“Well, if there’s anything particular you need help on, I can take a look at it and give you some advice.”
“That would be wonderful! One of the specialties when we are here is Baked Alaska, and I would love to be able to offer a version with gluten-free cake as well as the usual. Usually I just leave the cake out for anyone who is gluten sensitive. If you will help me out… if I need any ingredients that I don’t have on board, I can have supplies dropped ahead of us.”
Baked Alaska. It seemed sort of a cliché to have it on an Alaskan cruise, but it wasn’t something she’d had often, and it would be a fun treat.
“Yes, of course. I’d love to help you. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard.”
“Fabulous!” The chef threw his hands up in delight. “That would be a huge help. Thank you very much. And I will be certain to credit you with the adaptation of the recipe.”
Erin’s face warmed. She smiled at his enthusiasm. “Well, let’s see how they turn out before you thank me too much!”
“I have no doubt they will be wonderful.”
The waiter arrived with Erin’s pancake order, and Chef Kirschoff stayed for a few extra minutes to see how she liked everything before returning to his kitchen. Erin was tentative tasting the tofu, but everything was quite nice, and she was able to tell Kirschoff honestly that she liked it all, even the scrambled tofu. “I wouldn’t have guessed it,” she said. “I’ve never had scrambled tofu before, but I wouldn’t have guessed that it was tofu instead of eggs.”
He beamed at her. “You are too kind! You’ve never had scrambled tofu before? Why did you come on a vegan tour if you are not vegan? Is your partner?”
“No. None of us are. I won four tickets in a contest.”
“Ah! Well, I’m grateful to whoever you won them from. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
Chapter Twenty
E
rin couldn’t finish her breakfast, but not because there was anything wrong with it. She just wasn’t used to big breakfasts. She left her compliments to the chef, and went on to see if she could find Vic. She wasn’t sure where to look, but thought she’d take in some air and explore the ship with K9, and maybe they would be able to find Vic on the way.
She had been wandering for some time from deck to deck, looking at the various spas, stores, restaurants, and other venues, and was starting to think she wasn’t going to be able to find Vic before the tour. She couldn’t get a good phone signal and wasn’t getting any replies to her text messages to Vic. Erin approached a crew member, wondering if it were possible to have a passenger paged. She called out to a man who was cleaning up some towels on the pool deck. He turned around to look at her, and Erin’s heart sank right down to her stomach.
It wasn’t the crew member who had been involved in the fight—he wasn’t broad enough to be—it was Saville, the crew member who had given Vic such a hard time boarding the ship. Erin put her hands up as if to hold him at a distance and tried to figure out what to say.
“Uh… hi. I was just looking for my friend and was wondering if I could have her paged, but you look like you’re busy.”
He studied her, frowning. Erin took a step back. Even if it wasn’t the man who had thrown the other overboard, he could still be involved in illegal activities, and the entire crew knew by now of Erin’s accusations. She should have listened to Terry about not going off on her own. She had K9 there to guard her, but she felt incredibly vulnerable facing the man. He sneered at her.
“You’re talking about the he-she? The supposed woman who boarded with a man’s passport?”
Erin choked back her ire at his response. She tried to answer in a calm, respectful way. “She is a trans woman, yes. You haven’t seen her around, have you?”
“There’s a whole group of those people gathered on the next deck,” he pointed a finger upward. “At the juice bar. Chattering away like a flock of magpies.”
Erin nodded. “Thank you. That’s very helpful. You have a nice day.”
He continued to stare at her as if she were something bad he had stepped in. Erin took a couple of steps back from him before looking around for the stairs and making her exit with K9. The dog snorted as they walked away from the crewman, and Erin looked down at him.
“I didn’t like him either. But we have to educate people one at a time. Maybe in a few years… He’ll be able to change his language and his viewpoint. Right now, he’s just ignorant. He doesn’t know any better.”
K9 looked at her intently for a moment, then went back to just looking ahead of them, his nostrils quivering as they approached the juice bar. Erin looked around at the crowd.
There were more of them than she would have thought, though Erin didn’t know if everybody in the group was LGBT or an ally or if some of them had just happened to frequent the juice bar at the same time. There was a lot of brightly-dyed hair, piercings, and unusual clothing and hairstyle choices. People trying to show their independence in more than one way. She spotted the familiar slim blond and moved toward her.
“Vic!”
Vic turned and looked around. She smiled. “Erin, hi! You’re up bright and early today.”
“Not bright and early by our standards. But I didn’t want to stay in bed all day today, either.”
“Good. You must be feeling a lot better. Do you want a juice? I could order you something. Maybe something like pear ginger? The ginger is good for nausea.”
“I actually just ate in the dining room. So I’m good for a while.”
“Oh, great! That’s good. Let me introduce you around. Everyone, this is Erin. Erin,” Vic pointed to each person in turn, naming them and telling Erin something about each of them. There was no way Erin was going to be able to remember everyone, but she tried to remember other details for the next time she saw them again. Everyone smiled and greeted her. One young woman touched Erin on the arm, breaching her personal space.
