Life in the Danger Zone

by Patricia B Tighe

  Uncle David and I were halfway through our “best of three” gin match on the middle deck—he’d won the first game—when the Flirty Lady appeared. She tried to make it look like a coincidence by acting all surprised and everything, but I knew she’d been looking for him.

  And why shouldn’t she? He was a good-looking widower in his forties, and she was on the trip alone. For about a minute I’d thought Uncle David was going to arrange to meet up with her later, but she slid a strand of her swingy white-blond hair behind her ear, letting her fingers linger along her jaw, and he was hooked.

  He practically leaped out of his seat, asking her if she wanted to get a drink, and making that stupid joke about it being five o’clock somewhere. Then he said we could finish our game later and left me to put away the cards.

  Nice, real nice. Guess I’d have to find out what Sophie and Alexis were doing. I swiped my hands across the table to gather the cards, making sure to move slowly so I wouldn’t bend them or anything. It wasn’t their fault that my uncle was an idiot.

  After I’d stacked them up, I snatched the orange I’d meant to eat earlier and strolled toward the back of the boat, looking for my cousins in the bright sunshine. The chairs were full of people sunbathing, both those who should and those who shouldn’t. I’d never get used to seeing super old ladies in swimsuits.

  When I found my cousins, they were in the process of leaving their seats. Marie was with them too. I held back a heavy sigh. She was okay, but I really didn’t want to flirt. Or stare at her assets. All I wanted was to complain about my uncle to someone who understood. “What’s going on?” I asked after all the hellos were over.

  “We’re off to rescue Rose,” Alexis said.

  Now that was interesting. “She’s in some kind of danger?”

  Alexis shook her head at me. “Yes! She’s been playing Yahtzee with Nick for half an hour. I can’t let this go on any longer.”

  I laughed. “Right. Good point. I’ll go with you, in case, you know, you need some muscle.”

  Sophie practically shrieked with laughter. Completely unlike her. “Muscle? You’re the muscle?”

  “Shut up. You know swimming gave me guns.” I tossed the orange and bounced it off one of my biceps, but at Marie’s confused look, I stopped. My cousins understood my joking, but I’m sure to her I was acting like a tool.

  Marie slid a white swimsuit cover over her head and then frowned. She let out a disgruntled noise. “Zis is not mine.”

  Sophie leaned closer. “You know, that looks a lot like the one Rose tossed onto the chair earlier. She probably took yours by mistake.”

  Marie looked so grumpy that I almost laughed. Geez, chill already. It was a mistake.

  Alexis tilted her head at me. “Okay, Mr. Muscles, let’s go.”

  We followed her inside the ship and down the stairs to the library, crowding into the small room lined with bookshelves and a couple of computers against one wall. Rose and Nick looked up from the game table when we came in.

  “Woo-hoo,” Nick said. “I’m winning.”

  “You didn’t win the first game,” Rose said, her tongue pushing the inside of her cheek. “What’s up, everybody?”

  “Well, I’m winning now,” he said. “I just got my sixes.”

  “We’re here because Yahtzee time is over,” Alexis said, as though this were common knowledge and everybody should just accept it.

  Nick frowned at her. “We’re not done yet.”

  Rose smiled and lifted the Yahtzee cup. “It’s okay. I just have one turn left and then—”

  “Zhat is mine,” Marie said, pointing at Rose.

  Rose’s eyebrows went straight up. “What?”

  Marie whipped her cover dress off and held it out toward Rose. “Change.”

  I edged between Sophie and Alexis. It was kind of hard standing next to Marie’s almost-exposed female parts without staring.

  Rose lowered the Yahtzee cup. “Um …”

  “Roll the dice,” Nick said.

  “Hang on,” she said, slowly standing. She pulled her phone out of one pocket. Then, with her face tomato red, she took off the cover-up and quickly exchanged it with the one Marie held.

  Whoa. Rose had some nice female parts too. I let out a quiet breath. Maybe I should leave the room. This was about to get embarrassing. In seconds, though, the girls were both covered again in gauzy white.

