Shattered at Sea

by Cheryl Hollon

  “It’s likely he had to work for them until his folks also moved,” said Edward.

  “So, you think he met a member of the counterfeiting ring here on the ship?”

  Edward held his head in both hands. “Yes, I do. Ian did say that he thought he recognized someone from the past. It was before we boarded the ship. I didn’t see anyone I knew.”

  Savannah paused. “Do you think they will remember you as well?”

  Edward lowered his voice to a whisper. “Yes, I do.”

  Chapter 12

  Wednesday, at sea

  After a fitful night’s sleep in her cabin, Savannah powered up her laptop at the tiny desk in her cabin and clicked on the e-mail icon. The first in the list was sent from Amanda.

  Hi Savannah! I have some good news and also some not so good news. I hope your cruise is super fun and you’re enjoying being back at glassblowing.

  The installation of the new cash register system occurred right on schedule and the whole thing appeared to be working perfectly until it didn’t. After the installer left, the whole system failed. I’ve made numerous calls to the offshore service department, but it’s a call center in who-knows-where. They promised to get an authorized representative to call me for an appointment within 48 hours— this is not what I understood you bought for service.

  I don’t want you to worry. I have some friends I can call in to help diagnose the problem. I’m also looking into hiring a local service company who can respond quickly.

  Although my research skills are monster strong, I admit that my computer hardware knowledge has now started to hold me back. If I had known more about basic computer hardware, I should have been able to at least ask better questions. Note to future goals: Take a basic computer class from the library.

  Again, don’t worry. We’re using the manual system.

  X O X O X, Amanda

  P.S. Jacob says hi and that Suzy misses you.

  Savannah opened a draft e-mail window and replied to Amanda that she had full confidence in her ability to manage the situation. It was annoying that the warranty part of the installation was not working, but if the replacement service handled the emergency efficiently, Savannah felt no loyalty to the installation company if they didn’t respond when her business needed their help. She gave Amanda full authority to sign up a new company. At least this was an up-to-date computer and not a relic. They should be able to find any number of nearby services that could fix their problem.

  After asking about Rooney, Snowy, Jacob, Suzy, and Amanda’s mother, Savannah sent the e-mail, then dialed Edward’s cabin to ask him to meet her on the top deck.

  “Why did you want to meet here?” Edward was fully recovered and his slicked-back hair shone in the sun. “This is where the security staff think Ian went over.”

  “I think they’re wrong. I wanted to see if there were any marks of a fall in this section. I’d like to be very sure of our belief before Ian’s parents meet us at the port later this morning. We can examine each deck that we have access to for any signs of someone going overboard. I don’t think we’ll find anything, but I don’t want to say that we haven’t looked.”

  “I agree,” Edward said with a serious edge in his voice. “I would never have thought of that. Brilliant.”

  Savannah had completed a sweep of the wooden railing on the top deck, when Edward turned toward the back of the ship. “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?”

  “Sounds like someone is crying.” Edward tilted his head to locate the sound. He pointed back to the stern. “Over there.”

  They walked over to see a tall, lean young woman holding a tissue to her face. She blew her nose, crumpled the tissue, and stuffed it into the back pocket of her white short-shorts. Her light blond hair was blowing wildly over her face in the ship’s breeze. She wore a simple navy tank and rich leather sandals. She didn’t make a move to tidy her hair or wipe the tears streaming from her eyes.

  “Miss,” said Edward, “is something wrong?”

  “I can’t find him.”

  Edward and Savannah looked at each other, then turned to the young woman. Savannah moved to stand next to her. “You can’t find who?”

  She pulled a tissue from the travel packet she carried in her other hand. “I can’t find Ian. The security police wouldn’t help.” She blew her nose again and stuffed the tissue in her back pocket. “I even told them we were engaged. I showed them my engagement ring.” The young woman stuck out her hand and let the light catch on the small pearl ring. “But they said I wasn’t a legal relation.”

