“No. I realize it’s nap time!” Chloe said.
She rose and Wes rose, too, looking around the table. “Yeah, hm, the nap may turn into all night and then we’ll be awake when the roosters crow, but...”
Darlene spoke up. “Thank you again! Thank you both so much.”
“You’re so welcome, but you owe us no thanks, really,” Wes assured her. “You were a great partner.”
“And I got a lovely lady for a partner, too,” Bryan said, nodding to Chloe.
“And I just thank everyone—that I’m not still attached to a broken beam or whatever it was down in the wreck!” Celia said.
“Hey, guys, come on! It was just a great day after all, and... well, after everything!” Gina told the group.
“It was,” Chloe said. “So, okay, it’s not even really dark. But good night, all!”
“Good night, Chloe. Good night, Wes—you wuss!” Jeff teased.
Wes just grimaced and shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who called it! It’s all as she wishes!”
He and Chloe looked at one another, grinning. He took her arm so that they could leave the table.
Daniel laughed as they walked away.
“Sleep! Yeah, right!” he said, and though Wes could no longer see the group, he knew that they all smiled and stifled their laughter.
Truer than they knew.
And yet, good. Very good. It was more than necessary that everyone believed that they were just a loving couple wanting intimate alone time.
They were playing it all right.
And...
Maybe just a little bit too true.
Fifteen
It was easy enough to get in to see Amelia, Chloe thought, though she was unhappy that anyone, including the captain, a man she considered to be honest and respectable, knew who they were and why they were on the ship. Obviously, he knew about George, too, but was probably grateful to the man.
And to them, of course. But the only secret that remained a secret was one that was never shared—yes, they knew that.
Still, they returned to their cabin first, just as they had said. Then Wes had George connect them with Captain Millbrook.
The man came to the cabin himself, serious and grim, thanking them first for their service. “Although,” he said, “I should have known, with the way you’ve saved us from many situations that might have caused chaos!”
“Just doing our jobs, sir, but—”
“I swear, under pain of death, I will not give you away!” he promised.
“Hopefully, it will never come to that!” Wes murmured.“But, Captain, you’ve questioned Amelia Swenson. What do you feel the truth to be?”
Captain Millbrook shook his head. “I don’t know. I just don’t know. She claims she just meant to be nice. That they—Edward’s group of internet speakers and teachers—were one big family and that Edward evidently cared about Sally, and she wanted her to feel welcome. But she’s also slipped up a few times in her story to various people. She didn’t know that there were nuts in the chocolate or she knew, and she just wanted Sally to get sick enough to get away from Edward. A number of people seem to believe that she has a thing for Edward and that Sally got in her way.”
“But what do you think?” Wes asked.
Millbrook shrugged. “Okay, I think that she did willingly try to make the woman sick. Whether she wanted her to die or not, I don’t know. And, of course, it was a risky action because Sally does carry her EpiPen. She might have used it right away, except, of course, she didn’t know what she was eating. So, was it an attempt at murder? Or just an attempt to get a rival out of the way? I don’t know. Either way, what she did was criminal and she’ll wait it out in the brig.”
“Thank you,” Chloe told him.