“I’m so glad that Vic has a friend like you. It’s so nice to have people who just accept you for what you are, and I’m super happy that Vic has you.”
“Oh… well, thank you. I just… I don’t think Vic is any different than anyone else. She’s just a person. She’s fun and compassionate… and I just like being with her.”
“That’s awesome. It’s hard to find acceptance like that in the cis community. People can be very prejudiced.”
“Yes, we’ve run into that a few times,” Erin agreed, trying to back away from the compliments. She was just being a regular person and accepting Vic as a regular person. There was nothing special about that, even if she did know that the other sort existed.
“You see that?” the girl asked, turning back to the rest of the girls, indicating Erin. “She says we. We have run into that. Even though she’s not trans, just an ally. That’s awesome.”
Erin cleared her throat and looked at Vic for help, embarrassed.
Vic just gave her a wide smile. “Accept the compliment, Erin. It’s true. You’re understanding, where other people… are definitely not.”
“Okay, but can we talk about something else now?”
Vic and the others laughed, pleased with Erin’s embarrassment.
Erin appreciated the compliments that she got from Vic’s new group of friends and they included her as if she were a long-time member of their group, but she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable there. They were Vic’s friends, close to her because of their gender identity or attraction, but Erin didn’t share those things with them. The fact that they included her just made her feel more awkward and obvious.
She also found herself feeling jealous, as Willie had. She knew that it was perfectly natural for Vic to have more than one friend and more than one interest, but seeing her laughing and relaxing with the group of strangers made Erin feel both irritated and protective. She was Vic’s friend. She was the one who had taken Vic in, taught her and protected her, and provided her with a home. She was the one who spent just about every day working side-by-side with Vic.
She was the one who protected Vic from the self-righteous verbal attacks and preaching of the more evangelical churchgoers, those who felt like they somehow had the right and the responsibility to call Vic down to repentance for what they considered her evil ways.
And yet, there Vic was, looking just as comfortable with people she hardly knew. She didn’t know what kind of people they were or how they would have treated her in any other situation. It just didn’t seem right that Vic should be spending time with them instead of with Erin.
Vic looked at the time on her phone. “I guess we should be getting back to the boys if we’re going to go on the tour,” she said. “What about you, you’re going to Skagway with us, right?”
Erin nodded. She had looked through the brochure to read up on what they would be doing that day, and was interested in seeing the little gold rush mining community, carefully preserved or restored to look just as it had a hundred years earlier, with false-front stores and saloons. It would be like walking onto the set for a movie Western. “Yeah, it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
“I think so too,” Vic agreed. She looked around at the group. “Well, I’ll see whoever is going to go on the tour in a little while. We’ll catch up later!”
The others in the group nodded or said their goodbyes.
Erin felt relief as Vic separated from the others and it was just her and Erin going down to their cabins.
“Thanks for putting up with that,” Vic said. “It’s really neat to find such a strong support group on a cruise like this. I know you don’t really have anything in common with them, so thanks for being such a good sport about it.”
Erin shrugged. “None of my business who you hang around with. It makes sense you would want more friends than just me.”
Vic raised an eyebrow. “You’re still my best friend. But it is really nice to find people who I could share some experiences with. There isn’t really any kind of support in Bald Eagle Falls. In the rest of the community, I mean, aside from you and Terry and Willie.”
Erin nodded and didn’t say anything further. They walked down to their deck in silence.
Erin was expecting to see Terry along the way, but didn’t. Maybe he was already up with Willie, chatting while they waited for the tour group to gather. Vic unlocked the door to her cabin and walked in. She gave a little cry and stepped back, stepping on Erin’s toes and pushing her back into the hallway.
“What is it?” Erin asked. “What happened?” She tried to peer around Vic to see. She did not want to see another body, but she couldn’t help looking. Or maybe it was some sort of warning for them to stay out of the investigation. Or a threat to Vic and her LGBT friends.
Vic looked around the room from outside. “It’s been burglarized,” she said. “Everything has been ransacked.”
Erin managed to look past Vic and saw that, as she had said, everything appeared to have been turned over and was scattered around on the floor. Drawers were pulled out, all of the bedsheets were on the floor, all of their suitcases had been dumped and were also lying on the floor, wide open.
“Who would do this?” Erin demanded.
“I don’t know. Get Terry.”
Erin hurried down the hall to her own cabin and opened the door. But it was empty, Terry wasn’t there. She had her phone out in an instant, but it wasn’t getting any bars and the wifi symbol was grayed out.
“Are you okay here alone for a minute?” she called out to Vic, “I’m going to have to go upstairs to find someone.”
“Yes. Just go.”
“Do you want me to leave K9 with you?”
“No, you’d better keep him with you.”
Erin hesitated. It seemed like Vic was the one who needed the dog more. It was her room that had been ransacked.
Vic made a shooing motion. “Go on. Go find someone.”
