by Judith Gould
“Yes,” she said quickly.
“No, I mean, how are you, really, Crissy,” he said. “Tell me the truth.”
“I’m . . . I’m upset, of course . . . but I’m really okay.”
“Thank God,” he said. “Now listen to me. Don’t you worry about putting my name on the list. Don’t even give it a thought. I’m going to call Mikelos as soon as we hang up. We’re good friends, you know.”
She felt relieved with his response. “I was so worried,” she said, “because I know how you feel about not breaking the rules and not having to listen to nasty gossip about us.”
“Crissy,” he said, “that was to protect you. I can take care of myself, so don’t worry about me. I just didn’t want you to be an object of ridicule among the crew like Jenny is.”
“Thank you, Luca,” she replied.
“Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself. Damn, if I hadn’t been so busy last night at least you might not have been alone when you discovered this.”
“It’s not your fault, Luca,” she replied. “You have to do your job.”
“I’ll meet you tonight. How’s that?”
“That would be wonderful.”
“Then take care until tonight when we’re together,” he said. “I’m going to call Mikelos now and get his take on this.” Then he added, “Check for messages after dinner, or better yet, call me.”
She hung up the receiver, looking at it affectionately. In a time of feeling violated, as if the pervert had invaded her very being, she was grateful for a strong man like Luca. Of all the people she had met on the ship, he was the only one she could truly trust.
She looked at her watch, remembering what Christopolous had said. If he knew anything, he’d said, he would call her or leave a message for her at the Information Desk. She might as well go down there now, she decided, but before she got to the door, the telephone rang.
She picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Ms. Fitzgerald?”
“Yes?”
“This is Mikelos Christopolous. I’m afraid I have bad news for you.”
Crissy’s heart sank.
“The telephone calls were made from a public telephone outside a men’s room on the Venus Deck, so we don’t have an answer.”
“That is bad news,” Crissy responded.
“But as I promised you,” Mikelos said, “we will install a Minicam near the telephone where the calls were made to see if we can eventually get the caller on video.”
“Thank you,” Crissy said. “I really would appreciate anything that you can do.”
“We’ll get the creep,” Christopolous said. “It may take awhile, but rest assured, we’ll do it.”
“Thanks again,” Crissy said. She hung up the telephone and sat down on the bed, dejected. She didn’t know any more than she did before. Anybody could’ve dialed her cabin from that telephone.
Crissy spent the afternoon engrossed in her book. At one point she fell asleep, and when she awoke, it was time to get ready for dinner. On her way to the bathroom, there was a knock at the door. She answered it and was surprised to see an unfamiliar steward with a huge bouquet of flowers for her.
Crissy took the bouquet from him. Luca is so thoughtful, she told herself, putting her nose to the bouquet and inhaling its sweet aroma. To take the time out from his schedule to do something like this for me.
“Also this,” the steward said, holding a creamy vellum envelope out to her.
Crissy took the envelope and saw her name written in script on it. “Hold on just a minute,” she told the steward. She put the bouquet and envelope on the table in the sitting area and retrieved her wallet from her shoulder bag. Taking out two euros, she handed them to the steward. “Thanks,” she said.
“That isn’t necessary.”
“I insist,” she replied.
“Thank you very much,” he said, taking the euros. He smiled, then turned and went down the corridor.
Crissy picked up the envelope and tore it open. She could hardly wait to see what he had written.
Dear Crissy,
These flowers are a small token of my gratitude for your having dinner with me. I realize that I behaved inexcusably when you wouldn’t return to my cabin for a nightcap, and I apologize. I hope that I can make it up to you by asking you for lunch tomorrow. Since we will be at sea all day today and tomorrow, I thought it was the ideal opportunity to repay you and get to know each another better. If you will, let me know by this evening so the chef can prepare something special. I’ll look forward to your call.
