“What’s going on?” Scott asked Alex.
“Calm down, Sophie,” Alex was saying. “They just brought out the wrong cake. We’ll fix this.”
“The wrong cake?” screeched Sophie, “This is more than the wrong cake—this isn’t even real.”
Katherine and Jason’s date walked over. They stood back, watching like all the other guests. Then something unexpected happened.
“That’s my cake,” said Jason’s date. Everyone looked at her.
“Your cake?” said Sophie.
The woman walked over. “Yes, my cake. How did it get down here again? I left it up in the suite the night of his bachelor party.” She addressed Alex. “Don’t you remember? When you came into the bedroom? I’d brought the cake in.”
Sophie turned toward Alex, mutiny on her face.
“You had a stripper? I told you no strippers. And why were you in a bedroom with her?”
“It wasn’t me,” he stammered. “I told the guys no stripper.”
Sophie looked first at Scott then at Jason, who looked away.
“I know whose fault it is,” she said. “Get this disgusting thing away from me and find me my cake.”
“Hey,” said Jason’s date, “it is not disgusting.”
Sophie ignored her and turned to Alex. “Where’s our cake?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“I don’t know, baby. But we’ll find it.” He went over to Jason and Scott. “What the hell guys, I just got married today and already my wife is pissed off at me. What the hell is going on? Scott, you and I saw the cake in the kitchen—go get it will you?”
Scott walked into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later.
“I didn’t see any wedding cake in there, Alex,” he said.
Katherine, who had been quiet but listening said, “Jeez, you guys are idiots. It’s obvious where their cake is.”
“Oh yeah,” said Scott, “where then?”
“Upstairs, ding dong. In the suite.” She turned to Jason. “Your new friend, she brought the wrong cake up there.”
“Ohh,” all the men said in unison. Katherine rolled her eyes, wondering how four otherwise intelligent guys could be so dumb.
“I remember you were upset about something,” said Alex. “That’s too bad. I mean, if you hadn’t been, this mistake would have been caught before now.”
“How?” asked Jason.
Katherine shook her head. Alex looked at Scott.
“Allow me,” said Scott. “It would have been discovered because she—” he nodded toward Jason’s friend, “—could hardly jump out of a real wedding cake.”
Alex turned to Sophie. “I’m going to fix this,” he said. “You get yourself some champagne and I’ll go get the cake.”
“No,” said Katherine, “let me. I’ll go get it.”
Alex pulled a key card from his pocket. “Here, this will get you in.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Jason’s friend, looking uncomfortably over her shoulder at the men.
She and Katherine walked out of the cafeteria-turned-reception hall and got on the elevator. Katherine turned to the woman and said, “We haven’t actually been introduced yet. Jason was about to introduce you when the music started. I’m Katherine.”
The woman smiled. She was grateful that Katherine wasn’t acting weird or rude because of what the woman did for a living.
“I’m Marni,” she said. “Marni Michaels.”
When Katherine and Marni opened the door to the suite, they saw that the room was dark except for light coming from one of the bedrooms. Marni pointed toward the lit room.
“That’s where I put the cake. I don’t know how good it’s going to be. It’s been in there since last Friday.”
“Well, let’s not worry about that,” Katherine said. “Let’s get it downstairs.”
When they pushed through the half-open door, Katherine could easily see the cake on the other side of the room and knew it didn’t look right. It was meant to have three tiers and the top tier was missing.
“Aw man,” she said.
Both women jumped back, startled at the sight of a man’s back near the cake. He turned around.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
Katherine looked at Marni. Was it her imagination or did Marni look terrified?
“Hello, Ms. Michaels.”
“Do you two know each other?” asked Katherine.
Marni made an effort to keep her voice calm. She remembered all too well the man who stood by the cake, the same man she’d seen murder Matt Smith. But he knew her as Pam Larsen’s friend. She was in no big hurry for him to find out she’d witnessed his crime.
“I’m Frank Towers—I work security.”
