Chapter 5 #3
“Chloe . . .”
“Seriously!”
He laughed. “I meant that you’re not to call me sir!”
“Oh!” She laughed softly. “Edward. I’ll try to remember that!”
“You had parents who taught you respect, I’m certain.”
She nodded. “My mother was a big believer in the simple courtesy of manners,” she assured him. “But, Edward, whatever the
company thinks—”
“I’m grateful. But if someone came at me with a gun, what is a nurse—even a great nurse—going to do?” Edward asked.
“We’re on a ship. No one can be carrying a gun around.”
“You know that’s not true. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Beyond a doubt, his words were true.
“I get the feeling that George is a very adaptive and clever man. And if the company has any suspicions, I’m sure he’s been
warned.”
“You’re a clever young lady—for a gallery owner and art lover,” he told her.
“Well, I like to think so, anyway!” she said lightly.
She sat back in her chair, smiling. And then she frowned. Celia and Jeff Henderson had walked into the waiting room.
And they were followed by a man of about forty she’d seen in their class, the class on dating and promotion.
And he was angry.
“All this you’re doing . . . You know that something awful just happened. You didn’t even mention your friend! Didn’t warn
people to be careful of who they choose to be around because someone in this field is out to hurt others! You shouldn’t go
anywhere near Mr. Thompson!” the man was saying angrily.
Well, it was natural, of course. Word of Jane Sewell, who killed five people and then herself, had hit the news everywhere.
Maybe the real oddity was that it hadn’t come up from anyone until now!
“Sir!” Jeff said indignantly. “We were as stunned and horrified as anyone else who might have heard about what happened. But
that . . . that was a tragic event that had nothing to do with us, nothing to do with this cruise. The sad fact is that horrible
things happen all the time. Sad, tragic and horrible, but still, that’s not part of our day-to-day lives! For you to assault
us—”
“I haven’t touched you!” the man snapped.
The hospital nurse was on her feet, asking the unknown man and Jeff and Celia to please tone it down, to remember that they
were in the ship’s hospital and that she was hoping she didn’t need to call security to have them removed.
“I knew it would come up!” Edward said quietly.
“Young woman,” Celia said. “My husband and I were doing nothing but coming to see to the welfare of our good friend Mr. Thompson
when this man ran in after us and attacked us!”
Chloe stood, ready to move fast, if necessary, but thankfully Wes and George chose that moment to return.
“What’s going on here?” Wes asked politely as George hurried on past the visitors to enter Edward’s room.
Naturally, since a window covered the upper portion of the hospital room so that a patient could be seen from the nurse’s
station, he could still watch what was going on.
“Do you know who that is?” George asked Chloe.
Edward answered quickly. “Celia and Jeff Henderson, two of the computer folks giving the lectures on the ship. And the man . . .”
“I don’t know him, though I did see him in their class,” Chloe said.
Wes was handling it, defusing the situation. He’d gotten the man to introduce himself; he was Howard Markowitz, an executive
with a clothing chain, and while he had wanted to learn more about promotion from them, he had the ship’s Wi-Fi package and
had just seen another article on how all the people killed in Broward County had been in the tech industry.
“And I realized, that’s what we all are!” Markowitz said.
“Sir, I can see your concern, but to suddenly attack these people for giving classes to those who want to go . . . Well, please.
Strange and horrible things do happen every day and I’m afraid you can’t go around accosting the people on this ship who happen
to be in the same business,” Wes said gently. “You being troubled is natural, sir, but everyone here was horribly upset by
what happened.”
Markowitz was a man of about forty; tall, with brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. Chloe could imagine that
in a suit he made an impressive-looking businessman.
“My wife is on this cruise with me! I just . . .” He paused and let out a long breath. “I’m sorry. I just . . . I’m leaving now. No need to call the ship’s security.”
He turned and left the waiting room.
Celia turned to Wes.
“Boy, you are a lifesaver!” she said. “In many ways.”
“Well, naturally,” Wes murmured to Jeff, his tone a little sheepish. “My wife and I have grown fond of Edward, and . . .”
Jeff laughed. “Oh, so it was cool that he attacked us, just not in front of Edward?”
“No, no, it’s just why we were down here, to see him,” Wes explained. “And it’s true, of course. I mean, pretty much anyone
with a phone saw the news about that poor woman who allegedly killed all those people . . . So very tragic and sad, but she
took her own life, as well . . .”
“We all knew Jane,” Jeff said. “And she was lovely. It’s heartbreaking what happened, but we understood that she was . . .
well, heartbroken herself. And maybe she felt that the world was taking away her chance to be really loved or . . . I don’t
know. None of us understands what goes on in the hearts and minds of others, right?”
“Too true,” Wes told him. “Anyway . . .”
“Anyway! Onward! We’re going to step in to see Edward! No classes tomorrow—we’re in Jamaica!” Celia said.
“Absolutely. Jamaica!” Wes agreed.
“And the Dunn’s River Falls!” Jeff said.
“Yeah. We’re intending on going on the tour ourselves,” Wes said.
“Nice! No computers, just lots of water. Yeah, we are on the water now. Crystal clear water, beautiful sun, but it is different,”
Jeff said.
Celia headed on into the room, smiling at Chloe and then George and Edward, of course.
“We came to see—” she began.
“Celia! I’m great!” Edward told her. “You’ve met this young man, George Garcia. With him at my side, I couldn’t be anything
but great! Now, all of you! I’m fine. Go to dinner. Go dancing. Go have fun—it’s a cruise!”
“Okay, okay! We had a minute, so we thought that we’d drop by!” Celia told him.
She walked closer to him, giving him a kiss on the top of his head. Chloe wondered how easy it would be for someone to try
to do something to him with so simple a gesture.
But George was standing right at Edward’s side, watching every second.
Nothing would go unnoticed.
But then again . . .
Celia couldn’t be their only suspect, not when they also had her husband, Jeff, brothers Daniel and Broderick, and Amelia
Swenson.
And still . . .
Celia really could be nasty when she chose, even if she seemed to choose to aim that behavior toward her husband more than
others. It wasn’t that she was overt—it was in the tone she used when speaking with him, the way that something simmered just
beneath the surface, as if she was the one who was always in charge.
“Shall we?” Celia asked, looking around the little room at her husband, Wes and Chloe.
“Yep, dinner! We shall!” Celia said. “Later, Edward. George, make him behave!” she added, heading out of the room with the
others in her wake.
She glanced back at Wes.
He was playing the part, looking like nothing other than a man about to have a nice dinner with his wife and friends.
Except . . .
He’d learned something from George. She wondered how long she was going to need to wait to discover just what that was.