Life in the Danger Zone

by Patricia B Tighe

  Grams dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “Yes. Her sister had it last night, but when she went to put it in the safe this morning, she couldn’t find it.”

  “Wait,” I said. “Who are you talking about?”

  “Carol Stanton,” Grandpa said. “We introduced her to you before we got on the bus this morning.”

  The Sun Visor Lady! They’d brought her up without me having to do anything. I leaned forward a little, trying not to look too eager. I didn’t want them to tell me not to talk to her about it. Because I’d really hate to disobey them. “Oh, of course, I remember now. The bracelet belonged to her?”

  “To her sister, actually,” Grams said. “Margaret was thrilled to have it back. Her late husband had given it to her.”

  “Well, I’m glad it turned up,” I said. I looked around the restaurant. People had been clearing out for the last fifteen minutes, and I didn’t see any table with two elderly ladies. “Is she here right now?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  Grandpa scanned the room. “Nope. Don’t see them.”

  “Why?” Grams asked.

  I gave a tiny shrug. “I just wanted to tell her how happy I was she has the bracelet back.”

  My grandmother pierced me with a look. “No other reason?”

  “What other reason could there be?” I asked, exchanging a glance with Grandpa, who tried to hide a smile by bringing his coffee cup to his mouth.

  Grams folded her napkin slowly, dragging out the moment. The sounds of the restaurant—murmured conversations, the clink of silverware against plates, the occasional laugh—seemed suddenly loud. My grandmother set her napkin next to her empty dessert bowl. “I don’t want you interrogating Margaret about how she lost the bracelet. She feels bad enough about it already.”

  Busted. I made my eyes go wide. “I wasn’t going to interrogate her. I just want to talk to her.”

  “And ask her a bunch of questions,” Grandpa said, a gleam of humor in his eyes. “We know how sneaky you can be when you get the urge to do some detecting.”

  “I blame it on your mother,” Grams said, also looking like she was about to laugh. “All those mysteries she makes you watch.”

  I ignored that last part. “I wouldn’t be sneaking. I’d be talking. Besides, what’s wrong with asking one or two questions? You’d think she’d be curious who stole the thing.”

  “They’re not completely sure it was stolen,” Grams said. “She could’ve misplaced it.”

  “But then how did it end up in Rose’s pocket?” Grandpa asked.

  “Marie’s pocket,” I said. “Even if the lady’s sister did misplace the bracelet, whoever found it didn’t turn it in to the front desk. They walked off with it.”

  “Still,” Grams said, “I don’t want you to bother Margaret with this, understand?”

  “Grams, come on. I won’t be rude or anything.”

  She opened her mouth, probably to voice more objections, but the waiter showed up with the wine bill for them to sign. When he was gone, Grandpa said, “What if Rose talks to Carol instead? I don’t think she’d mind.”

  Grams narrowed her eyes at him. “Not you too.”

  He chuckled. “Look at her, Gail. She’s going to do it anyway.”

  With both of them staring at me, I immediately put on the sweetest face I could come up with. Apparently, it wasn’t that effective. My grandmother laughed. “Nice try, dear.”

  I lifted my hands. “What?”

  Grandpa smiled and rubbed his palms together. “Shall we see if we can find Carol?”

  “Yes, please!”

  Grams let out an exaggerated sigh. “Very well.”

  I followed them out of the restaurant, only wobbling once when the ship rolled with the ocean swells. Thank goodness I had excellent sea legs. Two people passed us looking a little green.

  We entered the lounge where the piano lady was playing elevator tunes, and a few groups of people sat around cocktail tables. It was hard to believe that only last night I’d been in here meeting the young people’s group for the first time. It felt like weeks ago.

  Way back in the corner, Sam and his cousins had their heads bent over something on Alexis’s lap. I suppressed the urge to join them. Finding the Sun Visor Lady was much more important. She wasn’t the one who owned the bracelet, but hopefully, she’d have helpful information.

  My grandfather studied the people but then twisted his lips. “Let’s check the casino,” he said.

