The Devil’s Advocate.

            Detective Chris Kirkpatrick winced as he walked into the room. There was not much inside it, just a few pieces of clothing lying across a wooden chair and a few items on the dresser. He allowed his eyes to scan the room, once he had taken it all in.

            The bed was half the size of what could and probably would have fit inside, and it was laden with light pink covers. Lying on the bed was a woman’s body, surrounded by a pool of crimson blood, which stained the sheets perfectly. The woman’s body seemed to be covered in nothing more than a black robe, and her hand clutched her neck line tightly, as if she’d been holding on to something.

            “How long has she been dead?” Chris asked a nearby police officer, who seemed too short for his age.

            “Captain said they found her last night and made an emergency dock stop,” the officer replied glancing at the body. Chris nodded and scratched the back of his neck.

            “Cause of death?” he asked, the policeman frowned and took a step towards the bed, carefully pulling away the fabric from her shoulder.

            “Stab wound to the shoulder,” the officer replied, Chris nodded and scribbled down the information.

            “So she bled to death?” the officer nodded, and Chris pointed to the hand over her neckline, “And that?”

            “Best guess?” the officer asked and Chris nodded, “My guess is that she was holding on to something valuable that seemed to be taken from her after she died.”

            “Do we have any idea as to what it was?” Chris asked and the officer shrugged.

            “A piece of jewellery maybe?” he suggested, “I can’t really say, I’m just guessing.” Chris gave the man a smile and walked around the room back to the door.

            “Right then,” he said with a nod as he opened the door, “I need a list of everyone that was on the cruise, including employees, can that be arranged?”

            “Sure,” the officer nodded and made a mental note, “I’ll get Tawny to get that drawn up as soon as possible. Anything else?”

            “No, just get it to me within the hour,” Chris nodded and took a step forward, “And make sure no one leaves this ship until I say so got that?” The officer nodded and Chris smiled, walking out the door as he did so.

            Justin Timberlake watched the woman walk into the bar and allowed himself to take her all in. He glanced down at the photograph in his hand and shook his head, she was not at all what he had in mind, she didn’t even look like her photograph. But she would have to do.

            Getting up from his stool, he walked over to the table where she had placed herself and sat down across from her.

            “Is this seat taken?” he asked, he gave her a winning million dollar smile. She barely looked up at him and pushed back a strand of her red hair.

            “It is now,” she said briskly, he didn’t seem to interest her. He raised an eyebrow, she was a curious one.

            “Right then…” he began and looked around for a waiter, “Drink?” She nodded with a sigh and he smiled, ordering them two beers.

“So,” she said once the waiter had gone, “Do I care to ask who just brought me a drink?”

“Sorry, Justin,” he replied sticking his hand out.

            “Lisa,” she answered and took his hand for a brief moment, “And why are you on this God forsaken boat?”
            “I was roped into it by my friend Trace,” Justin lied with a smile that got a small chuckle out of her. “What about you?”

            “Funny you should ask,” She said with a small smile, “Got roped into it by my friends too, although they backed out at the last minute.”

            “Ahhh,” Justin nodded and looked over his shoulder to the door, “I see we have a lot in common, Trace backed out too. Something about a meeting in New York that he couldn’t get out of, but I think it was all a ploy to get me on this boat.”
            “You were reluctant?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and he nodded.

            “In a way yeah,” he shrugged and grinned as the waiter brought their drinks, “I mean this really isn’t my scene.”

            “Really?” she asked clearly amused by this, “Could have fooled me.”

            Chris noticed the man standing in the corner by himself; he wasn’t really talking with the other guests and looked almost as anxious to get of the ship.

            “Who is that?” Chris asked gesturing to the young man as he vaguely looked up from the list of names in his hand.

            “Him?” the boat cruise director asked looking at the young man, and pulled the list from Chris’ hands and flipped through it until he came to the right page and pointed to a name, “Justin Timberlake, room C12.”

             “Justin Timberlake?” Chris asked, the name rang a bell but he couldn’t quite place it. He scratched his chin and looked at the list again. “Interesting.”

            “Mr Kirkpatrick, you need to come see this,” A voice interrupted the conversation. Chris smiled and turned around to see another detective standing behind them.

            “I’ll be there in a minute,” Chris nodded and turned back to the director, “Thanks for your help.”

            “No problem,” the director smiled and Chris allowed his eyes to catch another glimpse of the young man, still standing his corner.

            “Detective,” Chris said in a low voice turning to one of his charges.

            “Yes Mr Kirkpatrick?” the charge asked and Chris discreetly pointed to the young man.

            “You see that young man?” he asked in a low voice, and the charge nodded, “Keep an eye on him will ya? I don’t want him going anywhere; I’ll be back in a bit to talk with him.” The charge nodded at his given instructions and Chris glanced over at the man again, why did the name Justin Timberlake sound so familiar?

