Chapter Fourteen
It was formal night on the ship, and Lori and the others decided fancy dresses and high heels were in order to accompany their dinner reservations at one of the fancier restaurants on the ship. That was until Trina pounded on her door and pulled her into Avery’s room.
“Her jewelry is gone,” Trina exclaimed once they were both hovering over Avery, who knelt by the open safe.
“What do you mean, gone?”
Avery looked up at Lori as if she were the ripe old age of three. “Ripped off. Someone stole my shit.”
Lori knelt down in the slim-fitting formal dress and looked at the empty boxes inside Avery’s in-suite safe. “For crying out loud.” She stood. “Don’t touch anything.”
Minutes later, Lori stood outside of Avery’s stateroom while security and some of the Italian brass on board asked Avery questions.
They were drawing a crowd.
Datu stood to the side, his face sheen white, his hands visibly shaking as his boss questioned him.
“Does she know how much the jewelry was worth?” Shannon asked.
“Somewhere around fifty.”
Lori knew her share of rich women, and tossing fifty thousand dollars worth of jewelry into their bag while vacationing wasn’t unheard of. Most wore that alone on their ring fingers.
Two plainclothes security guards brushed past the three of them and down the stairs.
“Hey?”
Lori heard Reed’s voice from behind her and turned to see his questioning eyes.
“What’s going on?” He peeked around the door, then back toward her.
“Someone stole Avery’s jewelry.”
His mouth opened. “You’re kidding.”
“We were getting ready for dinner, she went to find a pair of earrings, and hello . . . nothing left in her safe,” Trina explained.
Reed looked over the banister separating the decks, then back. “Did someone break into the room?”
“The door wasn’t broken down,” Shannon said.
“You said she found the safe empty. Did she notice the safe was broken open?”
Lori stared at Reed, waiting for Trina’s answer.
“No. In fact, we didn’t notice anything at all. If she hadn’t looked for the earrings, we might not have known they were missing.”
“Ms. Cumberland?” One of the brass in the room called her.
“Yes?”
“Would you mind?” He stood to the side of the door, inviting her into the room.
Reed kept looking over the banister.
“Of course.” Lori walked away from the others, past the living room of the suite, and into the bedroom, where she found Avery sitting on the edge of her bed while three other people searched the room and one sat in a chair, asking questions.
Lori took a seat beside her friend.
“I told them you’re my lawyer.”
“And why would you need your lawyer when you’re the one victimized?” Lori asked. She turned her attention to the man asking questions.
“Ms. Cumberland, please accept my apologies. These are standard questions, I assure you.”
“Who are you?”
“Joseph Bianchi, I advise the ship’s staff.”
“You’re not the police?”
“The ship doesn’t have police, Ms. Cumberland. We’re a luxury liner subject to maritime law.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“That’s what I asked,” Avery said.
“Ms. Grant said she left with you and your companions today at nine in the morning.”
“That’s correct.”
“My jewelry was in the safe when I left.”
“You looked in your safe before you went ashore?” The uniformed man didn’t sound convinced.
“Well, no. But it was the night before when I went to bed.”
“With your companion?”
Avery glared. “I’ve told you this already. Rogelio left after midnight.”
“Do you think Rogelio stole your stuff?” Lori asked her.
“He’s never been alone in my room.”
The officer said something to the remaining men in the room, and they quickly left.
Lori glanced around. “Aren’t they going to look for fingerprints?”
“I assure you, we will investigate every lead.”
“Your butler, Mr. Datu, says he has seen your companion in your stateroom many times.”
Avery shrugged. “That’s not a secret.”
“You trust this man?”
“Well . . .” Doubt waved over her face as she looked at Lori. “Yeah. I mean . . .”
“Mr. Bianchi, if there is a question about Avery’s friend, ask him a few questions, search his room.”
“We plan on doing that. We just want to make sure Ms. Grant would like to stick with her statement.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
His smile was meant to pacify. But only managed to tick her off. “Cruise ships are often the target of false claims.”
“You think she’s faking this?” Lori found her lawyer hat and pulled it down hard.
“I didn’t say that. Perhaps Ms. Grant misplaced her belongings.”
“Misplaced?” Avery stood.
“It has happened in the past. We hate to upset other passengers with false accusations—”
“I haven’t accused anyone of anything. I’m telling you someone stole my shit.”
Mr. Bianchi stood, placed his notebook in his pocket. “We will look into it.”
“Do you have security cameras?” Lori asked.
“Some.”
Avery rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe this.”
