Final Sail (27 page)

Helen was grateful the captain interrupted her thoughts with another question. “You said there was another emerald smuggler?” Josiah asked.

“There’s another smuggler, but he’s not bringing in emeralds,” Helen said. “Carl is smuggling wallets.”

“Wallets. What’s in them?”

“Nothing,” Helen said. “These are designer wallets, cosmetic cases and small purses. The real deal. He has about twelve thousand dollars’ worth of smuggled merchandise in a black Prada backpack in his closet.”

“Huh,” the captain said.

“Are you going to fire him when you see the wallets?” Helen asked.

“He’s a good first mate. I’d like to keep him. I will confiscate those wallets.”

“Could you wait a bit first?” Helen said. “Otherwise, he’ll know I saw you early this morning and ratted him out.”

She didn’t want to disappear over the side like Louise.

“I’ll wait till we’re back at the marina,” Josiah said.

“And then you’ll drop the smuggled wallets over the side?” Helen asked.

“We don’t pollute,” Josiah said. “But I could give them to charity.”

“One more thing,” Helen said. “I know why Mitzi attacked the engineer. I think Andrei kicked her when he came back here drunk.”

“You think? You didn’t see him?”

“No, I was upstairs. But I heard the dog yelp.”

“I wish you had seen him,” Josiah said. “I can’t fire him for something you
thought
you saw.” Josiah looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s six fifteen. We need to go back to work. Good job, Helen.”

Interesting, Helen thought, as she ran back to the crew mess. The captain was willing to overlook the first mate’s wallet smuggling, but talked about how he couldn’t fire the engineer unless I saw him kick the dog. I bet he’d like to get rid of Andrei. Maybe now he’ll see a way to do that.

“You’re fifteen minutes late!” Mira greeted Helen as she opened the crew door. Helen heard both washing machines churning.

“I had to see the captain about my contract,” Helen said. “I wanted to talk to him before his day started.”

She studied Mira’s face, but the head stew seemed to accept her explanation.

“Suzanne made breakfast burritos,” she said. “You can eat one now. I’ve started the laundry for you. I’m going upstairs to set up breakfast.”

The morning light made her hair shine like dull gold, but Helen caught a glimpse of the healing wound on her scalp. Did Louise fight to leave the yacht—or fight for her life?

It didn’t make any difference, Helen thought. The scab would disappear in a day or two. Even if it didn’t, the wound was proof of nothing. Mira would probably get away with murder.

“I need you to finish the guests’ ironing today,” Mira said. “It’s our last day in port and we have to hustle. Remember, we’re shorthanded.”

“I won’t forget that,” Helen said as she unfolded the ironing board.

Ugh. Ironing. Her least favorite chore. This would be the last time she ironed anything, especially sheets and underwear. This morning, it didn’t matter that Helen had only a few hours’ sleep. She felt energized. She sang as she folded laundry and hummed while she ironed Ralph’s wretched briefs. She cheerfully cleaned staterooms and scrubbed guest heads. Her real work was done.

Helen heard Beth breeze into the galley. “We’ll be at Atlantis all day, Suzanne,” she said. “Make something easy for dinner tonight.
Grill steaks for the boys again. They never get tired of meat. The girls will like seafood. Maybe grilled lobster?”

“How about warm lobster potato salad?” Suzanne asked.

“Good. Caesar salads for the boys, maybe twice-baked potatoes for them, and we need a dessert.”

“Key lime tarts?” Suzanne said.

“Perfect,” Beth said. “That was easy. Where’s Helen? I want her to take Mitzi.”

Helen ran up from the crew mess. Beth looked cool in white linen with a white and silver necklace. Mitzi looked like the perfect fluffy accessory, right down to her matching collar and silver-trimmed leash.

The little dog yapped a greeting when Beth handed her over. “Pretty collar,” Helen said. “Is that white jade?”

“No, white turquoise,” Beth said.

Helen carried Mitzi downstairs to the crew mess, where she slept in a basket of dirty laundry. When Andrei showed up for lunch, Mitzi growled at him. Helen picked up Mitzi, held her and scratched her ears while Andrei shoveled in his lunch.