  “You just want to gamble,” Grams said with a smile.

  He hooked his arm in hers and led her to the small room inside the lounge that held slot machines and a blackjack table. I followed. Six people and a dealer were at the table with a small crowd pressing close to watch the game.

  “There she is,” Grandpa whispered. I started to move forward, but he stopped me. “You have to be twenty-one to go in there.”

  “I’ll see if she’ll come out,” Grams said, and then threaded her way to the other side of the casino.

  Have I mentioned that my grandparents are really cool sometimes?

  When Grams reappeared, she was trailed by a woman I never would’ve picked out as the Sun Visor Lady. Shorter than I remembered, she had steel gray hair in a pixie cut and trendy tortoiseshell glasses over deep blue eyes. Guess the sunglasses she’d had on in the morning were prescription.

  “Rose,” Grams said, “you remember Mrs. Stanton?”

  Time to act more confident than I felt. I smiled. “Yes, hi. Good to see you again.”

  She shook my hand. A good shake—not too tight or too limp or too long. Then she smiled. “So you’re the one who found the bracelet.”

  “Well, sort of. More like it found me.”

  She looked bemused. “Not sure how that happens, but all right.”

  I started in on the “bracelet in the pocket” story, and my grandfather wandered closer to the casino’s entrance. Mrs. Stanton frowned a little during my quick rendition of the mix up with the bathing suit cover-ups, but otherwise stood completely still while I talked.

  When I finished, Grams touched my arm and smiled at the other lady. “Excuse me for a second. I need to find out how much money he plans to lose.” She indicated the casino where my grandfather was now climbing onto an empty chair at the blackjack table.

  “Good luck,” Mrs. Stanton said, and then turned to me. “Are you saying this other girl stole the bracelet?”

  I hesitated a little too long. “Oh, no. I mean, I don’t think so. It could’ve been anybody.”

  She gave me a dubious look, but only said, “True.”

  “I’m just really glad it turned up.” Okay, here goes. “Would you mind answering a couple of questions about how it got lost?”

  “I guess not, but why?”

  I wanted to say that I was only curious, but there was a no-nonsense aspect to this woman, and she probably wouldn’t believe me. I glanced around to make sure Sam and his cousins were still on the other side of the lounge before I spoke. “Because people think I stole it.”

  She straightened slightly. “Did you?”

  “No.”

  She studied me, her gaze penetrating. I scrunched my toes together, trying not to fidget. After a long moment, she said, “All right. I believe you.”

  “Just like that? You don’t even know me.”

  A small smile curved her lips. “I was a trial lawyer before I retired. I’m pretty good at spotting a lie—not perfect, but pretty good. I think you’re telling the truth.”

  Some of the tension left my shoulders. “Thank you.”

  “Come on. Let’s sit down for a few minutes.” She led me to where two low armchairs were arranged near a tiny table, and we sat. A waiter immediately approached us, but Mrs. Stanton waved him away. “So you’re trying to find out what actually happened? Because no matter what other people say, I absolutely believe that the bracelet was stolen, not misplaced.”

  “I think you�
�re right. When did you last see the bracelet before y’all realized it was gone?”

  “Late yesterday afternoon. My sister and I were sitting at the bar on deck, and she was wearing the bracelet. She complained about it scratching her wrist and took it off. Then she held it for a minute while she reminisced about her husband and then finally dropped it in her purse.”

  “Where was the purse?”

  “Hanging on the back of the stool. Neither of us would normally do that while traveling, but I didn’t think we needed to be careful on board the ship.”

  “How big is the purse?”

  “Oh, one of those huge ones. Margaret prefers big purses to tote bags.”

  “And you saw her put the bracelet in the purse? It couldn’t have missed the opening and fallen to the deck?”

  Mrs. Stanton squinted as though she was remembering. “Hmm. No, she put her entire hand in the purse.”

  “Was there anything distracting happening at the time?”

