Madison Johns - Agnes Barton 07 - High Seas Honeymoon

by Madison Johns

  “I really don’t see how that makes him legendary.”

  “He’s a thief and pulled off a few heists, even went to prison for ten years, but he was released and was on this cruise when Han Smith was robbed.”

  “Where is Kacey’s father now?”

  “I’m not sure. Kacey told me she hasn’t spoken to him in years. Her father’s past has been an embarrassment to her and a black mark against the entire family. Back in high school, she was shunned, but her family wasn’t a concern for me. Kacey is a great person … and she’s the sweetest person I’ve ever known. Since high school, she hasn’t told anyone about her father’s past.”

  “So, Brady was interested in Kacey’s father, but why is that a concern for you?”

  “Because she thinks Kacey might be used to get her father to come clean about where the money is,” Eleanor said.

  “I wanted to hear Liz say that,” I said. “I’ve put that part together already. Kacey lied about going off with a man that first day when she disappeared,” I informed her.

  Liz’s eye widened. “I know. She told me that she didn’t want to worry me. I’m just not sure why she kept it from me.”

  “I suppose you’ll have to ask her that yourself if we find her,” Eleanor said.

  “Right now I’m worried that someone is holding her somewhere to get at her father, using her to force him to reveal where the money is. Threatening to kill her, even,” I said.

  Liz bit down on her fist. “We have to find her and quick.”

  “When was the last time you spoke with Brady?”

  “Before dinner, but he never showed up to eat with me. That seemed strange, since we’re getting married tomorrow, but when Kacey also didn’t show up and wasn’t in her room, I really began to worry.”

  “Did you tell Brady that? He might be trying to find Kacey before it’s too late.”

  “I’m not sure, I might have.”

  “Or he might have overheard your argument, Liz,” Pat said. “We need to find them both and sort this out.”

  “Find the captain and tell him that Kacey and Brady are both missing. Eleanor and I will check below decks to find out if Kacey is in the same place as last time when she was missing. She was let out by someone who works in the engine room.”

  I took the key out of my pocket and opened the gate that separated lower decks from the one above it. I didn’t even think about calling Andrew to tell him what we were doing. All I could think about was finding Kacey before it was too late. Whoever held her wouldn’t be all that happy when they found out that she didn’t know anything. Right now, I wasn’t sure if Brady was involved or not, since he wasn’t even on the ship when she went missing the first time, but that didn’t mean that someone else on the ship wasn’t involved with Kacey’s disappearance. I didn’t even want to think about how far this plot might have gone.

  “Do you think we should really go down there?” Eleanor whispered in my ear.

  “We need to hurry.”

  When we were in the corridor that led to the engine room, it was deadly silent. The only sounds were the creaks and groans of the ship as it broke through the waves of the ocean.

  Neither Eleanor nor I spoke right now. I certainly didn’t want to alert anyone that we were coming. It eased my mind somewhat that the captain was being alerted.

  I began checking all of the closet doors, but Kacey wasn’t in any of them. I even checked the closet where we found out she had been held the last time. When the door creaked open, Kacey wasn’t there and I lost all hope, until we walked out of the room and heard scuffling along the far wall. I led the way and followed the noise, even though my heart beat louder and louder. Was I heading to my death, or would we be able to save Kacey in time?

  Eleanor pulled me backwards and we hid behind part of a wall that extended out enough to remain unseen. Then I heard whimpering and Kacey’s voice say, “Keep looking for that money.”

  “What makes you think it’s even down here?”

  “Because your father said it was when I called him. He was very obliging when I told him I had you tied up and that your life hangs in the balance if we don’t find what we’re looking for.”

  Musical laughter followed. “Smart move, but I’m shocked my father would even care. It’s not like we’ve seen each other the last year.”

  There was a clanging of metal and grunts of frustration. This certainly was a turn of events. Just when I heard a popping sound and something metal being scrapped across the floor, there was another sound: my cellphone, saying: ‘You have message from Andrew.’