Sincerely,
Mark Vilos
Crissy wanted to wad the invitation up and throw it in the wastebasket, but it suddenly occurred to her that she might be making a mistake. She wondered if Mark had somehow gotten word of the investigation into her harassment and was consequently trying to make himself look good in her eyes and to the men in Security. If that’s what he was doing, she reasoned, it was a good move. A guilty man surely wouldn’t ask her to lunch, would he?
If she accepted his invitation, she wouldn’t be taking a risk, she thought. Someone from the security detail was going to be posted near her at all times, so she wouldn’t be in any danger, would she? Besides, she would alert Christopolous and Luca as to her whereabouts beforehand. Lunch with Mark Vilos might offer the perfect opportunity to find out if he was the person who’d been making the calls and then gotten into her cabin to destroy her underwear. She thought his reclusive behavior very odd. He hardly left his cabin—he’d told her so himself. That seemed to fit the profile of a man who would slash a woman’s underwear.
Having lunch with him would answer some of the questions she had about him. She went to the telephone and dialed his cabin.
He picked up on the third ring. “Hello.”
“Hi, it’s Crissy.”
“I’m so glad to hear from you,” he replied. “Will you come to lunch?”
“I’d be delighted to,” Crissy said. “What time?”
“About one,” he said, “if that’s convenient for you.”
“I’ll be there,” Crissy said.
“Great,” Mark said. “I’ll look forward to it. I hope you’re enduring the storm okay.”
“Yes,” she said. “The scopolamine patches seem to be working for me.”
“I use them, too,” he said. “Even growing up on ships, I can get seasick in these conditions.”
“Oh, I almost forgot,” she said. “Thanks for the flowers, Mark. They’re really beautiful.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Till tomorrow then,” Crissy said.
She replaced the receiver in its cradle. I’ll call Christopolous and tell Luca later, she thought. Then they would be in place.
Mina, Rudy, and Monika were seated when the maître d’ took her to the table, but Jenny’s and Dr. Von Meckling’s chairs were empty.
“Hi,” Crissy said.
“Hallo,” Mina and Rudy said in unison.
Monika nodded and looked at her appraisingly.
“We’re saving champagne until the storm is over,” Rudy said. “Too much of it is ending up lost, if you know what I mean.”
Crissy laughed. “Have any of you been seasick?”
“I was just a little,” Mina said, “but I think it’s passed. Rudy hasn’t felt a thing. How about you, Monika?”
She shook her head. “Oh, no,” she said. “I wear the patches, and I’ve been through much worse than this. I never get sick.”
“Have you been okay?” Mina asked Crissy.
“I’ve been fine,” Crissy said, “at least as far as the storm goes.”
Monika looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean? Has something else happened? Another one of your telephone calls?”
“That and more,” Crissy said.
Jenny and Dr. Von Meckling arrived together and took their seats.
After greetings all around, Monika looked at Jenny. “Your friend was just about to tell us th
e latest distasteful episode with the caller.”
“Oh, that,” Jenny said, tossing her head, her hair swinging back.
When Crissy didn’t continue, Monika prodded her. “Please finish, Crissy,” she said. “Now you’ve begun, we must hear the rest.”
“I got back to my cabin last evening, and someone had been in and slashed my underwear to pieces and left it on the bed,” she said.
Mina threw her hand over her mouth and gasped, while Monika’s eyes opened wide with alarm.
Rudy’s face curdled into an expression of disgust. “That’s horrible.”
“Then the telephone rang,” Crissy continued, “and it was the breather again.”
Mina gasped and banged her hand on the table, rattling china and crystal. “You must get Security on this.”
“I have,” Crissy replied.
“What do they say?” Rudy asked.
“They’re working on it,” Crissy said, “but they’ve asked me not to discuss their plans with anyone.”
The waiter appeared and took their orders, during which time there was no talk of what had happened.
“You must’ve been scared to death,” Mina said when the waiter left.
