Erin held her breath, waiting for him to start fighting back again. Was it just a bluff? His way of trying to get in another blow that would stop the big man in his tracks?
“Oh, please,” Erin murmured, waiting for the smaller man to start fighting again. But he didn’t move.
The big man’s body language relaxed. He looked at the other man in his grip. Then he shoved the other man up against the railing.
Erin thought at first that he was just waiting for the smaller man to come around. That it had just been a warning. The smaller man would change his mind and everything would be fine.
But the bigger man was not waiting for the smaller one to come to again. He folded the man over the top of the railing, which made Erin tense up again.
She took a step towards them, forgetting that there was a wall between them and that there was nothing that she could do to prevent whatever was happening from happening. Her foot and her face hit the wall, and she reached out, but her hands hit the wall too.
She held them around the porthole, staring through it, trying to stop what was going to happen with the power of her mind. She couldn’t even use her voice, or the big man would be alerted that he had been observed, and he would go after her next.
After folding the smaller man in half over the railing, the bigger man bent down, picked up his feet, and neatly launched him over the railing. It was a long time before Erin heard the splash of the body hitting the water. Or maybe she just imagined she heard it hitting with the water so far below them. The engine noise seemed to loud for her to have made it out.
Chapter Ten
S
he again tried automatically to step forward to see the body going down into the water, to somehow reach through the wall and stop what was happening.
Pressed up against the wall and the porthole, she bit her lip to keep from crying out, tears streaming down her face.
She didn’t even know the man who had gone into the water. He might have been a horrible person. The bigger man might have been completely justified in what he had done. But she couldn’t help her emotional reaction.
Erin had seen violence before. Since moving to Bald Eagle Falls, she had seen more than one dead body, victims of violence. But seeing a man killed in front of her was something dreadfully new.
The big man stared down at the water for a long time. Erin was sure that the body must have disappeared under the water long before he turned away. A body dropped into the water would sink beneath the waves, wouldn’t it? Or would it float on top of the water if it were not weighed down? She couldn’t be sure whether the man was watching the body in the water, or was just thinking over what he had done and what he should do next. He would have to figure out how to explain his actions to his boss.
Finally, the big man started to turn back around, looking away from the water. Erin suddenly realized that she was exposed and ducked back from the porthole quickly, hoping that her sudden movement didn’t attract his attention.
She remained frozen, leaning with her back against the wall, straining her ears for the sounds of footsteps. She didn’t hear anything. Was he there still, standing on the other side of the porthole, peering in, trying to see her and figure out what she had seen and what he would do with her? Did he know that she was there and was just trying to figure out how to deal with her, or had she pulled back in time before he had a chance to see her?
She held her arms over her stomach, aching and nauseated again. How could she get mixed up in the middle of a murder? Was it murder when the two had been fighting and it was not preplanned? Or had it been planned, and she had been as taken in by the big man as the smaller man had been?
Erin tried to quiet her breathing. She tried to keep everything about her still and quiet, sure that the big man would be able to hear the wild thumping of her heart and her quick, shallow breaths. She wouldn’t even be able to pretend that she hadn’t seen anything if he saw her, he’d know by her respiration.
Then she heard the quiet creep of feet. The man was walking down the promenade away from her.
He might just be working his way toward the door to enter the area Erin was in, but for the moment, at least, he was moving away from her. That at least gave her a chance.
Erin went the other way.
She was hoping for a doorway that would lead her to a more populated section of the deck, and instead found a staircase. She climbed the stairs as quietly as she could, hoping that they would lead to something helpful. Maybe to a crew member who could page the captain for her or who would believe what she had just seen.
One step at a time, her knees quivering and shaking violently, Erin finally made it to the top. She looked around quickly to see where she could escape to next. But she had found the secret deck. It didn’t run the full length of the ship, and had only one way in and out.
She had trapped herself.
Erin looked around for somewhere to hide.
She couldn’t hear any footsteps approaching, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still behind her.
There was no place to hide.
Her legs as wobbly as jelly, Erin staggered over to one of the deck chairs and she collapsed onto it. She picked up the newspaper someone had left behind and unfolded it. If the big man came, he wouldn’t find anything suspicious. He wouldn’t find a woman who had just watched him commit murder. He would just find an insomniac who had retired to the secret deck to read.
She stayed there for a long time, not reading the paper in front of her face, just waiting for the man’s feet on the stairs. But they didn’t come. It took time to convince herself that he wasn’t just below her, waiting for her to come down the stairs and reveal herself. She breathed out slowly, swearing under her breath.
She finally forced herself to crawl off of the deck chair and over to the stairs to look down, her legs too weak to even stand.
There was no one looking back up at her. Erin gasped for breath, feeling like she had just run a race. If she weren’t careful, she was going to start hyperventilating. Or hiccupping. She didn’t want to do either one.
She stayed there, sure that the man was still there waiting for her, just out of sight.
