“Yoo-hoo! Kat. Ms. Lawson. Up here.” The Churchill sisters hugged each other and waved enthusiastically, like I was some arriving dignitary they couldn’t wait to meet. “Might we see you for a moment? Meet us in the lobby. It’s most urgent.”
Curious about what might be urgent, I immediately went from the Marina portal, where I entered the ship and took the elevator to the Promenade Lobby. There, standing beneath the Athena statue, were the Churchill sisters. Irene, the taller of the two, had her hand to her mouth and had stooped to whisper in her sister’s ear. Upon seeing me, she dropped her hand, and the two toddled toward me.
“We’re so glad you’re back on board.” Ida took my arm, linking it through her own, and pulled me aside. “We’ve news.”
I had no doubt the urgent matter the sisters wanted to discuss was Dede, but what could these two amateur sleuths have discovered that I didn’t already know and dare not say?
“What’s happened?”
Ida continued. “Well, after you left our tea yesterday, it occurred to us we might be able to find proof that Dede was missing—”
“And,” Irene interrupted. “We decided to call Dede’s cell phone, but—”
“She didn’t answer.” Ida finished her sister’s sentence, patting my hand as she spoke.
“And you think that means what?” I asked. I had a vision of Dede’s cell phone in the bottom of her bag ringing aimlessly inside my cabin.
“Well, what else could it mean? If Dede had been able to answer, she would have picked up. She’s obviously in trouble. Don’t you think?” Irene sounded miffed.
I didn’t know what to think, only that I didn’t want to let on that I was concerned Dede Drummerhausen might have come to an unsavory end. But still, I clung to the hope that she could have left the ship voluntarily.
“Explain something to me. Captain Byard and Chief Sully don’t seem terribly concerned Dede might be missing. In fact, when I spoke with them about it, they appeared to be satisfied Dede had departed as expected Sunday morning.”
“Of course, they would.” Ida clenched her jaw. “Captain Byard and the Chief think we’re nothing but a couple of crazy old loons. I’m sure they told you as much.”
I squelched a smile. No need to go down that road.
“But they must have seen Dede’s name on some manifest when she went ashore. Surely there’s a record of her leaving?”
“That’s just it.” Ida shook a finger at me. “There’s not.”
“Why not?” I couldn’t imagine there wasn’t an accounting somewhere, but when I came aboard, only Finn met me, and he hadn’t asked for my I.D.
“If this were a tourist ship, there would be all kinds of protocols. But Athena isn’t a cruise ship. We’re a permanent residence, and we operate like a commercial vessel. The residents and crew are all covered by the ship’s manifest, and when we’re in port and want to leave, all we do is flash our shipboard I.D.” Irene dangled her lanyard with her picture I.D. in front of me. “With this, we can come and go as we like.”
“I see. So, once the gangway was in place, Dede could have walked off—”
“Or,” Ida jutted in again, “she was pushed overboard the night before.”
“But who would do such a thing, and for what reason?” I could think of a four-million-dollar reason if the coin hidden in the bottom of Dede’s bag was authentic. The coin may have cost Dede her life, and if I weren’t careful and said too much, it might very well cost me my own life as well.
“We’ve no idea. But don’t take our word for it. Join us for dinner tonight. Irene and I are dining with Monsieur Inspector Garnier. He’s a retired private investigator and very respected.”
“And his wife, of course. You mustn’t forget Camile, Ida.”
“How could I forget Camile? Poor thing, she’s skinny as a rail. Speedwalks every morning on the Promenade Deck. You may have seen her around. Wears her hair in a bun so tight her brows arch like a draw bridge.” Ida drew her brows back with her hands. “Like this. Can you imagine?”
“The aerialist,” I said. “Yes, I saw her last night. Captain Byard gave me a tour of the ship. She was working out on the rings above the pool.”
