Deceived (5 page)

She yelped and clutched her towel closer.

He muttered an apology and bent to retrieve a book he'd dropped in the collision. His bald head reflected an overhead light. He straightened his glasses and scrambled to his feet. “I'm sorry,” he said again.

“It's my fault. I should have been watching where I was going.”

“I didn't hurt you, did I?” He stood for a moment

gazing down at her, his mouth set in a hard line. The dark-tinted glasses hid his eyes, but Jennie sensed she'd seen him before. He cleared his throat and stepped back.

“No,” Jennie insisted. “I'm fine.”

He smiled then and reached out his hand. “In that case, it was nice running into you. Perhaps we'll meet again.” As he walked away Jennie remembered why he looked so familiar. He'd been the guy on deck earlier. The guy with the camera.

Jennie puzzled over the man as she pulled open the door to the fitness center. She made her way past the door to the men's room and the sauna, and ducked into the women's rest room.

By the time Jennie had showered and entered the sauna, she had dismissed the man as a threat. The warm dry heat and scent of cedar quickly softened her mood. She leaned back against the hot wood, willing the confusion of the last few days to melt from her mind. Gram's marriage to J.B., the television show, Mom's engagement to Michael, Dad's death, the break-in.
Dad's death.

“You have to let it go, Jennie,” Mom would have told her.
Let it go
. It sounded so easy. But how could she? For the last five years, there were times when the hope of finding him was the only thing that kept her going. “What am I going to do, God?” She drew her knees up to her chest, folded her arms, and let her head rest on them.

A memory floated into her mind, then out again. At the memorial service they'd had for him, the minister had assured them that as a believer, Dad had eternal life. “Even if he is dead,” a voice seemed to whisper, “his spirit will live forever. Someday, you will see him again, in heaven.”

The knowledge consoled her in a way, but not enough. Tears slipped through her closed lids and dried on her cheeks. She'd make it, she really would. Eventually the hurt would be bearable again.

Hot air burned her nose and lungs as she drew in a deep breath. Time for a cool shower. She stepped off the wooden bench and pushed at the door. Stuck. She pushed again. And again. It was locked. Someone had locked the door from the outside.

Panic thundered in her chest. She pounded on the wooden door. “Help! Someone help me!”

Minutes later, Jennie dropped to her knees. Blood ran from the torn flesh on her hands. Screams died on her parched lips. Maybe she'd be seeing Dad sooner than she'd planned.

You're not giving up, McGrady. You can't. Mom and Nick would never forgive you. Neither would Lisa or Gram…

One more time. Try it. Just one more time.
Jennie obeyed the message of survival hammering in her head. Using the door as a brace, she tried to stand. It swung open. She collapsed halfway out of the sauna and hauled in fresh air to soothe her scorched lungs. After a few moments she crawled the rest of the way out. The door thumped closed behind her.

It had opened so easily Jennie wondered if she'd imagined the whole thing. The raw wood gashes on her hands said otherwise. Someone had locked her in the sauna. But why? The answer came back frighteningly clear. Someone wanted her dead.

No, not dead, she decided. The person had come back. Maybe someone just wanted to scare her. It had certainly worked.

The muted light outside the exercise room cast garish shadows of weight machines, bikes, and stair-steppers across the walls. Jennie rolled over onto her back, wishing the dizziness and nausea would pass. After a few minutes she tried to stand. The room tipped and a fuzzy darkness blurred her vision. She slumped back to the floor.

Still fighting the waves of nausea, Jennie crawled into the shower, turned on the water, and sat with her head between her knees. The cool spray washed the blood from her hands and pulsed enough life into her to get her moving again. Finally able to stand without fainting, Jennie got dressed, then made her way through the fitness center and out onto the deck.

She'd taken only a few steps when the dizziness hit again. As she grabbed the railing to steady herself, Jennie spotted Matt and Lisa only a few yards from where she stood. “Lisa,” Jennie heard herself call as her knees buckled.

“Jennie! What's wrong?” Lisa jumped up from the deck chair and ran to her cousin's side. “You look awful! Are you seasick?”

Jennie took another deep breath and closed her eyes.

With Lisa and Matt supporting her, she stumbled the few steps to a nearby deck chair and collapsed into it. “Stay with her,” Matt ordered. “I'll go for the ship's doctor.”

“No.” Jennie put a hand out to stop him. “Not the doctor—I need to…get Gram. Someone locked me in the sauna.”

“Are you serious?” Lisa asked.

Jennie nodded. “Did you see anyone?”

