Sam looked at the carpet, and when he straightened, his face was clear of expression. “So, should we go by the infirmary on our way upstairs or forget it?”
It was hard to take in a full breath. I smoothed the clench marks out of my T-shirt. “Sure. Let’s do a stroll by.”
He smiled and lifted a hand. “After you.”
Twenty-Nine
Sam
Talk about awkward. I had no clue how Rose and I could keep a long-distance relationship going, and I wasn’t ready to talk about a future where she might actually be around to hear Sophie singing show tunes in the shower. Which reminded me of how much of a scumbag I was to have gotten involved with Rose in the first place. And even with that guilt pressing against my chest, I didn’t regret any of it. I seriously liked this girl. And she liked me. I just didn’t know where we went from here.
We walked down the hall without talking. Only the snap of our flip-flops broke the silence. Finally, when we reached the stairs and headed down, Rose cleared her throat. “Did you find out where your uncle is?”
“Uh, yeah. He left a note saying he was at cocktail hour. I hope Alexis has found him and is already filling him in about what went down this afternoon. He’ll probably go all high-powered lawyer on the cruise officials.”
“That should help, right?”
“I hope so.” I stopped when we entered the new corridor of staterooms. “I think the infirmary is this way.” I pointed to the left.
“Okay,” she said, picking up the pace a little.
“Slow down,” I whispered. “We need to be casual about this.”
She frowned up at me.
“We’re not charging in there. Just walking by.”
Her chest rose and fell with a huge breath. She gave me a tiny nod but didn’t speak.
At the end of the hall, a narrow corridor opened up on the left. I touched Rose’s wrist and slowed down even more. But right when we reached the opening, she swept into the alcove and up to the door. So much for a stroll by.
A placard beside the open doorway read Infirmary. We could only see an area of high cupboards and part of an exam table in a brightly lit room. No noise came from inside. “I can’t tell,” she whispered and started forward.
Alarm bells went off in my head. I took hold of her elbow. “No,” I whispered. “This feels wrong.”
We turned to leave, but Clio appeared from the hall blocking our way out. She lifted her hand, holding up a silver gun so tiny it was practically hidden by her fingers. She aimed directly at Rose. I swore inwardly. Adrenaline raced through my veins, and all my muscles tensed. “In that room, please,” Clio said.
I stepped in front of Rose. “Clio, you don’t need to do this.”
She lifted her chin toward the door. “Now.”
Rose grabbed my waistband and tugged me backward. We half stumbled into the infirmary. Beyond the doctor’s exam table, a small bed sat against one wall. Footsteps sounded and from a connecting room strolled a blond woman in a white cruise uniform, her head bent over a clipboard.
A click came from the doorway. I twisted. Clio leaned against the now closed door, the gun still trained in our direction, her face pale. I clenched my teeth and faced the blond woman. Was she the doctor?
The woman tossed the clipboard onto a counter and looked up. Then she grinned. “Hi there!”
What the hell? It couldn’t be.
Rose gasped but found her voice quicker than I did. “Nick?”
Thirty
Rose
I’d been right about this being a trap, and it was my stupidity that had gotten us caught.
“I prefer Nicky,” the woman said, still grinning. “Especially when I’m dressed like this.”
My mind spun in all directions. What was going on? Nick had been the blond round-faced woman all along? It didn’t make sense. Only one stupid thought made it to my mouth. “But you wear braces.”
The woman laughed, her brilliant white teeth gleaming. “Pop-ons, of course. Do I look like I need braces?”
“But …” I gazed up and down, taking everything in, from her sturdy heels to her petite figure with its small breasts. Definitely a woman. Unless those were fake too. She could be … what? A cross-dressing prepubescent boy?
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, sounding much more adult than she had a few minutes before. “And yes, this is the real me. I look a lot older when I wear makeup—sorry I didn’t have time to show you that—and a wig.” She patted her hair. “The baggy shorts and T-shirts?” She smiled. “Just one of my costumes.”