  “Throw the dice already!” Nick said, half standing.

  Rose shook herself. “Oh, right.” She tossed the dice out of the cup and stared blankly at them. “Uh, I’ll just use those as Chance.”

  “You’ve already used your Chance.”

  “Oh.” She seemed really nervous for some reason. Maybe it was all this dressing and undressing.

  Marie muttered something in French under her breath while messing with the pocket of her cover-up. She ripped her hand out and gasped as she held up a diamond tennis bracelet that glittered even in the dim lighting of the library. “But zis, not mine.”

  Rose dropped the Yahtzee cup and stood. “Where did that come from?”

  “You need to roll again,” Nick said.

  Everyone ignored him.

  “Wow, that’s gorgeous,” Sophie said.

  Marie held it out to Rose. “Here.”

  Rose shook her head. “That’s not mine.”

  “Eet was in zee pocket,” Marie said, holding out the side of the dress.

  “Of your cover-up,” Rose said. “I didn’t even know it was there.”

  Marie let out a scoffing noise. “You cannot feel?”

  “My phone was in that pocket. And besides—” She made a helpless gesture toward the game table. “We’ve been kind of busy.”

  “Okay, that’s weird,” Alexis said, “but we’ll figure it out.” She took the bracelet from Marie’s hand, still outstretched like she held an offering to the gods. “Someone obviously lost it. Let’s turn it in at the front desk.”

  “Did you steal it?” Nick blurted out, staring at Rose with a look of glee.

  All the color that had filled her cheeks a minute before drained away. “No! That wasn’t even my cover-up.”

  Marie stuck her hands on her hips. “You zink I take it?”

  “Of course not,” Rose said, although her gaze shifted to the floor and back again. I’d say she definitely thought Marie had taken it. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “How would that bracelet have gotten in the pocket?” Sophie asked quietly.

  Exactly. That’s what everyone was thinking. It couldn’t just beam itself in there.

  Rose looked around at our faces, and her hands curled into fists. “You all think I took it, don’t you?” Her voice shook a little as she spoke.

  “No,” Alexis said. “We’re just confused. But I’m sure the ship’s staff can figure this out.”

  Rose picked up her tote bag and shook her head. “See you guys later,” she said, her voice sounding resigned. She edged around the table, giving Marie as wide a berth as possible on her way to the door.

  What was going on? Why was Rose giving in so easily?

  Right before she reached the doorway, Jacques stuck his head in the room. “Allo. I finally find you.”

  Marie let loose with a blast of rapid French, gesturing from her swimsuit cover to Rose to the rest of us.

  Jacques frowned. “My sister is not a thief.”

  “No one said she was,” Alexis said, following Rose into the hall. Which seemed like a really good idea. I didn’t want to stand around while Jacques and Marie hashed it all out again.

  When I caught up with the girls, Alexis had her arm around Rose and was guiding her toward the reception area. “It’s gonna be okay,” Alexis said.

  “But nobody believes me,” Rose said.

  I scooted next to her. “I do.”

  “I do too,” Alexis said.

  Rose glanced at me but then turned her attention to Alexis. “I
t sure feels like you don’t.”

  “Just come on. There’s nothing to worry about.” Alexis released Rose, stopped at the front desk, and smiled at the dark-haired woman behind it. “Hi.” She carefully placed the tennis bracelet on the counter. “We found this in the pocket of one of our swimsuit cover-ups and have no idea how it got there.”

  “Oh!” the woman said with a huge smile. “Thank goodness! One of our passengers lost a bracelet this morning, and this matches the description.” She pulled out a piece of paper to take down the info on who had turned it in and how it was found. By the time she was done, everybody we’d left in the library had rejoined us—Nick leaping from side to side, trying to see around people. The receptionist chuckled. “Well, I have no idea how it got in your cover-up,” she said, looking from Alexis to Rose. “I mean, it could’ve fallen from something and gotten snagged on the material. The possibilities are endless. It’s just so wonderful to have it back.”