  I pressed my back against the metal wall, as Eleanor and I tried to move toward the nearest door where we could hide, but no such luck. Suddenly Kacey and Brady confronted us.

  “What are you doing down here?” Kacey asked, with a narrowing of her eyes.

  “Oh, you know, we made a wrong turn somewhere and wound up down here,” Eleanor said with a shrug. “Of all the luck, you’re here, too.”

  “We’ve been looking for you, you know, to see if you’re okay since you went missing, again?” I added.

  “We figured that since Brady was also missing, you two might be together. We should leave you alone now. It’s none of our business what you’re doing down here.”

  “What do you think, Brady?” Kacey asked.

  A pistol was pulled out and Brady pointed it in our direction. “I think that they’re lying. I also think they heard every word we said.”

  “Get in here,” Brady said, with a motioning movement of the gun. “Before I shoot you right now.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said. “But with all the metal down here, a bullet might just ricochet and kill you instead of me.”

  “She means, us,” Eleanor said.

  “Would you two get moving,” Kacey said. “We don’t have all night.”

  “Nope, the captain will be down here soon,” I suggested. “Then what will you do?”

  “She’s right, we can’t stay here, Brady. We need to off these two and come back later to search for the money. It’s a nice night for a swim, don’t you think, ladies?”

  “And here we’ve gone out of our way to help you. I suppose that man from the engine room finding you was set up?”

  “No, I was looking for the money, but when I heard someone coming inside, I pretended I was asleep. It worked perfectly, as you can see. You two bought my story pretty quickly.”

  “So, why did you play dead on our deck?”

  “She needed somebody to make her later story make sense. That’s why the camera only shows her going down the stairs by herself. There was never anyone who kidnapped her, not even to try and pressure her father to talk,” Eleanor said.

  “Actually, my father was being a little resistant about telling me where he hid the money after the robbery.”

  “You were here when it happened?”

  “Yes, but when the feds showed up, we knew there was no way that we’d be able to take that money off the ship, so my father hid it.”

  “A year ago, you mean? What makes you think he didn’t have somebody else come back for the money and lie to you about it.”

  Kacey shook her head. “No, he wouldn’t do that. We were partners.”

  “Money has that effect on people. You just said you haven’t spoken to your father in years.”

  “What was I supposed to say, that I visited my father regularly in prison? I had hoped that one day we could do a job together.”

  “I guess the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree,” Eleanor said. “But why choose a life of crime instead of going to college and leading a regular life — like getting married and having babies, like everyone else does?”

  “I’m not like everyone else. There’s nothing like the thrill of stealing; like when I stole that master key the first day from Officer Barber.”

  Eleanor rolled her eyes. “That must be the crime of the century.”

  “Why didn’t you come back for that money before now?”
/>   “The FBI was aboard watching this ship for six months. We had to wait until things cooled down. I couldn’t risk people knowing that my name was once again on the registry too soon after the robbery. I was the one who recommended the cruise wedding to Liz and told her what ship to take. Liz was pretty easy to convince.”

  “Yes, but how did you know that she’d ask you to be in her wedding?”

  “I sent her flowers and a letter of congratulations, hinting that if she wanted me to take part in her happy day, to just let me know. I knew Liz would eventually give me a call, which she did. The rest was only a matter of setting things up, including telling her how I didn’t have the money to pay for the cruise.”

  “So, you not only used Liz to get on this cruise, but you didn’t even want to shell out the money to be here? Or are you that broke?”

  “I need this money and when I find it, my dear father isn’t seeing a dime of it, since he wouldn’t share the location with me. It’s about time I branch out on my own.”

  “Shouldn’t we get going, now?” Brady said. “In case the captain really does show up.”

  “Yes, grab these old bats and we can go up the back stairs.”

