Before Jack could answer Katherine, she noticed Sophie, who was standing near Marni, trying to get her attention. Sophie walked over to Marni and said, “Where’s my cake?”
Katherine and Marni looked at each other, then at Alex, who was walking over.
“What happened?” he asked.
They told Sophie, Alex, and Scott about everything. How they’d encountered Frank, that he’d killed at least two people, that there had been diamonds, and how he’d planned on locking them in the ship’s jail and escaping after the ship docked.
“And my cake?” asked Sophie, as if she hadn’t just been told about diamonds, murder, and kidnapping.
“Your cake is ruined,” said Katherine. “He was looking through it, for the diamonds.”
Scott put his arm around Katherine’s shoulders and said, “Man, never a dull moment with you. Crazy people ruining cakes and taking hostages.”
“How is this my fault?”
“Don’t know, but it’ll come to me.”
Katherine playfully socked Scott’s arm. “Dork.”
She walked back over to Jack. “Well, you saved the day. The bad guys are dead or in jail.”
Jack shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “Looks that way.”
“So the diamonds—where’d they come from?
“A jewelry store robbery in Tampa.”
“Oh wow.”
Paul reappeared holding handcuffs. Jack retrieved the packet of diamonds from Frank’s pocket, then said, “Cuff him and take him to confinement. He can keep Bobby company.”
Paul shook his head then said, “Dang, what a cruise.” He and Jack lifted the now conscious Frank.
“Jack,” asked Frank. “Where are the rest of the diamonds?”
Jack smiled.
Marni watched as Jack handcuffed Frank. She looked at Katherine, as Scott held her tight, with envy, and she smiled as Sophie had a mini-tantrum over her wedding cake. I want someone to hold me tight, she thought, without slipping a dollar bill into my underwear. She smiled to herself.
Things had changed. Only a week ago, she’d been a stripper. She was saving money and probably would have kept working to save more. But not anymore. No, she wouldn’t be going back to the strip club, that was for sure. It didn’t matter what she did; anything was better than that. Seeing someone die and nearly being shot herself had shifted her priorities. Marni looked at Scott and Katherine again, then at Alex and Sophie, who’d finally stopped whining about the cake. She looked at the floor, feeling sorry for herself.
“Hey, you okay?”
Marni looked up. Jason stood in front of her, smiling. He took her hands in his. She didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. Jason pulled her into his arms.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Come on, let’s go back to my room. We’ll order cocoa.”
“What about the reception?”
Jason looked over at Alex and Sophie, then back at Marni. “Hey,” he said, “you can only do the hokey pokey so many times.”
Marni looked into Jason’s eyes. “Jason, you know what I do for a living. You know what I am.”
Jason brought Marni’s hands to his lips and softly kissed them. “I know what you used to do. I know you’re a super-smart, fantastically sexy woman who I happen to like a lot.”
Marni smiled. Jason put his arm around her shoulders. They got on the elevator and turned toward the closing doors. Jason looked down at Marni.
“Hey, Marni?”
“Yeah?”
“How do you feel about mountains?”
Marni smiled.
***
Bright and early Friday morning, the cruise ship Forever docked in Tampa. Jack stood behind a steward as guests left the ship. The local police would be interviewing all who had been on board. He didn’t envy them that huge task.
“Guests to the right, crew to the left,” the steward said.
The last week had gone by unbelievably fast, and a lot had happened. Three people had been killed, not to mention a baked goods crime spree. He thought about Curt Noble and his assurance that the worst crime on board would be an occasional drunk or a shoplifter. Curt definitely owed him a beer for this.
Jack smiled when he saw Gaga and Nene walking toward him.
“Jack,” said Nene. “We’re not in trouble, are we? We could pay for the pies and cakes we ate or damaged.”
“How many do you think you damaged?” asked Jack.
Nene and Gaga looked at each other. “We ate most of them,” Gaga answered, “so at least they didn’t go to waste.”
