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“Exactly,” I said as I rearranged my tail to keep it out of the sun. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed but the sun has this annoying habit of sneaking across the sky, and every time you think you’ve found the perfect spot of shade, it proves you wrong.

“So now we come to the most important question of all,” said Harriet. “Why? Why would Bertha Biles murder a rapper she had never even heard of before?”

“Because she had heard of him. In fact she used to be married to the man, and she still harbored a very powerful grudge against him.”

“Married?” asked Dooley. “But I thought Bertha used to be married to Laura’s dad. The man who fell overboard and died?”

“He fell overboard, but he didn’t die. At least not in the literal sense. He did change his identity and adopted the stage name of Lil Thug, made some radical changes in appearance, and started a new life as a rap artist, eventually rising to great fame.”

“But why?”

“Because he knocked his head and lost his marbles? Or because he felt he needed to make a change?”

“But… did Bertha know that Lil Thug was her husband?” asked Brutus.

“No, she didn’t. She wasn’t really into rap, and it only dawned on her that this man was her husband when she met him face to face on the day we sailed.” I turned to Dooley. “Remember how we all met in the corridor, Dooley? And how Bertha let out a scream? She blamed it on a muscle spasm while in fact what happened was that she suddenly saw Lil Thug’s profile and recognized her husband Tony Matz. And when he spoke, that’s what clinched it for her. A person can change a lot about themselves with the assistance of a skilled plastic surgeon, but it’s not that easy to change your voice, or your cadence or speech patterns. So she knew—and he knew that she knew.”

“And so she killed him out of revenge?” asked Harriet, who was listening intently.

“Well, no. She didn’t want to kill him. But she did want him to pay. So she planned to steal that diamond, and get some of her own back—she’d fallen on hard times since he left all those years ago, and she figured he owed her.”

“So if she only wanted to steal the diamond, then how did the man end up dead?” asked Brutus—a most appropriate question.

“That was an accident, actually,” I said. “She broke into his cabin, along with Adele.”

“Adele knew?” asked Dooley.

I nodded.“Adele had always known. She was Bertha’s carer, but also her best friend and confidante. They actually planned this together, and were in it from start to finish. They broke into his cabin, and Adele injected the sleeping rapper with a strong sedative, which was part of her toolkit. Bertha mayhave faked not being able to walk, but it’s true that she is a sick woman, and suffered a lot of pain. The moment her ex-husband was out for the count, they set out to remove the diamond. Only Adele must have miscalculated the dosage, for suddenly Lil Thug jerked up, and impaled himself on Adele’s knife.”

“So it was actually Adele who killed him?”

“Yes, it was—though both women share equal blame, of course.”

“So what about the earring they found?” asked Harriet.

“That belonged to Adele. She lost it in their haste to leave. After ascertaining that Bertha’s ex-husband was dead, and realizing they were in a big heap of trouble.”

“They would have been in a big heap of trouble if Lil Thug had woken up with his diamond missing.”

“Yes, but they were counting on the fact that he wouldn’t go to the police, since he wanted to keep his real identity a secret.”

“Quite the gamble. For twenty million I’m willing to bet Lil Thug wouldn’t have cared about keeping his identity a secret.”

“So who planted that earring in Ruby’s room?” asked Brutus.

“That was Bertha. She took a big risk that day, but lucky for her no one saw her. She broke into Garth’s office, took the earring, then broke into the Ketterings’ cabin and placed the earring in Ruby’s bed, knowing she’d be the first one to come under suspicion, and maybe even act as the fall girl for the murder. They didn’t know at this point that Lil Thug’s assistant had been arrested. Otherwise she’d never have taken the chance of being caught. She wore a disguise, of course,” I added when three pairs of eyes stared at me intently. “Scarf and sunglasses—and of course no one would expect Bertha, who was never seen out of her wheelchair, to be traipsing about. It helped that most of the passengers were ashore that day as well.”

“But how did she manage to break into Garth’s office and into the Ketterings’ cabin,” asked Brutus. “What is she? Some kind of master burglar?”

“She didn’t have to be. Adele had stolen a master key card from one of the cleaners the first day, and they discovered it worked like a charm. I think Garth will want to revise his security procedures after this incident.”

“So have they found the diamond?” asked Harriet.

“Yes, they have. It was concealed inside Bertha’s wheelchair—a place no one had thought to look.”

“I don’t believe this,” said Brutus. “You’re supposed to be on vacation, Max! Not catch killers!”