“I can’t believe you’re just now telling me about Reese,” Kate said, as we wound our way through midday traffic.
“Technically, I didn’t tell you. Richard did.” I’d known that Richard would rat on me the second he left my apartment if only to get support from Kate for his indignant outrage. “Did you even hear what I said about the odd receipts?”
“Yeah, yeah. Weird receipts. Big whoop.” Kate twisted to face me. “I can’t believe I had to hear about your date with Reese secondhand.”
The light changed and I eased the car forward. We were headed down New York Avenue past modern office buildings wedged between hotels and the occasional historic house. I’d decided to avoid Georgetown traffic by taking the long way to the District Marina.
“Richard wasn’t supposed to find out either,” I said. “And it wasn’t a date.”
“Even worse.” Kate turned to face forward in her seat. “If Richard hadn’t found out, you never would have told us. I can’t believe you’d keep something so big from me.”
“I think you’re blowing this out of proportion. It’s not that big a deal. Like I said, it wasn’t an official date.” My mind flashed back to kissing Mike on my couch, and I couldn’t help smiling at the memory. It may not have been a real date, but it had felt pretty amazing.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” Kate said. “You’ve liked him for a while now.”
“How do you know?” I floored it to make a right turn in front of an oncoming line of traffic.
Kate braced her arms against my dashboard. “Please. The amount of tension between you two is nuts.”
“I promise I’m not going to run off and get married,” I said. “And the only reason I didn’t tell you is I knew you’d make a big deal of it. At least you’re better than Richard. He practically went into cardiac arrest.”
I slowed as we approached a work crew set up in the middle of the street. No matter what time of the day or night you drove around DC, there always seemed to be road work. I looked in my rearview mirror before making a U-turn so I could detour around the work zone.
Kate shrugged and rolled down her window. “Well, can you blame him? It’s hard to compete with someone who looks like Mike Reese.”
“What do you mean compete?” I took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of hot dog from a nearby street vendor. “Richard and Reese aren’t exactly playing for the same team.”
Kate sighed. “Competing for your attention. Richard’s been your best friend since you came to DC and you’ve been single for that entire time. Now a hot guy comes along and you fall for him. What’s to say you won’t start spending every weekend with Mike instead of Richard?”
I paused at a traffic light and eyed the gleaming white U.S. Capitol building in front of me. “That won’t happen. For one, I work every weekend—usually with Richard.”
“Richard’s used to going up against temperamental chefs and nutty brides, not unbridled masculinity and a great butt. You’re going to need to give him time to adjust.”
I eased the car forward as the light turned green. “He may not need to adjust. Reese hasn’t called or texted since we ended up getting in an argument that night when he dropped me off.”
“Give him time to cool off.” Kate pulled her red patent leather purse onto her lap and began rummaging through it. “Anyway, making up is the best part.”
I rapped my fingers on the steering wheel as I let a school tour group in matching green T-shirts cross in front of us. “We haven’t reached the making up stage yet.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll call you.” Kate pulled out a black lipstick tube and flipped down the sun visor to access the mirror. “He’s just playing it cool—someone has to.”
I decided to ignore her obvious jab and listen to her advice. If anyone knew men, it was Kate. I waited until she’d applied her lipstick to accelerate the car and pass a slow-moving tour bus clearly searching for street parking.
My phone trilled from inside my purse, and I reached behind my seat with one hand to pull it out. I took my eyes off the road to glance at the caller ID, feeling a rush of pleasure when I saw Reese’s name.
“Annabelle?” he said when I answered. “Are you on the ship?”
“Actually, I’m not, but I’m on my way.” I could hear the flirtation in my voice, and I knew Kate would pick up on it.
“Then I’ll see you when I get there.” He sounded all business, and my warm feeling evaporated as I noticed the edge in his voice.
“What are you talking about? What’s going on?”
There was a long pause. “We found the crew member Mandy reported missing.”
I knew without asking this wasn’t a good thing.
“She ran out into traffic in Georgetown last night and got hit by a car. They just identified her body.”
Even though I knew the girl’s accidental death couldn’t have anything to do with what had been happening on the ship, it felt like another bad omen. I burned through a yellow light as I approached the marina.
“Whoa, there.” Kate looked over at me as I swung one hand behind me and dropped my phone back in my purse. “Where’s the fire? Wait, is there another fire?”
“I want to get to the ship before Reese does.” I made a sharp right into the District Marina parking lot and picked the closest empty space to the dock leading to Mystic Maven. “One of the crew went missing last night, and Reese just told me she was hit by a car in Georgetown.”
“That’s awful.” Kate shook her head. “Someone we knew?”
“Caren, the one we met with Mandy.” I opened the car door and stepped out, smoothing my green floral wrap dress until it fell back to my knees.