“No, no,” said Nene, laughing. “They went to waist!” Both ladies laughed, then grew serious when Jack wasn’t laughing too.
“What you did was wrong,” he said, though he was trying not to smile, “and you shouldn’t have done it. But the chef does not want to press charges.”
“Oh that’s a relief,” said Gaga. “Well, Jack, guess this is goodbye.”
Nene and Gaga waved and walked off the ship. Jack smiled until he noticed the Tampa police officer walking toward the ship’s opening. In the short time he’d been with that department, he’d worked with Detective Cross a few times and Cross was a good cop. However, Jack knew Cross was about to give him a lot of grief.
“Hi Jack,” said Cross, smiling.
Jack held out his hand. “I see the department sent their finest.”
“Hell, Jack, people were lining up to volunteer for this assignment. Take it as a compliment that so many people are looking forward to harassing you for this. Three murders, committed out in the middle of the ocean, nowhere for the killer to run, and yet here we are, with nobody to arrest. We might have to kick you out of the big boy detective club.”
“Well, not so fast,” said Jack. “Who says you won’t have someone to arrest?”
Detective Cross looked surprised. He shrugged and said, “You have someone?”
Jack smiled. “Oh more than that, and I’m pretty sure you won’t have any trouble connecting them to a jewelry store that was robbed in Tampa two or three weeks ago.”
“Really? So where are these master criminals?”
“Downstairs,” answered Jack. “The ship has a small confinement area. One is cozy, but two’s a crowd. Three would have been cruel and inhumane.”
“Three? You have two in custody?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, so one’s still on the loose?”
“Depends on how you look at it.”
“So,” said Detective Cross, “tell me about the jewelry store connection. If it’s the store I’m thinking of, that robbery is still unsolved.”
“Well,” said Jack, “if I’m right, you’ll be likely to solve more than that one. I did some research, and it seems that at almost every port this ship sails from, a jewelry store has been robbed on the day of departure. The last one was in Tampa. Not the same day the ship sailed, not this time, but close enough. It was a great idea, and it worked for a while. They could rob a place, board the ship, and within hours they’d sail out to sea. The perfect crime, or so they thought.”
“What gave them away?”
“What always gives them away,” answered Jack, “Greed. With a little bit of stupidity and a dash of bad luck mixed in.”
Jack told him about Jojo hiding the diamonds in the large container of flour, how Frank had been looking for the diamonds and impulsively killed Matt Smith, and about Jojo’s murder to tie off a loose-lipped thread.
“What about the woman?” asked Detective Cross. “Pam Larsen?”
“Bad luck,” said Jack. “She was romantically involved with one of the crooks. She went looking for him that night and saw Matt Smith’s murder. They couldn’t risk her telling anyone what she’d seen.”
“When did you first know about the jewelry store connection?”
“Early on,” answered Jack. “I’d read about the robbery in a newspaper. Then one day I was in the employee cafeteria and there on the floor—so small I’m not surprised nob
ody else saw it—was what I suspected was a diamond. But I didn’t know for sure, not until I took it to the jewelry store on board. Those creeps thought they’d had it all figured out, hiding the diamonds in the kitchen, but then the cafeteria, which had been closed for renovations, reopened. The diamonds had to be retrieved, and quickly. The problem was there were always people in the cafeteria and kitchen; it was open almost twenty-four hours a day. Jojo and Bobby worked all the different shifts, each taking turns going down to the cafeteria. One would go while the other watched the security cameras. But even when the place was closed, the bakery chef was always there. He had a baked goods competition and a big wedding to prepare for.”
“How did you know the diamonds were in the flour?”
“The one I found, it had flour on it. But that wasn’t it, not really. It was something the chef told me that made it all clear. He said that when the cruise first started the flour container was nearly empty, that he’d had to fill it up.” Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out the small pouch of diamonds he’d found. “This was near the bottom.”
“And the rest of the diamonds?” asked Detective Cross. “Do you have them all?”