  The whole time she spoke, Rose was shaking her head. “It wasn’t my cover-up.”

  Marie started to speak, but Jacques shushed her.

  “Thank you so much for turning it in,” the woman said.

  “Of course,” Alexis said.

  And that was the end of that excitement. Or maybe not. When we moved away from the reception desk, Alexis said, “See? What did I tell you? Everything’s fine.”

  But everything about Rose, from her fake smile to the death grip on her tote bag, said that it wasn’t. “Yup, you were right.” She started walking away. “I need to get cleaned up. See ya.”

  “Oh, that’s a good idea,” Sophie said as Rose headed for the stairs.

  Everybody else was milling around talking about whether they’d make it back for cocktail hour or not. But I couldn’t keep from trailing after Rose. I stood at the top of the stairs and watched her stiff back as she descended. Something was still wrong. Was she feeling guilty? Surely she didn’t think the lost bracelet was her fault?

  I squeezed the orange in my hand. Why the heck was I still holding it? Probably turned to mush inside by now. I tossed it up and caught it. Yeah. Rose was upset. That meant one thing. I had my work cut out for me to get her smiling again.

  Nine

  Rose

  I slumped against the inside of my stateroom’s door, my heart still racing. What had just happened? How in the world had that stupid bracelet gotten in my pocket? Even though the cover-up was Marie’s, it still looked suspicious. And no matter what Sam or Alexis said, every single person in that room doubted my word.

  I dragged myself forward, dumped my tote bag on the floor, and sank onto the bed. Nope. They didn’t believe me. All my new, so-called friends. What I wouldn’t give to be able to talk to Lindsey or Claire right now. I needed people who knew me, who knew I would never steal a diamond bracelet, who had my back. I needed to hear them say, Those idiots think you did it? Well, screw ’em. But I couldn’t call or text. My parents would kill me if I tried to get in touch for a non-emergency.

  I could tell my grandparents, of course. And I planned to. But I was pretty sure they’d say what most parents would say: Don’t worry, honey. No one really thinks you stole it.

  And they would be wrong.

  I pressed my fingers against my throbbing temples. The only way I could get people to believe me was to find out who had put the bracelet there. And that would probably lead to finding the thief. Or maybe thieves. The theft could’ve been done with the classic move where one person snatches the item and then hands it off to a second person who takes it away or hides it to retrieve later.

  Right, Rose. You’re going to find a thief on a ship with one hundred and fifty passengers and almost that many crew. Not likely. I should probably just forget the whole thing. Pretend nothing bothered me and be friendly toward the group. Or better yet, retreat completely. Tell my grandparents I was so done with the “young people’s group” and that I’d be spending the rest of the cruise reading.

  Yeah, that was more my style.

  Then why didn’t I want to do it? Why did I feel this perverse need to prove myself to a bunch of strangers? The whole thing was stupid.

  And yet …

  Figuring out the thief’s identity would be freaking awesome. I could picture everyone fawning over me like I was Sherlock Holmes or something. They would look at me with awe. They would throw confetti. Sam would stop flirting with Marie.

  I laughed out loud, breaking the silence of my stateroom. I was having what Claire would call a “goofball moment.” Oh well, a person could dream.

  And, a person could investigate. As a kid, I’d always loved to sneak around behind family members to figure out what they were up to. It used to drive my sister nuts when she’d catch me following her because I was trying to guess who she was on the phone with. Which only got worse once those phone calls were mostly with boys.

  I stood and stretched. These thoughts were getting me nowhere. I’d probably never find the thief. But I might be able to figure out who had the opportunity to drop the bracelet in the pocket of Marie’s cover-up, which looked way too much like mine, by the way. I yanked off my own cover-up, folded it, and put it in a drawer. Yup. Won’t wear that again on this trip.

  What I needed now was a nice, hot shower to loosen my muscles and to ponder the thief possibilities. I stripped off, got into the tiny shower stall, and let the warm water work its magic. After twenty minutes of relaxing and indulging in the luxury shampoo and conditioner that made my hair smell like flowers—lavender or hyacinth, I could never identify floral scents—I slipped into the room’s fancy bathrobe and settled on the bed to record my thoughts in one of my journals.

