Baked Alaska (23 page)

“That was absolutely terrifying,” Breanna said as she and Sadie quickstepped away from the restaurant. “It reminded me of that sick-to-my-stomach feeling I’d get when I’d play hide-and-seek as a kid. I hated that game.”

Sadie had used the exact same description to describe her own feelings during earlier investigations. “You were a great lookout,” Sadie assured her. “Thank you for your help.”

“Sure,” Breanna said, but she still sounded nervous. “So, did you find out if there was a Ben and Tanice at the 7:30 seating?”

Sadie patted her bag. “No names, just room numbers.”

Breanna glanced at the bag hanging across Sadie’s chest and came to a stop. “You took the list?”

Sadie stopped too, looking around to make sure no one would overhear their exchange. The ship was pretty much empty since most of the passengers were in Skagway. “Just the one page.”

“You took it, though?”

“I had to. There were people in the kitchen, and I worried they would come out before I could copy down the chart by hand. I had hoped for names too, believe me.”

Breanna pursed her lips in disapproval, but Sadie took her arm and kept walking. “We’ll talk about it in the cabin, okay?”

As soon as they entered the cabin, Sadie sat on her bed and removed the seating chart from her purse, giving herself a little pat on the back for having been successful in her quest. One look at Breanna, who had remained standing, however, caused her to drop the smile. “It’s just a list, Breanna.”

“Someone else’s list. I didn’t think you were going to do anything illegal.”

Sadie put the paper down and looked up at Breanna. “It’s a list, and not even a list of names. Everyone knows where they sit by now, and I think the end justifies the means.”

“Is this the kind of thing you and Shawn do?” Breanna said. “Take stuff and—”

“Spy on people and gather information and catch bad guys?” Sadie finished up with a nod. “What did you think we did as investigators?”

“It doesn’t feel right.”

Sadie took a breath and tried not to be dismissive of Breanna’s feelings. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. And I didn’t do this, or anything else I’ve done in the past, flippantly. But a man is dead, and Lorraina is in the hospital, and this”—she lifted the list—“might help us figure out how both of those things happened, and more importantly, if they are connected.”

Breanna still looked concerned but sat down on the bed next to Sadie without further comment.

Sadie slid the seating chart out of the sheet protector so she could fold the paper and used her pen to circle all the repeating room numbers.

“You’re circling everyone who shares a room together?”

“Yes,” Sadie said. “Unfortunately, most of the seats are taken by shared room numbers. Still, narrowing the list is important.”

“Maybe if we leave a bigger tip for our steward, it will satisfy karma for us having stolen the list.”

“That’s a good idea,” Sadie said. “Especially if it will make you feel better.”

“It will,” Breanna said nodding, but then she smiled slightly. “It is kind of exciting, isn’t it? I mean, now that it’s over and stuff.”

Sadie smiled back. She didn’t want to encourage rebellious behavior in her daughter who had never been one to break the rules, but there
was
a thrill of discovery that permeated these kinds of things.

“So, now what?” Breanna said, after pointing out the final set of room numbers Sadie had missed. “How do you find out which room number belongs to this Ben guy?”

“Well, Jen and Mary Anne both eat at the same time, and Jen thought she knew who it was. Maybe she could look at the list and help us narrow it down, at least to the table he sat at. She said she was taking the train with her kids this afternoon, though I don’t know what time. She seemed to think Mary Anne would be able to verify the guy too, though, so I’m wondering if Mary Anne could be just as helpful. She might be easier to find; I think all she planned to do in town was shop.”

“What do we do if we figure out what room Ben was in? Knock on the door and see if the widow answers?”

Sadie grimaced. “I haven’t thought that far out. Let’s just find Jen or Mary Anne and see what they can tell us. Keep in mind that the plan is to be able to give as much information as possible to the investigators I’ll be talking to at four. We’ll go as far as we can, but if we reach a stopping point, no worries. It’s still beneficial.”