I don’t think I’d ever felt more stupid in my life. How could I have missed this? How could I have missed breasts on a kid? “But how? When?”
She nodded as if these were all perfectly normal questions. Like she discussed it all the time. “A good binder takes care of the breasts—especially when you’re as flat-chested as I am.” She grinned again like we were sharing some fabulous joke together.
I shook my head, nerves tingling across my neck and down my back. We were in trouble here. That was obvious. But exactly what kind of trouble? They wouldn’t try to hurt us, would they? “Look, this is a lot to process. I don’t mean to be rude, but I think we’d better go.”
She tilted her head. “Oh, no. Please don’t. There’s so much to discuss.”
“Nicky, we really don’t have time for this,” Clio said, making me jump. I’d totally forgotten she was standing there.
“We have plenty of time,” Nick/Nicky said, no expression in her voice.
Clio moved off the door. “I don’t think—”
“No, you don’t. On that we agree.”
Clio looked like she wanted to argue but instead clamped her mouth shut.
A cold tingling ran through my body. I’d had this so wrong. Clio wasn’t in charge. Nicky was. Nicky, who acted like she was forty, but couldn’t be more than twenty. Not with that smooth skin. How long had she been in charge of this operation? And what kind of operation was it? Just a bunch of jewel thieves? Or did it go deeper?
“What do you want?” Sam asked, his voice icy cold.
Nicky sighed dramatically. “Why did you have to bring him, Rose? He’s spoiling our fun. Clio, tie him up,” she said, her gaze never leaving Sam.
“What?” I burst out, looking from Nicky to Sam to Clio, who approached with a length of rope in one hand. “Why?”
“Because he’s in the way,” Nicky said as Clio handed her the gun.
Sam started to move in front of me, but Clio tugged him back a step.
Nicky lifted the gun my direction. “You’re going to cooperate, Sam,” she said, her eyes on me. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to shoot Rose.”
Sam huffed out a laugh. “With that? What is it, a cigarette lighter? Besides, someone will hear if you shoot.”
Nicky pressed a hand to her cheek. “How could I be so stupid?” she asked in a mocking voice. She slid the gun into her skirt pocket with one hand and with the other lifted a scalpel in front of my nose, almost as if she were a stage magician. “This should be quiet enough.”
Sam’s expression went dark. He let Clio lead him to the window where she bound his hands behind his back and then attached them to the railing along the wall.
Nicky smiled. “Thank you. That’s much better. Rose has worked so hard on this trip, watching people, analyzing. It’s the least I can do to explain things.”
“You really don’t need to,” I said, making this up as fast as I could. “You had me totally fooled. Never in a million years would I have guessed that Nick was you or vice versa.” I made eye contact with Sam. His mouth was set in a thin line, but he appeared calm. I needed to do the same. Stay calm. Find strength somewhere. Because panicking would only make this situation worse. I pressed down hard on my heels, rooting myself to the floor.
“Don’t sell yourself so short,” Nicky said. “You’re a smart girl. You pay attention. Most peopl
e don’t. I’m sure you would’ve figured it out eventually.”
Sell myself short. Wasn’t that what Sam had said to me? That I basically didn’t give myself enough credit? Well, they were both wrong. If I was so smart, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Why, oh why, had I gone to the door instead of just passing by like Sam suggested? “I really need—”
“You messed up my plan, you know.”
I swallowed and shut my mouth.
Nicky wagged one finger back and forth. “If it weren’t for that one mistake. If you just hadn’t picked up the wrong swimsuit cover-up. Then all the suspicion would’ve gone to Marie as I’d planned. You know, the blond girl who wouldn’t have been able to explain herself very well?
“Instead, you were left standing there looking guilty.” She glanced outside at the dying light, then turned back. “And you just had to prove your innocence, didn’t you? I could see the determination all over your face.” Her voice had gone soft.
