He closed his eyes and felt the gentle movement of the ship as it moved through the sea in the night.
One thing was sure.
He’d been far worse places.
And still...
Someone was out there poisoning people, paralyzing them, killing them.
And the powers that be believed that the someone they were after was on the ship.
In the coming days, they were going to have to discover just who that person might be... without becoming poisoned, paralyzed and killed themselves.
Three
Chloe hurried out to the parlor with her clothing for the day as soon as the sun broke through the curtain. It was early, not quite 7:00 a.m., but she could be all set for breakfast, roaming the decks and attending her social media session with Celia Henderson. And if she was early, she didn’t need to be in the way when Wes wanted to shower and dress.
Except that when she stepped quietly into the parlor area, Wes was already up, reading the various brochures that had been left in the room on the coffee table. He was casually dressed in Bermuda shorts and a tailored short-sleeved cotton shirt, perfect for a day at sea.
“You’re ready—already!” she said.
He nodded. “Woke up, figured I’d be out of the way,” he told her. “Oh, and our steward—his name is Lucas, by the way—already brought us a lovely pot of coffee. Shall I pour you some?” he asked her.
“Um, sure, great! I’ll take two minutes, promise!” she told him.
She might have taken more like five, but Chloe was quick; she could be ready to go just about anywhere in a very short amount of time, another skill learned on the job. When she came out, he was seated on the sofa. His pillow and blanket had been shoved back into the closet and there was plenty of room for her to join him.
She sat and picked up one of the brochures.
“Dunn’s River Falls,” she murmured.
“I signed us up,” he told her. “And, by the way, we’ll be joined by one of our own.”
“Oh?”
“Taylor Braxton. He’s been working a drug connection over there.”
He handed her his phone so that she could read the message he’d received.
Hey, Wes! I heard that you and your lovely wife are heading my way! Know you love the falls, meet you there, maybe some lunch after!
“The more the merrier. Obviously, he’s been read in. I mean, you don’t have a real wife, right? That’s not something I missed—”
“When you read everything that you could to check out your odd partner?” Wes inquired, grinning.
“And you didn’t do the same?”
“You already know I did.” He shrugged, taking a long sip of his coffee. “Nope. You’re the only lovely wife I have at this moment,” he told her.
“So,” Chloe murmured, “today at sea, tomorrow Jamaica, Dunn’s River Falls and lunch with Taylor Braxton. But for now...”
“Yeah. Let’s see if we can find any of our suspects at breakfast.”
“Buffet one deck below, quick and easy, and I’m assuming our instructors for all these computer classes will want to grab and go,” Chloe said.
“Let’s do it,” he said. “Oh, we’ll have a chance to study the brothers on our list after our morning social media and security classes. They’re giving a lecture on finding the best computers and screens for your particular interests, be it work, gaming, whatever.”
“Both of us?”