  She laughed. “Well, the handsome young bartender was mixing me a drink. I just happened to see Margaret put the bracelet away because one of the ship’s staff members started talking to her and I looked over.”

  Really? Now we were getting somewhere. “Who was it? Do you know?”

  “One of the young women. That’s all I remember,” she added.

  How many females were crew members? I’d need to check that out. The only one I could name was Clio. But there had to be more.

  Mrs. Stanton touched my forearm briefly. “Sorry I’m not more helpful. I wish I’d paid more attention, but when I saw the woman’s white uniform, I went back to what I was doing.”

  Eyeing the bartender. Great. “It’s okay. Would it be all right if I talked to your sister? Asked her to describe the woman?”

  She frowned. “I’d really rather you didn’t. This hasn’t been the best start to a vacation, and Margaret is a worrier. I don’t want her to fixate on this.”

  I wouldn’t get very far if I didn’t know who the crew member was. “What if you asked her about it? Would that be okay?”

  Mrs. Stanton slipped her glasses off and idly cleaned them on her blouse. It seemed like a practiced move. Like something she normally did while thinking. Finally, she gave me a sharp nod. “All right. I’m not promising it’ll work, but I’ll see if she can remember anything about the woman.”

  “Thank you.” We exchanged room numbers so she could call my room telephone if she learned anything helpful. Mrs. Stanton stood. What else? What else? There had to be something I was forgetting to ask. Oh, right. I needed to know if there were other possible suspects. I got up too. “Did anyone else talk to either of you after the crew member went away?”

  She smoothed down her skirt. “No, because our drinks were ready and we decided to take them to the room so we could change for dinner.”

  “Bump into anybody on the way? Get jostled at all?”

  “You mean like a pickpocket might do?” She frowned. “I don’t remember. But we were carrying drinks that would’ve spilled if we’d been jostled.” She looked around, and then lowered her voice. “You know, I can’t imagine a young staffer would steal a guest’s bracelet. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  No, it didn’t. But the woman’s presence at the deck bar raised red flags. What if it was Clio? And had something to do with the angry cousin who’d yelled at her in Porec? Because it might. I’d have to watch her carefully during tomorrow morning’s excursion.

  Mrs. Stanton smiled at someone behind me, so I turned. My grandmother was headed our way, a look of chagrin on her face. Guess Grandpa was still playing blackjack.

  That was all the info I was getting for now. But tomorrow I needed to watch everybody on our young people’s tour. Because a big question sat over our heads. Why had the bracelet shown up in our group?

  Ten

  Sam

  I hopped off the tender in the morning and followed my cousins to where Clio and the rest of the group waited. We’d been the last ones on the small boat, so we couldn’t sit with everybody else. And so, I didn’t have the chance to see whether Rose was back in a smiley mood today or not. And I really wanted to know.

  Because I couldn’t quit thinking about her. And that was weird. Girls didn’t usually get in my head like this. I’d seen her last night at various times but always from across a room. She seemed to be having intense conversations.

  And then Alexis caught me staring and started giving me trouble, so I decided I’d better cool it—at least for last night. I didn’t want Alexis to get all, “you two would be so cute together,” and go into full matchmaker mode. Because you could never guess what she might do. Especially since she knew stuff at home had been crummy lately. She might think a girl would be what I needed to get me out of my parent funk. That was the one guarantee with Alexis—she always thought what she was doing was for someone’s good. Even when it wasn’t.

  We edged up behind the others, and I made sure to stand near Rose. She must’ve sensed someone there, because she glanced over her shoulder, gave me a quick smile, and then turned back to listen to Clio. Okay, good. She’d smiled. So, new goal. Get her to laugh this morning.

  “There are several popular sites here in Opatija,” Clio said. “There’s the promenade or lungomare, which is a scenic twelve-kilometer walkway along the coastline.”

  “Not a chance we’re walking that,” Nick said, scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the pavement.

  Clio’s face creased into what could only be called an evil smile. “Yes, dear nephew, we’re walking it.” She paused long enough for him to take in her expression, and then said, “But not the whole thing.”

