Great. The last thing Millie needed was to have to try to keep Brody safe, all the while having to deal with a pseudo jerk boss. At least it was only for one night. On the bright side, it would make her appreciate Andy even more.
“We’ll deal with him when the time comes,” Annette said. “The brunch crowd is calling and it’s time for me to get back to work.”
Millie placed Annette’s “uniform” in the side drawer and followed Cat into the hall. “I’m free after eight tonight. Is there anything I can do to help you?” Cat asked.
“I’m sure there is. Give me a minute.” Whether it was coincidence or subconscious design, most of the sleuthing, spying and undercover work was team Millie/Annette…and Danielle, but not by choice. Somehow, Danielle always managed to nose her way into Millie’s investigations.
Millie rarely asked Cat to join them, but in Millie’s defense, Cat had been dealing with her own issues. Now that Cat was emotionally stable, maybe it was time to include her in their mini missions.
It wouldn’t hurt to have someone nearby to keep a lookout during their operation. The last thing they needed was to run into Dave Patterson or one of the other security supervisors.
Patterson hadn’t specifically warned Millie to leave Brody alone but she knew he wouldn’t appreciate her meddling in his affairs, especially when it involved one of his employees.
“Do you think you can handle being our lookout in case Patterson or someone else decides to check on Brody?”
“Absolutely.” Cat beamed. “Tell me when and where and I’ll be there.”
“Thanks Cat.” Millie put a light arm around her friend’s shoulder as they strolled down the corridor. “Now, I have one little favor to ask.”
“Sure. What’s that?”
“I need to take a look at your database and track down this ‘Isaac’ fellow. I think it’s time for us to have a chat.” Millie remembered Danielle mentioning the other guy in the employee lounge the previous night when Isaac said he bet Brody would be off the ship in 24 hours.
“There’s also ‘Hugh’ someone.”
Cat fished her key from her pocket and unlocked the door to the store. Millie followed her in and to the computer in the back.
Cat turned the computer on and swiped her card before entering her access code. “Donovan is updating our database. Last time I tried to access employee information, I couldn’t get in.”
She slipped her reading glasses on and peered at the screen. “Ah. It’s up again. What were the crewmembers’ names?”
“Isaac and Hugh.”
“There are too many Isaacs. I’ll need a last name. Let’s try searching for Hugh.” Cat tapped the keyboard with the tips of her nails. “It’s Hugh Mufti. He works the swing shift in maintenance.”
“Meaning?” Millie asked.
“He works both night and day shift.” Cat squinted her eyes. “He swiped his card at 11:41 this morning, coming back on board the ship.”
“You can see what time he clocked back in?”
“Yeah. It’s one of the new features Donovan installed. Kind of scary that the ship’s officers are now able to track employee movements with the swipe of their card. From what I can tell, it’s only in the common areas, though.”
“Interesting. Big brother is watching.” Millie glanced at her watch. “It’s just after noon now so that means Hugh is awake.”
“Yep.” Cat nodded. “You wanna see what he looks like?”
“Sure.” Millie hurried around the side of the counter and peered over Cat’s shoulder.
Hugh’s short black hair was slicked back. His eyebrows were thick and bushy and he wasn’t smiling. “He looks unhappy.”
“Yeah, like he didn’t want his picture taken.” Millie closed her eyes and attempted to burn the image of Hugh in her head.
“I have an idea. Let me try something else,” Cat said as she focused her attention on the screen. “There’s an Isaac Risang who purchased some drinks in the employee lounge last night. He might be the Isaac that Danielle mentioned. Here’s his mugshot.”
Millie studied Isaac Risang’s picture. He didn’t look menacing, like he would punch another person unprovoked.
“That’s odd.” Cat frowned.
“What’s odd?”
“It looks like Isaac’s records are missing.”
Chapter 14
“Whoops. I take that back. They’re just in a different spot.” Cat reached for the mouse and scrolled to the bottom of the screen. “Isaac’s cabin is C351.”
