora wasn’t sure how to press him on it.
“Where were you at the time?” she asked.
“I was asleep in my room.” Kenny pointed to a doorway at the end of the hall.
“Do you all have your own rooms?” Aunt Julia asked.
Kenny shook his head. “We double up. I room with Buddy the drummer.”
“And you were both asleep at the time?” Aunt Julia pressed.
“Yeah. I woke up and went into the hall. Mr. Oxley practically ran me over.” Kenny glanced at the very end of the hall.
“Is that his room down there?” Aunt Julia asked.
“Yep.”
“And which direction was he coming from?” Aunt Julia asked.
Kenny looked at her funny. “From his room, like I said.”
Aunt Julia pressed her lips together and nodded. “Yes, I bet it was quite a shock to hear that scream and then find out who had done the screaming. Did it take you long to come out into the hall?”
Kenny thought about that. “I guess it took a few minutes. I was fast asleep. The scream woke me and it took a while to get my bearings. Then I grabbed my robe. Buddy was rummaging around for his and then we rushed into the hall.”
“And you all ran up to the sun deck together?”
“Yes. Well, some of us were faster than others, but we eventually got there. By then they’d pulled Delilah up and…”
Aunt Julia patted his arm sympathetically. “I’m sorry to bring up such terrible memories. Well, I suppose we must run along. Thank you again for such wonderful entertainment.”
“My pleasure.”
They made their way through the empty restaurant. “That was interesting,” Nora said. “Do you think Oxley could possibly have killed Delilah then rushed back down here and pretended he was coming out of his room?”