Marco placed the shell back on the shelf and picked up a coffee. “Walter and I had some business dealings together. Neil, Walter, and I had some great ideas. Used to talk ‘til late in the night, right here in this room. At least we did until Walter passed.”

I sat down on the couch. “Please don’t tell me Walter drowned.” I couldn’t take another inexplicable drowning. I was having enough trouble accepting that Oleg, the previous captain, and possibly Dede had met with such a fate. I didn’t want to even think there might have been four drownings.

“Of course not. There was nothing suspicious about Walter’s death. If anything killed him, it was Dede’s cooking. Walter ate everything she ever put in front of him. Doctor Jon warned him he needed to watch his diet. But he didn’t and died of a heart attack, sitting in his rocker, right over—” Marco pointed to the window. “Humph. I guess she moved that, too. It was his favorite.”

“It’s downstairs.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I went downstairs to Dede’s locker last night after Neil left.”

“Neil was here?”

“Yes. And so was someone else. While we were out diving yesterday, someone snuck in and rifled through my things, and then Neil came by after he got back from Naples. He said he wanted to check in on me after my dive. But I’m not so sure if his visit was related to whoever snuck in and went through my stuff or if he was more concerned if I had spoken with Oleg.”

Marco sat down on the couch and picked up his coffee. “I don’t think Neil was here because of Oleg. In fact, I’m not so sure Neil has any idea about the Gang of Eight or what they’re doing. It’s why I came to talk with you.”

“What makes you so sure about that?”

“While you were looking through Dede’s locker, I was out, enjoying one of my moonlight strolls on the Lido Deck.”

I closed my eyes and shuddered at the thought.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t sleepwalking. I was very much awake and, for your information, not that it should matter, fully dressed.”

“Good to know. So, what happened?”

“I had stopped short of Athena’s stern. I wanted a better view of the moonlight on the water, and I had positioned myself next to the railing behind one of the lifeboats. I wasn’t there very long before I heard Antonio and Chief Sully. They were unaware of my presence and had stopped for a smoke less than three feet from where I stood. I heard everything they said.”

Marco picked up his coffee and paused.

“What did they say?”

“Antonio was upset about a phone call he had received right after Athena left Naples. He mentioned Dede. Evidently, she wasn’t carrying the bag she was supposed to have, and whoever Antonio was talking to was worried.”

“A bag?”

“A handbag of some kind. And whatever was inside must have been extremely valuable because Antonio kept saying he never should have trusted Greta and the Professor to handle it, but—

“Wait.” I put my coffee cup down on the table. “Dede’s alive? She didn’t drown?”

“Like I said before, I never thought Dede drowned. I think she’s a pawn. The Gang of Eight used her just like they have some of Athena’s other residents to smuggle things off the ship. Dede probably had no idea.”

“Then she still might be alive.”

“Possibly. I know that Antonio wasn’t happy Dede didn’t have the bag with her and said the Professor was lucky he made the pick-up he did in Procida. That they could use whatever they picked up from the old shopkeeper to buy themselves some time. But that he better find Dede’s bag and soon.”

I debated whether or not to tell Marco what I knew. It all tracked with what Marco had told me and what I believed about the Professor. I knew I couldn’t stop the Gang of Eight by myself. I stood up, went to the entry table, and tossed Dede’s bag from inside the drawer to Marco.

“I suspect this is the bag the Professor’s looking for,”

Marco caught the bag with both hands, eyes wide. “You found the bag?”

“It was on top of the entry table when I arrived. Dede must have decided at the last minute not to take it. Although I don’t know why, her wallet and diver’s license are still inside.”

Marco opened Dede’s bag and took out her wallet. “She didn’t need her driver’s license if she had her passport. And if Dede wore her ship ID, she may have stuffed her passport and whatever money she thought she’d need into Walter’s old money belt. He used to insist she wear it when they went ashore. He was always fearful of pickpockets, and it was certainly easier than a purse.”

“Yes, it would be. But that’s not all I found in Dede’s bag, and it’s why I think Greta searched my room yesterday.”

“What did you find?” Marco clutched Dede’s bag in his lap.

“Wait here. I’ll show you.”

I left Marco in the living room while I retrieved the Brutus coin from within the safe. When I returned, I handed him the small, clear plastic baggie with the coin inside.

“If it’s real, it’s worth four million dollars.”

Marco held the baggie up to the light. “You found this inside?”

“It was sewn into the lining. Dede probably had no idea. But when Greta searched the cabin, I’m pretty sure she found the bag. It looked like it had been moved. But she didn’t find the coin. And Neil—”

“Neil?”

I explained that after I had met the Churchill sisters for tea, I returned to Dede’s cabin and found Neil in the kitchen. “I’m still not certain why he was here. He said he had stopped by to restock Dede’s spice cabinet. Maybe so, but it wasn’t until he left that I saw Dede’s bag on the table behind the door and wondered if Neil might have been looking for it.”

Marco walked to the patio doors and peered through the blinds. Slivers of the morning light pierced the horizon. In another thirty minutes, the sun would be up.

“I don’t think Neil has a clue what’s going on. He’s not on board enough to know. But Antonio? From what I heard last night, as soon as he heard the drop hadn’t been made, he took the first flight he could to Ischia. Trust me, it’s no accident Antonio’s on board. He’s here to ensure the shipment’s secure and the group has no more problems.”

“Then it got to be Antonio who’s using Athena as a cover and Neil as his excuse to be on board.

“That’s how I see it.”

“And this shipment? Just, what is it?”

“Probably artifacts like those the Professor picked up in Procida and displayed for his lecture. Antiquities that Antonio managed to transfer from Camile’s hidden cache and laundered through various collectors. It’s how collectors make their money. They agree to sit on whatever’s been smuggled, take pictures of the items and include them as part of their collection, then phony up the docs to make it look like they’ve had them for a long time.”

“Things small enough to bring on and off the ship in a backpack, then?” I thought about the backpack I had seen with the Professor on my first day and the stack of black knapsacks inside Inspector Garnier’s storage cage. All of it in plain sight.

“Probably. And once we finish our cruise around the Amalfi Coast, Athena’s headed to Alexandria. From the excitement I heard in Antonio’s voice, I think the Gang of Eight is planning for a big payday.”

Marco looked at his watch. “It’s getting late. I should go. I wouldn’t want anyone to see me leaving your cabin. But, if I were you, I’d put Dede’s bag back in the drawer.”

“I was planning on it.”

“And the coin?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the coin.” I wasn’t going to put the coin back in the safe. I didn’t know where I’d hide it at that moment, but I wasn’t about to tell anyone. “And hopefully, since Greta found the bag and not the coin, she’ll have convinced the Gang of Eight that Dede must have it and will leave me alone.”