“No, not all of them,” Jack said, then smiled. “But I will soon enough.”
“Where are they?”
Just then Chef Philippe rounded the corner.
“Hello, Jack,” he said. “With mixed feelings I tell you that your theory may be right.”
“What’s he talking about?” asked Detective Cross.
The chef continued talking. “My cake, she is ruined.”
Jack looked at the puzzled expressions on the detectives face and had to smile. He looked back at the chef.
“And the camera?”
“Where you left it,” answered the chef.
“Jack,” said Detective Cross, “what the heck’s going on?”
Jack nodded toward the cafeteria.
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Detective Cross followed Jack to the employee cafeteria and into the kitchen. He looked toward a mess on the floor and assumed someone had dropped a cake. Maybe the same cake more than once. Jack walked over to a shelf, reached up, and pulled a small camera from behind a plastic plant.
“The kitchen doesn’t have video cameras. I set this up last night and pointed it at that cake over there.”
“So,” said Detective Cross, “you’re expecting to see a recording of whoever destroyed that cake? I assume they were looking for the rest of the diamonds?”
“That’s right,” answered Jack.
“Any theories who we’ll see?” asked Detective Cross.
Jack suddenly looked sad. “Yeah,” he said, “but I’m not happy about it. Come on.” The detective followed Jack back to the ship’s entrance and out, then into the screened-off area where the ship’s crew were being questioned. Mr. Smalls rushed toward Jack.
“Jack,” he said, “tell these people who I am.”
Jack walked to the officer directing crew members to different areas for questioning. They spoke, and the officer looked at Mr. Smalls. Jack spoke again, then the officer pointed to a curtained-off area a few feet away. Jack walked back to the detective and Mr. Smalls.
“You should come with us, Mr. Smalls,” he said.
Mr. Smalls looked surprised and fearful. “Why, Jack?” he asked, “What is it now?”
Jack didn’t answer. Mr. Smalls and Detective Cross followed him across the room. He pulled a curtain aside and looked into the small area.
“Hey,” said a police officer, “I’m trying to conduct an investigation here.”
Detective Cross held up his badge. The officer suddenly appeared nervous.
“Sorry, Detective. I’m done here anyway.” Looking at the seated man he said, “You can go, sir.”
The man hadn’t looked up when they’d first entered, but he was easy enough to recognize in his starched white uniform. He stood and turned around. He seemed to realize they were there for him.
“Captain,” said Jack, “could you come with us.”
Silently, they all walked back to Jack’s office. The detective stood in the doorway. Mr. Smalls nervously fidgeted in the corner, his eyes darting between the detective, Jack, and the captain, who sat across from Jack.
“See,” said Jack to Detective Cross, “Jojo put the diamonds in the flour bin when it was nearly empty, then the bin was refilled at the beginning of the cruise. Frank tore up a wedding cake looking for the diamonds, but that wedding cake had been baked within a week of the ship’s departure, so the flour used was nowhere near the bottom. That cake in the kitchen, the one all messed up, it was made a few days ago.”
“Are you telling me the camera you’re holding was in the kitchen—that you videotaped the chef’s prized cake?” asked Mr. Smalls.
The captain stood. “Really, Jack,” he said, “I don’t know what this was all about, but I have work to do.”
Detective Cross stood in the doorway, blocking the captain from leaving. Jack fast forwarded the video through footage of an empty kitchen.
“Captain, yesterday I told you that the chef had made a special cake for the baked goods competition.”
“Jack,” said Mr. Smalls, interrupting and standing, “this is very awkward for me. I need to go make some phone calls, get someone working to protect the ship’s reputation. Damage control. How we’ll bounce back from the ship’s captain being a jewelry thief, I’ll never know.”
The captain turned toward Mr. Smalls, anger clear on his face. “How dare you!”
Mr. Smalls walked to the door and looked up at Detective Cross. “Jack, tell your detective friend here to allow my departure.”