“I want to see them,” Lori told the man.
“We will see what we can find. I suggest you enjoy your evening, ladies. I’m sorry for this unfortunate occurrence; however, there isn’t much to do now but stand back and let us do our jobs.”
“Unbelievable.” Avery paced the room after the man left.
“Where is he going?” Shannon asked.
“Dinner, probably,” Avery yelled.
“What?”
“I don’t think they’re taking this seriously.”
“Why not?” Trina asked.
“Because they don’t have to. They’re not subject to American laws, and international waters have their own idea of what a crime is.”
“Stealing someone else’s stuff sounds criminal to me,” Lori said.
“Yes, but you’ll be leaving this ship in a couple of days, and the investigation will be left up to that guy.” The Italian that wasn’t a cop and wanted to rule out foul play by suggesting Avery lost her stuff.
Lori looked up when she heard a knock on the door. Reed stood listening. “I saw a few men from the ship hovering by Miguel and Rogelio’s room.”
“And?” Trina asked.
“I’m not sure. They were speaking in Italian.”
“Was Rogelio there?” Avery asked.
“No. Neither of them.”
“It’s not like they went far,” Shannon pointed out.
Avery sighed. “I can’t imagine he’d do this.”
Lori caught Reed’s stare.
A stare that she was sure matched hers.
Their idea of a night of fancy food and entertainment squashed, they all returned to their rooms to dress down and look over the ship themselves to find Miguel and Rogelio to ask their own questions. Agreeing to meet back on the pool deck in an hour, they separated.
Reed took up space beside Lori.
“You think he did this,” Lori said once they were alone.
He scanned the deck as they walked through. “I wasn’t happy with Miguel’s answers when it came to Trina.”
“But this is Rogelio.”
“Right. Miguel’s friend from school. Isn’t that what he told us?”
She didn’t remember.
“It could be random,” she said.
Reed stopped her, touched her arm. “Really, Counselor? Most crimes are committed by someone you know.”
“You sound like a cop.”
“I watch a lot of CSI.” He pulled her along his side as they searched the deck.
Poolside, an hour later, none of them reported seeing the Spanish duo.
“I haven’t gotten rid of Rogelio since we met, now he is nowhere to be seen,” Avery complained.
“It’s a big ship,” Trina said with a hopeful smile.
“We should probably get something to eat, let the ship’s authorities do their job,” Lori said.
“I have a sick feeling about this.” Avery slumped down in a poolside chair.
“Someone just jacked fifty thousand dollars worth of jewelry, of course you have a sick feeling,” Lori said.
Avery waved both hands in the air. “No, it’s not that. I don’t care about the stuff, I have insurance . . . but if it was Rogelio . . . damn it. Am I that naive?”
Shannon took a seat beside her. “Hon, we all met the guy. He seems normal to me.”
“Me too.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed. And I’m the cynic in the group.”
Avery dropped her head in both her hands. “I knew it was too good to be true. A hot cruise fling, no strings. Just fun. After my year and a half of purgatory, I deserve some fun, right?”
“Think that was the point behind this trip,” Trina said. “Have fun, slip out of purgatory.”
Avery pinned Reed with a glare. “You’re a dude, what do you think?”
“I think you’re being too hard on yourself. If he is behind this, chances are he’s done it before. That doesn’t suggest you have an inability to judge character. It means he’s a professional at manipulating. He had all of us fooled.”
Avery’s chest deflated. “Yeah, but I slept with the man.”
“I bet he shows up by morning,” Shannon offered.
Lori would bet her next paycheck he wouldn’t.
Miguel and Rogelio never reboarded the ship after the stop in France.
Reed wasn’t surprised.
Sasha, for lack of a real name, had labeled Miguel as an amateur thief. Thief, yes . . . amateur? Well, that was left to interpretation. And if Reed had been anywhere other than on an assignment, he would have picked up on their game and called them out on it. But to do so would have brought attention to his own game.
The last stop of the cruise was on the island of Majorca, in the city of Palma.
Instead of any activity, the women decided to sit on the beach and drink rum by the buckets.
Reed made it a point to hand them water to keep them from getting sick from too much liquor. Keeping an eye on them had become his mission. Well, one of his missions, in any event.
They were being reckless in their scorn, and as much as he wanted them drunk enough to start talking about their connections, and possibly clue him in to something to bring back to the person paying him, he didn’t want to see them hurt.
“Make sure we’re back on that ship before it takes off,” Avery charged him with the task.
“I have my watch set.”
