Nancy took a piece of cheese from George’s plate. “Let’s see if Bess is up,” she said.
As the two of them started toward the elevator George turned to her friend. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Nancy?”
“Not exactly. Bess needs to be in on this too,” Nancy replied. “I’ll tell you two as much as I can.”
There was a line at the elevator, so Nancy suggested they take the stairs. “It’s just one deck down. We can get some exercise. Not that you really need it, after all those laps!” She smiled at George.
They found Bess in bed, doing her nails. “Well, I’m ready for another fabulous evening,” she told them. She held up one hand. “Do you like this color?” she asked.
“It’s too gaudy, Bess,” George said. “Want some cheese and crackers?”
Bess shook her head and examined her hand carefully. “I think it’ll work with the right lighting.” She jumped out of bed. “Where have you two been?”
“George was doing laps, and I was having a very interesting conversation with Craig Oliver,” Nancy said.
“Really?” Bess said. “I hope you let him have it!”
“Well, not exactly,” Nancy said.
“Did I break up an important … conversation?” George interjected. “Tell us about it, Nancy.”
“You didn’t break up anything, George! Please,” Nancy said. “Craig was explaining to me why he hasn’t been seeing as much of Amber as he thought he would.”
“Why?” Bess and George asked together.
“His job on this ship is just a cover. He’s really a detective,” Nancy said. “I can’t tell you much more than that, except that I’ve been cleared to help him with the investigation.”
“Cleared?” Bess said. “Hmm. Sounds like government work to me.”
“Well, it’s not the kind of government work you might be thinking of, but it does involve crossing international borders,” Nancy explained. “Anyway, you’ll just have to trust me.”
“Okay,” Bess and George said in unison.
The cousins were used to Nancy’s having to be secretive sometimes about what she was involved in, to protect the integrity of the case. And they both knew that when everything was over, she’d let them know all the details.
“You’ll be helping too, though,” Nancy said, “with something very important.”
“What?” George asked.
“Craig said the case is more complicated than he thought when he invited Amber to come on this cruise,” Nancy explained, “so he wants me to help keep Amber occupied. He doesn’t want her to be so lonely and thinking about why he isn’t around. I’ll need your help for that.”
“Well, that should be pretty easy,” Bess said. “I like Amber. There are plenty of things we can do together.”
“Maybe she likes to swim,” George added. “It would be easy to kill a lot of time in the pool!”
“I think we should play it by ear,” Nancy said. “We’ll probably have to do a lot of improvising.”
“I have an idea,” Bess said. She walked over to the telephone and rang Amber’s room. “Hi, Amber, it’s Bess Marvin. If you and Craig aren’t doing anything now, let’s go window-shopping! Okay … Great. I’ll be there in half an hour.” She hung up the phone. “I think I called at just the right time. I’m sure she’d been crying. She jumped at the chance to get out of the room.” Bess shook her head. “I feel so sorry for her. She must be miserable.”
Right then the telephone rang.
“I hope that’s not Amber calling me back to cancel,” Bess said.
Nancy picked up the receiver. “Hello. Oh, hi, Craig. What’s up?”
“Meet me by the elevators in five minutes,” Craig said.
“Okay,” Nancy said. “I’ll be right there.” She hung up and told her friends what her short conversation was all about.
“He’s not wasting any time putting you to work, is he?” George said.
“I guess not—but I did tell him I’d help as much as I could,” Nancy replied. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
Craig was already at the elevators when Nancy showed up.
“I couldn’t finish our conversation earlier because your friend came by,” Craig said.
“I understand,” Nancy said.
“There are three male passengers who fit the profile of a jewel thief,” Craig began. He pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket. “I’ve written out their names and cabin numbers for you.” He handed Nancy the piece of paper.
Nancy scanned the list, reading it aloud. “John Fulcrum, deck 4, cabin 438; William Canton, deck 3, cabin 307; and Robert Jordan (married), deck 2, cabin 202.” Nancy looked up at Craig. “What are these profiles you have?” she asked.
“Government agencies, including Interpol, have profiles for all kinds of criminals,” he said. “These three men fit the bill for this jewel thief.” Craig gave her a physical description of all three men.
“Amazing,” Nancy said. “Okay, so what do you want me to do?”
“I can’t tail these men everywhere. I have to work at my job sometimes to keep my cover, and I have to keep Amber happy,” Craig said. “So I’ve figured out a plan. When I have to do something else, you’ll take over. We’ll use our cell phones.” He handed Nancy a slip of paper with his number on it. “If you’ll give me your number, I can call you and tell you when I need you. When I’m where I can tail these men, then I’ll call you and tell you that you can stop for a while. I think it’ll work.”
Nancy wrote out her cell phone number and handed it to Craig.
“They’ve all pretty much settled into a routine,” Craig said. “That’s normal. Even jewel thieves fall into their own cruise ship routines. So that’ll make it a little easier for us to decide when to be where. We’ll sort of know what to expect from them.”
“Okay,” Nancy said. “I’ll do what I can.”
When she got back to the suite, Bess and George were ready for lunch.
“We’re starving,” Bess said. “You can tell us everything Craig said over lunch.”
“That sounds good to me,” Nancy said. “Wait a minute. I thought you and Amber were going shopping?”
