“Your bus is about to leave,” Percy said. He frowned. “Um, if you’re still worried about these events or have any other questions—”
Wes grinned and shook his head. “Percy, we do not think that you or anyone at this dive station are culpable in any way. I was just hoping to understand what happened and, yes, of course, I assumed that she passed by something protruding and sharp without knowing it. That happens. You know, dive master—like to check things out so that I know what to watch out for myself!” he told them.
“Sure, well, thanks again!” Percy told him.
“No, thank you, guys,” Wes said. He nodded to Percy and the tech and headed on out. He wasn’t surprised to know that the two events were the first incidents they’d had of any kind during the dive trip—far more care was taken here than on most dive trips he’d been on. Not that most places were shoddy—people who loved to dive often had their own equipment and the dive boat captain and crew weren’t responsible for problems with it. And, again, divers were usually expected to know what they were doing and held to a greater amount of self-responsibility.
He was the last to climb on the bus. The seat next to Chloe was empty, awaiting him. Broderick was in a seat across from the empty place intended for him and Daniel and Gina were behind her. She had evidently been chatting with them and with Darlene and Bryan, who had seats in front of Chloe.
“Hey!” Broderick said. “Once again, the conquering hero!”
Wes groaned as he took his seat. “C’mon, you’re a diver. If it had been your partner, you’d have done exactly what I did.”
“I don’t know. My dive partner is usually my brother. I’d have to think about it!” Broderick said, teasing Daniel.
“I’ll remember that!” Daniel warned him, grinning in turn. “Gina, thank goodness I was with you today!” he told her before turning to Wes and saying, “Still, man! You are good at what you do. All the water stuff.”
“I’m sure grateful!” Darlene said, twisting around. “Hey, did you find out—”
“Well, it’s the wreck, apparently,” Wes said. “And, yes, Percy was great. He warned everyone. But water itself moves, so... I don’t think anyone meant to do anything outside the rules, but in the water, it’s easy to brush up against things and in a wreck, some of the things that we might brush up against are sharp.”
“Yeah, but the hoses are thick,” Bryan said, turning around as well.
“Right. And, under normal circumstances,” Wes said, “I think it might take a lot to cause a breach, but...” He lowered his voice and looked swiftly back to where Celia and Jeff were sitting. “If we hadn’t all gotten concerned trying to free Celia, this probably wouldn’t have happened. We kind of got into a clump when she was stuck.”
Bryan sniffed. “She was trying to look into what had been some kind of cabin or stowage unit,” he said. “Doing what we were told not to do.”
“Dad,” Darlene murmured.
“Well, I call it like I see it!” Bryan said.
Chloe shrugged. “Bryan, really, it’s easy to forget things. Celia was probably just curious.” She offered a smile. “But, here’s the thing! Celia is fine, Darlene is fine and we all had a great day! I say that we leave it at that!”
“Yeah, until we get back to the ship and find out whatAmelia Swenson has been up to!” Broderick offered quietly, shaking his head. “I still can’t see her as a murderer!”
“Hey, I said before she might have just been trying to make her sick!” Chloe said. “I mean, in Amelia’s mind, she figured that if Sally was covered in hives or something like that, or if she had a fever and was sick, well, she wouldn’t be hanging around Edward.”
Darlene was frowning. “What are you guys talking about? I heard a guest had been really sick, but that she had an EpiPen and was all right.”
“She is. She’s fine,” Wes assured her.
“And lucky as a cat with nine lives!” Daniel said, nodding his head. “First, she gets caught when the drain went berserk, then she gets a gift that’s filled with nuts. What might happen to the poor thing next?”
“Nothing, if Amelia is... hm. Where will she be?” Gina murmured.
“She’ll be held until we return to port,” Wes said. “Then the district attorney will determine what charges should be filed, if anything.”
“There’s a jail on the ship?” Darlene asked, her brows hiked.
“See! Not everyone knows all about the bowels of a ship!” Daniel said, grinning and turning to look at Darlene. “We had this conversation on the way here. Of course, we’re all stunned about Amelia. Why, Edward invited her on the cruise and, naturally, many of us have known her for years and... well, we sure didn’t expect this!”
“Jail on a ship!” Darlene murmured.
“It’s called a brig,” her father told her. “And, yes, even on a luxury liner like this one, there’s a brig. Not used all that often... Well, I was on a cruise once where some drunks had to be held overnight. But... anyway, you needto have a place to hold people if they do get rowdy or out of hand or—”
“Try to poison someone?” Daniel suggested.
“Oh, wow, how horrible!” Darlene said. “But... wait. Amelia caused Sally to get sick? But wouldn’t Sally know what to eat and what not to eat?”