How could this woman read me so well? It was creepy. She stared, her light eyes like some kind of blue laser that burned into my mind. I couldn’t suppress a shiver. She smiled, but there was no joy in it. I tried for a lie. “No, people told me they believed me. That was all that mattered.”
She chuckled. “Don’t be condescending.” Her expression turned hard. “I’m not Nick right now. Don’t forget.” She moved in closer. “I watched you and Mrs. Stanton, always with your heads together, coming up with little schemes.”
Now, that wasn’t true. We were only trying to figure things out. “No schemes. Really. We just wanted to know who the blond woman with the round face was.”
Nicky gave me a smug smile. “How frustrating for you.”
I needed to figure a way out of this. If I could lead Nicky out of the infirmary, maybe Sam could take down Clio. With what, Rose? His feet? My cell phone dinged from my pocket, the noise reverberating like a gong in the small room.
The woman cocked her head and held out a hand. “And now we come to the real reason for our little visit. Let’s have it.”
No, no, no. I couldn’t give her the one thing that might get us out of this. “It’s just a text.”
“I can tell.”
And the tone in her voice, the whole “you’re an idiot, now do what I say” attitude made a tight ball of heat coil in my chest. “Look. This isn’t getting us anywhere. You’re a jewel thief. So what? We’re not the only people on this ship who know that. There’s no reason for you to keep us here, and there’s absolutely no reason to give you my phone.”
With a wild swing, she slapped me, the force of her whole body behind the blow, and I staggered into the exam table. Guess I should’ve expected that. Stinging pain radiated from my cheek to my watering eye. I pressed a hand against it.
Sam swore. “You all right, Rose?”
But Nicky ignored him and lowered the scalpel right in front of my mouth. “There is, actually. My stepbrother says you took a picture of him. At the cathedral in Trogir. Now hand me the phone.” No snarl. No threat. Just a command.
Her stepbrother? Guess the scary man wasn’t Clio’s cousin then. I pushed myself away from the table and dug out my cell. “I can delete the picture.”
She snatched the phone from my hand. “No need. I’ll simply drop it in the ocean.” She smiled at the screen. “So Alexis is wondering where you are. Shall we have a little fun?” Her eyes gleamed with a hint of craziness.
Weird. More acting? Or was she slightly nuts? I was feeling slightly nutty myself. My parents were going to kill me for losing this phone.
“Nicky,” Clio said quietly. “We need to go.”
“In a minute,” she said, typing out a reply, the scalpel still balanced between her fingers.
Clio moved away from Sam. Good. Maybe I could lead both of them out of the room. There were no more illusions. Nicky, the slightly loony jewel thief, wasn’t above using violence to get what she wanted. Just how much of me could she stab before I made it to the door? I didn’t particularly want to become a colander.
Nicky laughed. “There. That’ll do it.” She showed me the text.
Rose: I’ve gone for an evening swim. Shouldn’t be too dangerous in the ocean at night, right? Ha, ha.
My breath froze. They weren’t really going to kill me, were they? A surreal sense of watching a movie stole over me, and a stuttering laugh escaped my lips. “You’re going to throw me in the water?”
Thirty-One
Sam
“Let’s be specific,” Nicky said, sounding sly, “the Adriatic Sea. It’s much more lyrical than the water.” She mimicked Rose’s faint Texas accent perfectly.
The muscles in my neck bunched with strain. These people were crazy. I clenched my jaw as I continued wiggling my right wrist. Clio hadn’t tied it very well, and I was taking complete advantage of it.
Rose leaned dangerously close to that freaking scalpel. “I don’t believe you.”
Nicky laughed. “You’ll just have to wait and see then, won’t you? Let’s go.” She motioned with the knife for Rose to go first.
No. I couldn’t let this happen. I surged forward and practically ripped my arms out of their sockets. “Stop. You can’t do this.”
Nicky waved a hand like I was an annoying fly. “Gag him, Clio.”
Holy hell. What next? Clio held up a piece of cloth, and I turned my head away. She thrust it into my mouth anyway and proceeded to tie it, her face too close to mine. “Right hand is loose,” she whispered.
