Because this murder, like the first one, occurred in a public area of the ship there was no way to keep it quiet. By morning it was the hot topic at the breakfast bar. By midmorning Tank was confined to quarters for his own safety. It also helped to eliminate him as a suspect if Score turned up dead.

The Marshalls had moved on and were now interviewing the crew and a few of the passenger's who'd been unaccounted for at the time of the latest death. By noon, we knew that Points did indeed drown and he didn't do it accidently. There was a hand shaped bruise on his neck and another on his back.

The hand was a big hand. They'd figure out later if it was as big as Tanks.

Ranger stayed with Tank during his latest interrogation by the federal marshals and I lay out by the pool in a bikini ostensibly to get some sun, but if I overheard conversation that made me think something suspicious, then more power to that. My little grey cells needed stimulating and so far, there was nothing that was doing it.

I opened my lap top and found a message from Juliet.

'Stephanie,

You were right about it being difficult to get a handle on the Ghost, but you'll be happy to know that it wasn't impossible. He returned to the states several years ago and after checking in with the military he was given an honorable discharge.

He returned to Tennessee for a short time and worked as a police officer for a while. He was highly decorated, but there were a couple of things that happened there that spoiled his taste for legitimate police work. He moved to LA and was working as a body guard for a famous celebrity until January of this year. He disappeared after that. So far, I haven't been able to find anything else out. But…I'm working on getting you a recent picture. He avoided having his picture made diligently, but when you're guarding someone as famous as Adrianna, I suppose there's no way to avoid it. She's always in the news and that means he had to be. So…as soon as it hits my desk, I'll forward it to you.

Is there anything else we can do to help back here? We all know Tank is innocent and we'll do whatever we can to help prove it. If you think of anything else please send me an email or give me a call.

Oh yea, tell Ranger that I've got a couple of people to recommend for the job he asked about. What's he going to do if someone else does all his paperwork? Is that a secret?

Take care,

Juliet'

So he didn't go into hiding when he returned to the states and yet nobody from his unit was aware that he was back. Or maybe somebody was. Maybe Score was. I trusted Ranger's instincts and if Ranger thought Ghost wasn't involved in the betrayal of the unit. If Ranger thought he was innocent, then he was probably right. But what if our murderer didn't have those same instincts? So far only the guys who had betrayed the unit were dead and the guys who had been betrayed were alive. If Ghost was our killer, was he getting revenge for ruining his name? Was he even on board the ship? I really needed that picture from Juliet.

Since I didn't have the picture, I started surfing the web for pictures of Adrianna. She was a young pop star who'd had more trouble than success. She had bad luck with men and even though she was only 25 years old, she'd already been married and divorced three times. She was well on the way to becoming the Elizabeth Taylor of her generation. She was talented though and her fans overlooked her horrifying personal life to laud her music as the greatest thing since The Doors. As if?!

There were hundreds and thousands of pictures of Adrianna. And there was at least one bodyguard in every picture. But how was I supposed to know which of the body guards was Ghost. I didn't even know what he looked like. Not only that, but nobody in any of the pictures resembled anyone I'd seen onboard the ship. If Ghost was here…he was a Ghost.

I closed the laptop and leaned back in my chaise and let the sun wash down on me. I couldn't let that happen long or I'd be in pain for the rest of the day.

Louisa del Ray dropped into the chaise beside mine.

I blinked over at her. It should be criminal to look that good in a bathing suit…if that's what you wanted to call those two tiny pieces of fabric she was wearing. I had underwear with more fabric and you all know my preference for underwear.

"So…do you think that your friend Tank had anything to do with these murders," she said not even glancing at me.

I rolled my eyes, "No…there is zero chance of that."

"I don't think so either," she shrugged. "He is a good suspect though, no?"

"No," I said closing my eyes. "If you knew Tank, you'd know he's not big on subtle. If he'd committed murder there would be blood and mayhem."

"And were all of these men murdered?"

"I have no idea," I shrugged. "The federal marshals are running this investigation, not Rangeman."

"Rangeman is Tank and Ranger's company, yes?"

"Yes," I agreed.

"If Tank is a suspect, then why isn't Ranger a suspect," she asked.

"He has an alibi for the time of at least two of the deaths," I shrugged.

"And your Tank, he does not," she frowned.

"He does not," I agreed. "At least he doesn't have an alibi that the marshals find to be acceptable. Lula doesn't count as a reliable alibi because she's engaged to be married to him."

"She could be biased, yes?"

"Yes," I agreed. I felt it then. It was that first niggling tingle that something wasn't right. Something she was saying was igniting my spidey sense, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was or if was her or her words. I didn't like her. I couldn't rely on my spidey sense for that.

I sat up and gathered my belongings.

"I do not mean to upset you," she shook her head. "Please don't let me chase you away. I'll stop discussing these murders."

"Don't worry about it," I smiled. "I'm too fair to be in the sun for too long. I'll burn and not be able to wear my dress for the wedding. Enjoy the sun."

"Thank you," she said and closed her eyes tightly.

