For My Next Trick...

Chapter 8

Randy followed Nathaniel’s gaze as he paled, while one of the bartenders hurried around to clean up the broken glass. In a few seconds, Nathaniel seemed to get hold of himself. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s no problem.” The man had the glass swept up quickly and the floor mopped before putting the stools back in place. “Would you like a replacement?”

“No. Thank you.” Nathaniel stood up and seemed really off-kilter, even more than the slight rocking of the ship would suggest. “I need to….” He headed to the elevators.

Randy downed his drink and then followed, hitting the button to take them down. When the doors opened, Randy followed Nathaniel inside, and they rode downward. “What’s going on? You looked like you’d seen a ghost,” Randy told him.

“I did, in a way,” Nathaniel hung his head. “God, what in the hell is going on? Are they determined to mess up my life?” He rubbed his temples as the elevator doors slid open. Randy followed Nathaniel to his cabin, and once inside, he lifted Brutus out of his carrier and set the white rabbit on his lap, gently stroking him. After a while, he set Brutus down, and he hopped around a little before returning to his carrier and the food inside.

“I think you need to tell me what’s going on,” Randy said. He hadn’t meant to sound stern, but his cop voice made an appearance anyway. “I can’t help if I don’t know.”

Nathaniel swallowed and finally nodded. “It was my father. I saw him walking through the ship. I don’t know if he’s a passenger or what. Maybe he managed to get a job with the cruise line, but I doubt it.” He sighed. “And before you ask, I don’t know what he wants, but it can’t be good.”

Randy had no idea what Nathaniel meant. “Maybe he wants to make things better between you.”

Nathaniel shook his head. “Shit. I might as well tell you everything, and then you can hate me forever.” He cleared his throat and motioned for Randy to sit. “To make a very long story short, my family are thieves. That’s where I learned to pick your pocket and unlock just about anything. My good old father taught me, and he did it well enough that I was never caught.”

Randy felt the breath leave his lungs, and he forced air back in them. “So you were the thief all along? You led us on a wild goose chase and….”

“No. You identified the thief, and she left the ship. The thief was my sister. I recognized her on the video, and I scared the shit out of her. She left when you thought she did, and I retrieved what she stole and arranged for all of it to be found. If you had caught her, then my past would have come to light, and I didn’t want that. I left that life behind years ago, and suddenly, my sister is on board my ship. I just had to get her off, so I did, and the thefts stopped, and everyone got their stuff back. I thought that would be the end of it.” He hung his head. “I couldn’t just tell you.”

“How do I know you weren’t in on the whole thing?” Randy demanded.

“I helped you, remember? I didn’t know it was Michele until I saw her image on the video. I showed you how they got out of the store, and she was going to take all her stolen booty with her, but I got it and made sure it was returned.”

Randy’s insides churned, and he wasn’t quite sure what to believe. “And all that stuff about your family…?”

“Was true. I didn’t want to be part of that life any more. That story I told you was true. It was during one of the brief periods when my father was nearly caught and decided that we should change our way of life. It didn’t last all that long. My father got a job, and we lived a fairly stable life… until we had to leave again because he had returned to his old habits. He always did, and my life got ripped apart once more.” Nathaniel’s gaze grew hard. “Look, I’ve told you the truth, and I don’t care if you believe me or not. I haven’t done anything wrong, and I refuse to take the rap for my damned family.”

“You….”

“I didn’t, and when you think about it, you’ll see it. I got the thief off the ship, and she was going to leave anyway because of you. I got the watches and jewelry away from her, so they could be returned.”

Randy felt like he’d been kicked on the gut over and over. “I don’t know what to believe at this point. I thought I was getting to know you, and….” Jesus, he was a cop, and he had let down his innate skepticism of Nathaniel, and now he’d found out that he was everything his instincts had said about him.

“That’s bullshit, and you know it. I’m the same person, and I’m not my family. I don’t do what they do, and I make my own way in the world. I haven’t taken anything from anyone—other than in my act, and I always give it back—since I was seventeen and forced to by my parents. I hated it. I saw what being victimized did to people.”

“And now you expect me to believe what you’re telling me?” God, he really wanted to. It would make things so much easier, and his belly would stop churning, and his heart would stop that ache that he knew was going to get worse.

