Amber and a young man were standing at the railing near the stern of the ship. They looked like they were arguing.
“I wonder if that’s Craig,” George said.
“Me too,” Nancy said. “If it is, we probably shouldn’t interrupt them.”
“Well, if that is Craig, it’s not looking like Amber is going to have a good time on this cruise,” Bess said.
“We’ll try to sit with her at dinner,” Nancy said. “Maybe we can learn more about what’s going on.”
Once they were back in their suite, they showered and began dressing for dinner.
Bess tried on all three of her evening dresses before she finally decided on the red one. George tried on only one, but she kept groaning about how totally uncomfortable she was in it. Nancy knew which one she wanted to wear: the yellow one that reminded her of Hannah’s daffodils. While she waited for Bess to finish dressing Nancy thought about what might be going on between Amber and Craig.
“We are absolutely gorgeous!” Bess said finally. “All eyes are going to be on us.”
“Let’s hurry so I can get back and get out of this thing,” George said. “I really just want to try out the pool.”
Bess shook her head. “I’m beginning to wonder if we’re really cousins, George Fayne,” she remarked.
They all took the elevator down to deck 3.
When they arrived at the entrance to the restaurant, Nancy quickly spotted Amber sitting by herself at one of the tables at the back of the room.
“We’re in luck,” Nancy said. She walked up to the maître d’ to announce their arrival for dinner. “Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and George Fayne,” she said.
The maître d’ consulted his seating chart and told them that they were near the front of the restaurant.
“Do you see that girl over there?” Nancy whispered to him. “She’s a new friend of ours, and we were wondering if we could sit with her. She looks so lonely.”
“Well, I don’t know, the seating chart is—”
Nancy cut him off. “Couldn’t you switch us? She’s not having a lot of fun.”
At the mention of a passenger not enjoying the cruise, the man changed his tune. “It shouldn’t be too much trouble.”
Actually, it was no trouble at all. He merely punched some numbers into a computer, and in less than a minute the computer printed out a brand-new seating chart.
“Aren’t computers great?” Nancy said to him.
The maître d’ gave her a conspiratorial grin. “Yes, indeed,” he said. He led the girls over to Amber’s table.
When Amber saw them coming, Nancy noticed her face brighten for a split second. Very quickly, though, she went back to looking glum.
When the three of them were seated, Bess said, “This cruise is going to be so much fun, Amber! We took a short tour of the ship, and it has everything you could possibly want!”
“I wish I hadn’t come,” Amber said.
“What’s wrong?” Nancy asked.
“Craig promised that he’d spend as much time with me as possible when he wasn’t working,” Amber said. “I don’t even know what his job is, but I’ve hardly seen him. I confronted him earlier about it, but he just acted, well… mysterious.”
“Mysterious?” Nancy said. She remembered thinking the same thing about Amber.
The young woman nodded in response.
“Well, if there’s a mystery involved, then Nancy is the one to talk to,” George said.
Amber looked puzzled. “What do you mean?” she said.
“It’s no big deal, Amber. I always feel lucky when I can help people with problems like this, that’s all,” Nancy countered. She got embarrassed when people talked about her sleuthing. “If there’s some way we can find out what the problem is, we’ll be glad to help.”
“Really?” Amber said. “Because … well… I don’t think Craig told me the truth about who he really is.”
3
International Fugitive
After breakfast the next morning Nancy went to the ship’s library and searched the Internet for a list of the cruise staff. She wanted to find out a bit more about Craig.
Scanning the screen, Nancy saw that Craig was the assistant shore excursion manager. That meant he coordinated the activities of the passengers when the ship docked at the various ports of call.
Now Nancy was even more confused. Why is it that Craig doesn’t have enough time for Amber? she wondered. Nancy was sure that Craig’s busiest time would be when the ship was in port. When the ship was on the water, he’d still have work to do to make sure the passengers would have successful days onshore, but Nancy couldn’t imagine that Craig was so completely tied up that he couldn’t at least spend a couple of hours a day with Amber. Plus, he was the one who had asked her to come on the trip—and had even purchased her a ticket for less than the original cost.
Nancy knew that the reception desk was just past the elevators on deck 3. She decided that the best course of action would be to go there to ask about what kinds of tours were available when the ship stopped at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. She was hoping that maybe Craig would be available to talk to her and that she could get a sense of what he was like from their conversation.
Unfortunately, when Nancy got to the reception desk, she saw that it was being manned by a young woman. Her name tag said SHEILA DOUGHTERY.