I went down to the cabin and opened the lap top up and sent Juliet a quick email. I wanted her to look into four names. I didn't know which of those names would come back with suspicious activity, but I had a feeling that at least two of them would. It would help if it was only two of them. That would work with my theory.

I showered and changed into shorts and a tee shirt. As soon as Tank's interrogation was over Ranger and I were supposed to head into Belize City and act like tourists. I was looking forward to it. I just didn't know what we were actually going to do there. He tended to surprise me with excursions. So far, I would have picked what he did.

He came into the room and leaned against the door tiredly.

"Did it go badly," I frowned.

"No, Tank held it together. It was just hard. Enrique had to ask questions about our time in the Unit. He had to dig into some wounds, you know?"

"Oh…I'm sorry," I padded over to him barefoot and put my arms around his waist. "I know it's hard. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yea," his arms circled around me. "I'll feel better when we get this thing under control. You know what I mean?"

"I do,' I agreed.

"You look ready to go?"

"Well…I can change if I need to. Have you planned anything for today?"

"Yea," he nodded. "I rented a jeep. I thought we'd tour the place a little bit. Pack a suit. I've got directions to Big Rock Waterfall in St Ignacio. If we've got time, we may head that way."

"Big Rock Waterfall," I raised a brow.

"Yea…it's a waterfall with a fresh water swimming hole beneath it. It's supposed to be spectacular. I've never seen it before, but my sister says it's amazing."

"We should trust her then," I agreed.

"Do you want to try it? I mean we may not get to spend much time there. It's over an hour there and the same back?"

"I think a nice drive in the country sounds excellent," I said with a smile.

"Great…I'll change and we'll head out."

"Deal," I agreed.

An hour later we were outside of Belize and heading for St Ignacio. I was the navigator, but it was pretty much a straight shot over roads that had seen better days and beautiful views. I knew my hair would be hopelessly tangled by the time we got back, but I just didn't care. We were escaping. There was part of me that wanted to go and keep going. But when we got to Big Rock Falls, we turned into the park and I was glad we stopped.

It was probably one of the most serene locations I've even seen in my life. You could hear the sound of the water landing on the rocks below and there weren't very many people there either. It was pretty much us and the people who worked there.

I got down to my swimsuit and Ranger and I headed into the water. It was hot there. It was probably close to ninety in Belize City, but there in that magnificent jungle it was closer to seventy-five and the water was cool. It was very, very cool.

I gasped as I stepped in and my whole body reacted to the change in the temperature.

Ranger grinned and pulled me close. "Come on…let's climb up on the rock and play under the waterfall."

"It'll be warmer up there, right?"

"Right," he agreed.

The rock was warmer, the waterfall…not so much. We still stayed there and played for more than an hour. Then we got out and changed and got our box lunches out from the cruise ship and found a quiet spot to lay our blanket out and ate.

"I like it here," I sighed and lay back peering through the canopy of tree limbs overhead to the blue sky behind it. "It's so warm and comfortable. I really like it."

"Do you want to live here," he asked.

"Maybe," I turned to smile at him.

"There's no mall," he grinned.

"It's always something," I sighed.

"Always," he agreed.

I sighed again and closed my eyes. Moments later his lips were on mine. I opened my eyes and found his eyes on me. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing you," he said against my mouth.

"Okay," I sighed and just let the kiss take me away. It wasn't as though he was going to make love to me on the blanket in the middle of the park with all the people there. And there were a lot more people there now than when we first arrived.

I put my hand up on his neck and let my fingers run over his smooth skin. He felt so good. He was such a damn good kisser. It was a good thing I had pie back in the room.

He lifted his head slightly and nuzzled my nose with his. "I like it here too. I like relaxed Stephanie."

"I like relaxed Ranger," I smiled.

"Then you're not going to be happy to know that if we intend to finish the cruise on the ship we have to go back now," he said with a sigh.

"No…I'm not," I agreed.

"But we do," he said seriously.

"Well, I don't think it would be a good idea to miss the launch since we'd become the prime suspects immediately."

"That's true," he sat up. "Let's go then."

"Let's go," I agreed.

We walked up the gangplank at exactly 5:55PM. We had five minutes left before we missed the ship, or so they said.

Molly Perkins met us at the top. "Well hello you two. Where did you head off to today?"

"Big Rock Falls," I said serenely. "It's lovely."

"It is," she agreed. "I hope you have time to change for dinner. The Chef has a wonderful meal planned to celebrate Tank and Lula's wedding."

"Will Tank and Lula be able to be there," I asked.

"Oh," she said blankly.

"I mean Tank's confined to his cabin, isn't he?"

She blinked again and flushed, "I don't know. I better find that out. She hurried off with her clipboard in her hand.

"When I do get married again," I said seriously watching her go, "I don't want Molly Perkins in any way involved in it."

"Hey…you just said married without choking," he grinned.

I glanced down at my arms, "and no hives either…yet."

"Well…give them a few minutes," he grinned and tugged me toward our cabin.

"You didn't choke either," I said pointedly.

"I do not have commitment issues," he sighed tiredly.

"Right," I nodded. "I hope Cindy Sue didn't take my pie."

He just sighed and followed me.