‘I have no idea what you just said,’ Mehmet barks, erupting into laughter.
I’m just on the verge of winning my first game when Garry approaches. ‘Clogsy, you’re up. You need to prep for dinner service. Chop chop.’
‘I’ll be there in just a second. And can you stop calling me Clogsy, please?’ I say, not taking my eyes from the game. If I do, I’ll likely lose my train of thought.
‘NOW!’ he bellows, half scaring me to death. Emir jumps so violently that all the cards scatter across the table and onto the floor. Garry howls with laughter. ‘Your face, Clogsy!’ he shouts over the music. ‘Priceless.’ He shakes his head, grinning, until he casts his glance around to see that no one else is finding this interruption remotely funny. Emir bursts into tears, causing Mehmet to rise from his seat like Poseidon from the ocean, his face like thunder.
Garry Gee backs slowly away from us, palms up, his face full of terror as he notices Mehmet’s fists balled and ready to swing for him. ‘I was just having a laugh. I thought it was funny.’
I fling my arms around Emir to comfort him. Eventually, after he crawls onto my knee and I smooth his hair and rock him gently back and forth, his tears subside. ‘I have an idea,’ I say gently. ‘Why don’t we see if there’s some of that weird chewy ice cream in the kitchen that you love?’
He wipes his cheeks and trains his big, glassy eyes on mine. ‘With some baklava on top and chocolate pieces in and some jellies sprinkled over.’
‘Of course. And then I’ll get the captain to take us straight to the nearest hospital so that you can have your stomach pumped before you die of sugar poisoning.’
Emir giggles. ‘Just the ice cream then.’
‘Deal.’
As I bend to pick up all the cards that are strewn everywhere, I tell his grandmother and Mehmet that I’ll take Emir with me, and we’ll meet them back in the dining room. ‘By the way,’ I say, ‘if you don’t mind me asking, what was it that you signed on the clipboard?’
Mehmet shrugs. ‘The bill, I guess.’
‘Bill for what? Dinner isn’t finished. And your dad and Cassandra are covering the food and drink.’
He shrugs again, seemingly unbothered as he talks about how hungry he is. The grandmother murmurs in my ear on her way past, ‘See? No idea about how to run a business. No clue at all.’ She raises her eyes skyward and follows him down the staircase to the deck below.
Emir jumps down from his chair to help me pick up the last of the cards, and by the time we’re finished, the whole upper deck is empty. ‘Come with me,’ I say, taking his hand. We make our way over to the bar.
‘What are you looking for?’ Emir asks, watching me flick my eyes over the shelves, opening and closing doors to root through cupboards.
‘The clipboard,’ I say.
‘That clipboard?’ he says, pointing to a pile of tea towels. I peer at the pile and instantly notice the corner of the clipboard poking from underneath.
‘You’d make a great detective one day,’ I say, whipping it out to take a look. I scan the pages, flicking through receipts, payments, card payments, muttering to myself. ‘So, it was the card machine he had under his armpit. Look at all these bills. None of them makes sense. How can he charge people for a trip to a Greek island when we haven’t been there yet? It’s like he has no idea about charter and berth taxes.’
‘What are those?’
‘I’ll explain later. And look at this!’ I bat the paper with the back of my fingers. ‘He’s charging customers’ credit cards automatically without a breakdown and just getting them to sign for it while they’re a bit pissed… because he’s the one plying them with drinks. Oh, my God. It’s so obvious.’ I grab Emir’s hand. ‘Come on. He’s not going to get away with this.’
‘What are you going to do?’ says Emir, scampering alongside me.
‘Somehow, I’m going to ring head office. Maybe the captain can do it for me on his thingy… his radio thing. After all, this is urgent business.’
‘But first, the ice cream, yeah?’
It causes me to halt abruptly, sniggering. ‘Of course. Ice cream before fraudulent behaviour and barefaced theft… every time.’ We are still laughing as we swing by the kitchen to ask for some ice cream. The chefs speedily prepare a bowl and sprinkle the jellies on top as requested.
‘Be quick now. And you must promise to eat your dinner too, or I’ll get into a lot of trouble.’
Emir nods. ‘Like that horrible man?’
I don’t have the heart to lie to him. Garry is despicable. ‘Yes. But not as much as Garry Gee. He’s in a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble.’
‘My father says that anyone who steals from him sleeps with the fishes.’
‘Sleeps with the… What does that mean?’ I hope it doesn’t mean what I think it means.
