“That sounds good to me,” Nancy said. “Wait a minute. I thought you and Amber were going shopping?”
Bess shrugged. “You hadn’t been gone two minutes when Amber called and canceled. She said she had a headache. I’m a little concerned that she’s still moping over Craig.”
“Could be,” Nancy said. It’s still a little strange, she thought.
They decided the Palm Garden Café was the best choice for lunch, so they took the elevator up to the sundeck.
When the waiter had seated them at a table with a wonderful view of the distant Wisconsin shore, George asked about the meeting. “Well?”
Since she trusted her friends completely, and she felt she might need some help, Nancy decided to tell them that Craig had profiled three men on the ship as possible jewel thieves.
“Maybe I should put my bracelets and rings in the ship’s safe,” Bess said.
“I think he’s pretty high-profile, probably not interested in the jewels of people on the cruise,” Nancy said. “Plus, I doubt if he’d want to call attention to himself on the ship.”
“Of course, it never hurts to be aware of the possibility,” George added.
“True,” Nancy agreed.
After their sandwiches arrived, Nancy finished telling them how she and Craig were going to handle tailing the suspects. “So if I get a telephone call and suddenly make an excuse to leave, don’t say anything—especially if Amber is with us.”
“You can count on us, Nancy,” Bess assured her.
Nancy’s cell phone rang just as she was about to open the door to the suite. The three friends looked at one another. Maybe it was Craig?
“Hello?” Nancy said. She listened for several minutes. “Okay. I’m on my way.”
“So soon?” George said.
Nancy nodded. “Craig wants me to check on John Fulcrum. He’s been making a number of cell phone calls in the lounge on deck 4, and I’m supposed to get close enough to him to hear what he’s saying.”
George and Bess went on into the suite while Nancy hurried to take the elevator down to deck 4. When she got to the lounge, she recognized John Fulcrum immediately. He was sitting at a table by himself, still talking on his cell phone. There were several empty tables around him. Nancy sat down at one of the tables, took a paperback novel out of her purse, opened it up, and pretended to read. When the waitress came over, Nancy ordered a soft drink.
Mr. Fulcrum continued carrying on a conversation about buying and selling stock. Nancy listened closely for almost thirty minutes, but never once did she hear the word diamonds or anything else suspicious. Finally, Nancy decided that John Fulcrum was simply one of those men who liked to conduct business on his cell phone day and night.
Just as Nancy was leaving the lounge her own cell phone rang. It was Craig again, wanting her to see what Robert Jordan and his wife were up to. Craig was busy shadowing William Canton, and he had passed the Jordans on their way to the pool on the sundeck. “They were arguing about Mrs. Jordan’s diamonds,” Craig said. “I think it’s worth looking into.”
Nancy raced back to the elevator and rode up to the sundeck. The Jordans were sitting in deck chairs and were still arguing with each other.
Nancy made her way around the pool as unobtrusively as she could. Finally, she was almost behind the Jordans’ chairs. She was acting like she was paying attention to a game of water polo in the pool, so as not to look suspicious.
“I need to sell those diamonds, Gwen. You don’t need them,” Mr. Jordan was saying. “We’ve already had this conversation.”
“Why should you sell these when you have others you can sell?” Mrs. Jordan demanded.
Nancy was stunned by what she was hearing. Could Mr. Jordan really be the man responsible for the jewelry store robberies in Mexico and the United States? she wondered. Could the mystery be this easy to solve?
“Yes, I know that my mother willed them all to me and that there are others in the safety de—” Mr. Jordan stopped and looked directly at Nancy. “This is a private conversation, young lady. I’d appreciate it if you’d—”
“What? Stop watching the water polo match?” Nancy said. “It’s a little difficult not to hear what you’re saying, but since this is one of the best places to view the match, I’d prefer to stay. Please continue with your conversation, though. Rest assured that I have no interest in it.”
Mr. Jordan seemed miffed. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to being talked to like that. Mrs. Jordan, however, gave Nancy a grin.
After a few minutes the Jordans got up and moved to the other side of the pool. Nancy waited several minutes after they had left before moving, to make sure she didn’t give them any reason to suspect her any more than they did. Finally, she headed toward the elevators. So far the investigation had yielded nothing. She decided to take a chance and call Craig. She knew his cell phone was on vibrate, so if he couldn’t answer it, he wouldn’t. He picked it up after a couple of rings, though.
“Nancy? I can’t talk too long,” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Nancy said. “I just don’t think either Mr. Fulcrum or the Jordans are the jewel thieves. What about Mr. Canton?”
“I struck out there, too. I’m beginning to think that maybe the fugitive hasn’t come aboard yet,” Craig said. “We dock in Sturgeon Bay tomorrow morning. I suggest that we still keep an eye on these three suspects, because of the profile—but the fugitive might also be one of the new passengers coming aboard in Wisconsin.” He paused for a second. “Shoot—here comes Amber. I’ll talk to you later, if I can.” He quickly hung up.
When Nancy got to the suite, she immediately knew that Bess and George had something to tell her.
“What is it?” Nancy said.
“It’s Amber,” George said. “We just had a visit from her.”
“Oh? I thought she didn’t want to go shopping,” Nancy said. “Did she change her mind?”
“Oh, she didn’t come up here to go shopping,” Bess said. “She thinks you and Craig are seeing each other secretly. She thinks you’re trying to take Craig away from her!”
5
Suspicious Passengers
“Where in the world did she get an idea like that?” Nancy said.