“What’s wrong with that crazy dog?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Helen said. “Nothing at all.” Mitzi quit growling when the engineer left. Helen put the drop cloth in the laundry basket and the poodle snoozed on it while Helen worked all afternoon.

When the owners and guests returned at sunset, Helen restored Mitzi to Beth, then served cocktails with a smile. All day long, she’d been counting the hours until she was home with Phil.

Dinner was casual. No one changed into evening dress. Beth and Pepper wore fresh makeup and cruise wear. Pepper’s diamond-and-emerald choker looked outrageously out of place with her slinky silk tank top, but she didn’t care and neither did Scotty.

“She’s lit up like cheap neon,” Rosette whispered to her smirking spouse. Helen noticed Ralph’s narrow eyes were glued to Pepper’s curvy figure.

When the
Belted Earl
sailed out of the Atlantis marina at nine that night, Helen and Mira were still serving the guests cocktails by starlight. Dinner didn’t start until after eleven. The guests watched the moonlight on the silky water until nearly two in the morning.

Helen could hardly look at the satiny black sea, knowing it had swallowed poor Louise. She wasn’t queasy on the trip home, though her stomach churned a bit when the ship crossed the Gulf Stream.

After the last poker hand folded at three thirty in the morning, Helen and Mira cleaned the sky lounge. At four, Helen finally fell into bed. She dragged herself out of her bunk ninety minutes later.

A quick shower revived her. So did the knowledge that this was her last day. As a special treat, Suzanne made her fabulous coconut bread for both the crew and the owners.

At breakfast on the upper aft deck, Beth looked dramatic in a red and gold silk caftan and a collar of rubies set in gold. Mitzi looked downright silly in a matching ruby collar and red bow. Rosette was drab as a sparrow in brown linen. Pepper nearly blinded the other guests when she wore her emerald-and-diamond choker with a green halter top and miniskirt. The sun danced off the diamonds and shot sparks around the table.

“I can’t believe she’s wearing diamonds in daytime,” Rosette said, with a sneer. “She’s got on more jewelry than clothes.”

Pepper turned to her. “What did you say?” she asked, her voice soft.

“Nothing. I was talking to my husband.” Rosette seemed to shrivel in her chair.

“I saw you laughing,” Pepper said. “Let’s all share in the joke.”

“It wasn’t funny,” Rosette said. “I mentioned to Ralph that it’s unusual to wear diamonds in the daytime.”

“You’re right,” Pepper said. “It wasn’t funny. But if you’ve got it, flaunt it. And you don’t. Stewardess, I’d like more coconut bread, please.”

The
Belted Earl
docked at the marina at eleven that morning.
The staff lined up in their dress uniforms to bid the owners and guests farewell. Pepper and Scotty had given big tips. Mira had gotten a hundred dollars. Helen’s tip was two hundred. She wondered if Pepper was atoning for the wine incident.

You can buy forgiveness, she told herself, as she pocketed the two crisp bills.

Matt and Sam carried the luggage to the waiting limousines.

As Beth wafted past Andrei carrying Mitzi, the poodle suddenly squirmed and struggled out of her mistress’s arms. Beth lost the battle to hold on to her pet.

“Mitzi! What’s wrong with you?” Beth asked.

The poodle ran straight for Andrei and chomped his ankle in the same spot she’d bitten him before.

“Worthless mutt!” the engineer said. He grabbed the poodle by her throat and shook her until her jeweled collar rattled. Mitzi fought to bite him again.

“I ought to break your pointless neck,” Andrei said. The little dog squealed and sank her sharp teeth into his hand.

“Don’t hurt Mitzi!” Beth screamed.

“Drop that dog,” Earl shouted.

Andrei kept shaking the poodle.

Josiah waded into the shrieking, screaming cluster and pulled Mitzi off Andrei’s hand. Her teeth left deep bloody scrapes in the engineer’s skin.

“Andrei, you’re fired,” the captain said.

CHAPTER 32

T
he caravan of black Lincoln Town Cars was rumbling out of the marina parking lot when the yacht cleanup began. The crew moved so rapidly, Helen thought someone hit a fast-forward button.

