“We’re on a cruise,” Kylie explained. “We should spend as much time as possible outside. Fresh air is our friend.”
“Yes, and you can get away with wearing nothing but your bikini top if we’re at the tiki bar,” Kara added, rolling her eyes. “You have to wear a real shirt if we go to the inside bar.”
Kylie ignored the dig and focused on Quinn. She barely registered the fact that Rowan was in the room, which was deliberate. Rowan realized the girl had a problem with women and preferred playing to a specific audience. That audience just happened to be male.
“We were on the deck and having a good time and a group of guys came over to buy us a round of drinks,” Kylie said. “I knew it was a bad idea but … well … the others wanted it and I was outvoted.” She leaned closer to Quinn, as if she was sharing a secret, but Hayley and Kara were clearly annoyed with the statement.
“No, you’re the one who wanted them to buy us drinks,” Kara pointed out. “You’re the one who sat on that guy’s lap and didn’t move for an hour even though he was grabbing your butt.”
“She’s making that up,” Kylie said, her brown eyes wide. “She’s just jealous because no one wanted to touch her butt.”
Rowan pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Jessica was missing, which was pretty far from funny, but Kylie’s desperate need to gain interest from Quinn was something straight out of a bad sitcom.
“I don’t care who touched anyone’s butt,” Quinn said, his temper wearing thin. “You were all on the deck together. Was Jessica with you then?”
Hayley nodded. “We were all sitting at the same table for a couple of hours,” she replied. “We all realized we were pretty drunk at the same time and decided to head back to our room.”
“And you all arrived together?” Rowan asked.
“Yes.”
“Walk me through it,” Quinn instructed. “You came back to the room and you were still together. Then what happened?”
“We took turns in the bathroom,” Kara answered. “We washed our faces and brushed our teeth and then we just climbed into bed.”
Quinn glanced around the room. It consisted of two double beds. “Are all of you sleeping in here together?”
“Yes, although we agreed to skedaddle if someone has a date,” Kylie said pointedly. “We can arrange alone time if the situation arises.”
Quinn ignored her flirting attempt. “Who was sharing a bed with Jessica?”
“Kylie,” Hayley and Kara answered in unison, causing the third girl to scowl.
“And you didn’t hear her get up in the middle of the night?” Quinn pressed, focusing on the petite brunette.
“I was sound asleep,” Kylie said. “I have no idea where she went. For all we know, someone came in here and took her. She’s probably being held as a sex slave in someone else’s room. Oh, this is terrible.” The girl moved to close the distance between Quinn and herself again, her arms outstretched, but Quinn neatly evaded her.
“I seriously doubt someone came into this room and took her while you were all sleeping,” Quinn said. “Do you all have your keycards?”
Kara nodded. “Jessica’s is still here, too. All four of them are on the dresser over there.”
Quinn followed her finger with his gaze and tapped his chin, his mind busy. “Maybe she got confused because she was drunk and went into the hallway to use one of the community bathrooms. She could’ve gotten lost on her way back. She might be sleeping it off somewhere.”
“Do you think that’s really a possibility?” Hayley looked hopeful.
“I think it’s happened before,” Quinn clarified. He didn’t want to give the girls false hope, but he had a hard time believing Jessica disappeared in the middle of a busy cruise ship and somehow fell into nefarious hands. “We’ll organize a search to look for her.”
“What if I’m right, though?” Kylie challenged. “What if someone came into our room and took her? What if they’re coming back for me? Maybe they wanted to do a dry run before they returned for the real prize.”
Quinn rolled his eyes. “I seriously doubt that’s the case, but we’re not ruling anything out.”
“I think you should stay here and protect me,” Kylie said. “Until we find Jessica, we’re at risk.”
Quinn shook his head. “I have a job to do. That job is finding your friend. You’ll be perfectly safe here.”
Kylie didn’t look convinced. “But … .”
Quinn ignored her and focused on Kara and Hayley. “Do you remember the names of the guys you were talking to last night?”
“I’m not sure,” Hayley hedged. “I think one of them was named Jordan.”
“I think another one was named Daniel,” Kara added. “They kept calling him Danny, though.”
“No last names?” Quinn pressed.
The girls shook their heads. “Sorry.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Quinn said, flashing a reassuring smile. “I’m going to start a search right now. With any luck, we’ll find her pretty quickly.”
“What if you don’t?” Kara asked. “What happens then?”
Quinn didn’t have a definitive answer for her. If Jessica was truly missing, this would be the first time he dealt with that situation since accepting employment on the Bounding Storm.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Quinn said finally. “For now, I’m betting we’ll find your friend very quickly. I’ll be in touch with updates.”
7
Seven
“Do you have anything?”
Michael met Quinn in the security expert’s office, his lips quirking when he saw how Quinn slumped over his desk. While Quinn was fine when talking to guests or getting in on the action, he wasn’t particularly fond of technology and it showed every single time he had to use a computer to conduct research.
“We haven’t found her,” Quinn replied, glancing up. “We’ve conducted two thorough searches and she’s now been missing for at least five hours. I mean … she could be in another room … but as of right now I don’t think we can call this some form of error.”
