Chapter 14
Fourteen
Others had already headed for the bus, Chloe among them, Wes knew. He had watched as they started out. Chloe was walking along
with Darlene and her father, and Wes knew that Darlene was still trying to apologize, telling them that she had been trained,
she knew she could have asked to share air, and that she could have gotten to the surface on her own without causing such
a problem.
And, of course, everyone was assuring her that they’d been at the end of the dive anyway, they’d seen the wreck! Everything
was well.
And, of course again, he assumed Celia was telling her that it was probably her fault, not Darlene’s, because she’d managed
to get them close together in the ship’s broken hallway where protruding metal and wood might have caused some kind of puncture
in her air hose.
Right.
“I swear to you, sir, we thoroughly test our equipment and we’re vigilant about it, about measures to make sure that all mouthpieces are purified and . . .”
Wes looked at the young technician working on Darlene’s air hose as he spoke.
Percy walked up. “You know, I warn people about getting hung up on something when we’re in the wreck, but this might have
been my fault. I didn’t think to remind them that they had to watch out for their equipment, as well. You know, we have never
had a single incident before and today we had two. Well, you live and learn. And thanks, man, you were so fast, but I hear
that you’re a dive master—”
“I was just there. Anyone who has been diving anytime would know to share air,” Wes told him.
“But you did it without blinking, without causing a big disturbance,” Percy said. “Thank you!”
“Hey, don’t worry. They stress that divers are supposed to be experienced,” Wes told him. “It’s all good.”
“I wasn’t worried about being sued,” Percy said, grimacing. “I, um, actually care about people. And that lady . . . well,
she did exactly what I said not to do. But that poor kid! It’s a scary thing when you’re suddenly inhaling water with your
air.”
“It all turned out fine—”
“And there it is!” the tech suddenly said. “Well, I guess you’re right about the old rotten wood and all. There’s the scratch
against the hose and the hole that it caused is so small! But big enough so that the air pressure wasn’t enough to keep out
the water. Kid must have brushed against something.”
“That couldn’t have been there before she went in,” Wes said.
“We test—”
“No, sorry, that wasn’t a question. It was a statement—she would have been choking long before we were in the wreck,” Wes told him.
“Your bus is about to leave,” Percy said. He frowned. “Um, if you’re still worried about these events or have any other questions—”
Wes grinned and shook his head. “Percy, we do not think that you or anyone at this dive station are culpable in any way. I
was just hoping to understand what happened and, yes, of course, I assumed that she passed by something protruding and sharp
without knowing it. That happens. You know, dive master—like to check things out so that I know what to watch out for myself!”
he told them.
“Sure, well, thanks again!” Percy told him.
“No, thank you, guys,” Wes said. He nodded to Percy and the tech and headed on out. He wasn’t surprised to know that the two
events were the first incidents they’d had of any kind during the dive trip—far more care was taken here than on most dive
trips he’d been on. Not that most places were shoddy—people who loved to dive often had their own equipment and the dive boat
captain and crew weren’t responsible for problems with it. And, again, divers were usually expected to know what they were
doing and held to a greater amount of self-responsibility.
He was the last to climb on the bus. The seat next to Chloe was empty, awaiting him. Broderick was in a seat across from the
empty place intended for him and Daniel and Gina were behind her. She had evidently been chatting with them and with Darlene
and Bryan, who had seats in front of Chloe.
“Hey!” Broderick said. “Once again, the conquering hero!”
Wes groaned as he took his seat. “C’mon, you’re a diver. If it had been your partner, you’d have done exactly what I did.”
“I don’t know. My dive partner is usually my brother. I’d have to think about it!” Broderick said, teasing Daniel.
“I’ll remember that!” Daniel warned him, grinning in turn. “Gina, thank goodness I was with you today!” he told her before
turning to Wes and saying, “Still, man! You are good at what you do. All the water stuff.”
“I’m sure grateful!” Darlene said, twisting around. “Hey, did you find out—”
“Well, it’s the wreck, apparently,” Wes said. “And, yes, Percy was great. He warned everyone. But water itself moves, so . . .
I don’t think anyone meant to do anything outside the rules, but in the water, it’s easy to brush up against things and in
a wreck, some of the things that we might brush up against are sharp.”
“Yeah, but the hoses are thick,” Bryan said, turning around as well.