Bess shrugged. “You hadn’t been gone two minutes when Amber called and canceled. She said she had a headache. I’m a little concerned that she’s still moping over Craig.”
“Could be,” Nancy said. It’s still a little strange, she thought.
They decided the Palm Garden Café was the best choice for lunch, so they took the elevator up to the sundeck.
When the waiter had seated them at a table with a wonderful view of the distant Wisconsin shore, George asked about the meeting. “Well?”
Since she trusted her friends completely, and she felt she might need some help, Nancy decided to tell them that Craig had profiled three men on the ship as possible jewel thieves.
“Maybe I should put my bracelets and rings in the ship’s safe,” Bess said.
“I think he’s pretty high-profile, probably not interested in the jewels of people on the cruise,” Nancy said. “Plus, I doubt if he’d want to call attention to himself on the ship.”
“Of course, it never hurts to be aware of the possibility,” George added.
“True,” Nancy agreed.
After their sandwiches arrived, Nancy finished telling them how she and Craig were going to handle tailing the suspects. “So if I get a telephone call and suddenly make an excuse to leave, don’t say anything—especially if Amber is with us.”
“You can count on us, Nancy,” Bess assured her.
Nancy’s cell phone rang just as she was about to open the door to the suite. The three friends looked at one another. Maybe it was Craig?
“Hello?” Nancy said. She listened for several minutes. “Okay. I’m on my way.”
“So soon?” George said.
Nancy nodded. “Craig wants me to check on John Fulcrum. He’s been making a number of cell phone calls in the lounge on deck 4, and I’m supposed to get close enough to him to hear what he’s saying.”
George and Bess went on into the suite while Nancy hurried to take the elevator down to deck 4. When she got to the lounge, she recognized John Fulcrum immediately. He was sitting at a table by himself, still talking on his cell phone. There were several empty tables around him. Nancy sat down at one of the tables, took a paperback novel out of her purse, opened it up, and pretended to read. When the waitress came over, Nancy ordered a soft drink.
Mr. Fulcrum continued carrying on a conversation about buying and selling stock. Nancy listened closely for almost thirty minutes, but never once did she hear the word diamonds or anything else suspicious. Finally, Nancy decided that John Fulcrum was simply one of those men who liked to conduct business on his cell phone day and night.
Just as Nancy was leaving the lounge her own cell phone rang. It was Craig again, wanting her to see what Robert Jordan and his wife were up to. Craig was busy shadowing William Canton, and he had passed the Jordans on their way to the pool on the sundeck. “They were arguing about Mrs. Jordan’s diamonds,” Craig said. “I think it’s worth looking into.”
Nancy raced back to the elevator and rode up to the sundeck. The Jordans were sitting in deck chairs and were still arguing with each other.
Nancy made her way around the pool as unobtrusively as she could. Finally, she was almost behind the Jordans’ chairs. She was acting like she was paying attention to a game of water polo in the pool, so as not to look suspicious.
“I need to sell those diamonds, Gwen. You don’t need them,” Mr. Jordan was saying. “We’ve already had this conversation.”
“Why should you sell these when you have others you can sell?” Mrs. Jordan demanded.
Nancy was stunned by what she was hearing. Could Mr. Jordan really be the man responsible for the jewelry store robberies in Mexico and the United States? she wondered. Could the mystery be this easy to solve?
“Yes, I know that my mother willed them all to me and that there are others in the safety de—” Mr. Jordan stopped and looked directly at Nancy. “This is a private conversation, young lady. I’d appreciate it if you’d—”
“What? Stop watching the water polo match?” Nancy said. “It’s a little difficult not to hear what you’re saying, but since this is one of the best places to view the match, I’d prefer to stay. Please continue with your conversation, though. Rest assured that I have no interest in it.”
Mr. Jordan seemed miffed. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to being talked to like that. Mrs. Jordan, however, gave Nancy a grin.
After a few minutes the Jordans got up and moved to the other side of the pool. Nancy waited several minutes after they had left before moving, to make sure she didn’t give them any reason to suspect her any more than they did. Finally, she headed toward the elevators. So far the investigation had yielded nothing. She decided to take a chance and call Craig. She knew his cell phone was on vibrate, so if he couldn’t answer it, he wouldn’t. He picked it up after a couple of rings, though.
“Nancy? I can’t talk too long,” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Nancy said. “I just don’t think either Mr. Fulcrum or the Jordans are the jewel thieves. What about Mr. Canton?”
“I struck out there, too. I’m beginning to think that maybe the fugitive hasn’t come aboard yet,” Craig said. “We dock in Sturgeon Bay tomorrow morning. I suggest that we still keep an eye on these three suspects, because of the profile—but the fugitive might also be one of the new passengers coming aboard in Wisconsin.” He paused for a second. “Shoot—here comes Amber. I’ll talk to you later, if I can.” He quickly hung up.
When Nancy got to the suite, she immediately knew that Bess and George had something to tell her.
“What is it?” Nancy said.
“It’s Amber,” George said. “We just had a visit from her.”
“Oh? I thought she didn’t want to go shopping,” Nancy said. “Did she change her mind?”
“Oh, she didn’t come up here to go shopping,” Bess said. “She thinks you and Craig are seeing each other secretly. She thinks you’re trying to take Craig away from her!”