Chapter Twenty-One
E
rin hurried back up the stairs, almost immediately out of breath because of her anxiety and the effort of running. K9 seemed to sense that something was wrong. He was focused, nose and ears pointed sharply forward, bounding up the stairs in sync with her footsteps. They reached the top and Erin looked around. How was she going to find Terry with the whole ship to search, especially when she was in such a hurry? She didn’t want to leave Vic downstairs by herself any longer than she had to.
They should have just locked the cabin and left together. The burglar might still be down on the deck in another room. He might return if he hadn’t found what he was looking for. What had he been looking for? It didn’t make sense that he was looking for jewelry or other valuables; no one in their group wore expensive jewelry or clothing. They hadn’t even paid for their own tickets, but had won them in a contest, so no one could assume by their presence there that they were wealthy.
“Find Terry,” Erin told K9 sharply. “Where’s Terry? Go find him!”
K9 looked at her, his eyes intelligent, his whole body alert and coiled for action.
“Find Terry,” Erin repeated. “Go!”
He took off, bounding ahead of her. Erin didn’t know whether he had Terry’s scent and knew where he was going, or was just going to start randomly looking for him like Erin would have to do. She looked down the hallway and couldn’t see any crewmen or anyone who could help her, so she climbed up the stairs to the next deck. She was getting dizzy with the quick climb, not quite recovered from her convalescence. She stopped with her hand on the railing and looked down the next hallway. There was a movement at the end.
“Hello?” Erin called. “Is someone there?”
A woman stepped back into the hallway from the intersection down at the other end. “Yes? Is something wrong?”
“I need security,” Erin said. “There’s been a break-in. Have you seen any crew?”
“I haven’t seen anyone. Do you want me to help you?”
Erin breathed hard. There wasn’t much another passenger could do. “If you could go up the stairs at the other end, and we’ll both just keep going until we can find someone. If you find a crewman, then send them down to 232. Okay?”
“Sure.” The woman stepped out of sight again and, in a moment, Erin could hear her feet on the stairs at the other end of the passage. Erin took as deep a breath as she could and went up another flight. She looked around, stepping into the open area and looking at the restaurant and store fronts she could see. Why was it that there were always waiters and crewmen around asking her if she needed anything until she actually did, and then there was no one to be seen?
She turned to go up the stairs to the next deck and just about ran into a crewman walking from a restricted staff area to the stairs.
“Oh! Thank goodness. I need help!”
He stopped and looked at her, his eyes going over her slowly. He didn’t seem to be in any great hurry to help, clearly wanting to know what it was before he committed. Erin tried to push any judgmental thoughts out of her mind. He didn’t know what she needed, and he probably had other duties. Of course he wanted to know what it was before he said he would do anything.
“My friend’s cabin downstairs was broken into. Everything has been tossed all over the place. We need security down there and I can’t find anyone to help. Can you get someone down there?”
He nodded and keyed the radio mounted at his shoulder. “Of course, ma’am. What’s the room number?”
“Two-thirty-two. Thank you so much.” Erin breathed heavily several times, feeling like she had sprinted a mile. “I didn’t know where to go to find help. Thank you.”
He spoke into his radio, explaining the situation, and waited for confirmation. “They’re on their way. Cell phones are useless on the ship most of the time. That’s why we have the radios,” he explained. “I’m sorry you were concerned. Do you want me to walk you back down there and make sure security arrives?”
Erin looked around, wondering where K9 had gotten to. Had he found Terry, or was he still casting about, trying to pick up his scent
and get him to go back?
“Uh… no, I’ll be okay. I’ll just go back down so she’s not alone.”
“Are you sure? I can escort you.”
But Erin wasn’t sure about him. He obviously hadn’t been happy to see her, and she wondered if he knew who she was and that she was the cause of an investigation. She imagined it had probably caused extra work and trouble for the crewmen, not to mention putting them all under suspicion.
And he was the right height and body shape to be the killer. She didn’t want to be alone with him. If he were the killer and he knew who she was… She could have kicked herself for saying that Vic was alone too. She should have told him that Terry and Willie were already waiting down by the cabin. Though that would leave her panicked flight to find a security officer all by herself somewhat unexplained.
“I’ll… thank you for the offer, but I think I’ll be fine. Thank you for calling them.”
“If you have any other problems, there are emergency phones on each deck. Just pick up the receiver and you’ll be put through to the officer in charge.”
“Oh.” It hadn’t even occurred to Erin to try that. She had seen the phones near the fire extinguisher and fire hose on each deck, but she hadn’t thought that she, as a passenger, was allowed to use them. She had just assumed that they were restricted to crew use, and that if she were to mess with them, she would be fined or charged with mischief. But apparently they were there for the use of the passengers. “Thanks. That’s a really good idea.”
“I know you haven’t been feeling well, so you probably missed that at orientation. But you should make yourself aware of the safety features and emergency procedures on the ship. Just in case something else was to happen that was of concern.”
It irked Erin that he knew who she was and that she had been sick. Did everybody on the ship know her?
Vegan Baked Alaska (Auntie Clem's Bakery Book 9) Page 12