Chapter 13
Thirteen
Chloe had to admit, security on the ship was good. Most of the time, they were police, they behaved as if they were there
to greet passengers, give them directions aboard the ship.
But they were on the ball, so it seemed.
It took Chloe and Wes almost no time to reach the deck where passengers would be disembarking.
But despite their speed, security had been alerted and one of the officers had reached Amelia.
That meant, Chloe knew, that the security footage had shown them all that Amelia Swenson had made a delivery to Sally Brookins’s
door. And, of course, having listened to Sally, Chloe knew what it was. A little packet of chocolate bars in pretty little
wrappers with an attached note that welcomed her aboard.
Chocolates tainted with nuts.
“Miss, stop, I’m afraid you must. It’s not a request. We have some questions for you before you can disembark for the day,”
an officer was saying.
“Questions? About what?” Amelia demanded. But she looked flushed, uncomfortable and scared.
She hardly had the look of a hardened, clever or calculating criminal.
And yet . . .
“Ma’am, I’m afraid you were caught on our security footage delivering a package,” the security officer told her. “You must
come along with me. The captain wants to speak with you.”
Wes caught hold of Chloe’s shoulder; she knew why. Amelia was guilty of something, yes. But he didn’t want the two of them
giving themselves away to the ship.
Amelia would be questioned. They needed to behave like ordinary passengers.
That meant, of course, that they needed to give George a call.
Because Edward Thompson had taken Sally on as a new best friend, it would be easy for George and Edward to insist on knowing
what was going on. The captain would take grave care. First, of course, he’d be appalled by an attempted poisoning on his
ship and secondly, Edward was, on this particular cruise, his most important passenger, and the captain would see to it that
Amelia was not just questioned but held.
“They’ve got it,” Wes whispered into Chloe’s ear. “Security is on it. We need to maintain our cover.”
“I know. But obviously—” she began.
“Yes. Obviously, she attempted to poison Sally. And trust me, the captain isn’t just going to tell her to behave—she’ll be
held. I imagine she’ll face charges when we return to home port. But we don’t know if she’s completely involved, if she’s
a low-level flunky or if others are involved. Or if it’s all even part of one conspiracy.”
“You’re right. This is . . .”
“Different. We need to see where it will lead us. And today, we just need to be two people out on a dive,” Wes reminded her. “Chloe, major players are going to be on the dive.”
“Right. Okay. But—”
“We have faith in George and even in Edward,” Wes told her.
She nodded again and turned to look at him. Of course, people were staring at Amelia and the security officer.
Amelia had lowered her voice; they couldn’t hear her words from the position they had taken up in the line.
She was still objecting.
But the security officer wasn’t taking it. “Ma’am, you can walk with me or I can take you forcibly for the discussion the
captain wishes to have.”
The officer had Amelia by the arm. She was visibly shaken and upset, probably worried and scared, and she barely noticed Wes
and Chloe as she was dragged back through the line and into a main hallway.
Wes took out his phone, stepping back so that he wouldn’t be heard. Chloe knew that he was telling George of what was going
on—and making sure that Amelia was going to be held somewhere until they returned.
Of course, since they were just a loving couple out for a romantic vacation together, it might be tricky managing to talk
to Amelia themselves.
But, Chloe determined, between her, Wes, George and the powers that be at home, someone would figure out something.
For now . . .
They needed to watch those who were going to be with them on the dive. Four suspects who seemed more capable of manipulation
than Amelia.
Daniel and Broderick McClintock and the not-so-charming married couple, Celia and Jeff Henderson, along with Daniel’s new crush, Gina.
Close to her, he whispered softly in her ear, “Praying that both our gut instincts are correct and that Edward Thompson is
entirely innocent.”
“And I really do believe that he’s innocent. I still think he’s a target and that thankfully, George is as good as he is,”
she said softly in reply.
Despite the ruckus over Amelia being taken away, the line began to move. They were given eye scans as they disembarked and
looked for the signs for the bus to take them to the dive station.
The others in their group of friends caught up with them as they reached the bus.
“Oh, my God!” Celia said, “did you hear what happened? I guess the captain was worried about the cruise line being sued and
he had his people look at all the security footage! Did you see? Did you hear?” she demanded.