Katherine felt a little awkward for asking but said, “So, ah, what are you doing in here?”
“Oh,” he said, “someone called security. Said they’d heard noise in here and since I knew everyone was downstairs at the reception, I thought I’d better come check it out.”
Katherine looked at the man’s hands, which were covered in cake and frosting. She looked around him. On the floor was the cake top, torn apart.
“What have you done?” she asked. “Why would you mess with the cake?”
Frank looked at his hands. He wiped them on his pants and started laughing. A deep belly laugh that was not contagious. Katherine looked at Marni with an expression that asked, “Is this guy nuts?”
“I was almost done in here,” said Frank. He walked toward Katherine and Marni, slamming the door shut behind them. Marni turned and tried to grab the door handle. She even managed to open the door a little but Frank pushed it shut again. He shoved them both toward the bed.
“Sit down,” he said.
“What’s going on?” asked Katherine.
“You know, ladies, life is all about timing. So many things might have turned out differently, if not for bad timing.” Frank stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at Katherine and Marni.
“For instance, I was going to stop in the kitchen, get a quick bite, and I almost didn’t. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have seen the staff pull the cake out of the refrigerator. Cowards. I could tell it was fake, so I know they did. But, since you’re up here looking for the wedding cake, I assume they still allowed the fake one to be taken out to the reception. It was good for me though, because I asked myself, ‘If this cake’s fake, where’s the real one?’ Then I thought, ‘If there’s a wedding, there was probably a bachelor party.’ It was a long shot, but I had to check.” He walked back to the cake, staring at it, lost in thought.
“Damn, Marni,” said Katherine, “how could you not tell you were bringing a real cake up? I can tell from here.”
Frank’s eyes rested on Marni. He quickly closed the distance between them, grabbed one of Marni’s arms, and half pulled her off the bed.
“You brought this up here? So tell me, Ms. Marni Michaels, what did you see when you were getting your cake?”
Marni struggled and tried to pull her arm free from his grip, but he was too strong. “I saw you murder that man, that’s what I saw, you psycho!”
Frank let go of Marni’s arm and walked over to the cake. He grabbed at it, his fingers sifting through it.
“They have to be in here. There’s nowhere else they could be.”
Katherine was still reeling from Marni’s accusation.
“My God, Marni,” she said. “What did you say?”
“I’m saying this guy is a murderer.”
“But why?” asked Katherine.
“I think I know,” said a voice behind the women. They turned. Jack Harney stood in the doorway.
“Let them go, Frank. It’s over.”
“Jack,” said Frank, “this is all a misunderstanding.”
“Are you looking for these, Frank?” Jack held up a small see-through plastic bag. Frank took a step forward.
“Are those?” he asked.
“Yes,” answered Jack.
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“What are they?” asked Katherine.
“They’re diamonds,” said Jack. “Frank, I know what you and your little gang have been doing.”
Frank pulled a gun from inside his coat and pointed it at Jack.
“Well, Jack,” he said, “looks like you’ve got it all figured out.”
“Not all of it. Why’d you kill Matt?”
“Matt was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“And Jojo?”
“Because he was weak. I knew if confronted, he’d crack and give us all away.”
“The funny thing is, Frank, I didn’t suspect Jojo of anything until you killed him. Remember, all our security footage isn’t that great. But when I went to the infirmary, I noticed a bloody baseball cap next to Jojo’s body and it made me think of something—Nene Albright said that Pam Larsen’s killer’s hat had blown off.”
“So what?” said Frank. “She didn’t say the hat had been a baseball cap.”
“No she didn’t. Still, an idea began to form in my mind. I went back and looked at the footage more closely. That’s when I saw the ring. In other words, if you hadn’t killed him, I probably wouldn’t have even realized the woman on the tape was Jojo.”
Frank shrugged. “Oh well, shit happens.”
“And what about my friend?” asked Marni, “what about Pam? Why her?”
