Cathartes aura

"...which is why we're giving you extra time during breakfast to network and exchange ideas," Zandra hears Ivy say as she hobbles up to the lounge.

Zandra hangs back in a corner away from the attendees. She doesn't need Chad and Bexley wasting her time, although a quick survey of the lounge shows they're not up yet.

How do I even get to the captain from here? Jade's little tour skipped the bridge. Is that what it's called? The bridge?

Zandra isn't completely concealed from the rest of the lounge. Jade spots her and waves. It's the kind of wave with the bend of wrist that only alcohol can bring out.

Zandra waves back, soberly, motioning for Jade to come over.

"Are you, ah, finished with the thing?" Jade says after she picks her way through the lounge to Zandra. Her breath stings with orange juice and rail vodka.

"I am," Zandra says, wishing the cinnamon of the French toast sticks would overpower Jade's eyeopener.

"Well, Ivy bought you extra time, but I guess you won't need it. Who did it?"

"It'd be better if you showed me how to get to the bridge," Zandra says. "I need to speak with the captain right away."

"You want me to get Ivy?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because someone has to keep this shit show from sinking into the Wisconsin," Zandra says.

Besides, you're too fucked up to hold the attendees down if it were just Ivy and me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know how to get there. It's the upper level, though. That's closed, remember?" Jade says.

Zandra fights a cough. "I'm sure they'll make an exception. Let's go."

Ivy spots them before they even leave the lounge. She hurries over, a fake grin pasted to her face for the sake of the attendees.

"Well?" Ivy says.

"Yeah. I got it," Zandra says.

Ivy trades her fake grin in for a real one.

"We're going up to the bridge, find the captain," Jade says in a slur.

Ivy pulls a phone out of her pocket, dials a number, and hands the device to Zandra. "Upper level is sealed. It's better if you call."

"Here?" Zandra says. "In front of everyone?"

"Oh, fuck, yeah, you're right," Ivy says. She grabs the phone and cancels the call. "Let's do this from downstairs."

"No, that's too risky. The person of interest is still in her cabin. Don't want to give advance warning if we can help it," Zandra says.

Rev. Cash and pDano® preventing Cherry Peach from leaving is enough warning as it is. It'll take time for her to get ready for the day. Hopefully, she won't attempt to leave her cabin for a while anyway.

"There's a bathroom around the way," Zandra says, thinking back to Chad and Bexley's amateur surgery hour.

Ivy shakes her head and says, "Crew closed it down. Biohazard. Someone bled all over in there, and the staff ran out of special cleaner."

This is getting ridiculous.

"The conference rooms?" Jade says. "They're right off the lounge."

"They're all getting set up for the demos," Ivy says.

Fuck this.

Zandra drags her bad ankle toward the stairs leading to the upper level.

"You can't do that," Ivy says.

"It's not like I don't know what's up there," Zandra says. She lumbers past a fresh fruit station where a groggy Bexley picks at cubes of cantaloupe with her fingers.

Guess they're up after all.

"What's up where?" Bexley says and pops a cube into her mouth.

"Dammit, Zandra. Would you deal with her, please," Ivy says to Jade under her breath. She hurries over to the fruit station. "We were just discussing the demos for the day."

Bexley watches Zandra hobble up the stairs, followed by Jade.

"Hey, I thought we couldn't go up there," Bexley says.

That gets Chad's attention. He rockets over to Bexley in a rolling office chair. The short notice for serving breakfast in the lounge meant the crew used any chairs they could find.

"Is Zandra planning something big for her demo today? Is that why we can't go up there?" Chad says through a mouthful of pork sausage. "What even is her demo? When is it? Will there be more sausage?"

Ivy slides right into the excuse. "Yes. Yes, that's exactly it. Something big is up there."

"I knew it. I've been working on this psychic stuff myself," Chad says. He grins, and bits of sausage drip from his mouth onto his chest.

On the stairs, Zandra is outclassed by Jade's two good ankles, but that doesn't deter her. Neither does the "seal" at the top of the stairs: a five-gallon bucket with a "Do Not Enter" sign taped to it.

