“Well, he didn’t have to, did he?” Amber said angrily. “You know he didn’t pay any attention to me on this cruise.” She looked at Nancy. “I owe you an apology. I thought you and Craig had started seeing each other—but I know I was wrong.”
“Right—Craig and I weren’t seeing each other,” Nancy said. “I did have several conversations with him, but they were about his work, not about you.”
Amber blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain later,” Nancy said. “But tell me what happened.”
Amber told them that she and Craig had gone to a restaurant in downtown Port Huron. Craig had seemed preoccupied about something. When Amber asked him about it, he just got angry and told her it had to do with his job. He didn’t want to talk about it. They had eaten their meal in silence, but right before dessert came, Craig excused himself to go to the men’s room—and never returned. Amber even had one of the waiters check the men’s room, but Craig wasn’t in there. She paid the bill and hurried back to the ship to tell the captain what had happened.
Just then the ship’s horn sounded, and the lounge began to vibrate as the engines started.
George and Bess looked anxiously at Nancy.
“That’s all, Amber?” Nancy said.
Amber nodded. “All my things are on this ship, and I don’t know anyone in Port Huron,” she said, “so I just decided to come back here and worry about what I’m going to do later.”
“That creep!” Bess said. “I never trusted him.”
Nancy subtly laid a hand on Bess’s arm, to remind her not to say much else.
“What did the captain say when you told him?” Nancy asked.
Amber made a face. “Well, he was angry,” she replied. “He said he’d report the disappearance to the Port Huron authorities. I could tell by his attitude, though, that he thought Craig really left just to get away from me.”
Nancy didn’t know what to do. If she said too much about her relationship with Craig, she’d jeopardize the investigation he was involved in; that is, if there really was an investigation. Could it be that Craig Oliver was the real impostor on board? Nancy couldn’t afford to take a chance by revealing what Craig had told her he was doing—at least, not until she did a little more investigating herself.
“Bess, why don’t you and George see that Amber gets back to her cabin safely?” Nancy said. “I need to go back to our suite for a few minutes.”
“Come on, Amber,” Bess said. “We’ll take you to your cabin.”
“I know this has been a shock,” George added, “but you have three friends here you can count on.”
Nancy quickly headed toward their suite to phone her father. When she got there, she looked in her address book and found the telephone number of the hotel in Toronto where Mr. Drew was staying.
Nancy tried to use her cell phone, but she couldn’t get it to ring the Toronto number. She picked up the receiver of the suite’s telephone and asked the ship’s operator to make the call.
Carson Drew answered on the third ring. “Nancy, it’s so good to hear your voice!” he said. “You almost missed me. I was just about to leave for a meeting.”
“I’ll be quick, Dad,” Nancy said. “I have something I need you to do for me.”
“Sounds mysterious,” Carson Drew teased. “I thought you’d be able to relax on this trip.”
Nancy laughed. “I seem to attract big cases, Dad,” she said. “You know that.”
“I most certainly do,” Mr. Drew said. “What is it that you need?”
Nancy quickly told her father everything she could remember about Craig Oliver and his investigation of the multiple jewel robberies. She told him about Bess’s fall on the stairs and how she thought it had been meant for her, and about being locked in the building in Alpena. Nancy also told him about Laura Houston.
“But now, Dad, I’m not sure of anything. It could all be a hoax,” Nancy said. “Can you find out if there really is an Interpol investigation and if the lead investigator is a Craig Oliver?” She gave her father a complete description of Craig so that she could be sure—even if there was an ongoing investigation—that the man she had been working with wasn’t an impostor.
“I’ll find out what I can for you, Nancy,” Carson Drew said. “I’ll make some inquiries right away, and I’ll call you as soon as I find out anything.”
“Great, Dad. And don’t worry about us!” Nancy said. “We’re being careful, and we really are having a great time.”
Just as Nancy hung up, the telephone rang. It was Bess.
“You need to come to Amber’s room right away,” Bess said.
“What’s wrong?” Nancy asked. She was beginning to imagine all kinds of horrible things.
“It’s too complicated, Nancy,” Bess said, “but what we’ve just learned changes everything.”
“Okay,” Nancy said. “I’m on my way.”
When Nancy reached Amber’s cabin, she found Amber lying on the bed. Bess and George were sitting on the sofa. They all looked stunned.
“Amber wants to tell you something, Nancy,” Bess said. “You’d better sit down with us.”
Nancy joined her two friends on the sofa. “Okay, Amber, what is it that you want to tell me?”
“Craig wasn’t really a detective after all, Nancy,” Amber said. “He got this job on the cruise ship so he could steal things from the passengers.”
Nancy looked at Bess and George.
“Were you ready for that?” Bess asked.
“No, I wasn’t,” Nancy said.
