“I’m a reporter. It goes where I go.”
“What’s inside?”
“What do you think?” I opened the bag. “My camera. A notepad. Pair of shorts and flip-flops. Anyone finds this bag without me, and they’d know I was in trouble.”
The Inspector glanced inside. “Fine. Take it with you. We can throw it overboard when we’re done with you.” Then, nodding to the guard, he told him to cuff me.
The guard cuffed my hands, and I followed Dede out the door. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there.” Garnier poked me in the ribs with his gun. “Just keep moving. End of the hall to the stairs.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
The lights on the Marina Deck, where we had been earlier that morning and found Ida’s body, had been turned off. The entire gym area was dark. The only light was that that came from a snack machine. And the only sound was the sloshing of water from the indoor pool. Sully went ahead of Marco and Tatiana and, finding a light switch on the wall, flipped the overhead lights on, then pointed with his gun for us to enter.
The four of us shuffled through the doorway.
“There’re some towels on the rack by the pool. You can use ‘em to sit on if you like. You’re going to be here awhile. And don’t get any ideas about screaming for help. Nobody will hear you, not over the sound of the engines. Besides, everyone upstairs is sound asleep. Doctor Jon spiked their welcome-back drinks when we left Positano. Between what the Doc put in their drinks and the ship’s rocking, nobody will ever know about what happened here tonight.”
“What are you going to do?” Dede snapped. “Throw us overboard?”
“That’s up to you, Dede. But right now, you’re all going to sit down while we wait for your friends to arrive.”
“What friends?” Marco twisted his hands in the plastic ties around his wrists.
“Sit down!” Sully pointed his gun at us again, and we struggled to sit cross-legged on the floor.
“As I said, your friends should be here in a minute. I’m surprised Elli and Irene aren’t here already, but they’ll be along. After that, Antonio will be down with Neil, Captain Byard, and that nosy cabin boy, Finn. Things got a little out of hand upstairs. Captain Byard tried to be a hero, and Neil doesn’t look so good, but they’ll be fine.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Why do you think? You know too much. In fact, Ms. Lawson, if you hadn’t come on board and gotten so curious about everything, things might have ended happily. Instead, I’m sorry to say we have some rather unpleasant business ahead of us. Your friends can thank you for that.”
“So, Ida was right all along,” I said.
“Shut up!” Sully stepped forward, raised his hand above his head, and was about to hit me across the face when the elevator doors opened. He stopped with his hand in the air. “What the… Why’d you take the elevator, you fool? I told you, take the stairs. We don’t want to alert anyone.”
“What do you expect? The old lady can hardly walk.” Doctor Jon held Elli and Irene by the elbow, one on either side of him, their hands tied behind their backs, as they got off the elevator and pushed them toward us.
“You really think you’re going to get away with this?” I struggled to get comfortable. The camera inside my backpack felt like a rock against my back.
Sully laughed. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, Ms. Lawson. And yes, I do think we’ll get away with it. We’ve been getting away with it for years. And now, we’re on our final trip, and nobody, least of all, some hack reporter from a third-rate travel journal and a creepy old battleaxe like Dede here is going to get in our way.”
“I beg your pardon.” Dede kicked one of the towels on the floor in Sully’s direction. “You can say what you want about Kat’s magazine, but I am not a creepy old battleaxe.”
The Inspector picked the towel up off the floor. “Take it easy, Sully. There’s no point in getting them all riled up. It’s going to be a long night.”
“Well then, chew on this, why don’t you?” Dede kicked her legs from under her and crossed her ankles. “I’ve known what you were up to all along, and I’m steps ahead of you.”
“What are you talking about, Dede?” Sully pointed the gun in Dede’s direction.
“I’m talking about the gold coin you had Greta hide in my bag. You think I didn’t know about it? You fool. Why do you think I came back when I did? Because I got bored with my cooking class? Please… If you think it’s just a few of us who know about you, you’re in for a big surprise.”
I started to squirm. I had no idea what Dede had in mind, but outspoken as she was, I feared she was about to get us all into deeper trouble than we were in already.
“And what kind of surprise is that?”
“The kind that will land you and your little Gang of Eight in jail.”
“Gang of Eight?” Sully scoffed. “Is that what you’re calling us.”
“Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? But don’t quote me. It’s not me that’s going to write about it. You think it’s some accident Kat’s on board. That she’s some…what did you call her, hack journalist?”
“Dede, please.“ I struggled against my ties.
“Relax, Kat. They already know. Or think they know. She’s not just a journalist. She’s an investigator, you idiot. An undercover agent working as a travel reporter. Touch one hair on her head, and you’ll spend the rest of your life hiding. That is if you’re lucky enough to get off this ship before she’s boarded by the entire Mediterranean Coast Guard.”
“You’re bluffing, Dede. Kat Lawson’s nothing but a disgraced reporter who couldn’t get a decent job with any credible publication unless she paid them to hire her. We checked her out. She was fired from her last job.” The Inspector waved his gun in front of Dede’s face.
“I’ve said enough. I’m not saying another word. Not until I talk to Neil.”
“Oh, you’ll talk to Neil, alright. But he’s not going to be able to help you.” The Inspector holstered his gun and turned to Sully. “Come, we’ll leave the guard at the door. We have some business to take care of upstairs.”
I waited until both the Inspector and Sully shut the door.
“Dede, is there something you need to tell me?” There was no way Dede could have known about my previous work as an undercover operative with the FBI. I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone nor written a word about it in my notes. How could Dede possibly know?
“I should have listened to Ida long ago. Poor woman. She was right all along. And now she’s dead, and here we are handcuffed below deck in Athena’s bowels at the mercy of a bunch of no-good, thieving pirates.”
