Dark Passage (20 page)

‘Charlotte knew the victim, you see,' David continued. ‘When she heard about the attack, it upset her very much, so much so that she called us about it. I believe that Charlotte subsequently discovered the person who was responsible. Whether she confronted him or not we don't know, but somehow he must have gotten wind of it and murdered my daughter to keep her quiet.'

Martin considered us in silence for a moment. ‘Two attacks separated by eighteen months on two different vessels. As deeply invested in this theory as you appear to be, even you have to admit that it's a bit of a long-shot.'

David reached for his briefcase and set it on his lap. ‘There were some peculiarities about the Noelle Bursky case,' he said, as he began to leaf through the documents. ‘It's clear that the attack was planned, because two of the security cameras had been put out of commission. The one covering the Tidal Wave club on the
Voyager
had been vandalized, and the other camera was neutralized by the simple expedient of draping a pool towel over the lens. When my daughter disappeared, a similar trick was used. A towel was draped over the camera that covered the area where she presumably went overboard, the area on deck five where her red heel was later found.'

Martin and Fortune exchanged a quick glance, but David was too engaged in his narrative to notice. ‘Because of this person's familiarity with the ship's security cameras, I think it's reasonable to conclude that he was
Voyager
staff or crew. Now! We know that there are a number of individuals on board
Islander
who were also aboard
Voyager
when my daughter fell to her death. Fast forward. Julie Cardinale was attacked under very similar circumstances to the attack on Noelle Bursky. This leads me to believe that whoever attacked Julie Cardinale is the same person who attacked Noelle Bursky and the same person who murdered my daughter, Charlotte.' He took a deep breath, exhaled. ‘One. And. The. Same.'

Martin reached out. ‘May I see that report?'

‘Certainly.'

Martin scanned the report, flipped to the second page, scanned it, too, then looked up. ‘Where did you get this information?'

‘I hired a private investigator.'

Martin handed the report to Molly Fortune. ‘Take a look at that, Molly.'

While Molly was going over it, I said, ‘Because of the drugs, Julie's memory of her abduction is patchy, but as you know, she was able to describe an individual wearing a black polo shirt and a ball cap. Would you be agreeable to letting Julie watch the security tapes to see if she can spot that person? Perhaps if she sees his face, it will jog her memory.'

‘I'm sorry, Mrs Ives, but that's simply not possible. It would be against company policy. We've made copies, as I promised. Our legal department has authorized me to turn the copies over to the F.B.I., along with all the other evidence we've collected, as soon as we reach Baltimore. They're the ones to do a proper investigation.'

David turned to look at me, his upper lip curled. ‘I warned you that Phoenix Cruise Lines would circle the wagons.'

Ben Martin stiffened. ‘Mrs Ives …' he began.

‘It's all right, Officer Martin. You're just doing your job. I appreciate that you're following federal guidelines, and that you've been so cooperative.'

David muttered something under his breath that might have been ‘balls.'

‘But since you've reviewed the video tapes and I haven't,' I continued, ‘there's something that's been bothering me.'

‘Yes? How can I help?'

‘There are two cameras in the Breakers! bar area, correct? One near the entrance that also covers the Tidal Wave Club, and the other in the bar area itself?'

‘Correct.'

‘Earlier, when you described what was on the tapes to me, you said that one camera captured Julie and her friends sitting at a table in the corner, and that other than the waiter who delivered their drinks, nobody else approached them while she was sitting there.'

‘I believe that's what I said. Something like that, anyway.'

‘I know that Julie's glass had a secure-fitting lid, with only a small hole to accommodate the straw, so it's reasonable to assume that none of the young people sitting at the table with Julie had the opportunity to introduce Ketamine into her drink.'

‘That would seem to be the case.'

‘I'm not familiar with Ketamine and my old standby, Google, doesn't work all that well out here – doesn't work at all, in fact – but, I've been wondering. Does Ketamine come as a liquid or powder?'

‘Both,' David answered without hesitation. ‘Ketamine was used on Noelle Bursky, too.'

