What now? I pulled the door open, and Marco, who was on his knees, shoulder-rolled from the hallway into my foyer. A pair of lockpicks tumbled from his hand onto the floor.
I closed the door behind me and picked the lockpicks up off the floor. What on earth? Marco extended a hand, and I helped him struggle to his feet.
“You better have a good excuse for this, Marco? It’s not even daylight out yet.”
“Don’t worry, your neighbors aren’t early risers, and Finn won’t be along to slip the morning paper under the door for at least another hour. I wanted to be here for breakfast.”
“I don’t eat breakfast. Least of all with men who try to slip into my apartment at five in the morning.” I slapped the lockpicks back into Marco’s hand. “Do you carry these with you all the time, or am I just special?”
“I didn’t want to ring the bell. Never know who might hear. And the lockpicks are a holdover from my prison days. It’s easier to get someone’s attention if you come to them rather than the other way around. We need to talk, Kat.”
I sighed. “Fine. I’ll make coffee. But this had better be good.”
I left Marco in the living room and returned to find him staring at the bookcase.
“Place has changed. There used to be a lot of books on these shelves.” Marco took a seashell from the shelf. “Can’t say I’m surprised. Dede never struck me as much of a reader. Not like Walter. He was the intellect.”
I put the two cups of black coffee on the coffee table. “You knew Dede’s husband?”
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.”