“I think there was some commotion in the line—” Chloe began.
“It was Amelia!” Daniel supplied. “Edward is so upset. He’s the one who asked her to be on the cruise, to speak to people
and all.”
“And, of course . . . wow!” Broderick said. “Why? Why on earth would she put stuff in someone’s chocolate like that? Why give
her the chocolate—”
“Silly boy!” Daniel said. “Jealousy. Amelia was horrendously jealous of Sally! That was evident. I think Amelia believed that
she was going to get to be Edward’s plus-one. And then, go figure, Edward falls for a slightly older woman and there’s Amelia . . .
Poor Amelia! Just out of the running.”
“Daniel, don’t be mean!” Gina murmured.
“Mean?” he demanded. “Amelia almost killed Sally! She probably meant to kill her, get her out of the way so she could go after Edward again. And I’m being mean?”
“I can’t believe that Amelia meant to kill her,” Gina argued. “She probably thought that she could make her sick or maybe
give her an ugly rash . . . I don’t imagine that she realized how smitten poor Edward is and that he’d sit by her side no
matter what. Because that’s what real caring is!”
“Exactly. Edward cares for the woman, and cares deeply,” Wes murmured.
Chloe realized that she liked Gina more and more. The girl had a real heart beating in her body. Beautiful inside and outside,
as the saying went.
But . . .
While the morning had kept her from thinking about the night in which she and Wes has so unprofessionally indulged, Gina’s words made her think about the world on a more personal level, about herself, about that night, their incredible
intimacy . . .
And Wes.
She couldn’t blame it on alcohol since they’d indulged in nothing but nonalcoholic beer since they’d been on the trip. But
she didn’t want to blame it on anything. She couldn’t remember when she’d met anyone like Wes. Yes, they were pretending.
They were undercover; they had taken on different identities for the cruise. There was always discussion about the real role
of undercover work, especially when some agents lived a double identity for months or even years when they were trying to
break into cartels or other criminal enterprises.
Last night, she had made choices as herself, realizing they’d both been oh-so-professionally fighting a mutual attraction.
And that could mean . . .
She realized that if she’d thought of it as a one-night stand, it never would have happened. Just as she enjoyed seeing the genuine person behind Gina’s beautiful face, every day she was with Wes made her both respect and admire him more.
And now . . .
She couldn’t help it, though she knew that what they were doing was the right thing. Unless they uncovered the clue that would
solve the many homicides that had taken place, they had to keep playing the game. And, as suggested, Amelia might just be
an incompetent and jealous woman. She hadn’t handled the concept of being questioned with the irritation and feigned innocence
of a hardened criminal. And still . . .
She might be in on whatever was going on. A pawn in a game being played by clever minds.
Maybe it wasn’t just jealousy that had caused her to take such actions. Maybe whoever was running the conspiracy feared Sally—because
of her armchair crime-fighting friends. That was possible—far-fetched, but possible.
“She’ll be in the brig!” Daniel said.
“Does our ship have a brig?” Celia asked. “I mean—”
“It has a brig,” Daniel assured her. “She’ll be processed back at the Port of Miami. Attempted murder!”
“Maybe it’s just attempted sickness,” Chloe said.
“Ah! Another bleeding heart among us!” Daniel told her. He quickly glanced at Wes. “And I mean that as a nice thing!”
“Well, anyway!” Broderick said. “Here we are, on a bus again!”
“Yeah, but just for a few minutes,” Celia told him. “The place is close!”
And it was.
As they left the bus, they were escorted into something that resembled a classroom—or was a classroom, dive-style.
They filed in with other passengers, all excited about the little dive boats they were about to get on.
It wasn’t a training dive, sometimes done from the beaches of certain ports, but a dive for those who were certified to various depths and degrees, as only certified and experienced divers were allowed to sign up.
There were others from the ship that Chloe of course recognized by then, including Darlene Jordan, her father, Bryan, and
a few others they had met on board. Twelve passengers in all had signed up for the diving excursion. It was a limited choice;
first come, first serve.
A man in his forties—wearing a light wet suit much like Chloe’s own—headed to the front of the class. He appeared fit and
able and a little bit weathered. But then, such a man probably spent his life in the sun and the elements.