“You’re not wearing a watch.”
He smiled at Trina. “My phone. My phone is set to alarm us when we need to leave.”
“I can’t believe I fell for that asshole.” Avery’s statement was burned into Reed’s mind. She’d been repeating it every fifteen minutes or so since they arrived on the beach. No, make that since they met before leaving the ship.
“All men are assholes,” Shannon told her, and Trina agreed.
He looked at Lori, who was slightly less inebriated. “Should I be here?”
“You’re fine.” She offered a drunk smile.
“You know, things might not have ended that great, but I sure am glad we all came to Lori’s little get-together.”
“I’m glad you can find the bright side, Avery.”
“I’m not looking forward to going home,” Trina said.
Reed kept an ear on the conversation, his eyes in a spy thriller book he’d brought with him.
“We have some things to figure out, but you’re going to be fine,” Lori said.
“I don’t even want to think about it.”
“We have a long flight home to think,” Shannon told her.
“Is Sam sending her jet?” Avery asked.
Reed followed the conversation, had to think about the name Sam for a moment.
“I spoke with Sam last night. The jet will be waiting when we arrive in Barcelona.”
“Good, cuz I have a feeling I might not be up to playing nice on a commercial airline.”
“That’s because you’re going to be hungover at this rate,” Trina told Avery.
“Blame the asshole.”
Reed glanced up to see Avery tipping her cocktail back. She reached for the pitcher they’d ordered, and he stopped her. “Uh, how about some water?”
She scowled but reached for the water instead.
He pretended to go back to his book.
“You’re dropping me off in New York?” Trina asked.
“Yep. Your bodyguards are picking you up while we refuel.”
Reed looked over the edge of his book. “Bodyguards?”
“Hey, maybe I should have one of them.”
“Don’t wish that on yourself,” Shannon told Avery. “I always had guys around when I was married to Paul. It’s overrated.”
“I don’t want to hear that,” Trina said. “I like my privacy.”
Lori set her drink down. “It’s not that bad. Neil’s team is the best. Discreet. You’ll be fine.”
“Hey?” Reed caught their attention all at once. “Why do you need a bodyguard?”
For a moment they all just stared at him like he was an idiot.
“Should we even be talking about this?” Avery, the drunkest of them all, asked the logical question.
Trina rolled her eyes. “I came into a little bit of money. And clearly there are people out there who think nothing of taking what isn’t theirs.”
“A little bit of money?”
Avery spread her hands wide and mouthed the words a lot.
“Huh . . . so maybe it’s a good thing you cut Miguel off,” Reed said.
Again, the women were all silent as they contemplated his words.
Avery broke the silence.
“I can’t believe I fell for that asshole.”
Then came the chorus.
Reed found himself joining in. “All men are assholes.”
And he was one of the worst of them all.
He met Lori and the others after they cleared customs the next day.
Avery and Trina were huddled under the dark shades of their sunglasses, shielding their eyes as if the clouded sky burned their retinas. Shannon appeared slightly better, and Lori looked almost normal.
“I see you’re all alive,” he addressed them while a valet gathered their bags and put them in the back of a massive SUV.
“I probably have you to thank for that,” Avery told him.
He grinned. “You’re welcome, then.”
She waved a hand in the air and moved toward the car. “I need to sit down.”
Trina offered him a quick hug. “Thanks for watching over us.”
Guilt sucker punched him. “Take care of yourself.”
Shannon said her good-bye next. “Thanks for not bringing up the obvious.”
He hugged her. “I didn’t vote for him, if that makes you feel any better.”
She sighed and got into the car.
Then there was Lori.
“I don’t envy their flight home,” he said.
“They’ll be okay. Probably sleep most of the day.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “And you?”
“I have a lot of work to catch up on.”
“Back to business?”
“Yeah.”
He took up position in her personal space and placed both hands on her cheeks. “I want to see you again.” Which was true. They hadn’t shared five carefree minutes alone since Italy.
“Do you think we can work back in LA?”
“Not sure, but it’s worth trying.”
She pressed her frame next to his. “You have my number.”
He leaned in and kissed her, felt his chest tighten with guilt or pleasure, he wasn’t sure. Probably a little of both.
He heard the trunk of the SUV shut and ended their kiss.
“Safe flight home, Counselor.”
“Good-bye, Reed.”
He waved as the car pulled away.
He turned back toward Barcelona . . . where he planned on finding out more about Miguel and Rogelio . . . the amateur thieving assholes who gave all men a bad name.