  “Ha!” he said. “I knew it.”

  “The walkway follows the coast,” she said, gesturing toward the rocky outcroppings that lined the bay, “where you can see the swimmers and even the grand homes that have been …”

  She went on, but I stopped listening. Two different scents battled it out in my nostrils. First, Rose’s hair smelled like lavender, but if I lowered my head a little, the distinct odor of some tropical sunscreen came from the rest of her. And even though the smells didn’t really go together, I liked them. They were a little bit odd, just like she was. And they made me want to touch her.

  Get a grip, man. Not the time, nor the place. I took a half step back, and Alexis elbowed me and grinned. Had she noticed me getting so close to Rose? Of course she had. Don’t be stupid. I shook my head, hoping to ward off any matchmaking ideas, but she slid her sunglasses down her nose so I could see the gleam in her eyes. Crap.

  Just then, Clio pointed to her left, effectively cutting off anything Alex might have said. Thank you, Clio. “We’ll walk that direction,” she said and headed out. The rest of us fell into a clump behind her, Nick actually taking the rear for a change.

  Over to my right, Jacques lifted the side of Sophie’s big sunhat. “It is nice not to start so early in the day, yes?” He flashed his white teeth at her.

  “Yes,” she said, and then murmured something I couldn’t hear.

  Dude. Do you have to start flirting right out of the gate? Couldn’t you wait ten minutes? He was right about one thing, though. Beginning an excursion at nine-thirty was way better than yesterday’s eight o’clock. Sophie and Jacques continued their quiet conversation as we walked along the concrete area where the tender had docked and past stands selling drinks.

  We crossed a street to a stairway only wide enough for two at a time. I was looking over my shoulder to find Rose when Marie hooked my elbow with hers and tugged me forward. “Come, Zam,” she said. “We block zee path.”

  “Oh, right.” I couldn’t do much but go along with her. I mean, I wasn’t going to jump away like she had cooties or something. That would be extreme. Instead, I waited until we’d reached the top of the stairs before I gently removed my arm from hers.

  We moved along the tree-lined stone walkway overlooking concrete slabs that passed
for beaches and the dark blue waters of the bay. The path here was too narrow for anything but two by two, so I stayed next to Marie, who was staring out at the vacationers sunbathing and swimming near the boulders that jutted from the water. That was ballsy.

  “You have nice breakfast?” Marie asked, her lips pursed in an expression that said, Don’t be a tool. Pick up your part of the conversation.

  I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh. “Oh, yeah. I’m all about those waffles. How about you?”

  She giggled. “I have zee muesli. More health than waffles.”

  “Hey, no hating on waffles.”

  She smiled slowly and took hold of my biceps muscle. “You have some health.”

  What the—? Was flirting a national pastime in France? I should have been enjoying it—Marie was seriously hot—but all I wanted was to pull away and go walk with Rose. She and Alexis were behind us, talking about sailboats for some unknown reason. Marie squeezed my arm, and I couldn’t hold back a smirk. “Yeah, that’s where all my health lives. In that one muscle.”

  She giggled again, and I forced a smile. This was going to be a long morning. Out of nowhere, Nick squeezed by, jogging past Jacques and Sophie to reach Clio’s side. Heh. How did I know he wouldn’t stay in one place for long?

  Behind us, Alexis said something that made Rose laugh. A smile spread across my face before I could stop it. What was it about her laugh that caused a warm spot to grow in my chest? That made me want to smile and laugh too? Warning bells rang in my head. I was dangerously close to crushing on Rose. I needed to think about something else and quick.

  Thankfully, Marie squeezed my arm with both hands this time. “You will swim this afternoon, yes?”

  I smiled down at her. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”

  “You should. Jacques and I will swim.”

  I loved swimming but wasn’t sure I wanted to do it with only those two for company. “Good to know.”

  She slowly trailed her fingers down my arm before letting go. Geez. Maybe I’d be better off walking with Nick and Clio. Get as far away from these girls as possible. But pulling off an escape could be problematic.