  Savannah pointed to an angry welt on her arm. “Wait, how did you get that? Did you have a fight with Ian?”

  The blonde covered the mark with her hand. “No, it wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t do that. Never.”

  Edward stepped over to stand close to her, and Savannah walked around to the other side of the weeping woman. Savannah glanced at Edward. He cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I’m Ian’s cousin. Why on earth did he not tell me that he proposed?”

  She used the heels of her hands to wipe her eyes and then turned her face into the bracing wind. “I was dating Ian back in my hometown. That’s St. Albans.” She looked up at Edward. “He didn’t mention that a cousin was going to be on the cruise.”

  “We’re even, then. Ian didn’t tell me his fiancée would be here.”

  “Ex-fiancée.” She sniffed and hiccuped. “We broke it off last week.”

  Savannah put her hand on the girl’s arm. “My name is Savannah Webb and this is Edward Morris. What’s your name?”

  “It’s Sally Maggio. I met Ian at the White Horse Pub in St. Albans. We hit it off really, really, really well. I thought he was going to be the one for me. Really, I honestly did.” She pulled out another tissue. “And then my sister had to mess things up, of course. That’s what Ruth always does.” Sally began to weep in great gulps. Savannah put her arm around Sally, who then let loose with deep sobs of misery.

  “There, there.” Savannah patted Sally on the back. “I don’t understand. What did your sister have to do with Ian?”

  “Everything,” came as a muffled reply. Sally lifted her head. “Ruth is my older sister and she’s insanely jealous of my boyfriends. She always charms them away from me. Then she drops them like a hot rock, but they never come back to me. It’s spiteful, hateful, mean, nasty, and bloody awful.” Sally clung to Savannah again and her sobs were so loud, people were beginning to stop and stare.

  “Edward, let’s take Sally somewhere quiet. How about the secluded section on the front of deck eleven?”

  “Great idea.” Edward led them to the elevator and they went out the port side of the ship to a space with a few lonely deck chairs and not a single person in sight. They led Sally to a chair and sat on either side of her.

  Sally’s crying had stopped. “Thank you so much for taking me in hand. I’m grateful and it’s thoughtful of you.”

  “Of course,” Savannah said gently before glancing at Edward. “Though we also want to know more about Ian’s situation. Can you tell me more about you and your sister? How did you come to be on this cruise?”

  “Again, that was my sister Ruth’s doing. She talked me into this cruise with her as a bonding trip—a way to work through our issues and be close sisters again. There’s only eleven months between us and some folks believe that we’re twins. It worked out that we were in the same grade in school, so you can see how that keeps coming up.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Oh, sorry. I got off track again. Ruth made the arrangements through a travel office and we got on as part of a last-minute-deal special. I thought we were at last beginning to behave like adults and then Ian walked by while we were sunbathing beside the pool. I was so stunned that I yelled out his name.”

  Savannah prompted her, “And then what?”

  “He stopped and looked at the both of us. He literally blushed red right up to his scalp. He obviously had no idea we would be aboard.
Before I could explain, he blurted out, ‘Can’t you leave me alone?’ and ran down the deck at a trot.” Sally took a deep breath and pressed both hands to her face to stem the tears.

  Savannah patted Sally’s arm and they waited until she stopped crying.

  “I haven’t seen him since. I’ve looked everywhere.”

  Edward had turned pale and mottled. Savannah could tell he was embarrassed by the way he kept looking down at his feet.

  “So, you don’t know?”

  Sally turned her red-rimmed eyes to Savannah, then Edward, and back to Savannah. “Know what?”

  Edward cleared his throat. “Ian has been missing since the first morning of the cruise. No one in our party has seen him since he was out on the top deck that night at around midnight.”

  Savannah added. “We’ve left notes and voice messages, but we haven’t heard from him at all. It’s lucky that we ran into you.”