“Yes, I do. Because it’s the truth.” Nathaniel took a deep breath. “But there’s something else you need to consider. My father is on this ship, and he has no scruples. He will think nothing of emptying the stores and every single passenger on this ship of everything of value and then smiling happily as he leaves the ship with his loot in hand.” Nathaniel stood. “You need to understand. The tricks I did, like with your wallet? My father could have stripped half the passengers of their wallets and jewelry as they entered the theater and been gone before Icy made her introduction. I can guarantee that he knows everything about the cameras and blind spots that Michele gathered while she was on board, and he’s here because he’s after something.” The urgency in Nathaniel’s voice was unmistakable.

“Why are you telling me this?” Randy asked, watching Nathaniel like a hawk.

Nathaniel sighed loudly. “Because I’m not like him, and I never was. I told Michele to get the hell off this ship and to tell the family that they were to leave me the hell alone. I also told her that if I saw any of them, I’d alert the authorities. And I’d say I’ve done that.” He went to the door and pulled it open. “I think you better leave now.”

Randy slowly stood up. “And what are you going to do if I tell Lars who you are and what you suspect? Do you think you’ll be able to keep your gigs if they find out?”

“I guess I’m going to have to trust that you’ll do the right thing. It’s too bad that you can’t do the same thing in return.”

In seconds, Randy found himself in the passageway, the door closing in his face. Shit and hell, what the fuck did he do now? And what did Nathaniel really expect of him?

He turned away and got halfway down the passage, his mind racing in a hundred different directions at once. But he kept coming back to the same place: Nathaniel had helped him and Lars. And truth be known, Nathaniel could have robbed half the ship blind if he had wanted to, and he hadn’t. They had identified the thief and gotten the stolen property back. “Shit.” He swore under his breath before spinning on his heels and marching back to Nathaniel’s door, knocking firmly. When the door opened, he went inside.

“What the hell do you want now?” Nathaniel asked him, his eyes blazing with anger.

“Just look me in the eyes,” Randy said. “Tell me you had nothing to do with the thefts.” Randy waited, and Nathaniel held his gaze.

“I haven’t taken anything that didn’t belong to me since I was seventeen, and I returned it because I couldn’t live with the guilt.” Nathaniel seemed a little lost, but Randy just hugged him tight.

“I believe you,” he whispered, and just like that, the knots and churning in his gut smoothed out to nothing.

Nathaniel sighed in his arms. “Good. Because my father is a whole different animal from my sister,” he said. “Like I said, I saw him.”

“What does he look like?” Randy asked.

“Today, like a man in his early sixties with salt-and-pepper hair. But tomorrow he could change his hair, switch his makeup, and appear ten years older or a man in his midforties. He could also change clothes and, with a little of his makeup magic, spend the day as a woman. That’s always been my father’s special secret. He’s able to blend into any crowd. My father is about five foot six, slight, and he’s always kept himself in shape. But….” Nathaniel sighed again.

“Okay. If he let you see him…?”

“My father probably joined us as a passenger. I’d suggest we go through all of the security photos for boarding and let me look at them. Men or women, doesn’t matter. I need to see them all. Then maybe we can figure out which cabin he’s in. And heaven help us if he managed to get a berth with the crew.” His hand shook a little as he backed away. “I don’t want any of my family anywhere near me.”

“Do you think he’ll come to you?” Randy asked.

Nathaniel nodded. “You better believe it. Michele told me that they picked this ship because I’m on it. She actually said that my father told her she’d have backup if she got in trouble. I wanted to wring both their necks.”

Randy nodded his head slowly. “So you think your father is under some sort of illusion that you will help them.” He paced the cabin slowly. “Go with that.” He smiled. “If your father approaches you, argue with him at first, but them somehow find a reason why you change your mind. That family comes first. Make him think you’ll help him. He may not fully believe you, but it could be a way to buy us some time to locate him and figure out what he’s up to.”

“I can try.” He didn’t seem convinced, but for now, it was what Randy could come up with. “I can also come up with the aliases he’s used. But I doubt he would reuse any of them. My guess is that he’s under a name I’ve never heard of before.”

“Okay. We’ll figure out how he boarded the ship. I’m also going to need to run whatever information I can get through the various law enforcement databases.”

“You can try Carver Geoffreys. That’s his birth name. Start there.” Nathaniel bit his lower lip. “But you need to promise me that if we can, we’ll get him to leave and move on like we did my sister.”

Randy was conflicted. “It will depend what he’s done and who wants him. Otherwise, I can’t make a deal like that.”