“That makes sense. So how do we find Jen or Mary Anne?” Breanna asked. “There are three thousand people on this cruise, and most of them are in Skagway along with the passengers from the two other ships that docked today.”

If Jen hadn’t left on the train yet, she’d likely be getting lunch with her family or visiting the train station, which had a gift shop and a museum. Mary Anne could be anywhere. The bigger problem was that Breanna didn’t know either one of the women, so she couldn’t really look for them.

Or could she?

There had been hundreds of photos taken since the first time Sadie had made her purchases from the photo gallery, and it took some time to find one of each of the women. Because of how badly it had turned out the last time Sadie purchased someone else’s photo, she thought hard about buying these before taking them to the counter and charging them to her ship-card. If asked, she could always tell the ladies she’d purchased them as gifts.

Breanna opted to search on the ship, keeping the photos with her for verification purposes. She put them in Sadie’s bag and carried it over her shoulder so it wouldn’t be obvious that she was consulting the photographs as she wandered the ship. Sadie would look through Skagway—bagless.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?” Sadie said as they approached the gangway and she pulled her ship-card out of her pocket.

“I’ve totally got this,” Breanna said, though she still looked nervous. “But we better leave an extra big tip for the steward.”

Chapter 26

Sadie checked the train station first in hopes of finding Jen and her cute family before they headed to the Yukon, but they weren’t at the depot or the gift shop or the museum. She then turned her attention to the more touristy shops, thinking that was where she’d likely find Mary Anne. After the third store, Sadie sent a text to Pete, requesting an update about his visit with Maggie, but he didn’t respond, which made her even more intent on finding Jen or Mary Anne. Any time her thoughts dwelled on Shawn for too long, her chest would get tight and her motherly instincts would tempt her to go back to the police station and make a scene.

Bre sent periodic updates each time she finished searching an entire floor. She’d found the kids club and talked to a worker who recognized Jen’s kids, but said they’d gone ashore with their parents for the day. Breanna also thought she recognized Mary Anne’s husband in the casino, which had Sadie shaking her head for not thinking of looking there first.

">Sadie: Did you ask him where Mary Anne was?

>Breanna: No. He looked grumpy. I think he was losing.

Sadie considered going back to the casino herself to talk to Glen, but she wasn’t a big fan of grumpy people either. If she didn’t end up finding Jen or Mary Anne, she could stop by the casino on her way to the security office that afternoon. She had a feeling Glen would still be there.

Sadie: Let’s keep looking. We’ve got two hours until my appointment.

Two shops later, her diligence was rewarded when she spotted Mary Anne in the far corner of a little shop. She sent a quick text to Breanna before putting the phone in her pocket and hurrying forward.

“Mary Anne,” Sadie said as she came up behind her.

Mary Anne turned around and smiled. “Sadie! How wonderful to see you.”

Sadie was immediately pulled into the woman’s squishy hug, which she gladly returned. “You too.”

Mary Anne immediately held up the bag on her shoulder. “Look at this beauty,” she said triumphantly. It was navy blue pleather with “Alaska” embroidered in silver thread and a map of Alaska outlined with tiny diamonds. It was big enough to fit a small child or a medium-sized dog, though the stitching didn’t look as though it would hold up to that kind of load. “I chose navy because I think that makes the design look like a constellation. Don’t you agree?”

“I get it,” Sadie said. “The diamonds are like stars.”

“And look at this,” she said, unzipping it. “It has not two but
three
separate compartments, along with a hidden one inside, see?” She slid her hand into a side pocket that didn’t look all that hidden.

“Wow,” Sadie said, trying to sound interested.

“And there’s this little pocket right here. I think it’s for a cell phone, but it’s perfect for my ship-to-shore card.” She pulled up the flap and withdrew her ship-card just enough for Sadie to see. “It’s like it was made for it, don’t you think? Such clever merchandising. I don’t have to pull out my wallet every time I need to use my card anymore.”

