Murder on the High Seas - The Devereaux CaseFiles Book 3

Chapter 26

Noelle was in no rush to return to her cabin and pack for the departure. Her husband was a criminal who had killed someone, and he hadn't only disappeared but he had left her behind without a thought. And that was before she even started thinking about the numerous affairs he'd had, and the attempted affair that had him chasing after Brigit. Benny had betrayed her in the worst ways and she was glad to be rid of him. But when she turned the door handle leading to her cabin, she still felt that seeing Benny's things would make her sad to have lost the dream life she thought she had been living. That was, of course, until she walked into her cabin to see Benny standing in the middle of the room, drying his wet hair, dressed in nothing more than a towel. "Babe. God, I've missed you." He claimed, with a beaming grin. Noelle's first reaction wasn't to return the smile that Benny offered her it was to reach for the ashtray sitting on the table nearest the door and throw it at her conniving, jackass of a husband.

"Babe, what are you doing?" Benny wondered in an amusement that only made Noelle even angrier with him.

"You're supposed to have escaped. You're supposed to have drowned in the vast sea water where no-one would ever find your body or been caught and arrested by the police. But no! You're fine." She screamed at him suddenly, complaining about the injustice of it all.

"Drowned? Noelle, don't be ridiculous. You really have the most terrible imagination." He scolded her, only reminding her of all the times she had put up with his crap. He was constantly degrading her, calling her names and making her feel stupid. Now it was time for him to see that she was smarter than he had ever given her credit for, even if it was only a chair cushion that she managed to throw at him that time. "Stop throwing shit at me!"

"Why should I? You've ruined everything. Chasing after that preschooler, killing that man, getting me caught up in your petty crimes. You're lucky I don't kill you and throw you overboard myself." Noelle confessed to how angry she was. In preparation for more of his backtalk, she edged closer to the dressing table on her right and picked up a letter opener to throw at him if need be. Or to use in self defense in case he tried to overpower her and steal all her stuff. She had made the mistake of bringing lots of valuable jewelery and a large amount of cash with her, having intended on going out a lot and buying lots of foreign things. Now, it just seemed like another temptation Benny couldn't resist.

"Now you're overreacting. Look babe, you're in the shit now anyway. If anyone finds me in here, they're going to think that we've been in league this whole time and you'll be stuck with me. If you help me get off this ship without anyone finding me, I'll get out your hair the minute we're back in America." Benny promised, finding it the only thing he could say to her that would make her stop threatening him and throwing sharp objects at him. He really didn't know what her problem was, but he wasn't tempting fate by arguing with her about it.

"I want a divorce!" She shouted at him. And Benny realized that he couldn't avoid finally telling her the truth.

"Well babe, you've got to understand. We were never really legally married so," His words were followed by the letter opener, Noelle's diary and multiple swearwords that told him just how angry she was. Her face was bright red and tears were beginning to fall from her eyes but Benny had no sympathy for her or regret for making her cry.

"Are you telling me that I gave you all that money, we bought a house, and we're not actually married? Now I'll never get my stuff back." Noelle complained, feeling deflated and so caught off guard that she could barely think of what else to say. He had wasted her time and money on a relationship she thought had led to marriage. When really it was as much of a sham as everything else he did with his life. He had just been looking for a bank all along and he had probably never cared for her. What else was she going to discover? Nothing was making sense, but she really wouldn't have been surprised if another little twist came into her life as well, because frankly, she didn't trust anyone or anything anymore.