Marcia Talley - Dark Passage

‘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/

Up 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.’