Finally, Erin managed to pull herself to her feet, holding on to the railing around the stairs. She tried to look perfectly normal as she walked back down to the deck below her, sure that she looked anything but normal. Anyone looking at her would be able to tell there was something wrong.
But maybe she could just pass it off as seasickness. Everyone knew how sick she had been, even people she didn’t know.
She looked around, trying to figure out the safest way back to her cabin. She was turned around, trying to remember whether her cabin was at the front or the back of the boat. She knew which way the killer had gone, but he was far away by that point. He didn’t know that anyone had observed him, and he had just gone about his normal business.
Erin crept along the wall, past all of the little shops that were closed for the night, making her way to the stairs at the other end of the deck. She could hear music in the distance, maybe the karaoke bar, and she could hear the loud laughter and excited voices in the all-night casino. It was just a regular night for the other passengers on the ship. No one else knew about the terrible thing she had just seen.
She went instinctively toward the voices. It would be safer where there were people. She didn’t want to be discovered wandering around the decks alone, especially not by the man. She didn’t have any idea as to his identity. He could be anyone.
Erin was startled by a man stepping out of the casino right in front of her. He caught her as they nearly collided.
“Whoa, I’m sorry. Going a little too fast there. Are you okay?”
Erin nodded, forcing a laugh. “Yes, I’m fine. You just startled me.”
He let go of her.
“I should have looked before I leaped. Are you going in for a game?”
Erin shook her head. The last thing she needed was somebody deciding that she nee
ded a little help in the casino. She wanted to get back to her room and go back to bed. “No. I just got turned around. I was going to see if I could get some help back to my room.”
“Oh! Well, there should be someone in here who could help you!” The man turned around, waving his arm in a big motion to someone inside. A crew member came out, looking inquiring. “Something I could help you with, sir…?”
“My young friend here is turned around. Looking for her stateroom.”
“Certainly,” the crewman nodded politely. “What number are you in, do you know?”
Erin swallowed; her mouth as dry as a desert. “I… yes…” she told him where she was supposed to be.
“I can walk you there, miss.”
“No! No, I don’t need you to walk me there, I just need you to point me in the right direction. I can find the way myself; I just got a little turned around.”
He looked her over appraisingly, then maybe after deciding she wasn’t too drunk to find her own way, he described slowly which stairs she needed to take to get to her own room and which way she needed to turn once she got down them. Erin listened attentively, realizing that she had, in fact, been going the wrong direction.
“That’s great. I know where I am now, thanks.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a hand back to your room? I can take you.” He put his hand on her arm, smiling in a friendly fashion. Erin’s skin crawled. She pulled back from him slowly, smiling brightly.
“Oh, no, I’ll be just fine. Absolutely. I know where I’m going now. My boyfriend will be waiting for me.”
At the mention of her boyfriend, he let go of her arm. Erin swallowed and tried not to betray her relief. She just wanted one thing, and that was to get back to her bed and Terry and the safety of his arms. He would take care of her. He always came to her aid when she was in trouble.
The two men looked at her, waiting for her to make the next move. Erin stepped back, pulling away from them, and moved in the direction that the crewman had indicated. “I’ve got it now,” she reassured them. “Thanks for your help. You’ve been extremely helpful. Thank you.”
She was rattled, and they could probably tell. She sounded like a babbling idiot. Erin glanced back over her shoulder to smile at them again and make sure that neither of them was going to follow her. The man who had almost run into her took off down another corridor, and the crewman gave her another smile and nod and then went back into the casino. She was once again alone.
Chapter Eleven
F
inding her way back to her room proved not to be quite as easy as she had hoped, even once she had directions. The crewman had rattled everything off so quickly that even when she got to the right deck, she immediately turned the wrong direction and got herself mixed up again.
She stepped out through the door to the outer deck. The sea breeze was cold and helped her feel less nauseated and panicked. She could find her room faster if she just went around the outside like she had done earlier in the day, but looking over the railing down at the water, she felt queasy. If the man came across her, he could throw her over the railing much more easily than he had been able to dispose of the man. Erin was smaller and lighter and was so shaken that she probably wouldn’t have even been able to kick him or scream.
Had the man who had been thrown overboard even screamed? Erin played it back in her mind. He had been quiet throughout the fight, until it had been too late. Why hadn’t he called for help? Had he been too scared? Worried that he would be in trouble?
He should have screamed.
Maybe then someone would have come upon them who could do something to help. Instead, he had stayed quiet, and gone over the edge.
Erin turned to go back to the inner corridor and was blocked by a large crewman. She looked at his face, panicked, wondering whether it was the same man. Had he seen her after all? Had he followed her? He might have seen her on a surveillance camera and been able to track her at a distance. Now she was trapped, alone once more, close to the railing where he could just pick her up and throw her over, and no one would be any the wiser.
She would just be gone, and Terry would never know what had happened to her.