“I was,” Crissy admitted, “but I think they’ll take care of it.”
“I still say you’ve been teasing some guy and made him crazy enough to do it,” Jenny said.
“That’s absurd, and you know it,” Crissy said.
“Don’t you think that women so often ask for trouble of that sort?” Monika said to no one in particular.
“If you’re talking about me,” Crissy said angrily, “the answer is no.”
The waiter appeared again and began serving dinner. With Mina’s help, Rudy steered the dinner conversation over less serious topics.
Later, Crissy excused herself and left without any further explanation. They would assume that she was going to see Luca, but she wasn’t going to offer them any information she didn’t have to.
She went down to the cabin and called the hospital.
“Hello,” Voula answered.
“It’s Crissy Fitzgerald,” she said. “Could I speak to Luca, please?”
“Of course,” Voula said. “Just one minute.”
Crissy was put on hold for quite some time, but Luca finally picked up. “Hi,” he said. “Sorry to take so long, but it couldn’t be helped.”
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“Okay,” he said. “It could be worse. It looks like I’ll be free with scheduled appointments somewhere around midnight. Something could come up after that. You never know, but why don’t you come down here around then? Or why not meet in the disco? You won’t have to sit around in the cabin waiting, and maybe we can have a couple of dances. Is that all right with you?”
“All right? I can hardly wait,” she said.
Luca laughed. “Neither can I,” he said. “Now I have to run.”
Crissy hung up the telephone and sat smiling at her reflection in the mirror above the desk area. I am the luckiest woman in the world, she thought. She decided to change into a dressier outfit for the disco, but she took her time. If she got there early, she could sit with her dinner partners. The music and dancing would make conversation difficult, with much less argument, and besides, Mina and Rudy would be there to help diffuse matters. When she was finally ready, she carefully climbed the stairs to the top deck, wondering what it would be like on the dance floor tonight, considering the terrible pitching and rolling of the ship.
Going into the disco, Mina spotted her and waved from the table they usually occupied. There wasn’t a crowd to worm her way through, because of the storm, she supposed. She took a seat next to Mina, who was alone at the table.
Mina gave her an air kiss. “I’m so glad you made it,” she said. “Rudy is dancing with Monika, and Jenny and Dr. Von Meckling are dancing, too.” She laughed. “So here we are, like two old maids.”
There was a light tap on Crissy’s shoulder. “May I have this dance?”
It was Valentin.
“Sure,” Crissy said. She turned to Mina and winked. “One old maid now.”
Valentin led her the short distance to the dance floor and took her into his arms for a slow number. “I’m so glad to see you, Crissy.”
“It’s nice to see you, too, Valentin.”
“You haven’t been here for awhile,” he said. “What have you been doing?”
“Oh, this and that,” she said, smiling up at him.
“We’ve missed you,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”
“That’s sweet of you to say, Valentin,” she said, “but you’re always busy dancing with someone, so I don’t see how you could have missed me.” She didn’t want to tell him that she knew he was paid by the cruise line to dance with the ladies. Why not let him play his little game of being interested in her?
“Yes, I’m always dancing,” he replied, “but the others aren’t like you.”
Crissy laughed lightly. “How’s that, Valentin?”
“You are beautiful,” he said, “and you have nice manners.”
“Thank you,” Crissy said, “but I think you’ve told me this before.” She couldn’t take anything he said seriously, but she had to admit that it was nice to hear such compliments.
“That’s because I mean what I say,” he replied, “but you still don’t take me seriously.” He pulled her closer to him, and Crissy felt uncomfortable. His strength was formidable, and she was much more aware of the contours of his body and the heat that emanated from him.
The music changed to a fast number. “I’d better sit this one out,” Crissy said. “I have to talk to my friends.”
Valentin looked momentarily disappointed, but he led her back to her seat, then immediately disappeared as usual.
Mina was still sitting alone, smoking a cigarette and taking tiny sips of her wine. “How was it?” she asked.
