The ten Santas, eight of them in costume, were standing shoulder to shoulder in Dudley’s small office. It was easy to do a quick check of the outfits. All eight caps were fully belled. The story of Alvirah’s accident had spread quickly and the fact that she had been ignored by someone in a Santa outfit had united the Santas in righteous indignation, even Bobby Grimes.
“That guy’s giving the rest of us a bad name,” he said piously. “Like I said last night, we’d all better be on the lookout.”
Dudley glanced at Jack, who took over. “We need your help,” Jack explained. “We all agree that whoever has those outfits is either a passenger or a crew member who probably has some sort of practical joke agenda. However, as we’ve seen with Mrs. Meehan, jokes can cause accidents. The ten of you can be very helpful, provided what we’re saying here doesn’t go out of this room. For the rest of the trip, please keep your eyes peeled for a Santa who only has one bell on his cap. We need to find him.”
“With my luck, the bell’s going to fall off my cap,” Bobby Grimes complained.
“We know who you are,” Jack assured him with a smile.
“Who would do this?” Nelson asked rhetorically.
Dudley shrugged. “Your job as Santa Claus was to find out what people wanted for Christmas. The job we’re giving you today is to help us catch this troublemaker.”
“The problem is you’d have to see the back of this Santa’s head to notice how many bells he has on his cap,” Ted Cannon observed.
“We thought of that,” Dudley said. “That’s why I’m giving you the Royal Mermaid souvenir pins now, instead of as a good-bye present at the end of the cruise. Wear them on the front of your Santa Claus jackets and that will identify you as an official Santa Cruise Santa Claus.”
“We’ve all been watching television,” Nelson said, shaking his head. “This ship has certainly been getting a lot of attention.”
“Mountains out of mole hills,” Dudley replied airily. “And it all comes back to our practical joker.”
“Was the waiter who jumped overboard a practical joker?” one of the Santas asked. “Who are his friends? Maybe one of them is pulling this.”
“That’s my job,” Jack said. “We’re checking him out.”
“I do want to remind you that you are the Commodore’s special guests on this trip,” Dudley said earnestly. “I’ll be perfectly honest. The unfavorable publicity could mean the end of the Commodore’s dream—this ship. On the other hand, if you help to create an atmosphere of good feeling among the passengers, you really will be giving the Commodore the one thing he has always wanted in life—the chance to run a successful cruise ship, on which people can forget their troubles and be happy.”
Well done, Dudley, Regan thought.
“One more very important matter,” Dudley said. “The Commodore was very close to his mother. Her ashes are on board. We are going to have a memorial service for her at sunset tonight on the Promenade Deck. All passengers will be asked to attend. There will be a brief ceremony, a few hymns sung, the Commodore will say good-bye to his mother as he lovingly drops the box with her ashes over the railing, then we’ll share a champagne toast.”
“Why are her ashes going to be thrown over in a box? I thought you just sprinkle them into the breeze,” Grimes asked with a frown.
“That’s environmentally unhealthy,” Nelson explained. “They only do that in the movies. My therapist told me one of his patients wanted to scatter his father’s ashes near all the bars he used to frequent, but needless to say the City of New York told him to go jump in a lake with his father’s ashes.”
“As long as they were still in a box,” someone added.
“I would like to have a Santa escort for the Commodore tonight,” Dudley continued. “Eight of you in uniform will accompany Commodore Weed and his mother as they travel from his suite to the chapel for a brief prayer, then down the companionway, and out onto the Promenade Deck where the rest of the passengers and crew will be waiting. Who would like to be in the procession?”
Ten hands shot up.
Dudley smiled. “We’ll draw straws. And who knows? If we catch the Santa-suit thieves today, then you’ll all be in the procession.”