Chapter Six #2
cruise ship space, and the company still sent him a personal caregiver—even though the ship has more than an infirmary, it
has an actual hospital!” Jeff said. He laughed softly. “Wow! I would sure love to have his job!”
“We have our own company!” Celia protested.
Jeff laughed again. “Still, better that George fell overboard than me!”
Sushi arrived at the table and casual conversation continued, the group talking about their favorite ports, their own personal
experiences with cruise ships. It was polite, easy conversation, and yet Wes found himself watching Celia and the way she
looked at her husband every now and then.
Had she wanted to go after Edward Thompson in Montego Bay?
And was George’s presence making that difficult for her?
To be where he was, Wes knew, the man had to be an extremely capable agent. George had told him that in situations where coworkers
wound up injured, he was able to help. Medicine had always fascinated him, and he was one of those weird people who enjoyed
classes and school and always wanted to go back.
And still . . .
Well, he’d already done his best to impress on the man the danger he could be in, trying to keep Edward Thompson safe. Maybe
it wasn’t so hard in the hospital situation. There was a doctor—or two doctors, at times—in the hospital along with two nurses.
He could see anyone who was coming; anyone who came close to Thompson.
But in Montego Bay?
“Dancing?” Celia suggested, looking at Jeff as the meal ended.
“Um, hm. Casino?” he asked in turn.
She frowned. He groaned. “Dancing and then casino?”
“What do you feel like?” Celia asked Chloe.
Chloe smiled and stretched. “Bed! I’m excited about tomorrow. I want to make sure I get enough sleep.”
“Oh, sure, yeah, they’re going to sleep!” Jeff said in a whisper before smiling and looking at Wes and adding, “I think that’s
going to be an ‘as you wish!’”
“It’s as I wish, too!” Wes told the man. “Maybe tomorrow night, back on the ship, we’ll dance—and even gamble a little!”
They rose and left the area, heading for the elevators with many of the people who had been dining and who were now going
in different directions.
The ship did offer just about everything in the world.
But Wes knew that Chloe did want to get to the room because she wanted to know what his discussion with George had been about.
In the elevator, he saw that Howard Markowitz was behind him.
“Hey, man,” Markowitz said quietly, stepping out with him and Chloe when they reached their deck. “I wanted to thank you.
I . . . My wife told me I was an idiot to be watching any news shows, but they were doing a report on that computer lady killing
everyone and it got to me, I guess. I mean, it’s all being avoided on this cruise, which makes sense, of course, but . . .
I kind of flipped out. And you probably kept me from a night in the brig.”
“Is there a brig on a luxury cruise?” Chloe asked, offering the man a small smile. “We understand, it is upsetting to think
about those poor people and even the troubled woman who did it.”
“Uh, first, yes, there is a brig on a luxury liner—you must have a place to keep someone, passenger or crew, who poses a threat
to others or who needs to be held for illegal deeds. But, Mr. Markowitz, please, whatever your fears—” Wes started to say.
“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t be attacking anyone else. My wife and I are leaving the ship—we’re going to fly home from Jamaica.
I just can’t stay on this thing right now. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ve been picking up the creepiest vibe. I
mean, Mr. Thompson going overboard? Come on! Of all the people to be pushed over the rails? Right or wrong, I’m not comfortable.
We’re leaving tomorrow. But I wanted to thank you for stepping in and keeping me from winding up in the brig!”
“Think nothing of it, sir. No problem,” Wes assured him.
“You know. You and your wife should get off this thing, too. I mean . . . there’s something just not right. I can feel it. I can really feel it!”
“Well, we can promise that we’ll be really careful. Chloe and I have planned this trip for a long, long time,” Wes lied, smiling
over at Chloe.
“But we do thank you sincerely for the warning, Mr. Markowitz,” Chloe assured him.
“Well, keep thinking about it! There’s a way to go. And when you’re in Jamaica, well, you be careful there. Who knows what
can happen on foreign soil!” Markowitz warned.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry that you and your wife had your vacation upset by what happened in Broward County,” Chloe told him.
“I’m sorrier for those people! I’ll be able to take a vacation again. They won’t,” Markowitz reminded them.
“Of course,” Chloe said softly.
Markowitz turned to get back on the elevator.
Wes and Chloe continued down to their cabin.
Chloe didn’t speak until they were inside with the door closed.
Then she looked at him immediately and said, “So?”