I gave him a 500-watt smile. ‘Thank you, David,' I said, then turned back to Officer Martin. ‘OK, so help me out here. Julie ordered her drink at the bar. The bartender on duty at the time – I think she said her name was Kira – mixes the drink in the blender and while it's whirring around, she fixes soft drinks for the others at the table. All the drinks go on a tray, get capped and stuck with straws, and the waiter carries the tray to the table. Correct?'

‘Yes, I believe so.'

‘Well, frankly I can't see how it's possible that Julie's drink was drugged anywhere except at the bar, either by the bartender who was actually making the drink, or by the second bartender on duty that day, or by somebody else entirely, perhaps when the bartender's back was turned.' I paused to let that sink in. ‘It was a very busy time of day, remember? The pizza party was over, the movie was about to begin. Wesley was frazzled. I saw for myself that the tables were crowded. There
had
to have been other people to-in and fro-ing around that bar. Those people must have been captured on the security tape, so tell me, who else did you see?'

Officer Martin cleared his throat. ‘Uh, this is embarrassing. I'm afraid that particular camera was not in operation.' To his credit, he actually flushed. ‘The men minding the monitors picked up on it, of course. When the technician they sent up to check on it got there, he discovered that someone had draped a towel over the lens.'

I recoiled as if I'd slapped in the face. ‘You knew about this and didn't tell us?'

‘What was the point? We've interviewed the staff, and we have a pretty good idea which adults were in the Tidal Wave area at the relevant time, but as I pointed out to you earlier, Mrs Ives, we are not the police. We cannot make arrests.'

‘Oh, for the love of God, we're talking about a
kidnapping
here!'

At least he had the decency to look embarrassed.

David shot to his feet, snatched his report off Molly Fortune's desk, crammed it in his briefcase and said, ‘Come on, Hannah, let's let Officer Martin and Officer Fortune get on with their work. I'm sure they have many important things to do.'

He seized me by the elbow and hustled me out into the corridor so fast that I barely had time to say goodbye.

‘What was
that
all about?' I asked when we were out of earshot of Security.

‘The towel!' he crowed. ‘That proves it! It's definitely the same M.O.'

I shook my arm free. ‘I realize that, David, but why are you in such an all-fired hurry?'

‘While it certainly would have been helpful to see the security tapes, Hannah, that's not our only option. What did people do
before
there were security tapes?'

I stopped so quickly that my shoes squeaked on the marble floor. I had been so focused on state-of-the-art, hi-tech options, on what the security tapes might tell us, that I had overlooked the obvious. ‘We talk to people. We schmooze. That's what we do!'

We'd reached the elevators. Without consulting me, David pushed UP. He glanced at his watch. ‘And if we hurry, the same young people who were there yesterday will just be coming on duty.'

‘Unless you have the rotating eye skills of a chameleon, it's hard to watch out for your drink at the same time you watch out for that cute guy on the dance floor. No matter how self-aware you are, there's always a chance of getting an unexpected pharmaceutical present in your beverage on a night out. Any drink, even an innocent tonic water, can turn into a cocktail that takes you to the Twilight Zone if it's unattended.'

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/

U
p at the Tidal Wave, Wesley Bray, as usual, had his hands full. Teens and parents, signing in, signing out, wave upon wave. The rock wall was open, we learned from one of the parents standing in line, as well as the bungee trampoline, and don't we wish
we
could do that. Other events included a blindfold obstacle course, a silly dives contest in the pool area, and another showing of
Hunger Games
.

David and I waited impatiently until Wesley had finished gathering the rock-climbing contingent and had sent them off to the stern of the ship with one of the youth counselors.

‘Wesley,' I said.

He looked up from his clipboard, his curious look changed to recognition, then back to serious again. ‘We are so glad to hear that your niece has been found, Mrs Ives. How is she doing?'

I gave what was becoming my stock answer. ‘Fine, under the circumstances.'

I was surprised that he knew my name. Then it occurred to me: the staff had been briefed.

‘We've just been meeting with the security officer, Wesley, and he tells us that the surveillance camera that covers the bar in there …' I pointed to Breakers!, where two bartenders were already busy fixing drinks. ‘… well, it was out of commission.'

