“We’re just being grateful for life!” Sally echoed.
Wes smiled and took a seat. Chloe, bearing a tray with hot dogs, fries and a couple of sodas, joined them, only to go through the hugging and thanking phase again.
“Oh!” Sally said suddenly. “I heard that a shot was fired! Or, someone said, it must have just been an engine backfiring, or even a noise from another vessel. Do you know anything about that?” she asked them.
He looked at Chloe. She nodded.
“All right, I’m going to tell you the truth and despite the beauty of the day, I’m going to recommend you all head to a cabin and stay there. Yes, there was a shot,” Wes told them. “You know that Chloe and I are agents with two different agencies—”
“They know about me, too,” George said quietly. “I told them so that they didn’t need to worry about being accosted again. I was armed and will be practicing my agent skills instead of my nursing skills for the rest of the trip.”
“Still!” Chloe said, looking at Wes.
“Oh, God, no!” Edward said. “Someone was shooting at you—”
“No. Actually, someone was shooting at Broderick McClintock,” Wes told him. “But there is a gun somewhere on the ship.”
“My fault. When we dove in to get Broderick—”
“Not your fault. If someone was shooting at Broderick, they’re not a danger to us. And it’s really too bad that they missed!” Edward said.
“Edward!” Sally said softly, placing her hand on his arm.
Wes lowered his head, glad that Edward hadn’t been there when Broderick had been talking all about Amelia’s failure to murder Sally.
“George, if you guys want to make us happy—” Wes began.
“Gotcha. Edward, Sally, we’re heading to your cabin. No hardship. He has a great suite,” George said.
“All right,” Wes said. He ate one last french fry. “Chloe—”
“Yep. We’re going to wander around the decks and see what we can see and... if we can find the gun,” she said.
“You’ll find it when someone uses it to get a bullet into your chest!” Sally told them, worried.
“I don’t think that whoever took the gun wants to hurt anyone else. I think that they were aiming at Broderick,” Chloe assured them.
“George, you know how to reach us. Please, just lay low. We’ll talk later, and who knows—maybe by tonight we can have a great dinner of appreciation for the fact that the truth is known and a strange and horrible manipulation has been ended,” Wes said, rising.
They were about to head away from the table when they heard someone call softly, “Chloe, Wes, wait, please!”
Daniel McClintock was coming toward the table. He truly looked the worst for wear as he approached them, shaking his head, apologizing.
“I had no idea. I didn’t know, I swear! I was aways hearing that I didn’t work hard enough, that I didn’t put in enough effort... I had no idea, and even now...”
He broke off. There were tears in his eyes. He looked over at Edward, Sally and George. “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry!”
“Daniel, we know you weren’t involved. Chloe saw what they did to you and I found you in the lounge chair,” Wes reminded him. “You can’t be held responsible.”
“But I—I—Broderick is my brother. I should have known. And he... Was he going to kill me, too?”
He looked confused, but a moment later, Gina was behind him.
“Daniel! They don’t blame you!” she said softly.
“We don’t blame you, Daniel,” Sally assured him. “We’re just glad that you’re all right, too!”
“I’m so sorry!” he repeated. He shook his head, as if he couldn’t begin to comprehend everything that had happened. “I think... I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what happened with me, but... Celia was in on it! She was married to Jeff, she supposedly loved him, and he... he was supposed to get flushed out to sea!”