“Meaning?”
Quinn shrugged. “Meaning that I think something happened to her,” he replied. “She’s either been taken or … lost.”
Michael swallowed hard as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorframe. Quinn’s office was down a quiet corridor that only a handful of people had access to so he wasn’t particularly worried about anyone overhearing them. “Lost? Do you think she went overboard?”
“I can’t answer that because I don’t have enough information,” Quinn responded, rubbing his hand over his short-cropped hair and making a growling noise in the back of his throat. “I ran the names Jordan and Daniel, but I have at least three of each name to contend with and if you use Jordan as a last name – which I think you I have to do to be on the safe side – then that increases the field.”
“Did you think to see if any of the Jordans and Daniels checked in together?”
Quinn made an exaggerated “well, duh” face. “No. It never crossed my mind.”
“There’s no need to be snarky,” Michael said, stepping into the room. “I was just asking.”
“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” Quinn said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. “That was uncalled for and unfair. I don’t know what to think, though.”
“Well, try bouncing the possibilities off me,” Michael suggested. “That always helps my thinking process … when I utilize another set of ears, that is.”
Quinn pursed his lips and nodded. “Well, the first scenario is the easiest,” he said. “Jessica could’ve gotten up after everyone else went to sleep and met someone on the deck and gone back to his room with him. Since she was drunk, she could still be sleeping it off.”
“That’s not a bad scenario,” Michael said. “How do we find out if it’s true?”
“We either bug every guest and make them open their rooms or wait for the inevitabl
e.”
“We’re not going to be able to force every guest into opening his or her room without creating a panic,” Michael pointed out. “I would prefer we not go that route.”
“I figured you would say that,” Quinn muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Besides that, Jessica wasn’t the type to go back to someone’s room with them,” Rowan announced, appearing in the doorway. Her gaze was steady, as if she was practically daring Quinn to bust her for eavesdropping.
Quinn leaned back in his chair as he regarded her. He shouldn’t have been surprised to see her … and yet he was. She disappeared shortly after leaving the girls’ room, leaving him to conduct his search while she carried on with her day. Rowan’s office was located next door to Quinn’s private sanctum, though, so she had every right to be in the hallway.
“Hello, Rowan,” Michael said, beaming when he saw her. “You look lovely this morning.”
Rowan stilled. “Um … thank you.” She seemed surprised by Michael’s upbeat attitude.
Quinn could do nothing but roll his eyes. Only Michael would take the opportunity to hit on the new recruit when they were dealing with a missing person. “Miss Gray, I see you found your office.”
“I did,” Rowan confirmed, her voice clipped. “I planned on going through my photos to see if I could find a Daniel and Jordan grouped together in the initial snapshots. A lot of people – even if they’re paying separately – stand together for posterity when they go on vacation. It’s a memory they want to capture.”
Quinn’s eyes lit up. “I never thought of that,” he said. “That’s a great idea.”
“Thank you, Mr. Davenport,” Rowan said. “That means a lot coming from you.”
She said the words in a pleasant manner, but it was easy for Quinn to detect the snark underneath the surface. He decided to turn the tables on her.
“You said Jessica wasn’t the type to pick up a man,” Quinn said. “How do you know that?”
“Yes, how do you know that?” Michael asked, legitimately curious. If he noticed something off about the way Quinn and Rowan interacted, he didn’t acknowledge it.
“Because those girls were one of the last groups I handled at check-in,” Rowan replied. “They were very memorable, and only partially because I thought the little brunette would attempt to smother Mr. Davenport with her boobs and I was worried about being called as a manslaughter witness.”
Michael barked out a laugh, delighted with Rowan’s sarcasm. Quinn tried to maintain a cool façade … and failed miserably.
“Yes, they were definitely memorable,” Quinn said, rubbing his cheek. “I didn’t notice the boobs, though.”
Rowan snorted. “Oh, puh-leez.”
Michael pressed his lips together as his gaze bounced between the two cruise ship newbies. They were doing their best to keep their distance from one another – and avoid as much eye contact as possible – but he recognized something sparking between them and he couldn’t help but be intrigued.
“That still doesn’t explain why you think Jessica wouldn’t voluntarily go to someone’s room,” Quinn pointed out, drawing Rowan back to the conversation.
“Oh, right.” Rowan shook herself out of her reverie. “She was the nervous one in the group. Every group has specific types. Kylie, for example, is the sexual one who considers herself a wild child. Hayley was the pragmatic one who bosses the others around. Jessica was exceedingly nervous, though. She’s the worrier.”
Quinn rolled his neck until it cracked and stared at the ceiling. “If Miss Gray is right – and I have no reason to doubt her instincts – that means Jessica is either dead on this ship and her body has been stuffed somewhere we can’t immediately ascertain or she went overboard.”
“There’s another option,” Michael interjected. “Someone could’ve taken and locked her up in another room. Just because she wouldn’t voluntarily go to a room with someone else, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t forced against her will.”
