Chapter 3 #2
“Whoops, we’ve got to get going!” Broderick said, glancing at his watch. “Anyway, great to meet you and so glad we’ll see
you later!”
“Yep, great to meet you,” Daniel said, rising to join his brother.
“Thanks, guys, and, yes, ditto! Great to meet you both as well,” Wes said.
The two men left, and Chloe and Wes stood, as well.
“So, time for our classes,” Chloe murmured. “Meet at class two—with the brothers.”
He nodded. “Yep. See you there. Oh, and seriously, watch out for those dating apps!”
“I’m a married woman,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, it should be interesting. I worked a few cases that weren’t . . . Well, they sure as hell weren’t happy-ever-after.
For families, keeping in touch . . . the internet is great. But when it’s used in the wrong way . . .”
“Um, that’s what we’re doing on the cruise,” she reminded him.
“Sorry. Dating apps. Kidnapping, ransom . . . simply taking people for all that they’re worth. Seriously, should be an interesting
class. Off to learn about security!” he told her.
They headed out together, checked the spaces where the classes were being held, and pointed them out to each other.
“Wow. Way more people want to date than worry about security!” Wes said.
“Promotion, too!” Chloe reminded him.
“That’s right. Of course. That’s why all those young people are going!”
He gave her a salute and took off. Chloe followed the group into the meeting that Celia and Jeff would be heading, smiling,
chatting with others as she did so.
She had a notebook in her bag and took it out as she found a seat with the others. They were in one of the large upper deck
spaces reserved customarily for game nights or other such entertainment on the ship, including trivia, cards, karaoke and
bingo. She knew where they were since she had read all the brochures.
Changes had been made to pieces of the customary itinerary to accommodate this special occasion. And, of course, cruisers had been given the option to change their reservations or receive a full refund if it wasn’t to their liking.
It didn’t appear that they’d lost any passengers because of the new format.
Chloe was surprised to see that Jeff was the first to walk up to the podium at the front of the class. A computer had been
set on a table and a large screen set up behind that.
Jeff welcomed everyone to the class first, explaining that they were going to talk about community and friendship.
“Community, of course, because if we’re looking for love or trying to promote the right people, ideas or products to like-minded
individuals, we all need our communities!” he said.
The man could be charming, she saw. He was a good speaker, talented at welcoming and explaining. He won the crowd over easily
before introducing his wife.
They started with dating and Chloe wondered what cases Wes had worked that had made him so leery of dating apps.
Celia was an equally good speaker. She talked about the busy lives that most of them led, busy lives with work and family
that often made it difficult to meet a partner in the customary way: through church, socials—or even bowling! Her parents
had met at a bowling alley, she explained. Something not so common these days.
“Let’s face it, though. We are living in a brave new world!
” Celia reminded them. “And I have friends who are now married who met on dating apps. Friendships are formed even when romances don’t bloom.
But bad things can happen, too! Very bad things.
To start with, only give out so much personal information!
If an app appears to be asking too much about your personal life, you may be divulging your whereabouts at a time when you might be vulnerable.
Always be wary of money scams!” She sighed softly.
“I also have a friend who lost her mom. Her father was devastated. He fell for a woman online who wasn’t a woman at all—and managed to clean out his bank account.
So, let’s get started on being safe while also using dating apps for their purpose of finding love and connection! ”
Chloe pretended to be attentive; the last thing she wanted was to be on a dating app. Not that friends of hers—even in law
enforcement—didn’t use dating apps. She just tended to be skeptical—and too aware of the bad incidents that Celia had mentioned.
And, of course, she shouldn’t want to be on one. She was a married woman—well, on this cruise, anyway.
Celia walked around the room as she talked, indicating to her husband who ran the computer and what was seen on the screen.
Different apps were shown. There was no warning against a particular app; this pair had no intention of being subject to a
libel suit. But safety was pointed out.
If they weren’t on the suspect list as possible murderers, they might have appeared to be a true, bright, giving couple, knowledgeable
regarding all that they were saying.
Knowledgeable about the internet, and about everything that it could give.
And take.
“Take a good look at the screen!” Jeff advised. “We have some recommendations for you if anyone wants to take notes.”