  Brady took ahold of our wrists and we were being dragged through the engine room. I gazed around in a panic, hoping, praying, that somebody would be here who could help us, but it was empty. We were shoved through another door and we were in a small corridor that led up an equally small set of stairs. When we went through the last door at the top, we were on the main deck on the starboard side. There were lights far overhead on a string that tapered down and I could hear the rush of the water as the ship cut through the waves.

  I dug in my heels, but it was hopeless, as we were being propelled closer to the handrail. We grabbed it tightly with both hands as we were released and Kacey yelled, “Jump.”

  “I’m not jumping ship,” I said. “If you want a swim, you jump.”

  “Yes,” Eleanor said. “I agree with Agnes, jump, Kacey.”

  “Brady, would you do something? Toss them overboard.”

  Brady drew back. “I didn’t agree to that. You told me that you’d give me a cut of the money, but we’ve been looking for hours and it’s just not there. I think your father screwed you over here and lied.”

  “He wouldn’t do that to me. He only told you when he thought my life was in danger. The money has to be in that room somewhere.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Brady. I know you need money for medical school, but there has to be a better way. You’re marrying into a wealthy family. I’m sure they’ll help you out.”

  “I can’t ask them to do that, at least not right away.”

  “If you want to be a doctor, why would you even involve yourself with a murder of two old ladies? That’s quite a bit to live with.”

  “Don’t you see that Kacey is just using you, Brady?” Eleanor said. “She needs the muscle to move things around in that room. Why else do you think she brought you in?”

  Brady took a step back now. While I couldn’t see his eyes, I was sure that he was giving this some thought.

  Kacey took the gun from Brady now and said, “Push them off this ship, or you’ll be the one who is dead.”

  I slapped my head in frustration now. Why did Brady give up the gun so easily?

  “Over the side, ladies,” Kacey said.

  “Better do what she says,” Brady said.

  “You, too,” Kacey hissed between her teeth. “I should have known better than to expect you to be of any help. You’re soft and weak.”

  “And if we won’t?” I asked.

  “I’ll shoot you in the face. Not even your daughter will recognize you at the funeral.”

  Brady stepped forward. “Don’t do this, Kacey. It’s over. There is no sense in going to jail for murdering anyone when you can’t even find the money.”

  “We won’t tell,” Eleanor said. “Or at least, I won’t.”

  I shot Eleanor a look and said, “Please listen to reason. This doesn’t have to go down like this.”

  “I’m not murdering anyone, you’re committing suicide. It’s known to happen on cruises.” She cocked back the gun and ordered us one final time to get over the side. Eleanor and I climbed the handrail, gripping it with death-like holds. I just couldn’t believe I’d go down this way and by some girl I had tried to help. My phone rang and I scrambled to answer it, my hands slipping to the last of the rail. I held on for dear life and the next thing that happened was Kacey falling backwards, up and over the rail, sailing to the ocean below.

  “Hold on, Agnes,” Eleanor shouted.

  My hands were too slippery with sweat now and tears trailed down my face as the pounding on the deck could be heard. Two hands reached down and I was pulled to the top of the rail as Andrew helped me the rest of the way over. Brady assisted Eleanor over and onto the deck. Once I was there, I slumped to the deck, clutching a fist over my heart.

  “Th-Thanks,” is all I could muster to say.

  “Woman overboard!” Eleanor shouted.

  A lifeboat was lowered and Eleanor raced to my side. “Oh, Agnes, I thought we were a goner for sure this time.”

  Andrew lowered himself to sit next to me on the other side and took my hand, putting butterfly kisses on my cheeks. “What happened to Kacey?”

  “Brady bum rushed her and she fell overboard. You could say he saved our lives,” Eleanor said.

  I wanted to say that if it wasn’t for him, we might not have even been in this predicament in the first place, but I didn’t.

  “Thanks, Brady. If you hadn’t acted when you did, Kacey would have forced us to jump ship.”

  “I shouldn’t have let Kacey talk me into helping her, but I didn’t see any harm in helping her look for money hidden on this ship.”

  “So, that’s what this was all about?” Captain Hamilton said.

