“Dede, how about we let Sully do his job before we start throwing accusations around? Like it or not, the Chief’s right. He needs to investigate, and the best thing you can do right now is get out of his way. Go back to your suite with Ms. Lawson, and I’ll get word to you as soon as we know what’s happened.”

Dede stood her ground, her face red. “Don’t for a second think you can patronize me, Inspector. You may be friends with Irene, and maybe you can convince her this was another accidental drowning, but not me. I’m friends with Neil. Ida Churchill was his aunt and one of my best friends. I intend to let Neil know exactly what I think happened here, and believe me,” Dede scowled at Camile, “whoever is responsible for Ida’s murder will pay for it. No matter who it is.”

Camile fisted her hand and looked like she was about to throw a punch in Dede’s direction, but the Inspector seized her arm. “That’s enough, Dede. You need to leave. Now.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m leaving, but you haven’t heard the last from me. Kat, you coming?”

Marco and I followed Dede back to the elevator. Behind us, the Inspector shouted to those remaining.

“Captain, you and I need to go to the Bridge with Sully. The Doc here knows what he needs to do. Professor. Greta. If you don’t mind, take Camile with you back to the café. I’ll meet you there.”

* * *

Dede, Marco, Irene, Elli, and I shuffled into the elevator and waited in silence for the gold-filagreed mirrored doors to close. As soon as they shut, Dede turned to Irene and apologized.

“I am such a fool. I should have believed Ida, and now I think I might have been the last person to see her alive. Other than the killer, that is.”

“Dede, what are you saying?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but even as I questioned her, bits and pieces of what I had heard early that morning when Dede returned from visiting the Churchill sisters replayed in my mind. Don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just don’t say anything. Was it Ida she had been talking to?

“After I left the Churchill sisters last night, Ida came after me. She followed me back to my cabin. She tried to convince me she thought something was going on. That the Professor and Greta were up to no good and that Oleg’s death wasn’t an accident. Of course, I didn’t believe her. Not until I saw her body just now. I should have paid more attention.”

Marco stared at our reflection in the mirrored doors. “You better hope they don’t try to pin Ida’s murder on you, Dede. Believe me, the Inspector is very good at deflecting guilt. I’m the first one they come to when one of their own steals something from them. Like the Professor’s signet ring? I didn’t take it. But I’d bet that Ida found it, and whoever had it murdered her for it and left before they could take it back.”

“Or left it behind deliberately to make Ida look guilty.” The words spilled from my mouth as I imagined how the Chief and Inspector might spin Ida’s death.

Marco added to my unfinished thought. “It would be easy enough to say Ida was trying to hide the ring inside the tank when her scarf got caught up in the drain and pulled her in.”

“But the tank wasn’t full. It shouldn’t have been, anyway. I make certain it’s empty every night.” Elli shook her head. “And, there’re all kinds of safety features. That couldn’t happen.”

“You and I both know that. Doesn’t mean the Inspector and Sully won’t say it happened that way.” Marco stared at our reflection in the mirrored doors as the elevator stopped, then motioned with a finger to his lips for us not to say another word.

When the doors slid open, standing directly in front of us were Carlo and Captain Byard’s second-in-command, Captain Rob. Both men had holstered sidearms and stood with their hands folded on their belt buckles, forming an impenetrable wall in front of us.

Captain Rob was the first to speak. “Ladies. Marco. The Chief has asked me to escort you to your cabins and to remind you not to talk with anyone about what you’ve seen. And to make sure, he’s asked me to collect your cell phones until his investigation is complete.”

Carlo held out a bag. Reluctantly, I tossed my phone in the bag. Marco and Elli did the same. Irene, looking like a deer in headlights, said she didn’t have a phone, and Dede said her phone was still in her cabin.

“Not a problem. Carlo can get it when he drops you back at your cabin.” Then, motioning for us to step forward, he instructed Elli and Irene to follow him. “Dede and Ms. Lawson, you go with Carlo—”

“What about me?” Marco asked.

“You can go with them as well. But remember, nobody leaves their cabin or talks to anyone outside until the Chief says so.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Dede didn’t wait for Carlo to lead the way to her cabin. She pushed him aside and walked stiffly down the hall with Marco and me behind her. When Dede reached the door, she opened it quickly and nodded for us to enter.