First time handling a homicide on board, is it? At least they went all out and used a five-gallon bucket instead of a smaller size.

Jade slips ahead of Zandra and the five-gallon bucket. She blocks the entry onto the upper level.

"Just let Ivy get the captain. I don't know why you're doing this," Jade says.

"No, I don't know why you are doing this," Zandra says. "There's a murder, I'm 99-percent certain I know who did it, I've already seen what's on the railing up there, we need to act quickly to keep this event from imploding, but you're worried about a sign on a bucket? Who gives a shit?"

Zandra runs her hand along the outline of the lawnmower knife sheathed up her sleeve.

"Only 99?" Jade says and laughs to herself.

That joke, and all its bastard offspring, is getting really fucking old.

Zandra doesn't let on how irritated Jade's "joke" makes her feel. She smiles extra wide and says, "If it was 100, it wouldn't be for entertainment purposes only."

"Huh?"

"Just get the fuck out of the way," Zandra says. She charges up the remaining steps as hard as her ankle will tolerate.

Jade isn't a fighter. She'll move.

And she does, stuck in dazed indecision at the stairs as Zandra hobbles onto the deck.

The fog burned away, leaving a clear view of the deck. Unlike the prior views of the shoreline, the trees and rocks stay in place rather than scroll by.

The Curd Queen is anchored.

Zandra spots a crew member in the center holding a broom upside down, bristles pointed at the sky.

"Hey, you can't be up here," the crew member says.

"You do know the bristles go the other way, toward the floor, don't you?" Zandra says, shuffling along undeterred. She recognizes the crew member from earlier on at the body.

The crew member uses the broom to lean on the deck. "The captain said I should watch for turkey vultures. There are a lot flying around here, and they might eat at the—you know—the thing."

The spirits tell me a turkey vulture pecking out his pecker would only be the second-worst thing to happen to Aaron this trip.

"Yeah, about that thing, I need to speak with the captain. Now," Zandra says. She closes the distance to the crew member. The breeze delivers the blooming rot on Aaron's body into her nose.

The crew member shrugs. "You're not even supposed to be up here. The bridge is even more off limits. Just wait down in the lounge."

What are you going to do? Come at me with a broom?

Rev. Cash says I'm a witch, so I guess it fits the look.

"Why don't you go get him?" Zandra says.

"Nope. Can't leave the body," the crew member says.

Fine. I'll do this myself.

Zandra sees three doors off the deck. She spotted crew going in and out of one during meal services.

Probably connected to the kitchen.

An exit sign hangs above the second door.

An alternate route off the upper level. Makes sense for safety.

A keypad is bolted beneath the handle of the third door.

That's got to go to the bridge.

Zandra starts in the direction of the third door.

"Hey, where are you going?" the crew member says, opting to stay put rather than give chase.

"What's the keypad number?" Zandra says. She glances over her shoulder at the stairs. Jade is gone.

"Yeah, like I'm going to tell you," the crew member says.

Zandra reaches the keypad. Numbers zero to nine are listed in order. The numbers on the two, seven, and zero keys stand out.

They're faded. They've been pressed a lot.

"Good luck guessing the code," the crew member calls out.

"I'm a psychic. I don't guess," Zandra says back as she hovers over the keypad.

If the correct code is three digits long, there are six possible combinations. That's doable.

If the code contains those three numbers, but one of those numbers repeats in a four-digit sequence, then there are—this is just a guess—30 possible combinations. Maybe doable.

And if I'm completely wrong about all of this, the possible combinations equal I'm fucked. Too much time goes by, Cherry Peach tries to leave her cabin, a shit storm hits, the event is canceled, the attendees get refunds, and I'm back to sleeping in cars. Might as well give myself to the turkey vultures at that point.

Zandra enters two, seven, and zero on the keypad. It works, but not in the way she expects. The handle turns and the door opens on its own. That's because Captain Mel opens it from the other side.

And he doesn't look happy to see me.