Accessory: The Scarab Beetle Series: #4 (The Academy) (18 page)

He followed me to the elevator, and we took it back up to the main lobby, where luckily we ran into Avery in the foyer. He was surrounded by three people: two women, one man. They all wore black slacks and black long-sleeved shirts, except for Avery, who wore a white shirt. The clothing looked more like uniforms than something comfortable.

Avery was looking prim this morning with his shirt done all the way up, no hint of the tattoo today. His hair was slicked back, combed to reveal his clear, focused eyes.

“The majority of guests won’t be arriving until after noon,” he told them. He handed out small cards to each of them. “But I’d like to make sure each of their rooms have a small basket of snacks in case they’re hungry. The main dining room should be available for sandwiches and coffee, but I want to make them comfortable while they settle in. We’ll need the dining room cleared out by five to set the tables for six o’clock dinner.”

“Anything else?” asked the male, a tall, slender man with platinum blond hair, tan skin. I couldn’t quite tell from his tone, but it sounded like there was a hint of sarcasm.

Avery tilted his head, suddenly appearing unsure. “I don’t know,” he said. “Can you think of anything?”

“Well,” the blond man said. “You might suggest we refill the baskets every afternoon when rooms are cleaned. If they get snacks the first day, they may expect it the following days.”

“Possibly,” Avery said.

“And while we’re at it, perhaps we should cater to them even further by providing a fresh bottle of our finest water in each room.”

“Okay,” Avery said. “If you think we should.”

“And then we’ll offer a magazine, so they might read it slowly while consuming the fine, delicious arrangement of goodies.”

Avery pursed his lips, looking concerned. “Do we have magazines on the ship?”

The blond man blew out a puff of air toward the ceiling, fluffing up some of the finer bits of hair along his forehead. Avery wasn’t getting that he was being mocked.

I stepped up, feeling obligated to interrupt. How dare they toy with Avery like that? I pasted a smile on my face. “That sounds wonderful,” I said. The group turned toward me. Avery smiled. The two women looked uncomfortable. The blond man clamped his lips together, making an almost passable smile of politeness. “Magazines in every room.”

“Hi, Kayli,” Avery said, appearing relieved. “You think it’s a good idea?”

“Maybe. Although you have to admit,” I said, as I gave Avery a short finger wave in greeting and kept going, “carrying all those magazines around would be heavy. And everyone probably has iPads or cell phones they’ll be using.”

“How very convenient for them,” the blond man said in an almost polite tone, still forcing the smile.

“Personally, I’m a fan of chocolates on the pillow every night before going to sleep.” That’s not something I’d experienced, but I heard it happens in some of the much fancier hotels.

“Oh, so sorry,” he said, his tone indicating he wasn’t sorry. “We are fresh out of chocolates.”

“Does the kitchen have chocolate for baking?”

“Perhaps,” he said.

“Maybe some almonds?”

“Maybe.”

“And would the chefs know how to melt the chocolate over the almonds?”

The man frowned. “Who knows? Maybe we should ask the chefs.”

“What a delightful idea,” I said. I planted a hand lightly on Avery’s arm. “Snack baskets, water and chocolates every night before they go to bed will make them feel very spoiled.”

Avery’s cheeks turned red. He grinned. “Sure. Yeah. Let’s do that.”

The blond man grimaced and then bowed slightly to us. “Then if there isn’t anything further, the team and I will need to get started on this, mere hours before the arrival of our guests. In addition to the already numerous things we need to do.”

“A commendable sacrifice of your time,” I said. I don’t know what compelled me to be so snotty and order him around like that. I was aware that I was the one looking completely out of place, like I didn’t belong. But since he was going to pretend that I had some semblance of authority for whatever reason, I was going to play it up. That’s what he got for being mean to Avery when he was just trying to make a suggestion.

The blond man and the women scuttled off, leaving us alone in the immense entryway. There were echoes, voice coming from above us. Some of the doors of the shops on the second floor were open. I didn’t see anyone downstairs but there were definitely people around.

The moment the three crew people were out of earshot, Avery’s shoulders relaxed and he sighed. “I’m not really good at this, am I?”

Raven stepped up next to me, putting a gentle hand at the small of my back. “We need Axel,” he said. “Where is he?”

