It was odd seeing Henry with Kevin. Henry was so much older, but they talked like they were friends, commenting on the hamburgers and fries and sharing ketchup packets. They both wore all black, like the ship’s crew.
Marc sent a questioning look my way, asking if I’d reveal he’d told me stuff he wasn’t supposed to. I wanted to, but I was focused on the food. I needed it to clear my head, and with everything going on and the injury to my head, I needed energy to keep up.
Marc stayed by the monitors and kept the headset on, while I rolled my chair over to the cot to eat. Once I started, I couldn’t stop myself and didn’t listen to the others as they talked. It was as if my brain shut down everything else while I focused on the food. I ate two hamburgers, a plate of fries, and half a slice of cake and drank my coffee and part of Brandon’s.
It wasn’t until I was stuffed, finally licking my fingers of salt, that I pulled my gaze away from my plate.
Axel’s dark eyes caught my attention first. “Hitting your head didn’t affect your stomach,” he said. He was sitting on the floor next to the cot. Brandon sat across from him, using the cot as a table.
“If we could just keep her fed,” Marc said, still staring at the monitors. He turned and looked at me long enough to wink.
Now that I wasn’t totally absorbed in food, I realized that Axel and Brandon were staring at me. Did I have grease on my face? I wiped my cheeks with my fingers but didn’t feel anything.
“So,” I said, glancing at the others, cramped inside the small storage area. “Do we all just hide here? I’m guessing we can’t go back to the old guest rooms. At least I can’t.”
“I can’t show my face right now,” Brandon said. “Not until tonight.”
“Is that goon who hit me still looking for us?” I asked.
Henry shook his head. “We let him chase Brandon, but after a while he went back to work. Right now he’s over in the security office.” He looked at Marc. “Is he still there?”
Marc nodded. “I’m listening,” he said. “He hasn’t talked to anyone yet. I don’t think he told anyone about what he did.”
“So we do nothing?” I asked. “We just sit here until tonight?”
“I have to make myself visible,” Axel said. “I finally let Colt Baker convince me we should look for you. He’s been searching all this time, and it’s too obvious you aren’t here. He’s even tried to sneak into restricted areas. He’s lucky Sam and his friends haven’t gotten to him for looking around the spa, but he was down there when Sam wasn’t there.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why is he so desperate to find me?”
“The question is, why is he bugging me?” Axel mumbled. “I’m pretty convinced he isn’t behind you going overboard, so I don’t really want to waste the time.”
“Being pretty convinced doesn’t mean he’s innocent,” Henry said. “He’s chasing after her for a reason. Best to find out why.”
Axel nodded. “I’m going to walk him through last night after he left the dining room, through to the time when she went overboard. Maybe he’s heard something on his own.” He pointed to Kevin. “We may need you to say you saw her after that time—make it like she never went over. Or maybe we say exactly what happened and see his reaction.”
“I vote make it like she never left,” Brandon said. “And keep telling that to anyone who asks, like Ms. Ward or Mr. Smith.”
I twisted a napkin in my fingers. “Tara Ward really wanted me to work with her, and seemed pretty sure about old Mr. Murdock still being in town and wanted to talk to him. She thought I knew something. Today, she’s on vacation. It seems odd that she hasn’t been looking for me.”
“She’s on my list,” Axel said. “But she wasn’t anywhere near you at the time. She returned to the dining room before you went over. No one else has been acting strangely, as far as I can tell.”
“No one else asked about me?”
“No.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Not even Mr. Smith?”
“It wasn’t him,” Kevin said. “He hasn’t even mentioned you—or Kitty, I should say.”
That was surprising. “Colt’s the only one looking for me? Mr. Smith hasn’t asked once?”
“He’s been busy nursing a hangover,” Kevin said. “And we know it wasn’t him. Eyewitnesses saw him elsewhere.”
“Do we trust these eyewitnesses? What’s he been doing this morning?”
Kevin grumbled. “He went to bed plastered late last night, and he only woke up a couple hours ago. He was in the bar late, tried to hook up with someone who worked there who turned him down. He got escorted out at some point. After he left you at dinner, he was there the whole time; I saw the footage and talked to people at the bar.”
Maybe Tara and Mr. Smith hadn’t physically thrown me overboard, but something was off. “What about the other guy? Mr. Cline?”
Brandon spoke. “He got up to go to the restroom during dinner around the time you left. We’ve been watching him, but so far, he’s Mr. Boring. Maybe it’s a ruse, but all he seems to do is read, nap, read, nap, eat, read.”
I had barely talked to Mr. Cline, so it didn’t surprise me that they didn’t suspect him. Blake had interacted with him more than I had, but he’d seemed boring to me, too.
I rocked in the chair, twisting around, back and forth, swinging. This whole thing bugged me, and I was eager to figure out why. The food was working, getting my brain moving, but nothing was connecting yet. “No news from Raven?”
“No,” Brandon said.
“Where’s Corey?”
“Downstairs, looking for Raven. Corey might need to lay low, too. If Sam or his goon see him, they might think he’s me.”
“Someone with him?”
“Fancy’s going to meet him down there and take over for Avery who was following him. Avery’s got to get back to Ethan.”
I couldn’t remember all the details, but something was off. Trying to consider why, I relaxed in the chair, leaning back a bit, and got frustrated when it felt like the answers were just on the other side of a foggy memory.
What was bugging me about Mr. Smith? I felt like there were some details right there, but when I tried to remember, they disappeared. Although, the others didn’t seem so concerned, so maybe I was just being paranoid.
Once everyone was done eating, Henry and Kevin collected the trays.
Everyone began to check in with details of where they were going when Marc leaned in close to one of the monitors.
“Mr. Smith is awake,” he said. “He’s headed toward the spa.”
He might have been crossed off our list, but he had still been involved in those secret accounts. I rolled over to the monitors to watch.
Marc made room for my chair, and Brand
on came over to observe over my shoulder.
Mr. Smith was walking through the little fake garden in the atrium and went right inside the spa. It must have been officially open now. The camera showed just inside the seating area of the spa, where other guests were waiting. The moment Mr. Smith was through the door, he was greeted and brought right in, heading toward the right hallway.
“Hm,” I said. “He really, really wanted me to pull money out of whatever investment the real investor had made and give it to him yesterday.”
“He’s probably still waiting for you,” Axel said. “He might not know you went missing at all. Neither does Tara. Colt’s the only one who thinks something happened to you.”
“Maybe Mr. Smith doesn’t know I’m gone.” I tapped my finger on the table. “Yet he’s going to the spa.”
“So?”
“If you really wanted your money, would you go to the spa or would you go looking for me?” I motioned to the monitors. “Tara is over by the pool. Mr. Cline is eating and reading. Mr. Smith is about to get his doodle played with. Is it just me or are our main players just…very, very calm? Not like they were yesterday?”
The men in the room exchanged looks.
“The only one not calm is Colt,” I said. “Why are they all hunky-dory today?”
“If they don’t think you left, they might be hoping to see you walking around so they can chat with you,” Marc said.
I grunted and poked him in the chest. “I get that, but now you’re telling me that after meeting Kitty Lane, the secret investor in this thing, none of them are checking their bank accounts, holding secret meetings, or talking about…anything? Don’t tell me it’s just because it’s early.” I pointed to where Tara was still lounging by the pool. “She’s just sitting there. Why isn’t she on the hunt like yesterday?”
Everyone shifted into action. Liam and Axel came to look at the monitors. Brandon, Marc and Henry looked at ship manifests and reports about last night.
“Did anyone talk to all of them this morning?” Henry asked.