“She was down there that night,” answered Frank, “looking for Bobby. She saw more than she should have.”
“Who’s Bobby?” asked Marni.
“Bobby is RJ,” answered Jack, “and RJ is Bobby.”
“Did you ever figure out where RJ worked?” asked Marni.
“Yeah, he was a member of our security team.”
“Jeez, Jack,” said Marni.
“Hey, don’t look at me. How was I to know I had three crooks on the team?”
“But what’s this about diamonds?” asked Katherine, “And what do they have to do with that wedding cake?”
“The diamonds are the reason three people are dead,” answered Jack.
“Three? He killed three people?” asked Marni.
“No,” said Jack, “he killed two people. Matt Smith, the man’s whose murder I believe you witnessed. And he killed Jojo, one of his accomplices.”
“Who killed Pam?” asked Marni.
“Jojo.”
“Not that it matters much, but how did you figure out it was me?” asked Frank.
“The restored video footage. Bobby and Jojo thought they were being very clever, altering the footage and blaming it on the thunderstorm, but they weren’t as clever as they thought.”
“You said the footage wasn’t any better, that it didn’t change anything about Matt’s murder,” Frank said.
Jack shrugged. “I lied. It’s much clearer, clear enough to see that.” He pointed at the tattoo on Frank’s arm.
Frank waved his gun at Jack.
“Well aren’t you the smartest. Lot of good it’s going to do any of you.” Frank walked over and snatched the diamonds from Jack’s hand.
“Where are the others? This is only one pouch—there should be at least three.”
Jack shrugged. “How the hell do I know? Hey, whose bright idea was it to hide the diamonds in the kitchen?”
Frank shook his head in disgust. “That was Jojo. When we all reboarded the ship and Curt told about the new random room searches, he panicked. He had the diamonds, he knew the kitchen was closed for renovations. So he thought they’d be safe there. Stupid ass, the kitchen reopened the next day. That’s why I was in the kitchen that night. I was going to search for the diamonds, but Matt walked in.”
“Diamonds in the flour,” said Jack, “for a while I thought that was why all the cakes and pastries were being destroyed. That maybe someone was looking for the diamonds.”
“What happens now?” asked Katherine.
Frank waved his gun. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Where to?” asked Jack.
“Down to confinement. I’ll come back up here, find the other diamonds, and when we dock tomorrow, before anyone finds you, I’ll be long gone.”
Frank waved his gun at Marni and Katherine. “Get up.” He looked at Jack and said, “Don’t try anything stupid.” Frank followed behind Katherine, Marni, and Jack as they all left the suite and got on the elevator.
Jack’s mind rushed through possible solutions. He knew that after they were locked up, it could be days before anyone would think to look for them, there. Something had to be done before they reached confinement. Jack was standing closest to the elevator door, with Katherine and Marni behind him, and Frank behind them. Jack reached out and pushed as many buttons as he could, guaranteeing they’d stop at multiple floors. He needed more time, time to think of a way out of this mess.
He felt the gun shove into his back. Frank had pushed the ladies aside when he’d seen what Jack did.
“Didn’t I tell you not to do anything stupid?” Frank looked back toward Katherine and Marni.
“I’m only going to tell you this once: keep your mouths shut.” He looked right at Marni, “You know what I’m capable of. Don’t push your luck.”
The elevator stopped at a few floors, where nobody was waiting, but on the fourth floor, the elevator stopped again. When the doors opened, two women were waiting. When they saw Jack their hands flew to their cheeks.
Jack’s face grew stern. “Ladies,” he said.
“Oh, Jack, we’re sorry. We missed the wedding, but we just couldn’t miss the reception too. You understand, don’t you?” Nene and Gaga tried to squeeze into the elevator but Frank put up his hand.
“No, ladies, this elevator is too full. You’ll need to wait for the next one.”
The two women giggled as if he were joking. “Oh nonsense,” said Nene, pushing her way inside. Gaga silently followed, pushing the button for floor two.
