Krewe Of Hunters: Haunted Destiny Part 25

One of Beach's men stepped forward and introduced himself. "Ben Eckles, sir." Then he described what he'd seen. "Hardy just stood there and looked at the doors, and then...nothing. Oh, we also followed him late one evening. He went up to the chapel. He tried the door but it was locked."

"We need you to keep a close eye on him," Jude said.

"Yes, sir." Eckles nodded vigorously. "Mark Naughton is following him, but Hardy's running a bingo game in the Egyptian Room."

"Is that it?" Beach asked, turning back to the agents.

"Yes. Thank you," Jackson replied. "We all know you're not convinced that we're right about this. We want you all to know how much we appreciate your diligence."

Beach acknowledged Jackson's words.

Beach and his men trailed out of the office cabin, and Jackson glanced at Jude.

"Well?"

Jude sat there thoughtfully for a moment. "I don't like Jensen Hardy," he finally said. "I'm trying to discount that. But I've seen the way he looks at Alexi, and that scares me. And Roger Antrim-is he just going through a middle-age crisis and flirting to feel better about himself? Or is he lining up a victim?"

"When we get hold of Angela again, we'll have to find out what we can about the woman he's seeing."

"What do you think about Ginny Monk?" Jude asked.

"She may have planned this trip in order to meet Osprey," Jackson said.

"If she did some research on him, she might have found out that he usually sails alone, without a bevy of a.s.sistants or advisers. And, if so, she might've realized that this would be a prime opportunity to get to know the man-and seduce him."

"I agree," Jackson said. He gestured at the computer screen with disgust. "The ship's going onto emergency status pretty soon," he said. "May be good, may be bad. If everyone's in his or her cabin except for the necessary crew, at least the women aboard will be safe."

"Let's hope." Jude got to his feet. "I'm going to see what I can find out from Lorna. I went in to see how she was doing at the infirmary yesterday. I've got a bit of a connection with her-I think. I'll see what she can tell me."

Jackson nodded. "And I'll see if I can engage Ginny in a discussion while you're at it." He opened the desk and produced a square black object. "Walkie-talkie," he told Jude. "Computers are down, and that means the cell phones will be out. These are clunky and awkward, but they'll work."

Alexi grew restless.

She couldn't work on her computer; nothing was coming in.

She tried calling Jude; there was no cell phone reception.

She bathed, washed and dried her hair and paced the cabin.

Byron Grant was gone, and she doubted he'd reappear for a while.

Clara hadn't come to Alexi's room, because they were supposed to stay in their own, orders of Jude McCoy. The captain hadn't put the ship in lockdown yet, but Alexi felt as though it had already happened.

Finally, so much time had pa.s.sed and Alexi was so on edge that she cracked open the door to her cabin. She looked both ways down the hall and saw no one.

Just when she was about to step out, Jude came walking down the hallway.

He was frowning at her. "Alexi, I told you not to open the door!" he said.

"I'm sorry, but you didn't come back. And I'm worried about Clara. And isn't there supposed to be a security man a.s.signed to this hall? That means I should be safe enough checking on Clara!"

"Don't you understand the risks?" he shouted. "Death. You might face a terrible b.l.o.o.d.y death!"

"I do understand that, but if you expect me not to worry about a friend in the same situation, you're flat-out crazy," she told him angrily. "Have some faith in me! I was just stepping into the hall-where there should be a security man!-to check on my friend."

He was equally frustrated and angry, Alexi realized. But when she thought that he'd blow up again, he went silent.

"Stay there!" he snapped.

"Hey!" she protested as he walked down the hall.

It was a very long hallway. He walked the entire distance; she could see him retreating, and then coming back, eventually striding in the opposite direction, all the way to the stern.

He returned, looking perplexed.

Before she could say anything, he pulled out a black box that had to be a walkie-talkie. It was. He sounded terse as he spoke to someone, presumably Jackson, on the other end.

"I'm telling you, there's no one down here," he said. "I've been up and down the length of the ship." He listened to whatever Jackson was saying.

Then he turned to her. "You want to get out of the cabin? Fine, let's go pick up Clara. You two can play bingo."

"Bingo?" she said with dismay.

"And keep an eye on Jensen Hardy while you're there."

"Really?" Alexi demanded. "If Jensen's leading a bingo game, I imagine an awful lot of people will have their eyes on him."

"Alexi, d.a.m.n it, will you just play bingo?"

She crossed her arms. "Do you realize, Jude, that I know all these people better than you do? And that if they need to be drawn out, if someone needs to speak with them, it should be me?"

He lowered his head and she guessed he was fighting for control. Either that, or maybe he was actually considering her words.