“Axel?” Avery’s eyes shifted around the foyer, as if he could see through the walls and track him down. “I think he’s at the pool in the middle of the ship. There’s a small breakfast buffet set up for us and the crew there. I pointed him in that direction not too long ago so he might still be there.”

“Thank you, Avery,” I said. “And good job. I think the snack baskets will be a great touch.”

Avery beamed sheepishly and then headed for the marble staircase, taking them two at a time to destinations unknown.

Raven and I had to find a map to figure out how to get to the pool. We really did need to take a tour of the ship to get more comfortable with what was here.

I did note that there was a chocolate shop amid the variety of boutiques on the second level. The blond man had lied about not having chocolates. Or maybe he didn’t have permission to access these. Or he just felt like being a snot, which he seemed to be.

Raven and I followed signs to a deck where there was a large pool in the center of the ship, exposed to the fall morning air. A couple of crewmen were attending the pool, power washing the deck and rearranging the benches and tables and lounge chairs. On a deck overlooking the pool, there was a large group of tables and chairs for outdoor dining set up.

The weather had cleared. For a late fall day, the sun promised a cozy warmth, just enough need for a light jacket and it would get warmer. Only small tufts of cloud dotted the blue. No rain today. It wouldn’t dare interrupt Ethan Murdock’s guests boarding. Spanish guitar music was piped into the area from unseen speakers. The ship was ready for guests to arrive for their short vacation.

Axel was at a table next to Kevin, sitting on one of the folding chairs and sipping coffee out of a large white mug as he looked down a tablet. The table was covered with a small, blue tablecloth and there was a white plate near him, empty other than a few crumbs. There other tables around, several with crew members, all wearing black uniforms. Some were looking over papers—maybe itineraries—and others were just using their cell phones or talking to each other.

As he sat next to Axel, Kevin was thumbing through his cell phone. Axel was wearing white canvas pants, a blue polo shirt and blue boat shoes: a very odd combination for him. His long hair was combed back away from his face, into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore his glasses now while he was reading and looked like he belonged on this fancy yacht, ready for vacation. Where had he gotten the clothes?

Kevin wore khakis and a loose white T-shirt. He was the first to notice Raven and I approaching and put his cell phone on the table and grinned up at us. “About time you all woke up,” he said. “They were about to put everything away. They just might have enough to feed the two of you.”

Axel glanced up from his tablet, looked us over and then nodded his head. “Go get something,” he said. “We should go over the plans for today.”

Apparently Brandon hadn’t come up here and warned them. That was good. It relieved some of the anger that he hadn’t tattled on me. I looked toward the buffet and its large selection of baked goods, deli meats, eggs, bacon and fruit bowls. Funny enough, without the nausea now, my stomach felt completely empty. Did I dare eat? I hoped I wouldn’t regret it later.

I tugged at Raven’s arm. “Let’s go get food.”

Raven followed me to the buffet. He took up two plates, holding them. “I’ll hold,” he said. “You fill.”

I liked his plan. I scooped piles of eggs, bacon, sausage, gravy and biscuits and a couple of muffins on one plate. For the other, I layered on eggs and bacon, and for the rest, stuck with breads and toast, nothing too rich. Which was fine with me, as long as I got to eat something.

“Raven,” I said, as I just about finished filling the plates. “Can you eat quickly and get Kevin away from the table when you’re done? I’ll bring up Blake then.”

“Do you not need me there?”

“I need Kevin to not be there.”

“Oh,” he said.

“Take him to Corey,” I said. “Make sure Brandon didn’t beat him up over the Blake thing?”

“I’ll kill him if he did,” he said. With that, he turned and took our loaded plates to the table. I grabbed forks and napkins and two bottles of water for myself and a coffee for Raven. I’d normally grab a coffee, and wanted some, but felt it best to avoid. I hoped the food would be enough to wake me up and get rid of this sleepiness from the pills.

I made sure to sit next to Axel at the table, placing the waters in front of me as I slid the mug of coffee toward Raven.

Raven got to work on his breakfast, shoveling eggs and bacon into his mouth. Maybe it wasn’t pretty to watch him eat, but it was attractive how compliant he’d become. I didn’t really understand why that was and what changed in him. He’d been nice while I was sick, but not this nice. Usually we bickered, even if it was friendly and meaningless. Corey had said at one point that he could ask Raven, politely, to do things and he’d get up and do them. I didn’t believe Raven would do that for me at any point.