  I opened to a page in the middle, even though it grated on me to begin anywhere but the beginning. I couldn’t risk someone opening this journal and idly reading these thoughts. If they were going to read them, they’d need to really search.

  Anyway, setting aside whoever might’ve slipped the bracelet into Marie’s cover-up before she arrived at our lounge chairs—she was carrying it after all—there were four possibilities. Marie, herself, because she was a big, fat liar. Ha. And then Sophie, Alexis, and Nick. I chuckled to think of Nick doing something so sneaky. If he’d found a diamond tennis bracelet, he’d shout it to the rooftops or the mast tops in this case. And then make sure none of us forgot for the rest of the cruise.

  But what about Sophie and Alexis? If one of them slipped the bracelet in Marie’s cover-up, then that person was surely the thief. It just seemed so unlikely, mostly because I liked them, but also because it didn’t make sense. Why would they need to? Or want to? But then, some thieves were simply kleptos and couldn’t help themselves. Plus, thieves and murderers in stories were usually the last person you’d suspect; therefore I couldn’t scratch them off.

  For now, all four of them stayed on the list.

  Next, could anyone have done the deed while I was wearing the cover-up? I was pretty distracted by Nick’s manic energy, so it’s possible. But no one else came into the library while we played Yahtzee until the group arrived. And I don’t remember anyone brushing up against me on my way to the library; the bracelet had to be in my pocket with my phone the whole time.

  I dropped my pen and tossed the journal aside. This was all so weird. My best guess was that the bracelet had found its way into Marie’s pocket before we saw her this afternoon. But who had done it? There was zero chance of figuring it out this way. I needed to go farther back. I needed to talk to the person who’d lost the bracelet in the first place. Maybe there actually wasn’t a thief. Maybe she was just a forgetful old lady who’d put the bracelet in Marie’s cover-up because she thought it was her own cover-up.

  No. That didn’t feel right. Something hovered on the edge of my memory, trying to get through, but I couldn’t grasp it. Well, I needed to get moving if I was going to be ready for the daily cruise report that happened right before dinner, and which I knew my grandparents would want to go to. />
  I slipped off the bed and hung up the bathrobe. I’d just plugged the hair dryer into a socket when it hit me. My grandparents! Earlier today they introduced me to the Sun Visor Lady, who’d been talking about her sister losing a bracelet. Was the tennis bracelet hers?

  I could get my grandparents to point her out to me tonight. I doubted I’d recognize her again, especially without the sun visor. And then, she could introduce me to her sister! I could find out exactly how this whole thing had started. If, of course, we were talking about the same bracelet. And I had a strong feeling that we were.

  I switched the hair dryer on, and with its high-pitched whir in my ear, smiled like a goon at my reflection in a wall mirror. I was so doing this. Every great detective had to start somewhere, right?

  ***

  My grandparents and I were already on dessert before I told them about the bracelet incident. We’d had to catch up on all the rest of the day’s events first. At least, I thought they’d be less concerned about the situation if they had a full meal and a glass of wine in them. And I was right—they didn’t seem worried at all and waved off the idea that people thought I’d taken the bracelet.

  The golden light from two fake votive candles flickered across Gram’s face, softening the lines in her cheeks. “They can’t possibly think that,” she said, spooning up another bite of crème brulee. “And if they do, they’ll eventually realize that the pieces don’t fit.”

  I took a sip of my sparkling water. Somehow, I needed to work the Sun Visor Lady into the conversation as if I were merely curious.

  “So you think this French girl took it?” Grandpa asked.

  Thank you, Grandpa. “I don’t know. She’s definitely a possibility, but it really could’ve been anyone. Who knows how long the bracelet was missing before it got dropped in my lap?”

  My grandfather put down his coffee cup and turned to my grandmother. “Carol said they noticed it missing this morning, didn’t she?”

  What? I tightened my fingers on the arm of my chair.