  “Yup, Kacey’s father stole the money from Han Smith last year. I’m not exactly sure how involved Kacey was, but she made it sound like she was just as involved in the theft, too.”

  “Her father told Kacey that he hid the money somewhere on the ship, but wouldn’t tell her where,” Eleanor added.

  “Eleanor is right. That’s when the kidnapping plot happened, but the person that let her out of that storage room prevented her from searching like she would have liked, so she played it off like she was drugged and told us that she couldn’t remember what happened that day. She even told us that the last thing she did remember was the ship leaving port.”

  “Since she didn’t find the money yet, and she couldn’t get her father to tell her where it was, she had me call him and threaten to kill her if he didn’t tell,” Brady said. “She brought me in when I came aboard, promising to give me a share of the money for school.”

  “I’m still not understanding why it took an entire year for her to come back to this ship, but she claimed you were watching the passenger lists and the FBI was even watching the ship after the robbery on other cruises.”

  “Yes, but the money was never located. If the money was ever on this ship, it’s long gone by now.”

  I was helped to stand now. “I could show you where they were searching for the money, Captain.”

  “I think you’ve been involved enough already, Agnes,” Andrew said.

  “Nonsense. Kacey also told us she was the one who stole the master key from Officer Barber.”

  “Yes, apparently she was honed by her father to lead a life of crime,” Eleanor said.

  I guided the group below decks as I heard Kacey screaming that Brady had tried to kill her as she was helped back aboard. “You’re making a terrible mistake,” she went on to say.

  “Tell it to the FBI when they arrive,” a security officer said.

  We descended the stairs that led below decks and this time, I had none of the tension that I felt the last time Eleanor and I came down here. When we walked into the utility closet, I said, “They were trying to move things in here, perhaps the mo
ney is behind something.”

  Shelves were moved and that’s when I gazed overhead. “Have you tried checking the light panels?”

  “They’re screwed closed,” Hamilton said, but he barked off orders. With a few minutes a ladder had been retrieved and a man removed the screws that held the light cover and said, “There’s nothing up here.”

  Andrew began inspecting the walls when a squeaky noise was heard. “I think this floor panel is loose.”

  He stepped away and Captain Hamilton told them to get Ben to check it out. When the officer showed up, he instructed the men how to remove the floor panel and once it was up, they lifted out a large duffle bag. We all stared wide-eyed as the zipper was moved back and the cash was revealed.

  “Looks like the money was here the whole time. I’m just not sure why or how,” Hamilton said.

  “They were doing construction in this room about a year ago,” Ben said. “And the area down there was more than big enough to hide a bag this size.”

  “I don’t see why Kacey’s father didn’t come after the money himself,” Eleanor said.

  “He expected Kacey to do the dirty work is why. Perhaps the father wanted to see how badly Kacey would go to find the money as a way to prove herself to him,” I suggested.

  “I guess the feds will figure that out when they take Kacey’s father into custody,” Hamilton said.

  Andrew led Eleanor and me back up to the main deck. Kacey was nowhere to be seen and Brady was being questioned, but he wasn’t in handcuffs at all.

  When I went over there, I thanked Brady for his help, again. “You’re welcome. I’ve been working undercover for over a year now, looking for that money. This was a pretty big operation,” Brady said.

  “What? This entire wedding was a hoax?”

  “A very deliberate one,” Liz said. “Once we had Kacey on our hook, it didn’t take long to reel her in, but you can’t simply rush a wedding and an entire wedding party. I just hope my parents will forgive me when they find out that there won’t be a real wedding.”

  “But why did you let us look for Kacey and Brady like that?”

  “We needed for it to all play out. It wouldn’t have worked out nearly as well if we were the ones who went below decks. I knew you’d be able to get a confession on tape much easier once we found out you’d also be on board. I know your son Stuart and he’s the one who told us to let you do your thing, that eventually you’d be able to not only figure out what really was going on, but also to get Kacey talking.”