He looked at her again. "Alexi, I have no idea where the security man is, the guy who was supposed to be watching this floor. If he's disappeared..."

"Could he be in the men's room?"

"Then he would've reappeared by now, don't you think?"

"Check the hall again," she suggested.

He stepped back outside; she did, too.

It was easy to see forward.

And aft.

And, as he'd said, there was no one.

"Hold on a minute," he told her.

As she watched, he knocked on Ralph Martini's door. A minute later Ralph answered sleepily, still wearing his robe.

"Yeah?" he asked, puzzled.

"Just making sure you're okay," Jude said.

"I was. I was sleeping," Ralph said. He frowned. "Anything new? Anything with the storm?"

"We'll be battening down soon," Jude said. "That's all."

"Keep us informed, huh?"

"Absolutely," Jude promised. "Is Larry in there with you?"

"No, he's in his own room," Ralph said. "He's fine. He, uh, left here a little while ago."

Alexi waved to Ralph, who rolled his eyes and smiled. Apparently, he-and the others-knew exactly where Jude was sleeping.

Jude went on, knocking at select doors. Simon Green was next, and he seemed perfectly okay. He was playing show tunes on an iPod or other sound system; "Oklahoma!" sounded from his cabin as he opened his door. Alexi saw him nod, then go back inside.

It took Larry a few minutes to come to his door. He must've been in the shower, since he was draped in a towel. Larry seemed bewildered, but in the end, he, too, nodded-and seemed to appreciate Jude's visit.

Jude returned to Alexi's door and said, "Let's go get Clara. Will the two of you play bingo? Please?" he added quietly. "I know you'll be safe while you're in a crowd-and that way you can observe Hardy for us, too."

"All right, all right," she said, feeling aggrieved. "Bingo. Great."

They went over to Clara's cabin and tapped on her door. She threw it open, saying, "I checked. I checked the peephole. I knew the two of you were the ones at the door."

"Excellent," Jude said.

"He wants us to play bingo," Alexi told her.

"Oh," Clara responded, looking from Alexi to Jude. She grimaced. "We're not actually allowed to play bingo. Ship's rules."

She hadn't known that, since the question had never come up for her. She wasn't much of a gambler, period. The only time she'd ever played bingo was at a church charity.

"There!" Alexi smiled at Jude, relieved. "We can't play bingo."

"Yes, you can, when a ship's executive says he's sending you in to help out with pa.s.senger entertainment due to the storm," he said pleasantly.

Alexi realized she was going to play bingo, whether she liked it or not. And she didn't.

"Bingo. Can't wait," she said with a sigh of resignation.

They took the elevator up to the ballroom, where a large crowd had gathered. Sh.e.l.ly Moore, one of Jensen's crew, was a.s.sisting him, but she seemed a little overwhelmed.

Jensen was speaking to the group, some ready to play, and some still in line buying cards.

"We'll be going for a straight line down the middle this time around," he announced. "Remember, not just any old bingo-a straight line down the center. Now, this is the Celtic American line, the Destiny!" he said. "If we don't make our stop in Belize, everyone on the ship will be getting a free cruise to replace this one, even though we're not responsible for acts of G.o.d. That's the Celtic American way! But whoever wins this game gets an upgrade to a suite on their next voyage!"

He stopped speaking, aware that Jude, Clara and Alexi had entered the ballroom. He looked at the three of them with annoyance.

Jude walked between the rows of tables to reach Jensen first. "I've brought a couple of the entertainers to help out."

"Clara and Alexi?" Jensen asked warily.

"Yes."

"You're, uh, leaving the two of them with me?"

"Yes."

"And you..."

"I have other business," Jude said.

"Oh." Jensen's expression was blank at first. Then he grinned. "I can certainly use the help. I have my other people running around, going from cabin to cabin with news sheets for the pa.s.sengers. Everything's topsy-turvy because of the storm."

"Of course. And Celtic American understands," Jude said agreeably.

"Can one of you give me a hand with the game sheet sales and the other one check the winners, confirm that the cards match the letters?"

"I'll do sales," Clara said.

"I guess I'm the checker," Alexi chimed in.

"See you all after bingo," Jude told them.

She watched as he left. He definitely had his sea legs.

And that was impressive because the Destiny was rolling even more heavily than it had been before.

Jude got hold of Jackson as he walked down the hall, taking the stairs to the higher decks.

There was something very wrong with the fact that their a.s.signed security guard wasn't on duty in the employee sector-where one of their three suspects and at least two potential victims were staying.

"I'll talk to David Beach and we'll start a search," Jackson said.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah, I do, too," Jackson said. "Over and out."

"Over and out."