Surely the ship’s security was on this, as well. And, of course, having seen it, their people on land were working with those at sea.
Chloe wondered if the cruise company’s CEOs might not decide to end the trip themselves.
Then again, they might feel themselves perfectly capable of dealing with any threats.
But there in the footage was a dark figure. The person was dressed in a black wet suit that covered them from head to toe; their eyes were barely visible. There was absolutely no way to discern who the person might be.
I don’t think that this is Amelia—Amelia is too small to be the dark figure moving across the darkened rear deck.
And, of course, it might have looked as if a determined cruiser just wanted to go for a dip when the pool was officially closed.
But there was the splash. The sound that Wes had heard from a deck below.
The black figure disappeared and reappeared about five minutes later.
“So,” Wes murmured, “someone was down there, messing with the drain.”
“But still,” Chloe said, “we have no idea who—or even if that was just some jerk who wanted to go swimming in the middle of the night.”
“We know,” Wes said. “What I can’t figure out yet is why? I mean, a death would just throw the cruise all out of whack, especially since it would have been a death caused by the ship. As I was saying before, especially on retiree cruises, there are deaths and the cruise goes on, but something like this... But there couldn’t have been a target.”
“Maybe something was supposed to happen when we were forced to return to our port of origination?” Chloe suggested.
“Maybe. But then again, why?”
“Well, hm. Let’s see how our people are doing. Feel free to open the door for me again,” she told him, grinning.
“Of course, of course!” Wes said, once again making a sweeping gesture out of opening the door for her.
“Thank you,” she told him as he joined her in the hallway.“But, you know, you should get the bed tonight. It’s finally my turn to take the couch.”
“That sofa and I have gotten to be pretty good friends,” he assured her.
“And you think that you can slip out into the night from there without waking me, but I think I’ve proven you wrong on that!” she told him.
“Hey, I was just acting on a hunch.”
“And you still need to share your actions with me!”
He was silent, halfway smiling as they moved down the hall. He slipped an arm around and brought his head low to whisper in her ear, “‘As you wish!’”
Her groan was loud, and they both laughed.
Their group seemed to gather at the same deck bar every night and they naturally headed in that direction.
And they were right. That night was proving to be no different.
As they emerged from the hallway, they saw that Daniel McClintock was talking to a pretty blonde woman at the bar.
Broderick was there, deep in conversation at one of the tables with a man, probably discussing something about cybersecurity since the man he was speaking with had the appearance of an older dignified businessman.
Then again, he could work at a grocery store!Chloe thought. You couldn’t always judge people by first sight—in fact, it was a mistake to do so. Sometimes, she had learned, in conversation and after watching someone function when they weren’t noticing that they were being observed, you could learn a lot and make some educated assumptions.
And still...
All this time. All this interaction.
And they still didn’t know who among their suspects might be a calculating killer.
