THE CRUISE SHIP AFFAIR: A twist of love and murder

Baby Cara

All Quinn could think about the whole day was Federick; the way he touched her made her feel like she was in heaven.

Since she had broken up with Kennedy, she had avoided men at all costs, even though dozens of them came at her. She did not want anyone to break her heart like Kennedy had done, so she had guarded herself by shutting all the men out of her life, and truth be told, she missed being touched so much, and Federick’s statement of Kennedy sleeping with Oprah triggered her even more. She had avoided men and not allowed them to touch her, while Kennedy was having the time of his life with Oprah. So Quinn had finally allowed herself to be pleased by Federick, and it was something that she was never going to forget.

The thought of Federick working on her body lingered in her head, making her partially forget that there was a killer amongst them. She also almost forgot to go and see Mrs. Reed and her baby. It was when she touched herself on the bed for a while that she remembered about Mrs. Reed and her baby, so she jumped out of bed to Mrs. Reed’s room, even though it was getting late.

“Who is there?" Mrs. Reed called out when Quinn knocked on her door.

"It's me, Quinn," Quinn called out, and after a while, Mrs. Reed opened the door.

“Your baby got hungry; I gave her some milk from the bottle," she said as she closed the door.

“Thank you, Mrs. Reed. I know it's a lot of work taking care of my child while I just do other things, forgetting that I even have a child," Quinn said, laughing nervously.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Reed said. “I love taking care of babies, Quinn, and I owe you one. Kennedy should be ashamed of himself for not recognizing a child that looks like him. I wonder why you have not taken this matter to court, so at least you can get more money to fend for yourself and your child.”

Quinn smiled weakly; she was used to smiling now, even though she felt dead inside; it was her coping mechanism. “I don’t need his money, Reed; I am very stable.”

“Money is never enough, honey. One needs to make more money, and taking Kennedy to court will give you more money; besides, after all the human abuse you went through, you deserve to frustrate him and get some money”, Mrs. Reed said.

Mrs. Reed knew part of Quinn’s story, but she did not know all of it. If not, she would have forced Quinn to take legal action instead of giving her more time to think like she was doing now.

“After these whole shenanigans happening on this ship, you had better take legal action against him, or I will be helping you do that," Mrs. Reed added.

Quinn thought, Will legal actions hurt Kennedy like she wanted him to be hurt?

“Speaking of shenanigans," Quinn said, diverting the topic; it was better to talk about a death case than talk about Kennedy. “What do you think is going on on this ship?”

“Who knows? They are a bunch of dubious people on this ship, obviously. I think a lot of people here are capable of killing someone, Mrs. Reed said.

Quinn nodded. Mrs. Reed was right; a lot of people did seem like people that were capable of killing, but who killed Anne? And what was the purpose?

“But I know I am not going to die anytime soon; before any killer tries to kill me, I will kill the person first," Mrs. Reed said. “And don’t worry about your baby; I will protect her with my life. All you have to do is work hard to find out who this murderer is. I trust that you will be able to find out who it is.”

"Thanks, Reed, but I need to take Cara with me tonight. I have missed her, so I want to sleep beside her," Quinn said.

“Are you sure you want her to stay with you tonight? You know I can take care of her no matter what is going on, right?" Mrs. Reed said.

"Yeah, I do; I just need her with me tonight. I will bring her back for you tomorrow, Quinn said.

“Sure, take your time and be safe too. Mr. Cartwright was actually serious, though. I tried calling the police, and they said that a higher authority told them not to come for us and that we were enjoying ourselves. I don’t know what that nonsense means, but if I, Reed, could tell the police about our case and they could say such a thing, it means Mr. Cartwright holds serious power and is a suspect too”, Mrs. Reed said.

Quinn picked up her baby, who smiled at her with her blue eyes. Kennedy was an actual i***t. For crying out loud, the baby had his smile. Deep down, Quinn was worried that she made a bad decision by bringing her child to this ship, but she wanted her close to her wherever she went.

"Thanks Reed, I will be safe, and I will try my best to find out who the killer is. But please do not mention to anyone that I am a detective," Quinn said quietly.

“I cross my heart and hope to die if I tell anyone that," Mrs. Reed said.

Quinn had never realized how scary-looking the corridor of the ship was until she held Cara, taking her to her room. The lighting of the corridor was bad, and it was easy for someone to be sneaky around the place—sneaky for the killer.

When she got to the room, she nearly went into full shock with Cara in her hand because Kennedy was in her room.

“What are you doing here?" she asked, her chest beating faster as she tried to maintain composure, and she could only hope that she was doing well.

“Quinn, there is a killer on the loose, and you let yourself get touched by a stranger, and then you left your room door open," Kennedy said.

He had seen Federick and Quinn earlier on. “You have no right to be here by this time. You have s*x with Oprah, right?”

There was no answer.

“Get out of my room," Quinn said.

"Look, I am just checking up on you, and why are you holding a baby in your arms now? What relationship do you have with Mrs. Reed? Is there something you are not telling me? Who is this baby’s mother, and what relationship do you have with Mrs. Reed?”

Quinn smiled, closing the door to the room and keeping the baby on the bed. Kennedy was an actual stupid person.

“You are a detective, but you can’t decode something as simple as this? Poor you”, she said, sitting on her bed.

"Quinn, stop playing with me. Who’s baby is that?" Kennedy asked.

“Don’t shout, so that you won’t wake the baby up," Quinn said as she continued to smile. She was enjoying the horrified look Kennedy had on his face.

“Quinn, I am going to ask one more time, who’s baby is that?" he asked. Quinn could see fear in his eyes; she could see that he had already figured it out, even though he was pressing on for confirmation, even though it was evident that he would have preferred to continue to live in denial.

“It is ours, Kennedy baby; it is ours.”