Baked Alaska (22 page)

“You’re welcome. Have a nice day.”

Sadie let herself out of the computer center, relieved to know that Shawn had told her the truth. She pulled her phone out of her bag and frowned when she saw there were no text messages. Why hadn’t Pete sent her an update? She’d left Skagway over an hour ago.

It’s not about me, it’s not about me, it’s not about me
, she chanted as she typed out a text, telling him that she’d verified Shawn’s story about the Internet last night. She hit send, hoping for a quick answer, but after a full minute of waiting, she put her phone back in her bag and tried not to think too hard about why no one seemed to want to tell her what was going on. Was Breanna still hashing things out with Liam? Was Pete still talking to Maggie?

She shook off her anxiety and frustration about the lack of communication and moved to the next item on her list. Until her appointment with Officer Jareg later that afternoon, all that was left for her to do was find out more about Ben. It was actually rather perfect. If she could find more about him, and maybe even uncover some connections between him and the suspicious wine bottle, she could take that information to security when she met with Officer Jareg, making his job easier and speeding up the process with Shawn so that he could leave sooner rather than later.

Sadie knew exactly where to start her search for more information about Ben—the Chandelier dining room. From there she hoped to learn his wife’s name, maybe even his room number. It was tempting to let her thoughts spiral forward from there to what she would do with that information, but she tried to keep her focus.

She texted Breanna to see where she was.

Breanna: Almost back on the ship.

Sadie: I need to do a little investigating. Want to help me?

Breanna: Can I eat first?

Sadie frowned; she wanted to execute her plan
right now
. And yet, food was important too.

Sadie: Sure. Let’s meet at the buffet.

When they met up for their late breakfast/early lunch, Sadie asked Breanna how her conversation had gone with Liam.

“I think he’s frustrated,” Breanna said before taking a bite of her sandwich. “He’s trying hard to stand up to his mom, but I think his heart isn’t really in it. He just doesn’t care about all the fluffy stuff—that’s what he calls it.”

“That’s frustrating,” Sadie commiserated.

“It doesn’t help that this is coming at a really busy time for him. They’re selling off a piece of property, and he’s been overseeing the deal. The sale is supposed to close tomorrow, but he’s really stressed out about it. This is the first time he’s done anything like this on his own. He wants to make his dad proud and all that. If I didn’t think his mom would hire the Spice Girls to sing the wedding march, I’d back off.” She took another bite, then looked up at Sadie. “So, what was the investigating you wanted help with?”

Sadie didn’t realize that Breanna didn’t know anything about the heart attack last night until she started talking as though Breanna knew the whole thing. When her daughter responded with shock, Sadie had to back up to that morning and start the story with her morning walk with Mary Anne.

As Sadie filled in the details, she glanced around the buffet, wondering where in this space Ben had been last night. She realized that even though she had no official confirmation that the heart attack victim was named Ben, she assumed he was.

Breanna listened dutifully while she ate. “Wow,” she said when Sadie finished. “So, you’re going to talk to Officer Jareg about all of this, right?”

“Eventually, yes,” Sadie said. “But my appointment with him isn’t until four o’clock and the more info I can give him at that time, the better. I mean, what if Ben’s wife or girlfriend is named Tanice? What if I can confirm that the wine bottle belonged to them? If there was something dangerous in the wine that sent Lorraina into her coma, then Shawn’s off the hook and he can come back on the boat, right?”

“You really think you can figure all of that out?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ve found that oftentimes it’s like pulling a loose thread—it goes further than you expect. The alternative is to sit and do nothing until my appointment. That sounds impossible.”

“That does sound impossible,” Breanna agreed. “Sitting still has never been your strong suit.”

It was a relief to have Breanna agree so readily that Sadie had good reason to seek this information. “I thought we could start with the Chandelier dining room. I bet they have lists and charts of who sits at which table.”

Breanna sat up straighter, intrigued. “So we go to the dining room and ask to see the lists, right?”

“It
might
be that easy,” Sadie said with a hesitant smile. “But it might not. Sometimes people don’t offer up information quite so easily, in which case we might need to be...creative. If you’re uncomfortable with it, you don’t have to come with me.”

“No, I’m good,” Breanna said. She took the napkin from her lap and put it on her plate, then smiled nervously. “Just tell me what to do.”

Chapter 25

The Chandelier dining room was designed for those people who’d chosen, at the time of booking, reserved seating for their evening meals— people like Glen and Mary Anne who liked a more traditional cruising experience or like Jen and Frank who wanted an excuse to sit down together at a set time every day.

Because Sadie’s group had chosen the flexible eating option, she’d never been to the Chandelier, but it was easy to find thanks to the color-coded maps of the ship posted in numerous locations. The outside of the restaurant was painted with an elaborate mural depicting a 1920s-type ballroom, with men in zoot suits and women with feathered headbands kicking up their heels around a dance floor. The large doors leading to the dining room itself were closed; only dinner was served in the Chandelier, and it was barely noon.

Sadie tried the doorknob. “It’s locked.”

“Really?” Breanna said from behind her where she’d been casting nervous glances left and right since their arrival. “Maybe we could ask someone in one of the other restaurants. I bet they could put us in contact with whoever is in charge.”

Sadie had to keep herself from frowning. Breanna was already anxious even though all they’d done was check the lock?

“Except that whoever is in charge might not give us the lists, which puts us in an awkward position if we try to get them after being told not to.”

It took a few moments for Breanna to figure out what Sadie meant, but then she smiled wryly. “Ask for forgiveness instead of permission?”