Detective Cross looked at Jack.
“Not yet, Mr. Smalls,” Jack said. “As I was saying, I made sure to say that the cake had been made only a few days ago, using the flour toward the bottom of the flour bin. I expected that the last remaining jewelry thief would go find that cake and search it for the remaining diamonds. That’s why I put the camera in the kitchen.”
“But when did you suspect the captain?” asked Detective Cross.
Jack smiled mischievously, “Who said I suspected the captain? No, I just thought it wise to have him here as another witness.”
Jack rewound the tape until someone came into view. At first the person was hard to see but was clearly a man. As he made his way around the cake, it was soon clear who the man was. Mr. Smalls.
Mr. Smalls tried to scurry under Detective Cross’s arm, but the larger man shoved him back into the office.
“I figured Frank was probably calling the shots Mr. Smalls, but his plans couldn’t have worked without your knowledge. I knew you were having money troubles, however I didn’t really begin to suspect you were involved until I was told that the ship’s route had originally been up and down the East Coast but then had been changed to the South.” Jack looked at Detective Cross. “I’m almost positive that if you contact East Coast police departments, at the ports this ship stopped, you’ll find more than a few unsolved robberies. You do the same for the South, you’ll likely get the same results.” Jack looked at the captain. “I hope this wasn’t too uncomfortable for you, sir. But I wanted you to see the footage.”
The captain smiled. “I’m relieved,” he said. “I thought I was about to be arrested.”
“When I told you about the cake yesterday, Mr. Smalls was there too. At the time I wasn’t positive he was involved. I wanted to be wrong.”
Detective Cross took Mr. Smalls by the arm and swung him around, handcuffing him.
“Come on, you,” he said. “I’m sure your buddies down in confinement will be glad to you see you.”
Jack watched as Mr. Smalls was led from the office; the captain left soon after.
Jack sat at his desk, marveling at all that had happened. He looked up, surprised, when a familiar face appeared in the doorway, completely filling the space.
“You,” said Jack, feigning anger.
The man put his hands up defensively.
“Hey,” said Curt Noble, “it’s not my fault.”
The two men smiled at each other.
“What are you doing here?” asked Jack. “I didn’t expect to see you for another few weeks, at least.”
Curt lumbered in and sat in the chair across from Jack. The chair made a noticeable creaking sound. “I’m back,” he said. “It didn’t take me long to finish what I needed to do. But I don’t know if it matters. From what I’ve heard, the ship’s going to be grounded for a while, maybe forever. Jeez Jack, what the heck’s been going on? Three murders?”
“Don’t ask me. I thought my biggest worry would be seasickness.”
“I saw a uniform taking Mr. Smalls away in handcuffs.”
Jack laughed, then said, “He was the brains behind a multistate crime spree.”
Curt looked at Jack in disbelief. “Mr. Smalls?”
“Yes.”
“The brains?”
“Yes.”
“I knew it all along.”
Both men laughed.
“To be honest,” said Jack. “I think Frank was really in charge. At one point I actually thought the captain might be involved too,” Jack said.
“But he’s not, right?”
“No.”
“So,” said Curt, “I guess you’ll go back to work in Tampa?”
Jack leaned back in his chair, his hands laced behind his neck.
“I don’t know. I’m thinking of branching out.”
Curt laughed. “What does that mean?”
“Well, I might get me a P.I. license.”
“You? A private investigator?”
“Sure. Why not?” Jack held up his hand, his eyes looking off into the distance. “Can’t you just picture it? Jack Harney, Private Detective, no crime too big or too small.”
Curt laughed, then asked, “You going to do this in Tampa?”
Jack opened his wallet, which still held a small photo of Amy.
“No, Reno.”
“Want a partner?”
“Sure.”
Curt stood. “Come on, Jack—let me buy you a coffee.”
“Coffee’s free.”
“Good thing, ’cause I don’t have a job.”
The End, for now
Under the Moonlight collection Page 42