“Thanks Cat. You’re the bomb.” Millie patted her shoulder and turned to go. “Can you look up Brody’s cabin and tell me his cabin mate’s name?”
“Sure.” Cat’s eyes narrowed. “It’s Nevlin Cooper. It looks like he’s only been on Siren of the Seas a couple months.”
“Isaac Risang, Nevlin Cooper, Hugh Mufti.” Millie repeated the names. “What about Nevlin Cooper? Any way you can bring up his profile to get a visual on him?”
“Of course.” Cat tapped the keys and reached for the mouse. “Interesting. He’s got a log list like a rap sheet. This dude is everywhere. Check it out.” She shifted to the side and Millie leaned forward for a closer look.
The screen was filled with times and ship locations, including the main gangway and the maintenance exit area. He was also a regular at the specialty coffee bar on deck seven. “Nevlin bought several cheap drinks in the crew lounge late yesterday afternoon. An hour after his last drink purchase, he exited the main gangway.”
“His last log shows he’s on the ship,” Cat said.
“So he may be working tonight, too,” Millie said. “Is there a photo id with his information?”
“There should be.” Cat continued scrolling the screen. “Here we go.”
Although the picture was only a head shot, Millie immediately guessed, judging by his hollow cheekbones, the man was thin. She lowered her gaze. “Nevlin Cooper, 24 years old. 6’2”, 165 lbs. Gray eyes.”
She straightened her back. “I had no idea all of this personal stuff was online.” Millie wondered what her online profile looked like. Maybe she didn’t want to know.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s not everyone,” Cat said. She exited the screen and shut the computer off. “Like I said, Donovan just had the systems updated. None of this information was available before. I don’t think we’re supposed to be able to access it and I’m thinking maybe Donovan doesn’t know it’s out there for all to see.”
“Are you gonna tell him?” Millie asked.
“I could but then he’ll know I was snooping around,” Cat said. “Maybe I’ll just drop a hint, casually mention I saw something I shouldn’t have.”
She had a point. “So while we’re out tonight, we need to keep an eye out for Nevlin Cooper, another security guard and Hugh Muf-something who works in maintenance.”
“I’ll write their names down.” Cat scribbled on a blank sheet of paper and handed it to Millie. “When and where do you want to meet?”
“Meet us in the galley, no my cabin at 10:45.”
Cat wrinkled her nose. “Are you going to change before we head downstairs? What if someone sees you leaving your cabin wearing a maintenance uniform?”
“Like Danielle? I hadn’t thought of that. Yeah. That’s not gonna work. We need a place to change that’s close to the maintenance area.” She tried to recall if she’d seen a restroom on the maintenance deck. Surely, they had locker rooms or somewhere to change…or maybe not. “We’ll have to wing it. Meet us on deck zero, forward at 10:50.”
“Got it.” Cat gave a thumbs up and grinned. “If anyone can keep Brody out of trouble, it will be you.”
“Or just the opposite,” Millie groaned.
Cat and Millie strode out of the store. “See you later.” Cat waved good-bye and sauntered off toward the bank of elevators.
Millie stood in the hallway, torn on what she should do. Part of her wanted to track down Isaac, Hugh and Nevlin, to demand that they tell her what
they knew about Brody’s imminent attack but if they were in on it, she didn’t want to tip her hand.
What she needed to do was get some work done before Andy cornered her and asked what she’d been up to. She still needed to finish sorting through the board games and since the library was not far from the gift shop, she opted to work, which was what they were paying her for, she reminded herself.
Millie grabbed the Monopoly game first. Thankfully, the entire game was intact so she set it to the side and began sorting through the Clue game, one of her favorites.
The cards were all there but it was missing one of the weapons, the candlestick and also the brown envelope, which held the answers. She started a list of missing game pieces and after finishing, she put the game in a separate pile before moving on to Yahtzee.