“Right. And, under normal circumstances,” Wes said, “I think it might take a lot to cause a breach, but . . .” He lowered
his voice and looked swiftly back to where Celia and Jeff were sitting. “If we hadn’t all gotten concerned trying to free
Celia, this probably wouldn’t have happened. We kind of got into a clump when she was stuck.”
Bryan sniffed. “She was trying to look into what had been some kind of cabin or stowage unit,” he said. “Doing what we were
told not to do.”
“Dad,” Darlene murmured.
“Well, I call it like I see it!” Bryan said.
Chloe shrugged. “Bryan, really, it’s easy to forget things. Celia was probably just curious.” She offered a smile. “But, here’s
the thing! Celia is fine, Darlene is fine and we all had a great day! I say that we leave it at that!”
“Yeah, until we get back to the ship and find out what Amelia Swenson has been up to!” Broderick offered quietly, shaking his head. “I still can’t see her as a murderer!”
“Hey, I said before she might have just been trying to make her sick!” Chloe said. “I mean, in Amelia’s mind, she figured
that if Sally was covered in hives or something like that, or if she had a fever and was sick, well, she wouldn’t be hanging
around Edward.”
Darlene was frowning. “What are you guys talking about? I heard a guest had been really sick, but that she had an EpiPen and
was all right.”
“She is. She’s fine,” Wes assured her.
“And lucky as a cat with nine lives!” Daniel said, nodding his head. “First, she gets caught when the drain went berserk,
then she gets a gift that’s filled with nuts. What might happen to the poor thing next?”
“Nothing, if Amelia is . . . hm. Where will she be?” Gina murmured.
“She’ll be held until we return to port,” Wes said. “Then the district attorney will determine what charges should be filed,
if anything.”
“There’s a jail on the ship?” Darlene asked, her brows hiked.
“See! Not everyone knows all about the bowels of a ship!” Daniel said, grinning and turning to look at Darlene. “We had this
conversation on the way here. Of course, we’re all stunned about Amelia. Why, Edward invited her on the cruise and, naturally,
many of us have known her for years and . . . well, we sure didn’t expect this!”
“Jail on a ship!” Darlene murmured.
“It’s called a brig,” her father told her.
“And, yes, even on a luxury liner like this one, there’s a brig.
Not used all that often . . . Well, I was on a cruise once where some drunks had to be held overnight.
But . . . anyway, you need to have a place to hold people if they do get rowdy or out of hand or—”
“Try to poison someone?” Daniel suggested.
“Oh, wow, how horrible!” Darlene said. “But . . . wait. Amelia caused Sally to get sick? But wouldn’t Sally know what to eat
and what not to eat?”
“You didn’t see the commotion when we were getting off the ship?” Broderick asked her.
“We were at the tail end of the line,” Bryan told them ruefully. “I was afraid that we might miss the bus!”
“So how—” Darlene began again.
And, of course, the full explanation went around again. They knew that Amelia had given Sally bad chocolate.
“Then they must charge her with something!” Darlene said. “Assault at the very least. I think I told you that I wanted to
be an influencer, maybe even sharing real news! I took a lot of classes, because being an investigative reporter was something
I’d been thinking about and my trying to decide just which way to go meant lots of journalism and media classes but also forensics
and criminology!” she told them proudly.
“She could be an attorney! She’d be great,” Bryan said proudly. “But she’s also great on camera!”
“I’ll bet you’re great at what you do!” Gina said.
“Thank you, and coming from you . . . Well, thank you! It’s quite a compliment!” Darlene said.
Gina laughed. “I just try to look good. Investigative reporting? That’s doing good!
” she said. “Ah, we’re back!” she noted, indicating the fact that they had returned to the bus’s spot at the parking lot by the docks.
“Strange that they didn’t drop us in their little town, let’s head out to lunch there. ”
“I think they did at one time, but from what I heard through a crew member, people didn’t like it because they were all wet and salty and needed showers.
Anyway, the buffet is open all afternoon—I read those pamphlets they gave us all!
” Wesley said. “And you know what? I’m with that passenger who wanted to return to the ship. I need a shower!”
“I guess we could all use showers,” Chloe said. “I’m beginning to feel like a salt lick, too.”
Murmuring arose as agreement went all around that they should have showers. Whoever wanted to join the others could do so
down at the casual restaurant where they’d met so often—and which was just about always open.
The bus parked and they all headed off, ready to have their eyes scanned and allowed back on the ship.