            “You know it’s weird,” Lisa stated leaning forward and placing her arms on the edge of the boat, “This is such a big ship yet we keep bumping into each other, I’m beginning to think I have a stalker.”

            Justin laughed lightly and shook his head, “Really? So would it be so bad if said stalker asked you to have dinner with him tonight?” Lisa raised an eyebrow and glanced at him, fighting the smile from forming on her lips.

            “It depends,” she smiled and turned around so she could lean back against the side.

            “On what?” he asked with a cocky smile and she looked at him.

            “It depends on whether he’s willing to give up his day job as a stalker,” she smiled and he laughed.

            He took a step closer to her and nodded, “I think that can be arranged.”

            Chris frowned slightly as the younger detective handed him a clear plastic bag with the necklace inside.

            “What is this?” he asked the young detective, who smiled broadly.

            “We found this in one of the rooms,” the detective replied, gesturing down the hall, “It belonged to the victim.”

            “Really?” Chris asked and raised an eyebrow, “How’d you figure that?”

            “One of the cleaning ladies sir,” the detective replied, “Claimed she saw the young woman wearing it a few times, including when she boarded the ship.”

            “Interesting. Where did you find it?” Chris asked, examining the necklace as carefully as he could and noticing as he did so the precious gem that was embedded into the pendant.

            “Down there sir,” the detective replied, Chris looked up to see where the detective was pointing. “Room C12.”

            “So like I said my friends backed out,” Lisa told Justin as they sat together later that night.

            “Some friends,” he commented, more to himself than to her, but she caught it just as their dessert reached them. “Thanks.”

            “Yeah well they were busy,” she shrugged without much care and leaned forward, pulling the delicate dessert towards her. “This looks good, I’m glad I left enough room.”

            “I’m glad you did too,” Justin smiled and leaned forward as well, he grabbed a nearby fork and got ready to dig in, but she stopped him.

            “Wait,” she said and he looked up to meet her gaze. She leaned back in her chair and flicked her hair over her shoulder, “It’s not fair that we have this wonderful dessert all to ourselves.” He laughed at her brashness and nodded.

            “Okay,” he said placing the fork back down, he wanted to see where she was going with this, “What did you have in mind?” She smiled wickedly before looking around the room.

            “You see that man over there?” she raised an eyebrow in the direction of the bar. Justin looked up and nodded as he leaned back in his chair, noticing a tall man sitting by the bar.

            “Yeah so?” he asked and she smiled again before leaning in to talk to him.

            “I think we should be sharing this dessert with him, don’t you think?” she raised an eyebrow and Justin laughed, pushing the dessert her way.

            “Okay, so go share,” he said but she shook her head and laughed, pushing back to him.

            “No not me, you,” she smiled evilly and Justin groaned.

            “You’re not serious are you?” he asked, looking up for a moment. She nodded and leaned back.

            “Very,” she grinned and looked back at the man at the bar. “Besides, you need to show me you’re not only stalking me.”

            Justin breathed in and tried to recompose himself, this was getting harder than he thought. He needed to impress her in order to get close, but that seemed like an impossible task, until now that was. This seemed like the proper opportunity to show her he was trustworthy, it just wasn’t something he would have specifically chosen himself.

            “Hurry up or he’ll go away,” she whispered from behind him, he nodded and clutched the dessert tightly in his hand before making a move. He walked over to the bar, and sat down next to the target, placing the dessert between them.

            “Care for some dessert?” Justin asked the man, who until that moment in his own world.

            “Excuse me? Do I know you?” the man asked, turning to face Justin with confusion written all over his features.

            “Uh, no not really,” Justin said, stuttering over his words, “It’s, um, just that…” He looked over his shoulder to Lisa, who seemed to be enjoying this spectacle. “You just looked like such a nice man…”

            “Are you hitting on me?” the man asked in shock and Justin found himself almost choking on nothing but air.

            “No.. I mean, yes… I…” he began and the man shook his head and stood up.

            “This is really appalling,” he muttered and got ready to leave, Justin looked around and noticed Lisa give him a stern look, in a panic he reached out and grabbed the man’s arm.

            “Wait! Just a bite?” he pleaded with the man and with his free hand used the fork that lay on the plate to scoop up a bit of dessert and gestured in the man’s direction. “Please?”

            The man looked at him, totally shocked by his actions and shook his head in anger, pulling his arm out of Justin’s grasp, “Let go of me.”

            “But wait!” Justin called as the man managed to stalk away. Justin sighed in defeat and looked over to where Lisa was sitting, at least one person enjoyed that.

            Chris walked back up the stairs and stepped out onto the main deck, scanning the crowd for the young man he had seen earlier. He spotted the young charge he had left to keep an eye on the young man and headed over to him.

