Chapter 24
Gloria wiggled into a sitting position, grinning from ear to ear. Her shoulders shook, and she doubled over in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Ruth frowned.
“You’re thinking about what happened last night during the Unsinkable Melodies,” Lucy guessed.
Margaret adjusted her sunglasses. “Who tattoos a QR code on their thigh?”
“Jolene, with Skeeter’s approval. What’s the name of the moonshine company?” Lucy asked.
“Skeeter’s Hillbilly Moonshine.”
Lucy tapped her cell phone screen. “I found it. Those two aren’t shy.”
“Not one iota.” Millie glanced at her phone, chuckling at the picture of Skeeter and his bride, posing in front of an enormous vat of moonshine.
“I don’t know about the others, but I had a ball.” Ruth swung her legs over the side of her chair. “Check out the lighthouse.”
“Lighthouse?” Lucy perked up.
“Over there, around the bend.”
“I’ve had enough sun,” Gloria said. “Let’s wander yonder and check it out.”
Millie set her ereader in her lap. “I would love to go. Unfortunately, I need to head back to the ship.”
Liz turned up her nose. “I would rather bake in the sun than walk across parched land to look at a moldy old lighthouse.”
“I’m out,” Margaret said. “I’m content right where I am.”
“What about you, Dot?” Lucy asked.
“I’ll hang out here with Margaret and Liz. You three go on ahead.”
Millie began digging around in her beach bag. “Has anyone seen my lanyard and coin purse?”
“I could’ve sworn I saw you put it in your bag before we went for a swim,” Gloria said.
“It’s gone.”
“Maybe you tossed it in one of ours by mistake.” Liz reached into her bag. “Not in mine.”
Lucy checked hers. “Mine either.”
“Where on earth could it have gone?” Millie patted her pockets, frantically trying to remember when she’d last seen it. “Who would have messed with my lanyard?”
“Yours has a special security level,” Gloria said. “Hopefully, a passenger didn’t notice you leaving it on the chair and decided to help themselves.”
Millie’s heart plummeted. “Looking back, I should’ve kept it with me.”
Dot shaded her eyes, studying the long rows of lounge chairs, almost all filled with beach gear. “I could be way off, but having someone specifically target your stuff doesn’t make any sense.”
“A few people have come by to say ‘hi’ which means you’re easily recognizable,” Ruth pointed out.
Nearing a state of panic, Millie emptied her bag and searched every nook and cranny. Her friends and family did the same, all to no avail. “It’s gone. Great. I’ll need a replacement.”
“Can you cancel your old one?”
“Yes, although canceling those with top level security requires approval from corporate. They keep track of who has what.” Millie quickly packed up her belongings. “Don’t forget you need to be back on board by three.”
“Good luck finding your lost keycard.”
“Thanks.” Moving at a fast clip, Millie made a beeline for the dock. She reached the security checkpoint and showed the guard her ID. Thankfully, he didn’t ask to see her keycard. The next stop was the gangway.
Noticing Suharto at one of the stations, Millie picked his line to board.
“Good afternoon, Millie. I trust you had a nice day off.”
“Nice up until a few minutes ago. My lanyard and keycard are both missing, along with my coin purse.”
Suharto’s eyes filled with concern. “Your master keycard is missing?”
“Correct. I need to get to Donovan’s office ASAP.”
“I will manually check you in.” He tapped the screen. “All set.”
“Thanks.” Millie reached the scanning station. She set her beach bag on the conveyor belt and crossed through the metal detector, impatiently waiting for it on the other side.
She felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to find a security guard standing behind her. “Your bag needs to be inspected.”
“Inspected?”
“You hit the lucky lottery draw of random inspections.”
“Great.” Millie stood off to the side, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. It seemed to take forever before a security supervisor arrived to inspect her bag. Long seconds dragged by, and she could feel beads of sweat form on her forehead.
Finally, the supervisor placed her items back inside and handed her the bag. “You’re free to go.”
“Thank you.” Millie took off at a dead run, not slowing until she reached Guest Services. She stepped behind the counter and knocked on Donovan’s door.
No one answered.
Nikki caught Millie’s eye and made her way over. “Donovan is in a meeting on the bridge.”
“Thanks.” She jogged to the front of the ship and took the forward stairs to deck ten, only steps away from the bridge. Millie came to a quick stop when she realized there was no way to let herself in without her keycard.
Pulling her phone from her pocket, she scrolled through the screen until she found Nic’s number. Millie tapped out a quick text. I’m standing at the door. Can you let me in?
Seconds later, the door opened. Nic stood at the top, a puzzled expression on his face. “Where’s your keycard?”
“I left it in my beach bag when I went for a swim.” Millie told her husband she found out it was missing when she got ready to return to the ship. “My keycard and coin purse are gone.”
“Someone stole them?”
“I believe so. The bottom line is they’re missing.”
“What about the others you were with? Maybe it ended up in someone else’s bag.”
“They all checked. I’m the only one who had missing items. I heard Donovan was here in a meeting. I need to have my keycard canceled and a new one issued.” Millie climbed the steps. “Until it’s canceled whoever has it could access virtually any area of the ship.”
“Including the bridge and engine room,” Nic grimly replied.
“Yep, which is why as soon as I realized it, I hightailed it back here.” Millie caught Donovan’s eye and strode over. “I have a problem.”
“What’s new?” Patterson joked.
“My keycard was stolen from my beach bag.”
Donovan’s head shot up. “How long ago?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe an hour or two. Three tops.” Millie explained she had left her beach bag on the lounge chair when she and the others went for a swim. “I didn’t think anyone would mess with it. They also took my coin purse and a small amount of money.”
“Nothing else is missing?”
“Nope. Just my money and keycard.”
“Did you notice anyone hanging around?” Patterson asked.
“The beach is packed. It could have been anyone.”
The ship’s purser flipped the cover on his iPad and tapped the screen. “I’m logging in now to see if it’s been used.”
While she waited, Millie prayed whoever had taken it didn’t realize the significance and tossed it in the trash. Despite her optimism, her gut told her this wasn’t the case.
“It’s been used,” Donovan finally said.