As the afternoon passed, she mulled over her list of suspects. Motive and opportunity. The motive was already in place. Someone had it in for Brody. The fact the incidents occurred right after Brody visited San Juan’s red light district was a clue.
He had also recently been promoted. Perhaps it had nothing to do with his visit to the Emerald Isle Club but more to do with someone who had been passed over for the promotion and now had it in for Brody.
Last but not least, perhaps Brody had stumbled on a crime in progress and there had been a body. The fact that Patterson had mentioned the blood meant he, too, wondered if Brody had seen something.
If so, what happened to that person? According to Patterson, all of the crewmembers were accounted for.
Millie thought about Hugh, who worked swing shifts in the maintenance department. Next was Nevlin, Brody’s roommate. Maybe he hated Brody. It hadn’t sounded like it since they’d overheard him talking to Brody, trying to warn him.
There was also Isaac, the loudmouth crewmember who said he bet Brody would be off the ship within 24 hours. That made three men who knew something.
Millie made quick work of sorting through the games and after she finished, was relieved she could finally check the library projects off her list.
After locking the library, Millie wandered aimlessly around the upper decks. The miniature golf area was in shambles as the crew worked to clear a spot for the new rock-climbing wall.
The spa area was in disarray, too. She could see several workers inside cleaning shelves and sorting through boxes of product.
Her next stop was the buffet area, which was still closed. Through the back exit door, Millie could see the tables and chairs stacked up, surrounding the pool area. Inside the restaurant, small armies of workers were cleaning the floors.
Millie backtracked to the pool area where crewmembers were filling their plates with food from the Bamboo Wok, the recently installed taco bar; as well as the grill, which was serving the usual fare of hotdogs, hamburgers and brats.
Still full from breakfast, Millie skirted the edge of the long line and bumped into someone who came up behind her.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Millie spun around, coming face-to-face with Danielle. Standing behind Danielle was Andy. “We thought we might find you up here. Let’s have a power lunch.”
“I’m not hungry so I’ll go track down an empty table.” Millie circled the deck before finding a table for four near the window, overlooking the port.
While Danielle and Andy ate, Millie gave Andy a progress report and since Millie was almost finished with the tasks on her list, Andy added a couple more, which included researching new trivia games.
Andy bit the end of his taco and reached for his napkin. “I also want to come up with some new indoor pool games. The workers are installing a retractable roof over the adults-only pool area. Since one of the biggest passenger complaints is lack of things to do during inclement weather, this would be the perfect spot to come up with some fun stuff to do indoors.”
“Limbo?” Danielle asked.
“Also known as throw your back out,” Millie joked.
“I like it,” Andy said.
“I have another idea. We can take out the belly flop or hairy chest contest and add a male hot body contest,” Danielle joked.
“Sounds kind of risqué, Danielle,” Andy said. “I was thinking something a little tamer and along the lines of a contest game like Ship Shape Pool Play.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a ‘Simon Says’ type of game to test passenger’s knowledge of shipboard terms.”
“Oh, I get it. You tell them instead of ‘Simon Says,’ it’s ‘The Captain Says’ move starboard and whoever gets it wrong is eliminated from the game,” Millie said.
“I would definitely lose at that game,” Danielle muttered.
“You’re right, Danielle,” Andy said, “which is why I’m putting you in charge of doing a test run with some of the other staff.”
He turned to Millie. “You’re up on your nautical knowledge. Make a list for Danielle.”
“I just so happen to have an extra piece of paper right here.” Millie plucked the sheet of paper Cat had given her from her pocket. She tore off the part with her current list of suspects, folded it in half and shoved it in her pants pocket. “I don’t have a pen.”
Andy handed her his pen.
Millie slipped her reading glasses on and began jotting down a list of ship terms:
AFT – Swim aft or stern (back) of the boat.
AGROUND – Run aground. Touching or fast/first to the bottom.
ASTERN - In back of the boat, opposite of ahead.
BOW – Swim to the bow (shallow end) of the pool.