“No!” Erin protested, putting her hands out to protect herself.
He looked down at her, bemused. “Good evening, miss. Can I help you with something?”
She kept her hands up. It could just be a bluff. He might be the killer and fully intend to murder her once she got close enough or she was distracted by something else.
“I’m going to bed” she told him.
“You’re in the wrong place if you’re going to bed. You can’t sleep out on the deck.” He smiled at his own joke.
“I’m not sleeping out here, I was just going inside,” she motioned behind him, pointing out that he was blocking her way.
“Are you okay, miss? You been drinking?”
“No, I haven’t been drinking. I’ve been sick. I just wanted some fresh air. And now I want to go back to my room.”
He looked at her for another minute, then moved out of the way, letting her past.
Erin breathed a sigh of relief and entered the hall that led to the cabins, looking at the signs to point her in the direction of her room. The crewman stood there watching her until she turned the corner. Erin was worried, flashing back to the man who had followed her at the hospital a few weeks earlier. Even though she had walked out to her car with a security guard, he had still been able to follow at a distance and to wait until she was alone again to attack her.
Now she was all alone again, and the crewman could follow her to some quiet corner and do whatever he liked without anyone being any the wiser. She should have taken K9 with her. He would have provided some protection, at least.
Erin walked faster, looking frequently over her shoulder for any sign of him. She almost walked right by her room.
“Erin!”
She nearly jumped out of her skin before she realized it was Terry. He held his arm out for her, and Erin hurried into the cabin, her body sagging with relief. Terry wrapped both arms around her and closed the cabin door.
“Are you okay? I woke up and you were gone. You shouldn’t be out there wandering by yourself.”
“Just needed some air,” Erin murmured.
“You should have woken me up. We could have gone out together. I don’t like you wandering out there by yourself.”
“Me neither.”
He studied her. “Are you okay? You’re pretty pale. Do you need another motion sickness pill?”
Erin nodded. “Yes. And a sleeping pill,” she said recklessly.
Terry’s eyebrows went up. He knew that she never took sleeping pills. Sometimes she would take valerian or chamomile tea, but she always refused anything stronger, worried about how it would affect her in the morning. Even with her nightmares, she had refused to take anything stronger than her herbal remedies.
“Okay,” he agreed. “I just don’t know if you can take them both together. I’ll look it up, okay?”
He walked Erin over to the bed and sat her down before picking up his laptop to do an internet search on the two medications to make sure they could be taken together.
“I suppose I could just call the doctor.”
“No. Don’t bother anyone else. The web will say whether they can be taken together.”
He looked at her for a minute, then nodded.
“Sure, of course.”
In a few minutes, he had satisfied himself that it was okay for her to take both of the pills together. He got a glass of water and gave her the two pills, then put the glass of water on the side table in case she needed it later.
He shut off the light and crawled into bed beside her. Erin cuddled up close, molding her body against his and closing her eyes, trying to lose herself behind her lids.
“Hey.” Terry was shaking her gently.
Erin opened her eyes and looked around, trying to focus in on the walls around her and to figur
e out where she was. The surroundings were unfamiliar and, at first, she thought she was back in hospital again. Her head was throbbing and thick and she went back in her mind to the attack in the hospital parking garage.
“Terry? What happened?”
“Nothing happened. You just had a restless night. You took a sleeping pill.”
“Oh.”
She lay there, trying to remember what had happened. She gradually became aware of the thrum of the boat’s engines. The stateroom became more familiar to her. She could smell food cooking on the other decks. They made everything from oatmeal to waffles for the tourists. Erin preferred a lighter breakfast of a piece of fruit and maybe a slice of toast. She was used to waking up early and not having a real breakfast until the first muffins were out of the oven at Auntie Clem’s.
“Where are we going today?”
“Today is Juneau. Alaska’s state capital. We get to see a glacier and a fish hatchery.”
Erin rubbed her eyes. “What happened last night?”
“You went out for a walk, I guess. You should have woken me up.”
“I shouldn’t have been out there by myself,” Erin agreed. She tried to sort out the pictures in her brain. “There was… something bad happened…”
Terry was sitting on the edge of the bed next to her, waiting for her to wake up properly.
“Something bad? What?”
“I… there were two men. They were arguing. And one of them…” Erin remembered the stockier man folding the other over the rail and then lifting him overboard. She stopped, feeling the blood draining from her face. She gasped, her eyes wide as she saw it all happening again.
“Erin…?” Terry’s face was concerned. He picked up her hand, then felt her wrist, checking her pulse. “Are you okay? Do you need me to get you something? I thought you would be feeling better today.”
“It’s not… it’s not the motion sickness. It’s… there were two men, and one of them threw the other one overboard.”
He didn’t flinch. He just continued to hold her hand and look into her eyes. “You’ve had a lot of nightmares lately.”
Vegan Baked Alaska (Auntie Clem's Bakery Book 9) Page 6