We watched as James walked over to the edge of the ship's railing and stood there, wobbling back and forth.
"Do you think he's going to jump?"
"I don't know, Kit. But I'm wondering why he's just standing there and not trying to climb over the railing to jump, or do whatever he came up here to do."
We stood there freezing and soaking wet, holding on to each other, waiting to see what James's plan was.
Finally Kat said, "Maybe I should go over and call the Captain on one of the emergency phones, while you keep watch over him."
"No way. I don't want you out of my sight. If James sees you, he might come after you, and in this storm anything can happen. I feel safer with you standing and hanging on to me just like you're doing."
We stood there for about ten minutes, with the strong gusts of wind and sheets of rain almost knocking us over every few seconds. We were both hanging onto each other and onto a pole that was half under the overhead and half on the pool side. The water from the pool was splashing out and we were soon ankle deep in water
"Look, Kit, James is going to pass out. He's losing his grip on the railing and holding his hand to his forehead. I think he's getting ready to jump."
With that, James lifted his right leg over the railing. As I darted toward him, Kat screamed at me, "Kit, what are you doing? It's too dangerous. Come back here." Then I heard her words, "Dear Lord, keep him safe."
I reached James and tried to pull him off the railing, but he was fighting me. It was hard to hold on to him because of the storm. Just then I felt another pair of arms much stronger than mine helping me pull James back on the deck. It was one of the ship's officers. We learned later that he also had been following James.
By this time, because of the drug James had taken, he completely passed out. We had finally caught our thief and murderer.
Later that morning, Inspector Rashan took James to the police in our next port of call, which was Dubrovnik. That was the last time any of us at table nine saw James. We heard later from Inspector Rashan that he had confessed to the robbery and the two murders. He was facing a double life sentence behind prison walls. Inspector Rashan said he had heard that James had been telling the other prison inmates he was a famous movie star in his homeland, and that he was trying to get permission to start a drama club, with him being the director and star.
The Inspector told us, "No way is that ever going to happen!"
Epilogue
Two and a Half Years Later
Now that everyone was free to disembark, we all enjoyed the rest of the cruise and our visits to Venice, Rome, Malta and other places. We agreed it was all we'd hoped it would be. As promised, Jason and Maria took all of us at table nine to lunch at one of their favorite restaurants in Dubrovnik, and promised to repeat the invitation when we reached Venice.
We had a great time and all decided to keep in touch via email. And we would to try to come together for another cruise, using our free "anywhere in the world" passes where the cruise line went, for the cruise company admitted that the disruption had lasted long enough for everyone to deserve this compensation. In six more months it would be our first anniversary. We all thought that would be a great time to come together.
But because of our detective agency just getting started, we had to skip our one-year anniversary. Instead, we all from table nine joined together for our number two. All except Chad, that is. His medical school was all he could handle at the time. But Mark and Sally assured us he was doing well and was going to make a great doctor.
We did have a new person join us though: Marcy's new husband, Hank, another rich cattle rancher, and like Maria and Jason, very nice. We all were so happy for Maria. Maria told us that Marcy no longer gambles, and hasn't had a drink of any kind of liquor for over two years. She seemed to be extremely happy, and since Hank was wealthy, Maria knew he had married Marcy for love . . . not for her money.
Our detective agency is doing well, but it's taken a while to get started. When we returned, everything was finished. Our dads did a great job in painting each room with the correct colors, and no mishaps. They brought in all of the furniture and placed each piece in the correct rooms. We were very proud of them, and told them of our appreciation.
We opened our doors, waiting anxiously for our first customer. Three weeks after opening, in she walked.
She told us her name was Anita Sinclair, and she was once a famous movie star. Neither Kat nor I had ever heard of her before. She came into the office dressed like she was still living in the early fifties: platinum blonde hair, a big white hat, (later Kat told me it was called a picture hat), white gloves, spiked heels and a light blue suit. She was also wearing very big dark sunglasses. She looked like she'd come right out of a Sam Spade movie.
She told us she'd been blackmailed for over thirty years and she was now tired of it. "I have plenty of money, and can afford to continue to pay my blackmailer, but I want it stopped. My husband has passed away, and since he was the one I was hiding my past from, there's no need to continue to pay. I loved my husband very much, but now that he is gone why should I keep on paying to keep the blackmailer quiet? I don't care any longer. I don't know who it is, as I always send cash to a P.O. Box number.
"I want to hire you to find the person and retrieve the written information they have about me. I want the blackmailer arrested and put in prison for life. He or she is probably in their late sixties or early seventies, about the same age as . . ." She looked up at us and smiled, never finishing her sentence.
She opened her white purse and threw a wad of one hundred dollar bills on our desk. "This is your retainer. Twenty-five thousand dollars. If you find the blackmailer, I'll pay an additional hundred thousand. It will be cheaper than paying blackmail. Are the two of you interested?"
How could we turn that down? Our first case as professional detectives, a client who still lives in the fifties, and twenty-five thousand dollars lying on our desk. It didn't take Kat long to answer.
"Yes, Mrs. Sinclair, we'd love to take on your case."
Kat turned to me. I smiled and said, "Give us all the information you can. First, by telling us what city and state you send the money to."
"That's the easy part" she said. "I send it to a P.O. Box in Honolulu, Hawaii."
The Prayer
If you have never said a prayer to invite Christ into your life and would like to do it now, please say this prayer out loud.
"Dear Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and that You died to take the punishment for all of my sins. I believe You rose from the dead just as You said You would. I now want to invite You to come into my life, to wash me clean and give me eternal life with You. Amen."
If you said this prayer, have faith that Jesus came into your life immediately, as He refuses no one. Please tell someone who you know is a Christian what you have done, and find a church and a Bible study that teaches Jesus is the way to eternal life, so God can work in you. You will be happy you did.
I also would like to hear from you.
Email: [email protected]
Chuck
Please tell your friends on social media about this book.
High Sea Murder Page 13