Nathaniel nodded slowly. “I should have figured that. You’re way too honorable to do that, but I can’t be the one to send my father to jail. It will kill my mother. In my family, she is the one good person.”

“Your mother taught you how to steal,” Randy said. “She helped teach her child how to pick locks and steal wallets. Is that a good parent?” He had to ask the question because it didn’t make any sense to him.

Nathaniel sat down, holding his head in his hands. “I know my family is completely fucked up. But it was my mother who stood up for me and supported me when I told her I wanted out. She said that I had to live my own life and that she was proud of me for going out and finding my own way. I have to give her the benefit of the doubt for that.”

Randy sat next to him on the bed. “Yeah, I think I can get that. But I can’t give your father a pass because of it.” There was no use fighting over this. “Let me gather what information I can, and we’ll figure out what to do at that point. It isn’t going to take long to get what there is, and from there….”

“I know. The only way I get out of this with any possibility of my life still intact is for me to trust you. So I will.”

Randy took his hand. “Remember that no matter what happens, you are not to blame. You didn’t tell your father to board the ship you were working on, and the same thing goes for your sister. They made their own decisions, and they’re going to have to be the ones to pay for them.”

“I don’t want to see my father… not right now, and he’s going to know which cabin I’m in.”

“Then go to your dressing area backstage and stay there. Commandeer one of the changing rooms if you need to, and keep that door closed. I’ll get the information on the new passengers from Lars and make a few phone calls. Once I have something, I’ll come to you.”

“Okay,” Nathaniel agreed. “I’d also suggest that the shops not open today. Just keep them closed and say there’s a computer issue that should be resolved soon. At least that will keep him out of those. And alert the casino staff as a precaution.”

Nathaniel grabbed a bag and shoved a few things into it. Then he left the cabin once Randy checked that the passageway was clear. They made it to the elevators and up one deck to the theater. Once Nathaniel had made his way to the stage in the empty space, Randy hurried back and went down to the first deck and the security office.

Lars met him with shock when he explained what was going on. “And he’s helping us?”

“His father is as much a threat to Nathaniel as he is to anyone else.” Randy said, and explained what he needed. He also made a couple of ship-to-shore calls—one to a colleague in Frederick, and another to the local FBI office. Both said they would do what they could, the FBI particularly interested in what he might find.

“You got anything?” Lars asked as he sifted through the video. “You said that you and Nathaniel were in the bar outside the centrum when he saw the suspect. So I went through the footage for that area. There were a number of people who wandered through, but I couldn’t pick out anyone in particular.”

“That’s okay. Did you get the pictures of the new passengers? Can we try to match them up to the video?”

Lars shook his head. “It’s hard to make out the faces of a number of people. But I sent you a link to the pictures. Have Nathaniel take a look at them and see if he recognizes anyone. I’m going to alert the captain so he’s aware of the situation.”

“Okay. I have an alert set up on my phone if anyone gets back to me, and I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.” He checked the phone, following the link to the pictures. “Thanks for everything.”

Lars hummed, going back to the video as Randy left the office and headed to the theater, where he found Nathaniel in one of the tiny dressing rooms, the door closed like he was hiding.

“Did you get the pictures?” Nathaniel asked, and Randy sat next to him in the tiny room, letting him go through the images. Randy didn’t tell Nathaniel about the calls he made to law enforcement.

“Do you see him?” Randy asked, looking for his shoulder.

Nathaniel went thought the images a second time. “This is my father, at least the way he appeared for his picture. And I suspect that he’s not going to get very far away from this look or else he’ll stick out like a sore thumb when he tries to get off or on the ship.”

“Wow. He looks nearly seventy and kind of frail.”

“That’s part of the way he blends in. People don’t really look that closely at an older person, especially when you’re looking for a robbery suspect. He looks frail, therefore he couldn’t have lifted a couple hundred thousand dollars in watches. It’s that kind of thing that he’s counting on.”

“Well, we have him now, because we know which cabin he’s in.” Randy grinned. “And I think it’s time that he got a visit from one of the personal butlers on the ship. He’s booked into a lovely suite, so….”

“Are they going to have a uniform big enough to fit you? Maybe you should see if Lars is up for paying him a visit. He could blend in more and has that accent.” Nathaniel handed him back his phone. “My father tends to discount people with an accent. It’s one of his faults, and we can use that to our advantage.”

Randy called Lars and told him the cabin and the name that Nathaniel’s father was using.