“But not you!” Dede pointed to Carlo. “You can wait here.” Then, marching back into her apartment, Dede retrieved her phone, threw it at Carlo’s feet, and slammed the door shut.

Marco stumbled ahead of me into the entry, nearly tripping over the rolie bag I had left in the hall. “Looks like you won’t be leaving us today, Kat.”

“Or anytime soon,” I said.

“Nonsense. Neil’ll be along shortly. He’ll set the Chief straight. We need to wait until he’s back.” Dede went to the living room blinds, opened them, and slid open the door to the deck. “

“I’m not so sure about that.” I took the backpack I had been carrying from my shoulder and put it on the dining table. “If Neil has any idea what’s going on, then none of us may be getting off this ship.”

“You can’t possibly think that Neil’s involved. Why would he be?”

“I don’t know for sure. But I do know it’s not just the Professor and Inspector. Near as I can tell, there’s a gang of eight. And I think Ida was on to them. It’s what got her killed. And maybe Oleg as well. Like you said, she didn’t climb in that tank by herself.”

Dede sat down on the couch. “I think you need to tell me what it is you think you know and what’s been going on.”

“Allow me.” Marco went to the bar and poured Dede a glass of scotch. “The Professor, the Inspector, their wives, Antonio, Carlo, Doctor Jon, and Sully. I call them the Gang of Eight. They’ve been pirating stolen artifacts from a Geneva Freeport to collectors around the world ever since they came on board.” Marco explained that while he was in prison, he had learned of a break-in at the Freeport and later was roommates with Camile’s ex. “He didn’t have a lot of flattering things to say about her other than she was a petite aerialist and a necessary asset. That is, until she wasn’t, and turned against her outlaw crew and married the Inspector.”

“And that’s how you know the Inspector’s involved?”

“The Inspector brought Professor Braun in as an expert witness to verify those items recovered from the heist. They siphoned off what they wanted for their private cache, along with what Camile had already taken for herself. With no public record of what had been stored in the facility or what was stolen, it was an easy move on their part and, I’m sure, very tempting. How else do you think Professor Braun and a public servant like Monsieur Inspector Garnier could afford to retire aboard Athena?”

Dede shrugged. “It never occurred to me. Like everyone else aboard, I assumed they had money.”

“Because people like you have always had it or managed to marry it.” Marco handed Dede the drink he had fixed for her, then returned to the bar.

Dede snapped back, “Well, at least I was honest with what I had.”

Marco shook his head. “That was a long time ago, Dede. And you never got the full story. You never wanted to hear it.”

“Look,” I sat down on the couch, my hands up, ready to referee.“Now is not the time for you to argue about the past. And, Dede, whatever differences you have with Marco, you need to put it behind you. Because what Marco is trying to say may explain why you were attacked in Naples.”

“You think it’s related?” Dede scowled at Marco.

“I do. And I think if Ida were here right now, she’d agree with me.”

Dede looked at me, her eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“The black crocheted bag I found on top of the entry table. The one you left behind that Greta made for you. I believe she gave you the bag because there was a very rare and valuable coin inside.”

“What coin? I never saw a coin.”

“You wouldn’t have seen it. The coin was hidden in the lining.” I stood up, fetched my backpack from the dining room table, and fished inside for my camera. After Greta had searched my apartment, I moved the coin from the safe and hid it inside my camera’s battery compartment where nobody would think to look for it. The coin, no bigger than a small round button-sized lithium battery, fit neatly into the slot, and with the camera around my neck or tucked inside my backpack, I felt reasonably sure no one might find it. I opened the battery compartment, slid the coin from inside the camera, and placed it on the coffee table.

“And if I’m right, it’s one of three gold coins like it in the world today. It’s called the Ides of March coin or the Denarius of Brutus coin, identifiable by the letters E-I- D-M-A-R on the front. It was minted to celebrate the assassination of Julius Caesar. It’s estimated to be worth about four million dollars.”

“And you found it in the bag Greta gave me?” Dede stared at the coin like she was afraid to touch it.

“At first, I thought it might have been a good luck charm you’d hidden in the bag, and I put it back where I found it. But when I went to visit Procida, I met a shopkeeper who was advertising antique coins and jewelry. One of the coins pictured on a poster outside his shop was exactly like the coin I had found in your bag. The shopkeeper told me there were only three coins like it and that it was very valuable.”

“And very unique.” Marco picked the coin up and turned it over.