“That’s true,” Quinn said, his eyes focused on his computer screen. He slowly lifted them and caught Rowan’s gaze. “If you can go through your photos and at least find a direction for us to look, that would be great. I don’t want to cause a panic when we have absolutely zero facts.”
“I’m going to do it now,” Rowan said, holding up her tablet for emphasis. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
“I appreciate that, Miss Gray.”
“Don’t mention it, Mr. Davenport.”
“WHAT WAS that?”
Michael’s smile was so large it almost swallowed his entire face as he watched Quinn struggle with his computer. He waited until he heard Rowan’s office door shut before speaking.
“What was what?” Quinn asked, confused. “She’s going to look through her photos and see if she can find a Jordan and Daniel together. You heard her say that when she walked in.”
“Not that,” Michael countered, amused. “I was talking about the way you two interacted with one another.”
“What was wrong with that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Michael drawled. “I thought the Miss Gray and Mr. Davenport stuff was a bit much. Oh, and there was so much sexual energy I thought I was in an afternoon soap opera for a minute. I was just waiting for the music track to start so you could strip out of your clothes for a montage.”
Quinn was dumbfounded. “What?”
Michael snickered, amused. “Well, at least now I know why you were trying to get me to wait before asking her out. If you’re interested, all you had to do was say something. I’m more than happy to look elsewhere. I won’t infringe on your territory.”
If looks could kill, Michael would be dead on the floor. He didn’t flinch under Quinn’s heavy gaze, though.
“I am not interested … and I have no freaking territory,” Quinn said, his tone harsh. “How many times do I have to tell you that I have no intention of dating anyone on this ship?”
Michael shrugged. “I believed you … until now,” he said. “Now I think you’re trying to convince yourself as much as you’re trying to convince me.”
“That is not true,” Quinn barked. “I am not getting involved with anyone. Period. It’s not in my life plan.”
“Yeah? Well, I think you need to readjust your life plan,” Michael said. “Listen, Quinn, when you first came to this ship I knew you were exhausted. It wasn’t just physical exhaustion. It was mental exhaustion, too. You were weary of life.
“I left you to yourself because I knew you needed rest and distance from whatever you saw while you were overseas,” he continued. “I was happy to chat with you when you needed it and otherwise leave you to your own devices. You never showed any interest in anyone, which I found sad, but it was your life and I didn’t want to interfere before you were ready.
“This is different, though,” he said. “You like her.”
“I don’t even know her,” Quinn sputtered, his cheeks flooding with color. He hated the way Michael stared at him. “I’ve spent all of one hour with that woman since she hit the ship. I hardly think that means I like her.”
Michael held up his hands to quiet Quinn. “Fine,” he said, locking gazes with the younger man. “Like was too strong of a word. You’re attracted to her.”
“No, I’m not,” Quinn argued. “I told you when I took this job that I was a loner. I’m not attracted to anyone but myself.”
“I hope that’s not true,” Michael said, choosing his words carefully. “Being by yourself is fine when you’re adjusting and trying to figure out your life goals. It should be a short-term thing, though. It sounds like a lonely existence otherwise.”
“I’m fine with that,” Quinn shot back. “Some of us are meant to be alone.”
Michael looked Quinn up and down for a moment before responding. “Okay,” he said, huffing out a resigned sigh. “Have it your way.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
ROWAN glanced up from her computer an h
our later when she heard someone knock on her office door.
“Come in.”
She wasn’t surprised to find Quinn standing in the archway, his hands shoved in his pockets as he forced a congenial smile for her benefit.
“Mr. Davenport,” Rowan said, bobbing her head. “I thought it was probably you.”
“I don’t mean to bother you,” Quinn said, shuffling into the room. “I was hoping you might’ve come up with something on the photographs.”
“I’ve been looking and going through them, but I’m not sure if I have anything,” Rowan admitted. She gestured toward one of the chairs on the opposite side of her desk. “You might want to grab a seat.”
Quinn did as she instructed, shifting three times on the uncomfortable chair as he tried to appear natural and relaxed. In truth, he was still bothered by what Michael said in his office. Actually, to be fair, he was more bothered by the fact that he thought Michael might be right.
Rowan Gray intrigued him. It wasn’t just attraction. There was something different about her and he couldn’t put his finger on it. He wanted to delve deeper and find out what made her tick … and that was the most frightening prospect he’d faced since retiring from the Marines and forging a new life in the private sector.
“What did you find?” Quinn asked, forcing himself to focus on the missing girl.
Rowan stared at him a moment, amused. “You might want to bring your chair to this side of the desk,” she prodded. “You can’t see the photographs on my computer from over there.”
“Oh.” Quinn’s cheeks burned as he grabbed the chair and angled it around the corner of the desk. He flopped into it right away – he was going for an effortlessly cool vibe – but he internally cringing when he realized how closely he situated his chair in proximity to where she sat. “I … what is that smell?”
Rowan glanced around. “I don’t know,” she said, lifting her nose in the air. “I don’t smell anything. This is the first time I’ve been in here so if you smell something it must be left over from the previous occupant.”
Welcoming Seas (A Rowan Gray Mystery Book 1) Page 6