Nene turned toward Katherine. “Katherine, right?” she said. “How was the wedding? Was it beautiful?”
Katherine looked nervously at Jack and Marni, then at Frank. In her back she could feel the tip of what she assumed was a gun.
“It was beautiful,” she answered.
Nene pulled a saran wrapped brownie from her pocket, unwrapped a corner, and started nibbling.The elevator dinged and the doors closed but quickly reopened on the second floor. When they did, the first person they saw was Chef Philippe. He turned around and started yelling, “Saboteurs! Saboteurs!” as he rushed toward the doors.
For a moment all the occupants of the elevator stared at the chef. Then Frank reached forward and tried to push the close door button. Nene put out her hand and stopped the doors.
“Young man, that was very rude,” she said. “My sister and I are getting off on this floor.”
“So get off already,” yelled Frank.
Nene and Gaga gave Frank a dirty look and started to get out, but Nene turned and took hold of Katherine’s wrist.
“Shouldn’t you be getting off here too?” she asked, gently tugging.
Katherine allowed herself to be pulled from the elevator and everyone else followed. The chef was still yelling, demanding to know why the two saboteurs were roaming the ship. A crowd started to gather in the hallway, and Frank had lost control of the situation. He’d quickly hidden his gun but followed them all out of the elevator. Chef Philippe rushed toward Frank.
“Do you have handcuffs?” he shouted.
Frank looked at the chef, confused. He looked at Katherine and Marni, who had quickly crossed to the other side of the hallway and away from Frank’s easy grasp. Where was Jack? Frank looked to his right, then to his left, and then he felt the full force of Jack’s fist crash into his face. He staggered and tried to reach into his pocket to retrieve his gun, but Jack punched him again. He fell and Jack jumped on him.
People were yelling and screaming, some of them trying to pull Jack away from Frank. Katherine and Marni pulled at the people pulling at Jack. They shouted, “He has a gun,” but people
thought they were talking about Jack.
Jack allowed himself to be pulled up and off of Frank, who after the third punch was unconscious. Sophie, Alex, and Scott rushed out of the cafeteria, followed by Mr. Smalls and the captain, who was attending the reception to toast the couple.
The chef barely glanced down at Frank, but as soon as Jack was standing demanded to know why Nene and Gaga weren’t in their rooms?
“Jack,” he yelled, “you assured me these women would be taken care of, but here they are!
“Are you okay?” Scott asked Katherine and Marni.
Katherine hugged Scott. “That man on the floor, he killed someone, maybe a few people. He has a gun.”
Jack reached down and pulled the gun from Frank’s pocket. “Not anymore,” he said.
“What’s going on, Jack?” It was Paul. He’d seen the commotion on the ship’s video cameras.
“Go get some cuffs,” said Jack. “I’ll explain later.”
Mr. Smalls and the captain walked toward Jack. Mr. Smalls stepped around Frank slowly, as if he half expected the man to reach out and grab his leg.
“What is all this?” he asked Jack. “Why is the chef yelling at those two guests?”
Jack explained that the two old ladies had been responsible for all the damage recently done to the chef’s baked goods.
“When was this discovered?” asked Mr. Smalls.
“Earlier today, the chef and I caught them as they were about to sneak off with his prized cake.”
“His prized cake?” asked the captain. “What prized cake? I don’t understand—I thought the competition was all over.”
“I’m sure it is now. But the chef had made a special cake for the final event, using the last of the flour from a huge barrel. I helped him take it to the ballroom.”
“And why is Frank on the floor?” asked the captain.
As Jack explained, Katherine walked over. She waited until he finished then said, “Jack, I was thinking. Shouldn’t we go back upstairs and go through the cake, for the rest of those diamonds?”
Jack laughed. “No, that cake was baked a week ago.”
“So?”
“Excuse me,” said the captain, “I’ve remembered something important that needs to be taken care of, in my office.” He stepped over Frank and hurried to the elevator.
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