By the time the third Lincoln left the lot, the deckhand and bosun had zipped all the canvas covers on the deck furniture. Mira had stripped the master stateroom bed and was scrubbing the shower.

“Hurry!” she said. “I have to get to the airport.”

Helen stripped the guest stateroom beds, dusted away Scotty’s ash for the last time and vacuumed the carpets.

As she rushed through the secret passage, arms piled with damp towels and soiled sheets, she saw Carl leaning in the doorway of the cabin he shared with Andrei. Helen slowed slightly to hear their conversation.

“That’s all you got?” the first mate drawled. “Those three bags?”

“Yes. And I do not think it is fair—” Andrei said, his voice a surly whine.

“Not my decision,” Carl said, cutting him off. “Where are your uniforms?”

“In the closet,” Andrei said. “The captain, he does this because I am foreigner.” Helen noticed Andrei’s accent thickened not only when he was drunk, but also when he was upset. She could feel his rage. The cramped cabin was too small to contain it.

“You’ve got a green card,” Carl said. “You’re taking a job away from a real American. Bet you bought yourself a green card marriage on the Internet.”

“My green card is legal,” Andrei said. “That is why I have job on American-registered boat.”

Carl’s drawl stretched like taffy. “Don’t see your dress uniform there, Andrei. Where is it?”

“Don’t know,” Andrei said, his voice higher.

“I think you do,” Carl said, slowly. “You still have to go through U.S. Customs. What would happen if they got an anonymous tip about your marriage? You got any wedding pictures? Still living with your wife? I bet you don’t even know where she is anymore. You can get shipped back to Bulgaria if your marriage is a fraud.”

Silence. Then Andrei said, “I might have accidentally packed it.” He sounded like a surly child.

“Well, accidentally unpack it,” Carl said.

Helen heard a zipping sound. Then Carl said, “Thank you. Soon as the captain gets back from escorting the owners and guests to their plane, he’ll hightail it to immigration at Port Everglades with you and the new stew.”

Customs! Helen had forgotten about that. She hurried past Carl to the crew mess, where Mira was loading both washers.

“Once we finish this laundry and clean the heads, we’re done,” she said. “You and Andrei have to ride with the captain to immigration. Andrei has a green card and you don’t have a boat card.”

“What’s a boat card?” Helen asked.

“You get it from the feds if you travel by private boat a lot. They’re called NEXUS cards. All the crew have them. We don’t
need to go through customs. The captain just calls in our card numbers when we get into port.

“We always party at the end of a cruise, but I’m skipping this one. Kevin is taking me straight to the airport. Get ready to rock, Helen. You need to party after that crossing. You like wine or margaritas?”

“Both,” Helen said, “but I’m skipping out, too. I’m meeting Phil. I have to tell him to pick me up at Port Everglades.”

The head stew checked her watch. “The Homeland Security office is at the other end of the port by Griffin Road. There’s no gate security there. He can wait for you in the parking lot. We should be free about twelve thirty. I’ll miss you, but I won’t miss Andrei. I can’t believe he tried to hurt poor little Mitzi.”

“It wasn’t the first time,” Helen said. “I heard her yelp when he was alone with her in the crew mess one night. He may have kicked her.”

“Well, he’s gone now,” Mira said. “Finish the main salon head, will you?”

Helen cleaned the head and folded the toilet paper into a neat point.

“Done,” she told herself. Next she folded towels, still warm from the dryer, while Mira ironed the sheets.

Then she hurried to her cabin to call Phil. Just hearing his voice made her feel warm. No, not warm. Hot. Honeymoon hot. She wanted to be alone with her man.

“Helen!” he said. “I miss you. I need you. Our local case is breaking.”

“Did you catch her?” Helen asked, careful not to use Blossom’s name. “Do you know what she used?”

“Can’t say on a cell phone,” he said. “When do I pick you up?”

“I should be finished about twelve thirty,” she said, “but don’t come to the marina. I have to go through customs at Port Everglades.” She told him where.

“I’ll be waiting in my Jeep,” he said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Helen said. “I have good news about our other case.”