“Genius,” Sadie said, admiring Mary Anne’s knack for finding joy in the simple things and yet also eager to get her help.

Mary Anne admired the purse again before letting it drop to her side. “My friend Millie is going to be so jealous. She’s one of those purse-hounds, you know; I bet she has no less than thirty purses in her closet. She doesn’t have anything like this, though, no sirree. And it’s blue, so it matches everything.”

“It’s lovely,” Sadie said; it was the kind of lie you couldn’t not say. “Um, do you have a minute?”

“I have lots of minutes,” Mary Anne said, grinning widely. “I’m on vacation!”

Sadie smiled, sincerely that time; Mary Anne’s joy was infectious. “I was wondering if you could help me figure out the seating arrangement in your dining room.”

“Whatever for?” Mary Anne asked, pulling her eyebrows together.

Sadie explained her conversation with Jen and then removed the seating chart from her pocket, showing it to Mary Anne. “Do you know who she’s talking about? A younger guy named Ben. Jen seemed to think he was married.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, why is this of any interest to you? You don’t even eat in our dining room.”

Sadie didn’t want to get into everything that had happened with Shawn or Maggie or Lorraina. “I’m worried about Ben’s wife—assuming it
was
Ben who died at the buffet. I wanted to see if she’s okay.”

She’d hoped that would buy her some sympathy with the older woman, but Mary Anne looked unimpressed. “You don’t even know her.”

“I might, actually. I’m wondering if we were on a shore excursion with them yesterday,” Sadie admitted. “Beyond that, I was widowed when I was younger and left to raise two small children. I thought maybe I could give her some advice.”

Mary Anne was not thawed by Sadie’s second attempt at an explanation either. Sadie tried to think of another reason she’d want to find Tanice, other than the truth, when Mary Anne made it easy on her.

“I bet that boyfriend of yours is an attorney, isn’t he?” She nodded, ready to believe it without Sadie’s confirmation. “And he wants to represent the widow in a lawsuit, right?” She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I don’t blame you for a second. It’s highway robbery what they charge on this ship. Back in the day, everything was included, you know, now you have to pay extra for certain restaurants, some of the onboard ship tours,
and
the shuttle transportation. It’s ridiculous if you ask me. If you can get some money out of the cruise line, I’m all for it.”

Sadie didn’t know what to say to that.

Mary Anne adjusted her glasses again and then cocked her head to the side. “You’ll need to turn the paper, otherwise I’m not properly oriented.”

Sadie turned the paper, and Mary Anne leaned closer, scrunching her nose slightly.

“Do you know who it is Jen’s talking about?”

“I think so, yes,” Mary Anne said. “I saw him last night so if we’re thinking of the same person, I should be able to figure this out.”

“I’d sure appreciate it,” Sadie said. “You’d be my hero for the day.”

Mary Anne looked at her over the top of her glasses. “I do love playing the hero role.” She smiled, then looked back at the chart. “Well, that’s our table,” she said, pointing to one of the tables on the left side of the dining room. “And that means that Ben’s table would be right...” She paused and looked up at Sadie. “Where did you get this?”

“Oh, uh, from the dining room,” Sadie said, shrugging in hopes of keeping it casual.

“They just hand out maps of where people are seated? That’s got to be a breach of privacy.”

“Oh, no, it wasn’t like that.”

Mary Anne put one hand on her ample hip. “They employ all those foreigners and they don’t always understand the laws around here. We live in the U. S. of A. and we’re entitled to our privacy. Who knows what could happen if this ended up in the wrong hands? They’ll never learn if we don’t teach them the right and proper way to do things, and if they lose their jobs for it, so be it. These jobs are a privilege, and they are lucky to have them. I’m going to talk to my steward—”

“I stole it,” Sadie said, hoping to forestall a scene. “I snuck into the dining room and stole the seating chart.”