            “Detective,” Chris called, causing the young charge to turn around at the sound of his voice.

            “Yes sir?” the charge asked as Chris approached him.

            “Where’s the young man I asked you to keep an eye on?” Chris asked raising an eyebrow. “I thought I asked for him to not go anywhere.”

            “I know..” the young charge began and allowed his eyes to trail towards the helm of the ship.

            “So where did he go?” Chris asked, but he already knew as his gaze followed the young charges.

            “He went…” the charge tried again and Chris nodded allowing his hand to go inside his jacket.

            “Go get back up,” Chris stated and looked at the charge, “Now.” The charge nodded and hurried off, as he did so Chris turned around and made his way to the front of the ship.

            “So you’re not that bad,” Lisa laughed as they left the dinner room. Justin rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist.

            “Oh yeah?” he asked, noticing how she didn’t pull away from him. She looked up at him and gave him a smile.

            “Yeah,” she smiled and turned her head to look out at the water.

            “So does this mean I get to stay with you tonight?” he joked, and she chuckled under her breath lightly. They stopped and she pulled away from him, placing a hand on his chest.

            “No so quick,” she whispered and leaned against the railing. Justin pouted and took a step closer to her.

            “But I thought I wasn’t that bad?” he teased and she nodded.

            “Yeah, but I still have yet to prove your intentions,” she smiled up at him, “How do I know you won’t slit my throat in the middle of the night.”

            He laughed heartily and pulled her close, “You have a wild imagination.”

            “I know,” she shrugged and let her head fall onto his chest, “It’s a trait that my parents say is my downfall.”

            “Really?” Justin laughed and looked into her eyes, “Well don’t worry, with me you have nothing to worry about. I’m perfectly safe.”

            “Mr Timberlake?” Chris called to the figure standing at the edge of the bow. His head was down, and it seemed as if he was watching the icy cold water. “Mr Timberlake?”

            “I didn’t mean it,” the young man whispered so softly that Chris had to strain to hear him.

            “Excuse me?” Chris asked, he reached for his gun and slowly pulled it out. “Mr Timberlake.”

            “I wasn’t supposed to fall for her,” the young man continued, as if Chris wasn’t there. Chris furrowed his brows and took a few steps closer.

            “Mr Timberlake, please turn around. I just want to talk son,” Chris said, the young man trembled slightly and took another step closer.

            “She was just supposed to be a job…” the young man said, and took another step closer to the edge.

            “Step away from the railing son!” Chris called, his voice laced slightly with panic as the young man gripped the bars of the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white. “Son, step away from…”

             “I told him I could do it,” he whispered, “But I lied.”

            “Mr Timberlake…” Chris warned reaching the young man just as his feet touched the other side of the railing. “Come on son, come back over here where it’s safe…..”

            The young man turned to look at Chris and produced a soft smile, “I’m sorry.” And before Chris could get over the railing himself, the young man disappeared over the edge of the boat.

            Chris watched in panic as the young man’s body disappeared, and before he could think he had climbed over the railing himself and was laying flat on his stomach so that his legs were bent in an awkward position behind him.

            “Son, are you alright?” Chris called down to the young man who had managed to grab a hold of the ship’s Hawseholes.

            “Help! I didn’t mean it!” the young man cried in response, looking up in panic.

            “Okay, hold on! I’m going to help you alright?” Chris called back; the young man nodded, but still looked slightly pale. “Okay, I’m going to reach out my hand for you and when I say so I want you to grab it. Do you understand?”

            “Yes!” the young man called, although he looked a bit unsure.

            “Okay,” Chris called and gave him a reassuring smile as he reached out his hand, “Grab my hand!”

            The young man closed his eyes and let go of the Hawseholes, before reaching up quickly and grabbing Chris’ hand.

            “I got it!” the young man called up, Chris nodded.

            “Okay, now I’m gonna pull you up,” Chris replied and in one swift move he pulled the young man just enough so the top half of his body reached the edge and he was able to clamber up.

            “Thanks,” the young man panted as he let go of Chris’ hand and made sure his whole body was back on the boat. “I owe you one.”

            “No problem,” Chris smiled and helped the man up, “Now do you want to tell me what that was all about?”

            Justin sighed and shook his head, as he wiped the blood from his hands and onto the towel. He placed the towel back on the rack and headed back into the room, keeping his steps quick and light.

            He glanced over to the bed, where she lay with one hand clasped around her mother’s necklace. He winced at the scene, and forced himself to reach over and remove the necklace from around her neck and from her grasp and placing it inside his pocket.

            He looked at her again and leaned towards her, placing her hand back the way it had been before and kissing her lips gently.

            “I’m really sorry,” he whispered and stood up straight, turning and heading for the door. He reached it and took one last look at her before he walked out, “I really am.”