Kate walked around the car to join me. I’d thought her pinstriped shirtdress had looked short because she was sitting in the car, but it was just as short now that she stood in front of me. “So why do we need to beat the detective here?”
“I’d like to get a few moments to talk to the crew before Reese tells them.” I took the lead as we walked down the uneven wooden slats toward the ship. “As soon as they find out one of their own is dead, it may be tough to get information out of them.”
Kate reached out and grabbed my elbow, causing me to slow down. “What information?”
I shrugged. “There have been a lot of odd things happening regarding this ship. Since neither the police nor the security team seem to be able to stop it or figure it out, it can’t hurt for us to try.”
“Here we go again.” Kate sighed. “You know how thrilled Detective Reese will be when he finds out you’re poking your nose into his investigation.”
I stopped when we reached the wooden gangway at the back of the ship, dropped my nude flats in the shoe basket, and slipped on a pair of black Mystic Maven slippers. “I have no intention of interfering in his investigation. But I do think that you and I might find out more by talking to the crew than the police would.”
Kate followed me up the gangway. “I am pretty good at sweet-talking men.”
“You’re the best,” I said. “I’ll bet you could find out what the deckhands or the captain really think about all of this.”
If Kate knew I was buttering her up she didn’t let on. “So while I’m charming information out of the men on board, who will you be talking to?”
I paused when we reached the ship’s outer walkway. “There are women on board this ship, you know.”
“Really?” Kate looked genuinely surprised. “Well, they must do a good job of being inconspicuous.”
I thought it was more likely that Kate just didn’t notice women as much as she did the men. “You want to take the front part of the ship, and I’ll take the back?”
Kate patted my arm. “The bow and the stern, Annabelle.” She cocked an eyebrow at the curious look I gave her. “What? I’ve dated a few sailors.”
I knew Richard would have a zippy comeback about exactly how many sailors, but I let it slide as we parted ways. I walked around the outside of the ship to the lounge where we would soon have a massive ice bar filled with pricey vodka. No one in sight. I peered over the railing to the transom below. Also empty.
I squinted to look past my own reflection in the glass doors that led to Mr. Barbery’s study. He appeared to be sitting at the desk, so I rapped my knuckles lightly on the doors then pulled one open a crack. “Do you mind if I come in for a moment?”
He looked up, a look of irritation replaced instantly with a smile when he recognized me. He stood and waved me inside. “Of course. Please come in.”
I stepped into the room and let the door fall silently back into place. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“Not at all.” Mr. Barbery gestured for me to take a seat on a beige leather couch. “Just going over the latest invoices for the wedding.”
I cringed, knowing the amounts. “I’m sorry.”
He laughed. “Oh, these particular bills don’t have anything to do with you. They’re for my wife’s dresses. She had to have three of them for the wedding.”
I’d had brides select two dresses for a wedding day—one for the ceremony and another for dancing—but never three. And never a stepmother. But I didn’t put much past Mrs. Barbery.
“Are the plans going well?” He ran a hand over his close-cropped beard, his blue eyes focused intently on me.
“As well as possible considering the accidents, fire, and murder.”
The bride’s father leaned forward in his brown leather desk chair. “The police don’t think they’re accidents. What do you think? Do you think it’s too dangerous to hold the wedding on board?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I’ll be honest, Miss Archer.” He stood and began walking the length of the shelves behind his desk, passing the leather-bound books and encrusted artifacts I’d examined earlier. “I’ve seen my share of danger and gotten my share of threats, but I can’t stand the idea of my family being in danger.”
I was struck again by how much I liked this man and how different he was from his current wife. “Can you think of anyone who would have a reason to do these things? Maybe someone who has a grudge against you or one of the crew or another family member?” It seemed rude to suggest that there must be a thousand people who held a grudge against Mrs. Barbery.
He tapped a finger against his chin. “Competition in the treasure hunting world is intense, but most of my colleagues and I respected each other. And since we brought the ship over from Europe, no one on board knows anyone in DC. Except Kristie, that is, and no one could get angry at Kristie.”
I had to agree with him there. I didn’t think the bride made enemies unless you counted her stepmother, and Mrs. Barbery wanted a successful wedding so she could appear as the glamorous hostess on Diamond Weddings. Back to square one.
I stood up. “I won’t bother you any longer.”
Mr. Barbery walked around the desk and took my hand. “If you find out anything that would put my daughter in danger, I want you to come straight to me. And you have my permission to talk to anyone on board to get to the bottom of this.”
Was the bride’s father asking me to investigate? “Of course, sir.”
As he walked back around to sit at his desk, my eye caught a blank spot on the bookshelves behind his head. The clear stand that had held the antique pistol was now empty.