“Thank you, sir, a concerned cruiser is asking and there’s a good reason. I’ll have her—” he paused, looking at Wes. “I’ll have them speak with you directly.”
Chloe took the phone and identified them both as Mr. and Mrs. Douglas; Wes realized that she had come to the man asking about any welcome gifts that might have been left outside the rooms.
“I can assure you that there were no such gifts. And, of course, I’ll be speaking with all my crew, finding out if any of them know of any such gifts from Milestones or the like. We can also check our hallway cameras. And we’ll let youknow as soon as we know something, but it’s going to be difficult. Families travel together, um, romantic situations arise, and people like to give each other little gifts under those circumstances. Still, hopefully, the cameras will give us all that we need.”
Chloe thanked the man.
Wes spoke up. “It would be good to know anything as soon as possible. Before we all leave the ship.”
“Stay where you are,” the man told him. “Give me five.”
“We’re right here,” Chloe said, looking at Wes. “I know who did it,” she said softly. “What I don’t know is why.”
Time had gone by quickly. As they stood, waiting, a voice came over the ship’s speakers, telling those who were departing for excursions to please have their papers ready as it was time to exit the ship.
From where they stood, they could see that a line was forming on the deck below.
“We need to stop her!” Chloe said.
He quickly scanned the crowd leaving the ship.
And, of course, the clues had been there all along.
Amelia Swenson was almost the first in line. And she was carrying a large bag.
Amelia doesn’t intend to get back on the ship! Because somewhere out there, probably in the video, was the truth. She had given Sally the chocolates.
“Wes! We need to get her!” Chloe cried, shoving the phone back into the hands of the security guard and racing for the stairs into the hallway.
She didn’t go for the elevator; she was racing for the stairs.
He followed because, yes, of course, the clues were all there.
But why would Amelia Swenson, lesser nobility amongthe tech crowd, be out to kill Sally Brookins, who wasn’t in tech at all?
Then again, she had talked about belonging to her group, the people with whom she studied Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes...
And had helped police catch a killer.
Thirteen
Chloe had to admit, security on the ship was good. Most of the time, they were police, they behaved as if they were there to greet passengers, give them directions aboard the ship.
But they were on the ball, so it seemed.
It took Chloe and Wes almost no time to reach the deck where passengers would be disembarking.
But despite their speed, security had been alerted and one of the officers had reached Amelia.
That meant, Chloe knew, that the security footage had shown them all that Amelia Swenson had made a delivery to Sally Brookins’s door. And, of course, having listened to Sally, Chloe knew what it was. A little packet of chocolate bars in pretty little wrappers with an attached note that welcomed her aboard.
Chocolates tainted with nuts.
“Miss, stop, I’m afraid you must. It’s not a request. We have some questions for you before you can disembark for the day,” an officer was saying.
“Questions? About what?” Amelia demanded. But she looked flushed, uncomfortable and scared.
She hardly had the look of a hardened, clever or calculating criminal.