“Sort of,” Sadie said. She took a step back to get a better look at the double doors—big, heavy, commercial-grade fire doors that were up to code for a ship of this size. But the lock was standard, and Sadie could see the latch in the space between the doors. She reached in her pocket for her ship-card and slid it in between the two doors, below the latch. Breaking into a locked door with a credit card was cliché, but that was because it worked so well—on the right kind of lock.

“The ultimate goal is not to have to ask for either one. If no one knows we took the list, then there’s no need to even ask for forgiveness.”

“That sounds so blasphemous,” Breanna said.

“It’s not,” Sadie said quickly. “God believes in justice, and we’re working toward that. He gets it. You stand in the hall and let me know if you hear anyone coming.”

Breanna looked at the door. “You’re really going to break in there?”

Sadie looked at Breanna’s doubtful expression and tried to hide the slight annoyance growing in her mind. She was used to working alone, which meant no one questioned her—at least not until they realized what she’d done. “Would you rather go back to the cabin? It’s okay if you do.”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, we’re not going to steal anything, right?”

“Just information, and it’s for a good cause.” Sadie was beginning to feel like the little devil on someone’s shoulder, while Breanna was taking the more angelic route.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Breanna said, looking both ways as she moved back a few feet toward the hallway.

“Just signal me if someone’s coming.” Sadie slid the credit card upward, twisted it as much as she could to put tension on the latch, and then pushed up ever so slightly. It made progress one millimeter at a time, but it was progress all the same.

“How should I signal you?” Breanna asked from where she’d posted herself about ten feet away. “Liam and I always use bird calls, but there aren’t a lot of birds inside a cruise ship.”

“Why don’t you cough?” Sadie said, keeping her focus on the latch, which was still moving. She increased the pressure, but it was still slow going.

Seconds later, Breanna coughed, and Sadie straightened and stepped back from the door. A moment later she heard voices, and gestured Breanna to come toward her. She looked up at the mural as though admiring it.

“Isn’t it lovely?” Sadie said to Breanna just as two staff members walked past carrying what looked like table linens and speaking in a language Sadie had never heard before.

“Um, yeah, truly...lovely,” Breanna said with her arms folded tightly across her stomach. She looked more ill than anything else.

Sadie glanced over her shoulder and acted surprised to see the staff members. She said hello, which they returned before going back to their indecipherable words. After they turned the corner, Sadie waited a few seconds to be sure they were gone, then shooed Breanna back to her post. She hurried back to the door.

“That was close,” Breanna said anxiously, looking both ways again.

It wasn’t really, but it was kind of cute how worried Breanna was. Compared to other places Sadie had broken into, a dining room wasn’t a big deal at all. Sadie got back to work, slowly using the tension from the card to slide back the latch, bit by bit by bit. After nearly a full minute, Breanna coughed again. Sadie was so close to having the latch completely pulled back that she increased the tension on the card and moved faster. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

Breanna coughed again, loud hacking coughs.

“Come on,” Sadie whispered under her breath when she heard footsteps. She’d managed to pull the latch back almost all the way and if she stopped now, she’d have to start all over again. She just needed a mere fraction of a centimeter in order to...finally!

The latch pulled back and Sadie quickly slipped the card into the empty space. She looked up at a frightened Breanna at the same moment she twisted the handle and opened the door enough to dart through. There wasn’t time to do anything else, but she cringed at having left Breanna outside the door. They should have planned this part out a little better. She pulled the door closed, straining to hear what might be taking place on the other side.

“Oh, hi,” she heard Breanna say in a high-pitched voice that hopefully didn’t sound as nervous to whoever had approached as it did to Sadie. She heard the murmur of another voice, then Breanna said, “I’m just waiting for my mom. We’re meeting here in a few minutes.”

There were more murmurs and then silence. She counted to three before opening the door an inch, but Breanna gestured at her to close it again. “Hurry!” she whispered, then looked both ways and took a deep breath. She gave Sadie a shaky thumbs-up. “I’m good.”

Sadie closed the door and faced the room for the first time, half expecting to see a bunch of workers staring at her, but she was alone.

An ornate staircase led down a few steps to the actual dining room. The same mural from outside the room was repeated on the inside walls, complete with intricate crown molding along the upper edge, velvet valances on the windows, and more than a dozen huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was lovely, but Sadie hoped Mary Anne was wrong about it having the best food on the ship since that would mean Sadie would never get to try it. Flexible dining had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

She heard the sound of dishes clinking together somewhere to her left and quickly moved into action. There was a podium at the bottom of the stairs with a door panel on the front. It made sense that there would be a seating chart, and it made even more sense that the seating chart would be stored near the entrance.

The door panel was unlocked, which was a relief. Sadie smiled as she opened the panel and pulled out a three-ring binder with “Seating” on the front. Perfect!

She sat on the bottom step and opened the book to find several pages of instructions in plastic sleeves. She flipped through them until she reached a page showing a diagram with several circles. A quick glance at the dining room showed that all the tables were round and sat eight people. Sadie went back to the book and located a time stamp on each page. There were four dinner shifts: 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30. She went to the page for 7:30 and scanned the seating arrangement, disappointed not to have names listed on the tables, just room numbers.

“Biscuits,” she muttered. The sound of voices coming from the same direction as the clanging dishes didn’t allow her the luxury of thinking through her options. She snapped open the three-ring binder and removed the page. They were on day four of a seven-day cruise and surely everyone knew where their seats were by now, right? She rolled up the seating assignment, slid it into her bag where it promptly unrolled itself, hurried up the stairs, opened the door carefully, and stepped back into the hallway. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.