Chapter 35

We went to Inspector Rashan's room and were happy to see that the Captain was also there. We gave him the nine iron and related the whole scenario to them. The Captain placed the club in a large plastic bin liner and sealed the top, then wrote a description of where it was found on a sticky label.

He was very concerned to hear that some of his workers were not getting along, and were fighting and hollering at each other in front of the guests and making them, he was sure, very uncomfortable. They had all been warned when signing up to work on the ship that arguing, disagreeing or talking negatively about each other to the passengers, could lead to their dismissal.

Not only was the Captain concerned about James and Alex, but also the other workers who were involved. Plus, knowing that possibly one of them was a murderer was a huge concern.

He said, "This has never happened on any of my watches before. Some of the staff workers have been with me for a long time. Many of them are like family. My heart is very saddened by all this."

We both felt sorry for him. Kat said, "Kit and I have made a list of pros and cons on our two suspects. James still comes out on top as our number one. The clincher was the slip by James about the manila envelope." Then looking at the Captain she asked, "You didn't tell anyone what we found, did you, Captain? About the jewels being in a manila envelope?"

"No, I've been very discreet about it. In fact, I haven't told anyone that we'd even found the necklace. I thought I'd leave it up to yours and Inspector Rashan's capable hands."

"Inspector, Kat and I would like to interview James Innacia one more time. I have a few questions we'd like to ask him. Not only about the envelope, but also about his saying that George was murdered, and about his so-called conversation with Berta. Is that okay? If so, Captain, can you arrange that for us?"

The three of us looked over at Inspector Rashan. He nodded his head.

The Captain said, "Yes, I can arrange that. When and where to you want to meet James?"

"We've nothing planned for the rest of the day, so whatever is convenient for you, is convenient for us. We'll wait for your call in our room."

Kat and I went straight to our cabin and planned our questions. Again we agreed that I'd ask them, and Kat would be making notes.

Within a half hour the Captain called to set up the time. Kat answered the phone. I put my head next to hers so I could hear his voice.

"Four this afternoon is good for James. He'll be free until dinner time, so you'll have about two hours before the first dinner seating to talk. Is that okay with the two of you? I've told him to meet here in my office."

I nodded my head vigorously.

"That'll be fine," Kat answered him, and then asked, "Will you be there with us?"

"No, I'll leave right after he arrives. I'm sure you both would like to talk to him without me being present."

"Thanks, Captain. I think it'll make our interview with James a lot easier if it's with just the three of us. Thanks for being so understanding."

"You're welcome, Kat. I'll see the two of you at four in my office."

"We'll probably come a little earlier if that's okay with you. If you're busy we can wait in the reception area."

"That's fine. I'll be free and it will give us a chance to get better acquainted."

Kat hung up the phone and we prayed for guidance by the Holy Spirit, asking God for His mighty wisdom. We had over two hours before seeing James, so we decided to walk around the ship to see if we could find someone to talk to. We were especially looking for our fellow guests from table nine.

The first people we saw were Maria and Jason. They both had smiles on their faces as we walked toward them. They invited us to sit at their table where they were sipping ice teas. Maria seemed so happy that her necklace had been found, but sorry about the two deaths. She was wondering if they were connected in some way with the robbery of her jewels. And she was hoping that we would all be able to go ashore when we arrived at our next destination.

They said they'd been to many of these small quaint countries before, and knew of a great restaurant in Dubrovnik, Croatia, that they wanted to take us, if we were allowed off the ship.

We thanked them, and Kat said, "We'd love to join you. It sounds like fun."

By now it was three-thirty and time for us to go to the Captain's office. We were disappointed that we probably wouldn't have as much time with the Captain as we'd been hoping for, but it had been good spending a few minutes with Maria and Jason.

When we arrived, the Captain welcomed us and right away began telling us about his wife and his teenage children. We told him about us knowing each other since we were young, and how we had always been best of friends. We also talked about Paul's Island, and how we fell in love there.

He told us more about his life, and how he wanted to retire soon and spend more time with his wife of twenty-three years, and with his four children. Two of them were getting ready to go off to college, so it was important to be there with them before they left.

We had a great time together. We told him of our faith in Christ. He said he also believed, but because of being gone so much, he wasn't active in a church or fellowship with other believers. But once he retired, he would definitely change that. We prayed for him, and when we had just finished we heard a very quiet knock on the office door.

It was James.

The Captain excused himself, saying he'd see us all later at dinner. I thought James looked a little nervous, but I could tell he was trying to be calm . . . perhaps trying a little too hard.

Kat said, "James, we just want to ask you a few questions. Don't worry. We're going to ask others the same ones. Please sit down."

She was trying to make our time with James look as casual as possible, so he wouldn't think he was a suspect. I could tell she was also attempting to put him at ease. We thought that if after talking to him, and we still weren't sure he was the one, we'd then ask Alex the same questions . . . he was the "others."

"If it's all right with you, I have just three questions I'd like you to answer."

James shrugged indifferently. "That's fine, fire away. It's not me you should be asking these questions to anyway. I'm the innocent one. You should be talking to Alex. He's the one who should be sitting here, not me."