Marcia Talley - Dark Passage

‘When do you think we’ll find out?’ Pia wondered as we lingered at the rail.

‘Tomorrow morning, I imagine, at the captain’s daily briefing.’

‘Think you can pump Ben Martin for information?’

‘No,’ I said with certainty. ‘Officer By The Book will either be adhering to federal patient confidentiality laws or that good old standby, “pending notification of next of kin.” Maybe both.’

‘What the hell happened here tonight, Hannah?’

I didn’t speak for a few minutes. ‘Tom and David had a scuffle. Tragically, one of them fell overboard. Then the other one jumped in after him.’

Next to me, Pia stirred. ‘Of course,’ she said in a quiet voice. ‘That’s exactly what happened.’

A few minutes later, as we turned to go, Pia asked, ‘Where’s Julie? She said she wanted to see me after the show.’

My heart did a quick rat-a-tat-tat . ‘Oh my God, I’ve forgotten about Julie! Come on!’ As we raced back to the theater, I explained briefly about Julie’s clever hiding place. ‘She’s been hiding in there for over an hour! What is wrong with me?’

But I needn’t have worried. We found Julie sitting on the lip of the stage, feet dangling. On the stage next to her sat Connor Crawford.

‘Julie!’

My niece beamed. ‘I got tired of waiting, so I peeked out through the little…’ Her eyebrows shot under her bangs, and she looked straight at Pia. ‘What?’

Pia placed a finger to her lips, wagged her head from side to side and said, ‘Shhhh. Magicians’ code.’

After the drama of the evening, it felt good to laugh.

The atmosphere quickly grew serious again as I told Julie and Connor what had just happened. ‘We lost them both overboard,’ Pia said. ‘But one has been rescued.’

‘Oh my God!’ Then, ‘I’m praying that it’s David,’ Julie said quietly. ‘He always believed in me.’

Connor launched himself onto his feet. ‘I just came to say goodbye to Julie. I hope you don’t mind.’

‘Of course that’s OK, Connor. Julie owes you a great deal of thanks. We all do.’

He turned to Julie. ‘Well, bye.’ He patted his pocket. ‘I have your email.’

She looked upward at him through her lashes. ‘’Bye.’

Connor studied his shoes for a moment, then turned and walked out of the theater.

‘Well, Julie,’ I said. ‘Do you suppose he’s planning to wait four years until you turn eighteen?’

Julie flushed. ‘Something like that.’

‘He’ll be twenty-five.’

‘Aunt Hannah! You’re embarrassing me.’

‘I’m just teasing, sweetie. Come on, it’s time to find your mother. After all this excitement, do you think she’s still in the hot tub?’

‘Will I see you in the morning, Hannah?’ Pia asked as we prepared to go.

I looped my arm through hers. ‘I hope so. But if not, let’s keep in touch. Do you Facebook?’

‘I do.’

‘I’ll friend you, then.’

‘I’d like that.’

I was too strung out to sleep.

Long after Julie and my sisters had gone to bed, I sat on my bunk in my pajamas, staring into the depths of my suitcase, wondering what the following day would bring. Had David survived? Maybe he’d be better off … I shook away the thought. Nobody, in my opinion, was better off dead. There should always be a tomorrow, a chance to start a better life.

Ruth coughed, tugged at her duvet and opened an eye. ‘Are you all right, Hannah?’

‘I’m trying to gin up the energy to pack.’

‘Well, the elves aren’t going to do it for you, and if it’s not out in the hall before two, you’ll have to carry it off the boat yourself.’ She rolled over, faced the wall. ‘A word to the wise,’ she murmured.

I dumped the contents of my half of the closet into the suitcase, tucked shoes around the edges, laid a couple of paperback books on top and zipped it shut. After making sure that the luggage labels were secure, I set the bag out in the passageway with hundreds of others, extending for what seemed like miles in both directions.

That done, I snagged a bottle of water and let myself out onto the balcony. I picked my favorite of the two chairs, slouched down in it comfortably, and propped both feet up on the balcony rail.

On moonless nights, the sea is as black and sleek as a raven’s back. I stared into the inky darkness, then blinked. Where the blue-black sky met the black of the sea, lights were strung like an amber necklace along the horizon. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. We were approaching the mouth of the Bay.

I nipped inside for my iPhone, powered it on and when a three-bar signal appeared, I took it out on the balcony and telephoned Paul.

The meeting with the F.B.I. had gone well, he thought. Based on what the Baltimore agents had told him, Paul fully expected them to meet the ship in the morning.

‘There’s a possibility that Channing might not be aboard,’ I told him.

Paul snorted. ‘No? So what happened? He sprout wings?’

‘He jumped overboard tonight, in a manner of speaking.’ I explained about David forcing Channing on to the chair, Channing’s tumble, and then David jumping over the side himself. ‘Maybe it was some sort of crazy rescue attempt,’ I added. ‘Or maybe not. They picked up one of the men, but we don’t know which. They’re still out looking for the other – at least, they were a couple of hours ago.’

‘I worry about you, Hannah. Is everybody all right?’

‘A little beat up, perhaps, but we’re all fine, honest. Even Julie’s pretty solid.’

‘We can’t wait to see you, sweetheart. We’ll be at the terminal to meet you tomorrow, all three of us.’

‘Bring leis,’ I said, ‘and hula girls.’

Back in our cabin, I considered the selection of games on my iPhone without enthusiasm, still thinking about my conversation with Paul. Who had been rescued? I couldn’t sleep until I knew.

Moving quietly so as not to disturb Ruth, I pulled a T-shirt on over my red-plaid pajama bottoms and slipped into a pair of flip-flops. I opened the cabin door a crack and eased out into the corridor.

A surprising number of people were abroad in the night. While most of the passengers slept, crew members busily collected luggage from in front of cabin doors, schlepping them in carts down to the bowels of the ship where they would await transfer to the terminal’s baggage claim facility in the morning.

Walking slowly so as not to draw too much attention to myself, I made my way forward along deck four to the stairway that would take me down a level to deck three. As I passed the elevator, a man was explaining to his po-faced wife how he’d lost nearly two hundred dollars on the slots. On the stairs, I passed a young couple, giggling as they ricocheting from one banister to the other, clutching one another for support as they staggered back to their cabin, presumably from one of the late-night bars.

As I emerged on deck three, I had to swerve to avoid running into a guy balancing a tray loaded with beverage cups, chip packets and a small stack of triangular boxes that I knew contained individual slices of pizza. ‘Ball game,’ he explained as he stepped aside to let me pass. ‘Nationals at Philadelphia.’

I took in the stylized ‘N’ on his cap. ‘Go Nats,’ I said, without much enthusiasm.

There was no guard posted outside the door to the clinic, which I took as a good sign. Cautiously, I peered inside. The nurse who had cared for Julie earlier sat at a desk in the outer office, filling in the blanks on a form with a black pen.

‘Jeannie?’

The nurse started, looking around in confusion before catching sight of me in the doorway.

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Didn’t mean to startle you.’