What? She’d done that on purpose? Nicky had moved Rose all the way over by the exit and was making her open the door. Clio eyed me. “Wait till we’re gone,” she whispered.
“Get his phone,” Nicky called.
“Okay,” Clio said.
She widened my pocket with one hand and tugged my phone out with the other, her fingers barely touching me. Thank God for that. Then she followed the others to the door.
Rose looked over her shoulder at me, her expression stunned. I tried to communicate everything I was feeling with my eyes. Don’t worry. I’m coming. I’ll get you out of this. But she was shoved forward. The door banged shut behind them like a final judgment on my determination. But I couldn’t let it be.
I redoubled my efforts on my wrists, twisting my right hand back and forth, trying to free it. It took several more minutes of clenching my fist and then relaxing, of wriggling and tugging, before my hand slipped free. I grabbed the gag from my mouth and then set to work on my left hand. My fingers fumbled at the knots, and they only seemed to tighten more. Somehow Clio had managed to not only tie my wrists together but to attach them individually to the railing. Why did there have to be so many railings all over this stupid ship?
The image of me and Rose side by side, leaning our elbows against the railing on deck flashed into my mind. I froze. This wasn’t getting me anywhere. I needed to chill, to focus, to ignore the swirling sensation inside me that felt like I was drowning.
Right. You can do this. It was just like climbing up on the pool starting block and ignoring all sounds except for the starting buzzer. Concentrate on the race ahead. On each movement, each stroke, each flip turn.
Each knot.
I took in a long breath and released it slowly. Then, willing my fingers to stop shaking, I worked on the knots in the rope, treating each small section as a puzzle piece—you couldn’t get to the interior piece until you’d removed the outer ones.
Sweat beaded along my hairline. An AC unit whirred into life. And through the porthole, the lights of Dubrovnik twinkled on the water as dusk settled on the bay. Focus. Don’t think about dark water.
Finally, after what felt like two days, one knot loosened and then another. I tore my hand free, rubbing at the raw skin of my wrist, and ripped the gag off. I raced into the hallway. Other than the door banging shut behind me, total silence reigned. Where would they have gone? Would they really try to toss Rose overboard? Or was that only more of N
icky’s mind games?
One thing was certain. I needed help. I ran to the stairwell and headed up. Time to find my family and Rose’s grandparents.
Thirty-Two
Rose
We went two doors down to the spa, which of course was deserted.
“Tie her up,” Nicky said.
I backed away from Clio. “What? Why?”
Okay, stupid questions. But neither woman answered. Clio advanced with a long fluttery scarf in her hands. What? I wasn’t enough of a threat to deserve a rope like Sam? At the thought of his steady gaze on me right before the women forced me to leave, the fear in my chest strengthened. Was he okay? Had he gotten loose?
Wait a second. Tie me up? “So you’re not throwing me into the sea?”
Nicky smirked. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not a murderer.”
Relief made my muscles weak. I reached out to steady myself against the teak reception desk, but Clio caught my hand and pulled it behind my back. I wobbled, but the force of her wrenching my hands together kept me on my feet.
“What?” Nicky asked. “No snarky comment? You always were good at putting poor Nick in his place.”
Well, that behavior had come back to bite me in the rear. “You weren’t much better! Giving me trouble for the movies I liked. Always saying I was making things up. I played Yahtzee with you, for God’s sake. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
Nicky angled her head, looking pensive. “I like you, Rose. But you’re too smart for your own good.” She motioned to Clio. “This way. I’ve got the perfect spot.”
She led us past the pedicure chairs and into a small storage area filled with shelves and cabinets. She opened the doors of a lower cabinet and swiftly pulled out boxes of beauty supplies. Seriously? They were going to stick me in there? “Hey, listen. I have a better idea. Why don’t you tie me to one of the pedicure chairs? Those are heavy. I wouldn’t be able to move it at all. You don’t need to put me in the cabinet.”
Life in the Danger Zone Page 20