Celia was still walking around the room. She paused by Chloe, grinning.
“No notes on dating apps?”
“No, maybe I should have been taking a few for friends!” Chloe said pleasantly. “But I am ready to learn all about the best user and community-friendly ways to promote my artists!”
“Next up!” Celia said. She bent low by Chloe’s ear to whisper, “Sorry! A lot of people on this thing seem to be in need of
love!”
Chloe laughed. “Not a problem!”
In a few minutes, Jeff went to the podium and told the group it was time to learn about social media for promotion and, of
course, just for fun.
He did much of the speaking on the subject, telling them what apps connected with one another, how to best make use of several
apps when getting news out and, of course, how to manage comments.
“They can all be confusing!” he assured the crowd. “And, of course, they often offer AI as a means to respond automatically,
though there is the option never to use them. Personally, I find the automatic answers annoying—I don’t want AI answering
for me!”
It was a good class. Once again, Chloe had to admit that the couple seemed to know their business and seek to share it with
others.
Pay it forward.
Chloe believed it. Many in the field did want to pay it forward.
And some wanted to make sure that they were at the forefront, ready to lead, ready to be the best—and rake in the income such
a position afforded.
At the end of the session, Jeff and Celia thanked everyone for attending. Celia had barely finished speaking when an announcement
came over the loudspeaker.
It was the young cruise director Chloe and Wes had met at the captain’s table the night before, Billy Cliffton.
“Billy Cliffton here, folks, hoping that everyone enjoyed their morning’s sessions and, of course, giving a shout-out here to Milestones, with gratitude for setting this all in motion, and our thanks, too, for all the great and brilliant computer folks helping us out here on the ship!
Now, for those who have been lounging on deck, enjoying the pools and hot tubs, our cooking lessons, or anything else, you have seen the perfect beauty of today!
Clear blue skies and a gorgeous ocean with just light waves!
Take a peek on your break from activities—or just look around you if you’re out there lounging!
And once again, thank you for sailing with us! ”
The next round of classes, with Chloe and Wes attending the session given by the McClintock brothers together, wouldn’t start
for another thirty minutes.
They might as well take a look at the day! It was always a good thing to remember that the world could be beautiful.
Chloe headed out. She had the decks figured out well; their cabin was on an upper deck that held sixty such larger type suites,
or salons, as they were often called here. The bridge was just above them and the rest of their deck offered a pool, tons
of lounging areas, a whirlpool and even a badminton court. Of course, her parents had once taken her on a cruise that even
offered a roller coaster, so it wasn’t surprising to find out just how many activities could be offered.
Heading out was timely; she ran right into Wes.
People were all around them, some she had spoken with casually, and she thought it was a great idea to keep up appearances.
Therefore, she greeted him with a massive smile, sliding slightly into his arms, and accepting the quick kiss he planted on
her lips with affection.
“So, how was your class?” she inquired.
“Brilliant!” he assured her.
“So, we do need to see the sea!” she told him.
“Of course! Let’s head on out!” he agreed.
Arm in arm, they headed down the hall to great double doors that led out to the deck. They moved with others to the deck’s great balcony area to look out over the water.
Billy Cliffton hadn’t lied.
It was a beautiful day.
“This is . . . wow. Gorgeous,” Wes murmured. “Too bad . . .”
She laughed and said softly, “Too bad we can’t just climb into bathing suits and soak in the sun and sea?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, something like that.”
“So, how was your class? Really,” she murmured.
He slipped an arm around her, pulling her close and speaking very quietly. “The man is very good. He talks about the fact
that whether we like it or not, computers, the internet and AI are taking over. He points out the fact that while people are
the ones feeding data to AI, the whole thing with AI is that it’s programmed to offer us the desired result, but . . . we
still need to be incredibly careful because that result may not be entirely accurate or correct. He was a great speaker and,
of course, he seems to be sincere.”
“So . . .” Leaning against him in a way that made it appear they were just husband and wife, enjoying the view, she murmured,
“So far, Edward seems to be the real deal, Celia and Jeff are both good, though she rules the roost. But just because she
can be a bit condescending to her husband, doesn’t mean she’s a murderer.”