  “Did Ian’s parents know about your relationship with Ian?” asked Edward.

  “No.” Sally’s voice was calmer. “He was going to take me home to meet them, then Ruth pulled her dirty tricks.”

  “I’m afraid things have turned very serious,” said Savannah. “The security team thinks that it’s likely that Ian committed suicide by jumping overboard.”

  Sally leaped up to standing like a jack-in-the-box. “What?” she shrieked. “That’s impossible. He wouldn’t do that. I don’t believe it.”

  Savannah stood and gently pushed her back into the deck chair. “We don’t believe it, either; I’m only telling you what security said when we reported him missing.”

  “That’s why we want to know more.”

  Sally sat silent. It looked like she was recalling a cherished memory.

  Savannah tapped Sally’s arm. “Please, can you tell us anything about that night? We need to know what Ian’s frame of mind was.”

  “I lit into my sister like an angry Athena. I’m still furious that she would think this a joke. If it turns out that he took his life because of her selfish ways, I will never speak to her again. That’s exactly what I’ll do. She will be dead to me.”

  “We don’t believe Ian jumped,” said Savannah. “Do we, Edward?”

  He shook his head from side to side.

  Savannah continued, “There are conflicting opinions about his state of mind, but Ian seemed genuinely high spirited when we boarded. When did you last see Ian?”

  Sally smiled. “It was up there on the top deck. He was walking by while I was watching the wake of the ship, being miserable.”

  “What did he say?” asked Edward after clearing his throat.

  “He said he was embarrassed to have treated me so horribly.” She looked at both Edward and Savannah. “That he should have been bold and realized that he had betrayed my trust by falling for my sister’s charms. He said it was something that he despised about himself—that he didn’t have the courage to do the right thing by me.”

  Savannah patted Sally’s arm. “Did he seem unhappy?”

  “Yes. Even though we talked about the situation, and he agreed with me at how horrible Ruth’s behavior was for us both. He said that he was a worthless coward and not worth the air he was breathing.”

  Edward pressed his lips into a thin angry line. “That’s absolute rubbish.”

  “That’s what I told him. I also told him how much I loved him and that he needed to be strong so that we could overcome Ruth’s actions.”

  “How did he take that?” asked Savannah.

  “He said he was trying to work out some problems from his past, but he wasn’t sure how that would affect our future.”

  Edward and Savannah frowned.

  Sally leaned back in the deck chair. “Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to be alone. I’m going to stay here until I figure out how to treat my sister.”

  “Where is Ruth now?” asked Savannah. “We would like to talk to her.”

  “She’s camped at the smoking section. She’s making a spectacle of herself, I’m sure. She’s always the center of attention.” Sally waved her hand in dismissal and pressed another tissue on her eyes.

  Savannah and Edward could hear her sobs as they walked away.

  “Do you think she’s telling the truth?” asked Edward. “Could she have caused Ian to fall?”

  “I just don’t know.”

  The smoking section was easy to sniff out. The hard-core cruisers understood the idea of claiming one of the coveted sheltered lounge chairs nestled between partitions that reduced the sea breeze. Ruth was easy to spot. She resembled her sister in size but not coloring. Her hair was a burgundy red and her complexion was ruddy with a sheen of tanning oil. She emitted a strong coconut smell.

  “Are you Ruth Maggio?” asked Savannah.

  “Who wants to know?” Ruth shoved her large sunglasses up and parked them on the top of her head.

  Edward took the lead this time. “I’m Edward Morris and this is Savannah Webb.”

  Ruth’s eyes narrowed to a suspicious gaze.

  “Edward Morris? Are you Ian’s cousin—the one that went to Florida?”

  “Yes, we want to talk to you about the last time you saw him.” Edward looked around for a couple of chairs to pull over, but every single one had a dedicated smoker planted in it. “Can you—”

  “He’s an absolute snake. Don’t talk to me about him.” Her voice started rising. “I don’t ever want to see him again.” She began gathering up her cigarettes, lighter, and tanning oil, and stuffed them into a large beach bag. “I especially don’t want to talk to you.” She stuck her tongue out, then pulled her sunglasses back in place, stood, and left with her beach bag.