“He’s a very good dancer, but I wish he would quit acting like he’s interested in me,” Crissy said.
“He seems very interested in you,” Mina said.
“And nearly every other woman in the place,” Crissy said with a laugh.
“How are things going with your doctor, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t mind you asking,” Crissy said. “It’s the others I’d rather not discuss it with.”
“Listen, darling,” Mina said, “they’re just jealous. That’s all there is to it. You mustn’t pay any attention to them.”
“I try not to, but it’s not easy. Especially when they say nasty things about Luca.”
Monika and Rudy returned to the table, so they quickly changed the subject. “Valentin seems like a harmless sort,” Mina said.
“Oh, I think so,” Crissy agreed.
“Don’t tell me that you two are discussing that wretched Bulgarian,” Monika said.
“Yes,” Mina said. “He’s already asked Crissy to dance with him. She thinks he’s pretending to be interested in her.”
“No doubt,” Monika said. She looked around. “Jenny and Dr. Von Meckling haven’t returned?”
“No,” Mina said. “They’ll be along soon, I think. They’ve danced nearly every dance—a miracle, considering the way the dance floor moves under your feet.”
“Such a happy pair,” Monika said, “and so appropriate, don’t you think?” She focused her shrewd eyes on Crissy.
“Appropriate?” Crissy repeated. “I really don’t know, Monika,” she said. “I don’t see anything wrong with it, but I didn’t picture Jenny marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather. She always seemed to like them young and . . . energetic.”
“How naive of you,” Monika said. “But I shouldn’t have expected more from you. Appropriateness has nothing to do with age, Crissy. Besides, youth and energy, as you put it, are soon gone. Wasted, usually.”
Jenny and Dr. Von Meckling reached the table at that moment. “Hi,” Jenny said, waving a hand in a circle. “We’ve danced
every dance so far. Between trying to stay on my feet and Ludwig, I’m exhausted.”
Ludwig? So they were on a first-name basis? Something Crissy gathered took a very long time to achieve among Europeans as opposed to Americans.
“She is a wonderful dancer,” the old doctor said as he took a seat.
“You looked perfect together,” Monika enthused.
Jenny gazed across the table at Crissy. “So you’re here alone?”
Crissy nodded.
“Where’s that quack that calls himself a doctor?” Jenny asked.
Crissy felt her blood boil, and before she could think, she spat back, “Why must you demean him? Did he refuse your advances or something?”
Jenny turned crimson.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Crissy went on. “You tried to get him into bed, and when he wasn’t interested, you turned on him.”
Jenny picked up her wineglass and threw its contents across the table at Crissy. “You bitch,” she snarled.
Wine hit Crissy’s face with a splash and rolled down onto the bodice of her dress. She grabbed cocktail napkins and started slowly wiping the wine away, as Mina and Rudy quickly gathered up more and handed them to her.
Mina dipped a napkin into a glass of water and began wiping at the bodice of Crissy’s dress. “There,” she said after a few moments. “It’s going to be all right.”
Monika wore a tight, smug smile when she turned to Crissy. “My dear,” she said, “I think I would watch my tongue if I were you. One doesn’t make such outrageous accusations in public and expect to suffer no consequences.”
“I don’t need your advice, Monika,” Crissy said. She knew she had already gone too far to return to that place where she had been a dutiful, uncomplaining, submissive companion who would put up with anything, no matter how demoralizing. “You’re the same kind of backstabbing ‘friend’ that Jenny is, and I think I’d be a lot better off without knowing either one of you.”
“What an ungrateful little hellion you are,” Monika said. “Spiteful, willful, and common.”
“Maybe I am,” Crissy said, “but if you’re an example of what’s highborn, then spare me. You both make me sick.”
Jenny stood up abruptly. “I’m going down to our cabin,” she said, “and I’m getting an attendant to help me move my things right now.”