“We have to be careful. So far, all we have is Nathaniel’s word that he’s a threat. As far as we are aware, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Lars told him.

“True. But all I’m asking for is a visit as a butler. Maybe make sure he’s comfortable and has everything he needs.”

“And while I’m at it, see what I can see?” he asked.

“Exactly,” Randy said.

He paused and then cleared his throat. “All right. I’ll get someone to cover for me here, and I’ll go up and see if there is anything he needs. I’ll call you back and let you know what I find, if anything.” He ended the call, and Randy shrugged.

“He’s going to check.” Randy hated the worried look on Nathaniel’s face. But if nothing else, that expression set his nerves at ease. It told him just how much Nathaniel’s father unnerved him. Randy hated that he’d had his doubts, but that was what he had been trained for.

“Excellent. And I think I need to go back to my cabin for a while. I can’t sit around here for the next few days, and if I’m there, then my father will know exactly where to find me. If he does, then there’s a chance I could be able to figure out what he’s after.”

“Remember the plan and stick to it if you can.” Randy squeezed Nathaniel’s hand.

“I will, but I don’t know if I can pull it off. He is my father, after all.”

Randy fully understood. Years of conditioning to listen to your parents and do what they tell you doesn’t just get shut off. Parents knew how to get under their children’s skin, guilt the primary weapon.

“Do your best and remember that this is one of the people you wanted to get away from to change your life. Well, you did that, and you did it on your own. He wasn’t there to help you make something of yourself like a father should be. And if we’re right, all he wants to do now is drag you back to where you were, to throw away the person you are right now….” Randy drew closer. “The person I’ve come to care about.” He placed his hand on Nathaniel’s chest. “No matter what he does, he can’t change what’s in your heart.”

Randy kissed him gently and wanted to press him back and take command of his incredible lips. He wanted to lose himself in Nathaniel, but this was not the time for that. He pulled back and stroked Nathaniel’s cheek. “I need to check on some things, and you need to go back to your cabin.” He pulled a page out of the small notebook he always kept in his pocket and wrote down two sets of numbers. “This is the extension for security. I wrote it this way so it just looks like numbers. You call if you need anything. I’ll come up to your cabin once I’m done.”

“I don’t think he’ll actually hurt me,” Nathaniel said, some of the tension leaving him.

“No. But parents can get us pretty turned around, especially when they want something different from us. I just want you to know that I’ll be coming and that I want the same thing you do.” He grinned as he stood. “I’ll see you in a little while.” He left the room and answered the message that came in from his contact back home. Then he strode out of the theater before taking the elevator down to the security office.

Lars wasn’t there, so he sat down to wait and checked the incoming messages. It seemed that Carver and his family were suspects in a number of unsolved burglaries in Maryland and throughout that portion of the country. He sent a message along with the picture from the ship, explaining where he was currently.

“We’ve already issued a warrant, but we’ll update it with his current whereabouts and notify the police in your next US port of call.”

“He isn’t going to be on the ship by then. Whatever he’s planning, he’ll do it and be off before we get to US waters, I’m pretty sure of that.” Randy sent the name of his contact with the FBI so they could work together. “He’s a good agent, and maybe there’s something he can do to help.” Sometimes it was a matter of getting the right people talking to each other.

Lars returned to the office all buttoned up in a crisp white shirt and black pants.

“How did it go?”

“The cabin is clean. I brought a dish of sweets as a welcome-aboard gift. No one was in the cabin, and there wasn’t much there other than a bag left on the sofa. But the bathroom was full of stuff, creams and things like that.”

“Theatrical makeup?” Randy asked.

Lars nodded. “It could have been. There was a small case on the counter. I don’t know what was in it, but yeah, it could have been makeup and stuff like that. Why?”

“Because,” Randy brought up the ship’s picture. “Nathaniel told me that his father is fifty-six, not seventy-six. He’s changing his appearance, and its likely he’s using the makeup to do it.” He clapped Lars on the shoulder. “That was exactly what I was hoping you’d find. Now, is there a way to get a camera on his cabin door and keep it there? We need to see who comes and goes. And don’t be surprised if you see a woman or a damned circus clown. Don’t dismiss anyone you might see. Nathaniel says that his father is very good with disguises.”

Lars blew out his breath. “You got it. I’ll keep my eyes on it. What are you going to do?”

“I need to check in with a contact to see if they have anything.” Then he needed to see if Nathaniel had had a visitor.