The line between Wesley's eyebrows deepened as he seemed to be considering what to say, then relaxed as he came to the right decision. ‘That's true, I'm afraid.'

‘I'd like you to meet someone, Wesley.' I turned to David Warren. ‘You knew David's daughter, I believe. Charlotte Warren.'

Wesley's eyes widened as recognition dawned. ‘Char. I did. I'm so sorry for your loss, Mr Warren.'

David nodded in acknowledgement, his mouth set in a grim line. I wondered how many times he had heard those empty words coming out of the mouths of Phoenix Cruise Lines' personnel.

‘Do you also remember a passenger on that cruise, a young girl named Noelle Bursky?' I asked.

‘Oh, Lord, how could I forget? She disappeared from Breakers! on …' He blinked. ‘Oh, shit. I don't think I better say any more.'

‘I'm going to be perfectly frank with you, Wesley,' David said as he eased closer to the counter. ‘We think, and by “we” I mean Mrs Ives here as well as the security professionals aboard the
Islander
; we believe that the same person who abducted Mrs Ives's niece also abducted Noelle Bursky and pushed my daughter overboard to her death. If that's true, then the list of suspects is narrowed down to individuals who are here on
Islander
who were also on
Voyager
that day. We know you fall into that category, but we also know that you were right here on duty at the time Julie Cardinale was assaulted. What I'd like to ask you now is, do you remember anybody who was hanging around Breakers! that day, anyone who either worked or was also a passenger on
Voyager
?'

During this long speech, Wesley eyes had been riveted on David's face. Once the speech was over, Wesley took a deep breath, then gazed over David's shoulder, as if his answer lay somewhere out at sea.

‘Wesley?' I said.

Wesley started, and turned his dark hazel eyes on me. ‘I wish I could help, honestly, but I simply can't remember anyone hanging around that day, other than the parents who were coming to drop off or pick up their kids, you know?'

‘You sign them all in on that clipboard?' I asked.

Wesley nodded.

‘Do you still have the sign in sheets from yesterday?'

‘Of course. We have to keep them until the cruise is over, then they get filed away.'

‘Do you mind if we look at them?'

Wesley stood silently for a while, gnawing on his lower lip. Then he reached under the counter and pulled out a plastic file folder, flipped up the flap and withdrew several sheets of paper, stapled together in the corner. ‘I can't let you take them, you understand, but you can look at them here.' He leaned forward. ‘Please don't tell anyone I did this.'

I favored him with a huge smile. ‘Promise.'

David and I moved to the end of the counter so as to be out of Wesley's way, and also, not coincidentally, out of range of the security camera, which was probably functioning perfectly now.

I leafed through three pages of names, neatly printed in boxes, with Time-In and Time-Out and the parent's signature in other boxes ranging out to the edge of the paper on the right.

‘Jesus,' David said. ‘There are a lot of Crawfords.'

‘Yeah. So I noticed. But I don't think any of these Crawfords were cruising on the
Voyager
, do you?'

I ran my finger down the sign-in sheet until I got to the rows covering the time when Julie arrived. There was Georgina's signature, and in the next row down, the signature of Katie's dad, Steven Krozak. As David hung over my shoulder, I called up the Notes app on my iPhone and tapped in the names of everyone who'd signed in between the time when Julie arrived and the time she supposedly headed for the restroom. ‘No name pops out at me,' I said, tucking my iPhone back into my pocket.

When Wesley was free again, I handed the sign-up sheets back to him with thanks. He hastily refilled them in the plastic folder. ‘That help?'

‘Afraid not. But thanks anyway.'

‘No problem. That kind of thing … drugs … just shouldn't happen – not here, not anywhere. Makes me sick. I hope they find the bastard, lock him up and throw away the key.' He paused. ‘But don't quote me on that, please.'

‘Wesley, one other thing,' I said. ‘Do you remember if there was anything in particular about the day that Noelle was abducted and yesterday, when Julie went missing? Did they have anything in common at all?'