“Of course, our hearts are heavy for the families involved, for everyone!” Chloe said.
“And we’re sorry that... well, that it’s come up,” Wes said.
“Right. Well, I’m still very grateful to be here,” Edward assured them.
“And we’re grateful, too. So!” Wes said. “We won’t speak of tragedies anymore. Sir—I mean Edward—I want you to know just how very much I learned from your class this morning.” He smiled. “I run my own tight ship. But, as I said at dinner last night, even dive boats can be so dependent on computers these days. Learning about security—and knowing that just about anything in the world can be hacked by the right hacker—is tremendously important to me. But while all this happens, learning to be as safe as possible is invaluable!”
“Thank you,” Edward said. “And Mrs. Douglas, what about you?” the Milestones vice president asked.
“Well,” Chloe said, offering him a tremendous smile, “as you may ascertain, I’m not interested in being safe on a dating app since I won’t ever be on a dating app. But what I leaned about security for my people—my artists—and my art shows, well, it was all just wonderful.”
“Celia and Jeff were good instructors?”
“Very good. They know how to teach and keep everyone involved and interested,” Chloe assured him.
“I’m so glad. And I thought that—”
He broke off. Someone was in the waiting room, speaking with one of the nurses. Edward Thompson stared at her, frowning.
He seemed to give himself a mental shake. “Sorry, that’s Amelia Swenson. I thought that she was giving a class this afternoon in utilizing the internet for business...”
Wes recognized Amelia Swenson, naturally, from the intel they’d studied before heading to the ship.
She was in her mid-to-late thirties, about five-five, with curly brown hair cut close around her face. Wearing a flowered sundress and sandals, appropriate for the ship, she cut an attractive figure. Amelia appeared anxious as she spoke with the nurse.
“Bring her in, please bring her in!” Edward said.
Wes smiled. “Got it.”
He was happy to meet her and escort her in. She was the one remaining of their six suspects that they’d hadn’t had a chance to meet yet.
Well, she didn’t look like a murderer.
But who among their suspects did? And just what did a murderer look like?
In his experience...
It could be anyone. Absolutely anyone.
He strode out of Edward Thompson’s hospital room and walked over to Amelia and the nurse, nodding to the nurse and greeting their suspect.
“Miss Swenson! How do you do. I’m Wes Douglas and Mr. Thompson—”
“Oh, Mr. Douglas! What a pleasure!” the woman gushed. “I was on deck! I saw what you and your wife did. I’m here because I just adore Edward, and I need to see for myself that he’s doing all right!”
“He’s doing well, right in there,” Wes said, indicating the door.
“Oh, thank you!”
She moved ahead of him and started as she saw that Chloe was sitting in a chair by Edward’s bedside. She quicky gathered her smile again. “And Mrs. Douglas! You were wonderful. You two should receive medals!”
“We’re just happy that everything has turned out okay! Edward needs to be careful for a few days, but he’s going to be just fine,” Chloe told her.
“Amelia, I’m fine, just fine!” Edward said. “Aren’t you—”
“Yes, teaching this afternoon!” Amelia said. “There was a lot of commotion. We have things rescheduled. Don’t you worry! We’re all grateful to you and your company, Edward, and we’d never mess up, but I just had to see you!”
Edward smiled at her. “And you see me,” he said. “Thank you, thank you for caring so much. Thanks to my guardian angels here, I’m doing exceptionally well!”
