Christmas Family Style in Savannah: A Garlucci Family Saga Novel (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Bo by Hope Callaghan (summer reading list txt) 📕

“Yes, he is.” Carlita wandered over to the cage. “And so is Gunner.”

“You’ll keep your trap shut if you know what’s good for you.”

Carlita chuckled. “No one has ever told me that before.”

“Gunner wants a snack.”

“Let me see what I can find.” She returned to the refrigerator, where she found a bag of seedless grapes. Carlita grabbed a couple before returning to the birdcage and hand-feeding them to him. “Is that better?”

“Gunner is handsome.”

“Hey,” Luigi appeared in the doorway. “We’re done down here. We gotta pick up the pace if we wanna be out of here before the cops show up.”

“Right.” Carlita cast Gunner one final glance and then joined Luigi and Elvira. The trio made their way up the stairs to the deck where most of the previous evening’s festivities had taken place.

Carlita slowly circled the area where Roxy and Mercedes had it out, and it reminded her of something. She turned to Luigi. “Do you still have Roxy’s gun?”

“Yeah. It’s in my apartment. I planned to give it back to her after the party ended, but we left before Pete went to release her.”

Carlita surveyed their surroundings, unsure where they should start.

“We better start in the back where Roxy was locked up in case we have to cut our search short,” Ricco said.

“Ack.” Elvira made a loud noise as she shot him a thumbs down. “This is my field of expertise. I say we do a visual, starting in the bow of the ship and working our way back, front, center and sides. Be on the lookout for damage to the ship, any sort of discarded weapon. Leave no stone unturned, no storage bin unchecked.”

“Right,” Carlita rolled her eyes. She turned to go when she heard heavy steps on the stairs.

Tony, Mercedes and Ricco joined them.

“Did you find anything of interest?” Elvira asked.

“Nope. The below deck is clean…spotless. Pete runs a tight ship,” Mercedes reported. “What about you?”

“Nothing,” Luigi said. “We were discussing starting the search in the bow of the ship and working our way to the back where Roxy was last seen.”

The search group spread out, scouring every square inch of the front of the ship. They finished and then crossed to the other end, walking single file as they passed through the narrow walkway leading to the back. Each of them headed in a different direction as they inspected the quarterdeck.

Carlita dug through a trio of corner boxes, which were filled with cleaning supplies.

Tony studied the mast before noticing a small door leading to the very rear of the ship. “There’s a door back here.”

The group gathered around as he cautiously eased it open, revealing a small balcony.

“This is cool.” Mercedes slipped past her brother and leaned over the railing. “There’s another balcony, right below this one.”

Ricco tapped the wall with a gloved hand. “The bathroom is on the other side.”

“Right,” Luigi took a step back. “But they’re not connected. You can’t access the balcony from the bathroom.”

Ricco retraced his steps, carefully closing the door behind him. They moved to the corner room, the small bathroom. The door was propped open, and Carlita peered inside. There was a porthole roughly three feet above the toilet.

“There’s no way Roxy could have gotten through that small porthole.” Tony grabbed the metal bar propped against the wall. He slid it into the locked position before testing it to make sure it was secure. “Roxy couldn’t have removed the bar, either. Someone removed it for her.” He set the bar back against the wall and studied the deck.

The red splotches were still visible. Carlita pulled her cell phone from her pocket and snapped several pictures. She took a picture of the door, the red splotches, the upper rear deck and then the balcony.

“Let’s say someone came up here during the party. Maybe they were lookin’ for a bathroom,” Ricco said.

“Or Roxy,” Luigi added.

“Right. Or Roxy. They removed the bar and let her out. They got into a fight. The person or persons stabbed Roxy and then tossed her over the side of the ship.”

“Which means whoever it was brought a weapon on board,” Elvira said.

“Luigi was carrying, Roxy was carrying, I was carrying,” Ricco said.

“I was carrying,” Elvira patted her pocket. “I’m pretty sure Dernice was too.”

“But not a knife,” Mercedes said. “Were any of you carrying a knife?”

Carlita wasn’t surprised when they all shook their head no. Who would admit to carrying a knife which may or may not have been a murder weapon? “If you think about it, firing a gun would be loud, even if the fireworks were going off. If the intent was to harm Roxy, her attacker would need to do it quietly.”

“Maybe it wasn’t premeditated,” Tony suggested.

“But who would kill Roxy?” Carlita asked. “Sure, she ticked a few people off, but is that reason enough to stab her and toss her over the side of the ship?”

“Don’t forget, I took her gun,” Luigi said. “Which means I knew she was no longer armed. Something tells me I’m going to be the number one suspect.”

It was true. Once witnesses were interviewed, they would mention the fight that took place between Ricco, Luigi and Roxy, not to mention Mercedes, right before Pete whisked her away.

Which meant they would start digging around in all three of their pasts, which meant it would lead right back to Vito Castellini. No wonder he was sending down one of his big guns. The last thing Vito wanted was cops on his doorstep.

The waters were getting murkier by the minute.

“The cops are gonna start digging around and talking to people who were here last night. They’re going to have a whole list of suspects,” Ricco said. “Me, Luigi, Elvira, Dernice.”

“Me,” Mercedes pointed to herself.