Deadly Reunion by June Shaw

your roommate. Have you discovered what Tetter’s big problem is?”
    “She hasn’t told me.”
    “You must have an idea. You asked me to come and meet with high school buddies on this cruise, and we’d help Tetter solve a major problem.”
    Jane grimaced. “At first when I invited her, she said she couldn’t come. She was experiencing big trouble.”
    “Any details?”
    “No. She said she was really sorry and would have loved to see us all again. We wrote her off for the trip. A couple of weeks later she called and asked if there was still space for her. I said yes. Barbara and I were supposed to share a room, but her daughter needed an appendectomy, and Barbara was going to take care of the kids, so I could share my room. I asked Tetter if her problem had been solved. She said it had only gotten worse, but she’d rather not think about it.”
    “Good grief. We need to learn what it is and do everything we can to help.”
    Jane glanced around my room. “You are so lucky you have a stateroom all to yourself.”
    “It’s a lot more spacious but can be lonely when there’s no one with you.”
    She grunted. “How about if your roommate sloshes down so much liquor she snores like a sailor?”
    “Is that Tetter’s problem? She drinks too much? I saw her downing all that champagne so fast at the art auction.”
    “I’m not sure. Last night she got to the room and said she was so sleepy, she was going right to bed. She snored like mad. Today she woke up just in time to shower and dress and rush out to breakfast.”
    “When you told me we could help her, I thought that was a given.”
    “I figured she’d blab about her entire life the minute we saw her. I had no idea she had changed so much.”
    I glanced down at my robed figure that had expanded quite a bit since high school. “Not at all like you and me, huh? We’ve both stayed exactly the same,” I said with a smirk.
    “Right.” She grinned and patted her hips. “And if you don’t hurry and do something about your hair, you’re going to scare everybody away tonight.”
    I felt my hair standing up. “Eek. I need to fix this.”
    “Please do.” She smiled. “I’m going to start preparing myself for being beautiful.”
    “Me too, and that takes quite a bit of preparation.” I clasped her hand. “We need to watch out for our friend. Something has her deeply troubled. Let’s work at repairing that situation.”
    “We will. See you later.”
    “Oh, and let’s not do drinks before dinner,” I suggested, walking her to the door. “That might not be good for Tetter.”
    “Good idea. See you at dinner.”
    “One other thing I’ve wanted to ask in private. Why did you invite one guy from our class to come along?”
    “Actually, Randy called me. He’d heard we were having a class reunion and wanted to be part of it.”
    “And you told him only females were coming?”
    “Yes, and when I asked who he’d heard about the trip from, he’d forgotten.”
    “Right.” I locked the door behind Jane and paused. She’d had me come on this trip believing she knew what troubled Tetter and that, like old times, we could help her. But they shared a room, and she didn’t know our buddy’s problem yet?
    The old Tetter would have told Jane everything troubling her and possibly made Jane promise not to share the information.
    I renewed my resolve to help Tetter become her vivacious self again.
    And then I turned and noticed the mirror mounted on the closet door and gawked. I tossed my robe, jumped back into the shower, and shampooed again. I towel dried and then crimped my hair with my fingers.
    Formal nights on cruises were my favorites. They made me feel like it was prom night, only there was none of the worry about comparing yourself to other females.
    Except this time.
    This ship carried some of my classmates. I would have thought that, because so many years had passed since we were teens, none of us would care about what the others wore or looked