George picked up her speed, leaving Nancy a few paces behind. “I’ll stop it!” she shouted.
They finally had the ship in sight, but the gangway was being pulled up.
“Stop! Stop!” George screamed. Both she and Nancy started waving their hands.
At last one of the crewmen saw them, shouted something to the men on the shore, and the gangway was lowered back to the ground.
Nancy and George reached the gangway, raced onto the ship, and fell against one of the railings.
“You’re lucky one of the crew saw you.”
Nancy managed to look up, in between gasps for air. The captain was giving them both a stern look.
“We got locked in a room in the basement of one of the shops,” George told him. “We didn’t do this on purpose.”
“Well, try not to cut it so close next time,” the captain said. “We have a schedule to keep.”
With that, he and one of his officers resumed their conversation.
Nancy was slowly getting her breath back. She looked over at George, who didn’t seem to have been fazed at all by the run to the ship.
“Come on, George. I’m worried about Bess,” Nancy said. “We need to go check on her.”
“Why are you worried about her?” George said as they hurried toward the clinic.
“Getting locked inside that room was no accident,” Nancy explained. “Someone did that to us deliberately.”
When the girls reached the clinic, they discovered that Bess had been discharged a short time before and had gone back to their suite.
“She’s managing quite well on her crutches,” the nurse told them. “In fact, she probably won’t even need them in a few days.”
Nancy and George raced back toward the elevator and took it to deck 5.
They found Bess propped up in her bed.
“Thank goodness!” Bess cried when she saw them. “When your cell phone didn’t answer, I thought something had happened to you. Especially after what I heard.”
“What did you hear?” Nancy asked.
“Well, the clinic released me right before the passengers started reboarding the ship,” Bess explained. “I was just about to go around a corner so I could take the elevator to our deck when I heard Craig and Amber laughing about something.” She paused. “At first it sounded sort of like a romantic thing, if you know what I mean, and I didn’t want to interrupt them. So I stopped. I thought Craig might be giving her a kiss. Instead, I heard Amber say something like, That should take care of them!’ I was hoping to hear more, but they started walking again. They came around the corner where I was standing, so I had to pretend that I was adjusting my crutches.”
“Craig and Amber?” George said. She looked over at Nancy. “Do you think they’re the ones who locked us in that room?”
Nancy told Bess what had happened. “My cell phone didn’t work because of the thick walls,” she said.
“I never trusted Craig,” Bess said. “I think he’s been treating Amber really poorly.”
“Bess, you just said that both Craig and Amber were laughing about what happened,” George said. “That means Amber knows about it and was probably in on it.”
“Well, I’m quite sure that Craig talked her into it,” Bess insisted. “I can’t imagine that Amber would think up something like that on her own.” She turned to Nancy. “Just how much do you know about him, Nancy?” she asked.
“Well, I …” Nancy paused. “I told George the whole story this morning, so I might as well tell you. Craig isn’t just a detective. He works for Interpol, and he’s trying to catch a fugitive who stole millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds from jewelry stores in Mexico and the United States. This person is trying to escape to Canada.”
Bess looked at her incredulously. “On a cruise ship?” she asked.
“It actually makes some sense, Bess,” Nancy countered. “Because, just like you, most people would find it hard to believe.”
“Did Craig show you his credentials?” Bess said.
“Of course he did,” Nancy said.
“Did you study them carefully?” Bess said.
“Yes, I… well, I looked at them,” Nancy said. She knew she was blushing. She hadn’t really examined them carefully. “But, no, I didn’t do any sort of test on them, if that’s what you mean.”
Bess just looked at her for a moment.
“Okay, so I probably let the thought of getting involved in an international mystery temporarily cloud my judgment,” Nancy admitted. “I probably wanted to believe he worked for Interpol.”
“Craig could be the fugitive himself, Nancy,” George said. “Amber could be his accomplice.”
“Or maybe Amber is his innocent victim,” Bess countered. “I just really don’t see Amber being involved in this.”
“I think you’re both wrong about Craig, but I’ll do some research,” Nancy said. “Maybe I’ll call Dad in Toronto and ask him if he can find out about any investigation of jewelry store robberies in Mexico and the United States.”
“That’s a good idea. Makes me feel better,” Bess said. “So tell me everything that you did in Alpena.”
“Maybe later? I’m all talked—er, shouted out,” George said. “I don’t feel like using my voice. Why don’t you tell us what you did?”