  Savannah could feel her eyebrows shooting up toward her hairline. “That was an unusual response.” She couldn’t recall ever seeing a grown woman sticking out her tongue at someone.

  Edward and Savannah left and returned to their favorite table at the pub. They ordered pints of Guinness. Edward spoke first. “Do you believe anything that they’ve told us?”

  “I don’t think we can discount the fact that Sally and Ruth were in the middle of a Dolly Parton song. You know the one. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.”

  Edward sipped his pint. “I’m afraid you’re right. At least we know why Ian was shaken when the Rosenberg twins saw him. He must have known that he would see the sisters again—St. Albans is a very small village—but there was no reason he would expect to run into them on this cruise.”

  “Right, and he can’t really avoid them on the ship. Even so it doesn’t seem like a bad enough situation for jumping overboard.”

  “It still could be the problem with the primary school bully he saw. More likely it’s something related to the counterfeiting ring. Maybe the thug tracked him down and started threatening him again. In his current vulnerable state, it might have been the last straw. Statistics state time and time again that one of the long-term consequences of serious bullying is suicide.” Edward was silent for a few long moments, then shook his head to look at Savannah. “Maybe the two events have combined to be too much for Ian to handle.”

  Savannah checked her watch. “Ouch, it’s nearly time for the demonstration. I’ve got to get changed and scoot up to the Hot Shop.” She kissed Edward gently on the cheek. “Try not to worry. After the show, we’ve got to come up with a plan for locating Ian.”

  Chapter 13

  Wednesday, approaching Provence

  After a speedy shower and change into her demonstration clothes, Savannah entered through the stage door to the Hot Shop after Eric but right before Alan. She was relieved that she wasn’t very late. They finished their pre-demonstration checks and Eric signaled for a huddle. “Let’s change the order this time and have Savannah go first with her fluted vase. I’ll go next with one of my olive oil pitchers with a matching stopper. Alan, you’ll bring up the rear this time, and could you make one of your mold-formed ornaments? We haven’t done one in quite a while and you don’t want to get out of practice.
Okay with everyone?”

  Savannah and Alan nodded. Then the three of them spent a few minutes getting their materials organized, pulling out multiple containers of frit and stringers, followed by making sure that the mold that Alan was going to use was clean and free of contaminants.

  When they were ready, Eric started the program with his normal introductions, and Savannah selected a medium-sized blowpipe and opened the furnace for her first gather. She was trying hard to forget her worries about Ian, but sure enough, her concentration faltered for a moment and she burned her forearm as she pulled the blowpipe out of the furnace. She flinched automatically, but her body shielded the audience from viewing her mistake. Although it burned like fury, she had no trouble concentrating on forming her fluted vase.

  As soon as she detached her finished vase from the blowpipe into Alan’s waiting gloves, she walked over to her carryall and pulled out a burn ointment to apply to her forearm. Through painful experience, she knew she was in for a few days of irritation. But she didn’t know of a practicing glassblower who didn’t have a series of crisscrossed scars along their arms. It was the price of the art and her dues were being paid.

  Savannah narrated for Eric’s olive oil container. He was adamant about making them utilitarian rather than merely decorative. That meant that it not only needed to hold the oil without leaking, but also pour cleanly through a serviceable spout. Eric loved a challenge but it was a complicated piece that he fashioned out of plain clear glass.

  The additional complication was that a stopper needed to be made to custom-fit the container. It had to be made immediately after the container was already in the annealing oven. One reason for this was to make sure the stopper had the same properties as the vessel, but the main reason was to check for fit while both pieces were still able to be corrected. Eric had done this many times, and as Savannah’s first instructor had told her—you get good at what you practice.