Was it that he was more calm because he’d…orgasmed earlier? Or possibly he was being really nice because I’d been sick and he still blamed himself? The change was nice, though.

I took a couple of bites of dry toast, just to test out my stomach. It growled in response, letting me know that a couple of bites weren’t enough.

Axel looked up from his reading and gazed at my face almost as though he was seeing me for the first time. “How are you this morning?” he asked.

I swallowed and wiped my lips with the napkin. “To be honest, I was a little seasick this morning, I think. I ended up taking something...something for seasickness.”

“The boat was calm last night,” he said, a dark eyebrow rising over the crest of his glasses, giving him a funny, curious appearance. “Are you sure it was seasickness?”

“I’m guessing it was seasickness, since the medicine worked. One of those packets they’ve got in the drawer?”

“She was dying,” Raven said, his mouth still partially full of eggs.

Axel put his tablet down. He took up my wrist, checking my pulse, and then tapped something on the tablet to make a clock appear. He waited a minute and then circled his hand around my wrist fully, placing his other hand over my forehead. “Your pulse is a little high but no fever.”

“I’m sleepy because of the medication,” I said, letting him hold onto my wrist. I brushed my fingers smoothly over the back of his hand. I want to instill some confidence that I was fine and could handle things. I hoped that was true. “I feel better. I just hope it won’t affect anything going on today.”

“Maybe you should stay on shore,” he said. “If you can trust us to gather the information you need, there’s no reason you need to be here directly.”

My eyes widened. If being a little seasick had him wanting to push me out the door, what would he say once I told him Blake was onboard?

“If we’re going to continue working with Ethan,” I said, “My first choice is not to walk away and let other people handle it. Not if we want me to be the commanding influence in how things progress. I should stay.” I glanced at Raven and Kevin and then leaned in to Axel, whispering to him. “To be honest, though, if it looks like I’m spacing out, I hope you’ll help.” It was a dirty trick, asking the guys for help. Not like they could resist; Southern gentlemen never say no to a girl if they could help it.

“Of course,” he said.

I lifted a piece of bacon to my lips, but Axel shot out a hand, blocking it. “Although if you have been sick, I’d recommend staying away from the bacon. The extra grease isn’t easy on the stomach.”

He was probably right. I sighed, putting the slice of bacon and the rest from my plate over to Raven’s. “Please tell me I can at least eat the eggs.”

“Eggs should be fine,” he said. He released my wrist and picked up his tablet again. “I had Corey dig up information about your Nightingale team.”

“Anything unusual? A bank account in the Cayman Islands, maybe?”

“That would take more time to uncover,” he said. He filed through a few documents on his tablet and then opened one. He tilted the screen toward me and showed me the page. It was a picture of one of the women from the manifest, the younger one with sharp steel eyes and hair pulled back into a bun. “This one right here. She’s a member of three nonprofit boards.”

“All under Murdock?”

“No,” he said. “The two others are smaller, and belong to politicians of South Carolina.”

“Is it unusual that she belongs to three? Is being on a board like being on a full time job?”

“It can be, but usually not,” he said. “The Nightingale nonprofit runs pretty light. They do more fundraisers than actual managing. They have semi-monthly meetings, put out quarterly reports and once a year at their Annual General Meeting, they do a summary and state their plans for next year. It is unusual to belong to three at once.”

“And they get paid to do this?”

“Usually, you wouldn’t,” he said. “Not unless it was really a full time job and a complicated nonprofit to run. Otherwise the IRS would be watching you very carefully. The only one that pays her is Nightingale. The salary is around sixty thousand dollars.”

I blinked, chewing on a bit of chocolate muffin. “That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, I mean not what I thought for an executive type of position. Times that by three, maybe.”

“That’s about as high as you could get away with before the IRS would really begin snooping around,” he said. “Usually you have another job, and this is more like volunteer work. If you raise the salary too high, then you become under heat of the IRS division that handles nonprofits. It’s best to keep compensation low, usually nothing. The job itself looks good if you’re trying for publicly visible positions, or to gain political power.”