“George is privy—as crew—to areas of the ship that we don’t see. He drew them out for me,” Wes explained. He sighed. “And
I told him that I was worried about it being just him and Edward at lunch in Montego Bay.”
“And?”
Wes smiled grimly. “I think he thought that I was questioning his abilities. I wasn’t. I guess this whole thing . . . people
shot without protest, drugs in their systems . . . I worry about anyone alone.”
Chloe nodded. “Do you feel that you have any new insights from tonight?”
“I wish. Right now, the same as we’ve been thinking. But I got to considering Howard Markowitz,” he said.
“He was very upset,” Chloe said. “And from watching a program that the rest of the world had to be privy to?”
“And I think that Edward Thompson is becoming more and more convinced himself that he was pushed.”
“Do you think . . .” she began thoughtfully.
“Do I think that he’s faking? No, we’ve been on this route. He would have died, Chloe, if you hadn’t found him—”
“If you hadn’t performed CPR,” Chloe murmured. “Okay, so we think that Edward is innocent. That leaves Celia and Jeff, Daniel
and Broderick McClintock, and Amelia Swenson. Are you leaning toward anyone in particular?”
“Hm,” Wes said thoughtfully. “I feel tomorrow is going to be important. I believe that Jeff and Celia and the McClintock brothers
will be going on the tour to the falls. That leaves Amelia in Montego Bay. George Garcia is aware and prepared for anyone
trying anything—he’s probably the best bodyguard possible. In fact, the accident might have been a good thing because Edward
Thompson will be just fine. He has a pit bull at his side for the rest of the cruise.”
“Okay, so, we watch the others and their give and take with everyone else. But here is one thing that’s strange . . .” Chloe
murmured.
“What’s that?”
“Well, our dinner companions were talking about his job, how they would love to have a position like his. Jeff joked, of course,
that Edward received much better treatment from his company than Jeff would from his own wife. Do you think that Edward Thompson
was the target on this trip? And that he naively asked the very people who were after him to speak for his program?”
“Possibly,” Wes agreed. “But I think that it’s something bigger than that.
Edward wasn’t the focus of any of the other attacks.
But he is in a position where he could just about take over the company from his bosses.
Milestones is about the biggest thing in the business right now.
Business, gaming, security, you name it.
Milestones is huge and the promise of the future, so it seems. I think that someone wants the whole kit and kaboodle and getting rid of others who might be potential candidates for the company along with Edward Thompson might be the way to get in there for a less-than-hostile takeover. ”
“And you could be right. Which would mean that one—or two—of the suspects we’re chasing may be guilty. And the others might
be targets?”
He nodded grimly.
“They needed more than the two of us on this ship!” Chloe murmured.
He smiled. “Remember, I’m pretty sure you even wondered if it was a wild-goose chase, that we didn’t have enough to go on.
But let’s focus on the good. Edward Thompson will be well guarded. And at Dunn’s River Falls . . .
“Though there are wet dangerous rocks, there are also local guides, of course, as well as dozens of people around to see anything
that might happen,” Chloe interrupted. “But, you know, someone could have an accident there. As in a real accident.”
“Like a soaring overboard?” he inquired.
“No one saw anything!” she reminded him.
Wes paused, picking up one of the brochures at the table. “Early morning! Off the ship at eight, on the bus by nine . . .
an hour and a half to the site where we’ll get to climb up the falls starting at about ten thirty or so. Three hours to climb,
an hour and a half at a lunch spot that’s preplanned. Then we’re back here and out to sea again by seven.”
“So,” Chloe murmured. “We really should get some sleep. Edward is safe with George, but . . .”
“But the others are dancing or in the casino,” Wes said dryly. He shook his head. “I think we’re safe to get some sleep tonight.”
“Because you think that something is going to happen tomorrow,” Chloe said.
He shrugged. “And how would we stop it? Call it in with absolutely nothing conclusive? We have no leads except what the tech
departments—our own—already discovered for us as far as suspects, no way to just say that hey, something is way off in big
tech, stop the world?”
Chloe sighed softly. “Yeah, you’ve got a point. And . . . I don’t know why. I don’t think that anything is going to happen
tonight, either. Whatever they’re doing now . . . Well, whoever it is might have figured out that law enforcement just might
decide that something wasn’t right about several people shot dead without seeming to have protested or fought back in any
way. And if so, whatever they do now is going to need to appear as an accident.”
“Are you doing all right?” he asked her.