“No,” they said in unison. “We just arrived a few minutes ago,” Matt finished. “Any idea who might have done it?”

“I hate to even suggest it, but you two and Dominic were the only ones who knew where I was going.”

Matt frowned. “You think Dominic did this?”

“That's unreal,” Lisa interrupted. “What possible reason could he have to hurt you?”

“I don't know, but who else knew? I suppose someone could have followed me. I bumped into a guy just as I went into the fitness center.” Jennie shuddered at the possibility.

“There were other people out on deck, too. Maybe someone overheard us talking.” Lisa glanced up at Matt as if she expected him to have an answer.

“Look.” Matt hunkered down between the two chairs. “I say we eliminate Dominic as a suspect right now. He's probably asleep. But if it will make you feel better we can go down and check—that is if you think you can make it.”

“I can make it.” This time when Jennie stood she felt almost normal. Normal enough, at least, to find some answers.

A few minutes later the trio stood outside of the stateroom Matt and Dominic shared. Matt slid a plastic card into the slot on the door and turned the handle. “You guys stay out here. I'll talk to him.”

Matt stepped into the room and closed the door. A few seconds later he popped back out. “He was asleep. I told him what happened. Give him a minute to get dressed.” Matt closed the door, but in the brief time it had been open, Jennie had spotted Dominic lying in a rumpled bed, looking as if he'd been roused out of a sound sleep. A pang of guilt that she'd even suspected him jabbed at her conscience.
Way to go, McGrady. Great way to treat a new friend.

Embarrassed, Jennie offered an apology. “Oh, Matt, tell him to go back to sleep. I'm sorry I bothered him.”

“It is no trouble,” Dominic assured her as he stepped into the hallway. Concern etched his bronzed features. “You are okay?”

“I'm fine—at least I will be when I find out who locked me in that sauna and why.”

Dominic finished buttoning his shirt. “Now we must call the ship's security officer, no?”

“Yes,” Jennie affirmed. Using the phone on the desk in the boys' room, she called security, then called Gram and J.B. Lisa had pulled out her cell and then put it back in her bag. She must have realized they couldn't use it on the ship.

Ten minutes later, Matt, Lisa, Dominic, Gram, J.B., and the security officer crowded around the small sauna while Jennie explained, again, how she'd been locked in. “Are you certain the door wouldn't open?” the dark-haired officer asked. He'd introduced himself as Daniel Lee. Under his polite demeanor he sounded annoyed, as though she'd made the whole thing up.

“Positive.”

Daniel opened and closed the door several times. “As you can see, Miss McGrady, the door has no lock. Hence, you couldn't have been, as you say, ‘locked in.' If you couldn't open the door, someone must have been leaning against it. I suspect your friends here were playing a joke on you.”

Lisa's mouth dropped open. “You think…! I'd never do something like that.”

Jennie shook her head. “Believe me, it wasn't a friend and it certainly wasn't a joke.”

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. Jennie could tell he didn't believe them and was certain he had no intention of spending any more of his precious time trying to solve a nonexistent crime.

“Take a look at this,” Gram announced. Jennie turned to find her grandmother on her hands and knees examining the sauna door. They all bent to see where Gram was pointing. “There are several dents here. I could be wrong, but it looks as though something heavy may have been pushed against it. It's deeper in the middle than on the sides—might have been round. The pressure Jennie exerted from the other side could have been enough to dent the soft cedar.”

Jennie peered at the dents—a set of four, evenly spaced— two near the door's edge and two toward the middle. She straightened and glanced around the room. Her gaze fell on the large rack of weights against the wall. “Whoever it was could have stacked some of these against the door.”

“Very good, Jennie.” Gram beamed. “Let's try a couple and see if they fit.”

Jennie started to pick up a fifty-pound weight. “No, señorita.” Dominic took the weight from her. “Let me help you.” At her direction, Matt and Dominic set weights in place. Four of them—two high, sitting side by side-fit the dents exactly.

“Okay, we know how it was done,” Jennie mused. “And I think I have a suspect.” She went on to tell them about the man who had been watching her at the bon voyage party and who had bumped into her just before she went into the sauna.

“I know who you mean,” J.B. offered. “But I doubt he's your man, lass. Talked to him earlier.” He frowned and rubbed his chin. “I saw some boys tearing around the promenade deck just before your grandmother and I went to the buffet. Wouldn't surprise me if they didn't see you go into the sauna and think they'd have themselves a bit o' fun.”

The security officer promised to check out the leads and suggested they all get some rest. They took the stairs down to deck eight, where Matt and Dominic said goodnight and headed down the corridor to their room.

