“Well, I designed some dresses for Laura, so they’d be ready for her to look at when she got back on the ship,” Bess said. “But I guess they released me before she could come by.”
“That’s strange,” Nancy said. “We saw Laura right before we got locked in, and she said she was on her way to see you.”
Bess shrugged. “Maybe she got involved with something else,” she said. “I’ll call her.”
“Go ahead,” Nancy said. “I want to take a shower.”
“I need to do some laps,” George said. “That’ll help me unwind.” George slipped into her swimsuit and left the suite.
Nancy undressed, put on her robe, and began brushing her hair. Bess picked up the telephone and called Laura’s room.
“Hi, Laura. It’s Bess!” Bess said. “The clinic discharged me before you got back on the ship. Did you find anything interesting in Alpena?”
Bess listened for a minute, then said, “Well, I have some designs I’d like you to look at, if you have some time. Could you come to our suite? We’re on deck 5, suite 502.” She paused for a moment, listening. “Okay. See you in half an hour.”
Just as Nancy started to go into the bathroom she noticed that Bess looked suddenly glum.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Bess said. “Laura’s voice … she just didn’t seem as interested as she was last night.” She shrugged. “Well, she’s coming—so I must be imagining things.”
“She may just be tired, Bess,” Nancy said. “She really was in a good mood when we saw her onshore, and she was looking forward to seeing your designs.”
Nancy stayed in the shower longer than she normally did because it felt so good. By the time she got out and had combed her hair and brushed her teeth, Bess was in the middle of showing Laura her dress designs.
“Hi, Laura!” Nancy said.
Laura turned and smiled, then returned to looking at Bess’s designs.
After several minutes Bess said, “Well, that’s it. That’s my collection. What do you think?”
“It’s nice. You draw well,” Laura said. “I’m just not sure anything here really appeals to me.”
Nancy saw Bess’s face drop. In fact, Nancy was a bit confused too. Laura didn’t seem as friendly as she had been before, even when Nancy and George encountered her at the shop—and she certainly was not as lively as she was at dinner.
“I have some other ideas,” Bess said. “I’ll start on them right away, then show them to you.”
Laura stood up. “Okay, if you want—but only if you feel like it. Now I’d better go. I have a million things to do!”
After Laura had left their suite, neither Nancy nor Bess said anything for a few minutes. Then Nancy climbed onto Bess’s bed and said, “Let me see your designs.”
Bess pushed them over to her without saying anything.
“Bess, these are wonderful!” Nancy said. “So professional! I really can’t believe there was nothing here that Laura liked.”
“They were all designed with her personality in mind,” Bess said. She paused for a minute. “It’s almost as if—well… as if that woman weren’t Laura.”
Nancy stopped looking at the designs and looked at Bess. “What do you mean? Of course that was Laura. But maybe she was just tired, like I thought.” When Bess didn’t say anything, Nancy said, “What makes you think she’s like a different woman, aside from the mood shift?”
“Well, for one thing, she wasn’t wearing the gold necklace that she said she’d never take off,” Bess said. “And another thing: Her fingernail polish didn’t match the outfit she was wearing.”
Nancy was amazed at Bess’s observations. She hadn’t noticed these things at all.
Suddenly, Nancy wondered if perhaps Bess might be right. Could the person who just left their room be an impostor?
9
Thief on Deck
“You’ve always been a good judge of character, Bess,” Nancy said, “so if you think that woman wasn’t Laura Houston, then I’m listening.”
“Nancy, with the exception of the fingernail polish and the missing gold necklace, she looked like Laura Houston,” Bess said. “She just didn’t act like her.” She shivered and pulled the bedcovers up around her. “It was weird.”
Nancy used her cell phone to call Craig. “We need to talk now,” she said. “It’s very important.”
Craig told Nancy that he was at the reception desk. He wanted her to pass by the desk without stopping; she should just walk in front as though she were on her way to someplace else. He’d follow her.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes, Bess,” Nancy said. She thought for a minute. “Don’t let anyone else in. If they knock, don’t answer. George has her own key, so she won’t need you to open the door for her.”
“You’re scaring me, Nancy,” Bess said. “Do you think Laura is capable of doing something violent?”
“I don’t know what to think, Bess. This really may be some elaborate hoax,” Nancy said, “but then again, it could be the same Laura Houston—just a different version of her.”
Bess gasped. “Do you mean she might have multiple personalities?”
Nancy shrugged. “I’m just saying that we should be prepared for anything, that’s all.” She went over and gave Bess a big hug. “Will you be all right?”
