And yet...
“Ma’am, I’m afraid you were caught on our security footage delivering a package,” the security officer told her. “You must come along with me. The captain wants to speak with you.”
Wes caught hold of Chloe’s shoulder; she knew why. Amelia was guilty of something, yes. But he didn’t want the two of them giving themselves away to the ship.
Amelia would be questioned. They needed to behave like ordinary passengers.
That meant, of course, that they needed to give George a call.
Because Edward Thompson had taken Sally on as a new best friend, it would be easy for George and Edward to insist on knowing what was going on. The captain would take grave care. First, of course, he’d be appalled by an attempted poisoning on his ship and secondly, Edward was, on this particular cruise, his most important passenger, and the captain would see to it that Amelia was not just questioned but held.
“They’ve got it,” Wes whispered into Chloe’s ear. “Security is on it. We need to maintain our cover.”
“I know. But obviously—” she began.
“Yes. Obviously, she attempted to poison Sally. And trust me, the captain isn’t just going to tell her to behave—she’ll be held. I imagine she’ll face charges when we return to home port. But we don’t know if she’s completely involved, if she’s a low-level flunky or if others are involved. Or if it’s all even part of one conspiracy.”
“You’re right. This is...”
“Different. We need to see where it will lead us. And today, we just need to be two people out on a dive,” Wes reminded her. “Chloe, major players are going to be on the dive.”
“Right. Okay. But—”
“We have faith in George and even in Edward,” Wes told her.
She nodded again and turned to look at him. Of course, people were staring at Amelia and the security officer.
Amelia had lowered her voice; they couldn’t hear her words from the position they had taken up in the line.
She was still objecting.
But the security officer wasn’t taking it. “Ma’am, you can walk with me or I can take you forcibly for the discussion the captain wishes to have.”
The officer had Amelia by the arm. She was visibly shaken and upset, probably worried and scared, and she barely noticed Wes and Chloe as she was dragged back through the line and into a main hallway.
Wes took out his phone, stepping back so that he wouldn’t be heard. Chloe knew that he was telling George of what was going on—and making sure that Amelia was going to be held somewhere until they returned.
Of course, since they were just a loving couple out for a romantic vacation together, it might be tricky managing to talk to Amelia themselves.
But, Chloe determined, between her, Wes, George and the powers that be at home, someone would figure out something.
For now...
They needed to watch those who were going to be with them on the dive. Four suspects who seemed more capable of manipulation than Amelia.
Daniel and Broderick McClintock and the not-so-charming married couple, Celia and Jeff Henderson, along with Daniel’s new crush, Gina.
Close to her, he whispered softly in her ear, “Praying that both our gut instincts are correct and that Edward Thompson is entirely innocent.”
“And I really do believe that he’s innocent. I still think he’s a target and that thankfully, George is as good as he is,” she said softly in reply.
Despite the ruckus over Amelia being taken away, the line began to move. They were given eye scans as they disembarked and looked for the signs for the bus to take them to the dive station.
The others in their group of friends caught up with them as they reached the bus.
“Oh, my God!” Celia said, “did you hear what happened? I guess the captain was worried about the cruise line being sued and he had his people look at all the security footage! Did you see? Did you hear?” she demanded.
“I think there was some commotion in the line—” Chloe began.