Gram and J.B. went beyond their door to the one next to it, which Jennie and Lisa shared. “Are you sure you'll be all right?” Gram reached up to tuck some errant hairs behind Jennie's ear.

“Thanks, Gram. I'll be fine.”

“I hate to leave you alone after what's happened.”

“I'm not sure I want us to be alone,” Lisa admitted as she pushed her plastic key into the lock and opened the door.

Gram clucked as she peered into the room. “You girls really ought to try to keep your cabin a bit neater.”

“What…?” Jennie gasped as she stepped inside. The room looked as if it had been the victim of a hurricane. “Someone's been in here!”

“Don't touch anything,” J.B. ordered. “I'll call security from our cabin.” He put his arms around Jennie and Lisa and ushered them out. “Let's all go next door.” J.B. hesitated before opening the door as though he expected their room to have been hit as well. With a sigh of relief, he opened the door fully and ushered Gram and the girls in.

“This is really bizarre,” Lisa said as she plopped down on the sofa. “First your house, now our room on the ship. Maybe you have something someone wants.”

Seeing the room had brought the same thoughts scampering into Jennie's mind. “Gram?” she asked. “Do you think they're related?”

Gram frowned. “It's hard to say. I can't imagine what you'd have that would cause someone to follow us on a cruise.”

J.B. hung up the phone. “I sincerely doubt the two are connected, lassies. The security officer offered a rather interesting theory. He'll be right down, by the way.”

“Let me guess,” Jennie said sarcastically. “He thinks we messed up the room ourselves and just forgot we did it.”

J.B. smiled. “On the contrary. He thinks perhaps we have a jewel thief on board. It's possible the thief wanted to make certain you were both out of the way before breaking in. While Lisa was with Matt, he may have shut you in the sauna, taken your key, and broken into your room in search of valuables, then come back and let you out.”

“Valuables?” Jennie practically choked on the word. “We're kids. What do we have that's valuable?”

“Mom's brooch.” Lisa stood, panic edging her voice. “And the ring. Oh, Gram, the heirloom jewelry you gave her. I was going to put them in the safe after dinner but…” Lisa dropped back onto the bed. “I forgot.”

“Perhaps they weren't taken,” Gram soothed. “I would think an experienced jewel thief would know real gemstones from the fakes in those pieces.”

“Fakes? I thought they were real,” Lisa said, sounding both relieved and disappointed all at once.

“Oh no, dear. The real pieces are in my bank in a safety deposit box with the rest of the collection. I liked the brooch and ring so much I had duplicates made up so I could wear them whenever I wanted. One doesn't generally wear jewelry worth a quarter of a million dollars—at least not without a bodyguard.”

An hour later, Jennie dropped exhausted onto the bed in her and Lisa's new stateroom. Theirs had been closed off so Daniel Lee could examine it more closely in the morning.

The heirloom ring and brooch, even though they were worth only a thousand dollars rather than two hundred fifty thousand, had been in the drawer where Lisa had left them and were now safely tucked away in the ship's safe. Even though nothing had been stolen, Daniel still insisted the motive was burglary. “They may have seen the jewels earlier and wanted to get a better look,” he'd said. “Probably thought these were real at first.”

Jennie didn't buy it, and she doubted Gram and J.B. did either. No thief would choose two teenage girls as their mark, even if one of them had been wearing expensive-looking jewelry.

She rolled onto her back and stared into the dark space above her bed. Lisa's even breathing told Jennie her cousin was asleep
. You should have told them, McGrady. Why didn't you? The minute you opened your wallet and discovered it was missing you should have told them.

But she couldn't. Not until she'd had a chance to consider what it meant. Even now the thought both chilled and excited her. The burglar at her home in Portland, and again on the ship, might have been the same person after one thing—the picture Debbie Cole had sent of Dad.

Over and over again Jennie asked herself why. Why would anyone want a photo of her father? The only ones who knew about the photo were Gram and J.B.—and Ryan. But Ryan was still in Alaska—the one place in the world that was probably cooler than their relationship.

If Gram and J.B. were right, if Debbie had made a mistake on the date and it really weren't proof that he's still alive, why would anyone want to steal it? If it was stolen, someone had gone through a lot of trouble to get it. First they broke into her house and totally destroyed her room, then followed her to Florida and booked a cruise. It didn't make sense. If Dad was dead like everyone said, why steal his picture?

The voice of hope that Jennie thought had been silenced forever punched its way back into her brain.
Because Dad is still alive.