Irene took her sister’s hands from her brow. “You’ll have to forgive my sister. She tends to be a bit dramatic. But I’m sure, aside from the fact the woman eats like a bird, you’ll enjoy meeting them. They’re a lovely couple. Very friendly for Parisians. Please join us. We’ve made reservations at Romano’s. Eight p.m.”
Chapter Nine
Ispotted Marco in the hallway as I returned to my cabin. Fortunately, the sun had yet to set, and Athena’s resident sleepwalking kleptomaniac was very much awake and fully dressed. He nodded politely and tapped the top of his yachtsman’s hat as we passed. I wished him a happy birthday, not wanting to be rude, and then hurried toward the cabin door with my keys.
Once inside, I checked to see if Dede’s bag was still behind the door. I had an uneasy feeling Marco had been lurking in the hallway and that I had interrupted an attempted theft. Relieved to see the bag where I had left it on top of the entry table, I picked it up and immediately felt for the coin. Feeling it solidly within the lining, I took the bag to the dining table, where I emptied it, placing Dede’s wallet and phone on the table. Then, I reached inside, felt for the hole in the lining where I had reinserted the small plastic bag with a coin inside, and pulled them out.
The coin was smaller and thicker than the flashy EID MAR gold pendant Greta wore around her neck. It looked worn and rubbed with age. Not at all like some highly polished souvenir charm Dede might have stuffed into her bag for good luck.
I closed my hand around the bagged coin. How had I gotten myself into the middle of such a mess? This was supposed to be a vacation, and now I feared I had stumbled upon a murder and a possible high-stakes smuggling operation. What was I supposed to do? Part of me wanted to return the coin to the bag and have nothing to do with it. And the other part of me, the part that knew better, wouldn’t let go of the idea that I was on to a really big story, and if I didn’t cover it, I’d regret it. Damnit.
Rather than slide the bagged coin back inside Dede’s bag, I went to the safe in the guest room, where I peeled back the safe’s carpeted lining and, with the EID MAR coin safely inside the plastic bag, slid it beneath the padding then smoothed the lining back in place. If someone were to come searching for the coin and suspected I had hidden it inside, even if they could unlock the safe, it would appear empty. Satisfied I had done what I could, I shut the safe’s door and locked it, using Dede’s condo number 1-2-2-1 as the entry code. I then returned to the living room and took Dede’s black bag from the dining table, and this time, rather than leave it on top of the entry table in plain sight, I placed the bag inside the top drawer. But before I had a chance to close the drawer, the apartment phone rang. Startled, I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was alone, then slammed the drawer shut and reached for the wall phone.
“Hello?”
“Kat, it’s Byard. We on for dinner tonight?”
I clutched the phone to my ear. I would have liked nothing better than dinner with the captain, followed by a late-night stroll along the deck. But after meeting with the Professor and his wife this afternoon and learning that the coin hidden inside Dede’s bag might be worth four million dollars, I was torn. I sensed a story. Not the story I’d been assigned to, but something sinister. Something to do with the Professor, Dede, and the Brutus Coin, and perhaps the unexplained drowning of the previous captain. The only way to find out what was going on would be to get to know as many of the residents aboard Athena as I could without being obvious. And broken dinner date or not, that’s exactly what I would do.
“Rain check?” I apologized and told Byard the Churchill sisters had insisted I dine with them. “They have reservations at Romanos with Inspector Garnier and his wife.”
“Let me guess, they have more to tell you about Dede.”
I dismissed Byard’s remark with a laugh. “It’s a nice gesture, and I really can’t refuse.”
“I’m sure you couldn’t. Nor should you. Enjoy.” Byard hung up. I wasn’t sure if he felt slighted that I had accepted another dinner invite or if his response was merely a polite way of maintaining a professional distance.
I looked out the bedroom’s glass doors at Procida’s port. I could feel the vibrations of Athena’s heavy anchor as it was pulled from the deep waters beneath us. The lights of Terra Murata slowly began to fade as we began to move. Feeling like I had my sea legs, I showered, washed my hair, dressed, slipped into the simple black shift I had brought for dinner, and grabbed my camera.