CAPSIZE - To turn over.
FATHOM – How deep is a fathom? (Six feet.)
FORWARD - Toward the bow of the boat.
MIDSHIP - Approximately in the location equally distant from the bow and stern.
PORT – Swim to the port (left) side of the pool.
STARBOARD – Swim to the starboard (right) side of the pool.
STERN – Swim to the stern (deep end) of the pool.
Millie handed the pen to Andy. “We’ll need to add some bonus rounds.”
“I know.” Danielle snapped her fingers. “Whoever can hold their breath longest under water.”
“What if they drown?” Andy asked.
“Yeah. Instead of drinking and driving, it will be drinking and drowning,” Millie said.
After finishing his lunch, Andy glanced at his watch and pushed back his chair. “I have a meeting with the dancers and singers.”
Millie waited until he was out of sight before turning to Danielle. “Remember how you said Isaac was shooting off his mouth in the crew lounge area, saying Brody was going to be gone within 24 hours?”
“Yeah,” Danielle said. “I already tried to get him to tell me what he knew but he said we’d find out soon enough. Maybe he was just blowing smoke.”
“Can I take another look at the picture of the guy who punched Brody in the face last night?”
“Sure.” Danielle pulled her cell phone from her back pocket. “I forgot all about it.” She switched her phone on and scrolled through the screen. “It’s too far away to see clearly.”
Millie slipped her reading glasses on and peered at the picture. It was dark and grainy. “There’s no way to tell who it is.”
“It was worth a shot.” Millie let the subject drop. She didn’t want Danielle to start asking questions and find out Millie and Annette planned to go incognito that evening to keep an eye on Brody.
Danielle was impulsive, which was an understatement. The last thing she wanted was for the young woman to tag along.
Little did Millie know Danielle would be the least of her worries.
Chapter 15
Millie, who was carrying her backpack, was the first to arrive at the entrance to deck zero. She hovered off to one side and watched as several crewmembers wandered past, each giving her an odd look.
She briefly wondered if any women worked the night shift. Millie suspected there was not, which meant they would somehow have to come up
with a disguise so they wouldn’t stand out like sore thumbs.
Cat arrived moments later, still dressed in her work uniform. Millie gave her the once over. She didn’t have a maintenance uniform for Cat, which might present a problem.
An uneasy feeling settled over Millie. They were going into this blindly. They didn’t know the lay of the land, so-to-speak. She wasn’t certain if Brody would be working at the guard gate.
The door leading to the crew maintenance area flew open and Annette leapt out, as if someone was chasing her. She slammed the door shut. “That was a close call.”
“You flew in here like someone was chasing you.” Cat grinned.
“Almost. I spotted Patterson and Brody in the stairwell one deck up.”
Millie’s eyes widened. “Did they see you?”
“Nope.” Annette shook her head. “At least I don’t think they saw me. They were deep in conversation. I tried to listen in but their voices were too low.”
“Which means Brody is probably on his way to report to work.” Millie grabbed Annette’s arm. “We have to hide. Quick!” Her eyes darted around the hall. Directly across from them was a door marked Go Green.
“You don’t want to go in there,” Annette warned, but it was too late. Millie had already opened the door, pushed Cat inside and then dragged Annette in with them before yanking the door shut.
The interior of the confined space was pitch black. Millie’s stomach threatened to revolt as the stagnant smell of rotting fish hung heavy in the air. “What is that awful smell?”
“Uneaten passenger food,” Annette said.
“It smells like it’s been in here for years,” Cat gasped.
“No. At most, only a few days.” Annette calmly explained Majestic Cruise Lines pureed all uneaten food and when the ship was out to sea, far from land, they released the food into the ocean for the fish and other marine life.
Despite the awful odor, Millie was impressed. “I guess I never thought about what happened to all the wasted food passengers didn’t eat or food that spoiled.”
Cruisin' for a Bruisin' (Cruise Ship Christian Cozy Mysteries Series Book 9) Page 9