“But we know that someone is. And I’m a little surprised that we haven’t heard more people talking about what happened in
Broward County. I mean, although the news isn’t out everywhere that a number of incidents across three states are probably
connected, the Broward incident was big news.”
“It was,” Chloe agreed.
She looked around, assessing the ship and the people near them.
A family with a daughter of about twelve and a son who was maybe nine or ten.
Several couples.
A group of five young women, probably early to mid-twenties, attractive, laughing, evidently out to have fun.
Two men with the haircuts and look—even in casual clothing—that implied they might have come specifically for the computer
classes.
“None of our people,” Chloe murmured.
“Suspects?” Wes replied lightly.
She shrugged. “There are others, of course, who have given classes—”
“Hey, don’t ever forget that we have some of the finest techs in the world searching through whereabouts, expenditures, contacts . . .
if there’s someone else we need to be watching, they will let us know.”
“I know, I know, of course. And yet . . .”
“We always need to be careful. If any of these people should become suspicious regarding us . . .
He smiled, pulling her closer, mussing her hair.
“We’re not giving them any reason to become suspicious!”
“No,” she murmured.
And, as the word left her mouth, the brilliant blue beauty of the day was suddenly shattered by a tremendous scream.
And from where they stood, they saw the body of a man plunging into the sea beneath them.
And a cry went out.
“Man overboard!”
There were, of course, ship’s workers who could follow the man overboard.
There were lifeboats, and life preservers.
But Wes apparently didn’t trust any of them.
He leaped onto the rail and quickly plunged into the sea in the wake of the man who had gone over.
There seemed to be no other recourse at that moment.
Chloe followed him.
Because she didn’t know who they could trust.
And she was both an excellent diver and swimmer . . .
It was still one hell of a distance. She hit the water like an arrow, plunging down and down and down . . .
She broke her pattern and with a tremendous kick, propelled herself to the surface. She could see the rescue efforts, but
a few of those took time. Two men from the ship were in the water, desperately seeking their man overboard.
Life preservers floated all around them.
But people were still looking desperately for the man who’d fallen.
She heard someone shouting to Wes, at first condemning him for having followed and then asking him if he saw the man anywhere.
Wes answered with the direction he was taking.
He saw that Chloe had followed him and arched a brow.
She shook her head. She couldn’t see the man anywhere.
Wes seemed to have been surprised at first, but it didn’t take him long to realize they were in it together. He pointed, indicating
that he was continuing his route.
She nodded, moving out, tasting the salt in the water, grateful that the sea was relatively calm that day, that the sun was
providing light . . .
She saw him.
The man who had pitched over. He was wearing khaki pants and a short-sleeved tailored shirt.
His hair was iron gray, even in the water.
He was about ten feet down, just floating . . . not moving. He might already be . . .
Dead.
And, oh, God! No. It couldn’t be, but it was . . .
She kicked hard and swam fast, finally reaching him, kicking with all her might again to bring them both to the surface.
When she got there, Wes swam up, reaching out.
“I’ve got him,” she said.
“Yeah, but college lifeguard here, the water is starting to get a little choppy and I know the hold to get him back. Oh, God,
is he breathing?”
“Barely!” Chloe ascertained.
Wes slipped his arm around the man in a way that allowed his head to remain clear of the water, his body trailing along as
Wes used his free hand and arm and feet to move.
And he could move.
Someone tossed out a life preserver, but Wes didn’t need it. One of the lifeboats had reached them and two young men on the
ship’s crew helped get him into the boat. Wes caught the hull and hiked himself in while Chloe managed to get on a little
more awkwardly.
By the time she did, Wes was giving the man CPR.
Thankfully, it seemed, he really had been a lifeguard and knew the necessary techniques.
“We have a great doctor on board! I’m getting us in,” one of the young men with the ship’s crew said. “How the hell did he
fall?” the man asked, shaking his head. “I mean, it’s . . . it’s Edward Thompson! The whole cruise is . . . Man, we warn people!
Don’t get so carried away on deck, don’t look over too far . . . How did someone as smart as him manage to fall?”
How indeed?