We thanked her and took one of each sample. The brownies were moist and delicious. I can’t say much for the sweet punch but it was wet.
“Let’s go down one floor and see how the rich people are living,” Trisha offered.
“Okay,” I agreed and picked up my tote bag.
We took the stairway down to the fifteenth deck and walked through the hallway that was wider than our deck. As we passed the more expensive suites, we hoped housekeeping to be working on one of them. We noticed the cleaning steward had one of the rooms open. We just stood there trying to take in all that we could see. I saw a lot of window space. The housekeeper came out to her cart and noticed we were standing near the open doorway.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked.
“Oh, we are just looking around. We were curious how much more there is here compared to our rooms on the tenth deck,” I said.
“No one is occupying this room right now. I’ll let you look around,” she invited. “We keep this room available for VIPs and popular celebrities that appear on our stage.”
“Okay, but we won’t take long,” Trisha said.
The floor to ceiling windows had a breathtaking view in front of the king-sized bed.
“In this room, there is a whirlpool bath with a separate shower,” the woman said.
We also saw a separate dining area and a sixty-inch television on the wall.
“Maybe I should book a room like this next time I travel,” I said.
“Right, next time,” Trisha said. I thought I noted a tone of sarcasm.
“Thank you, but we had better be going,” I said as I took one last look around.
We continued walking down the hallway until we arrived at the other set of elevators.
“I’ll see if my room has been made so I can drop off my tote,” I said.
“I’ll do the same,” Trisha said.
The Paige’s cabin appeared cleaned but my door was open and still being serviced. Trisha and her husband entered their cabin and I walked by the housekeeper who was removing clean sheets from her cart to take into my cabin. She said hello and I walked passed her cart back to the elevators.
I can’t get to the open deck outside from the Deck Ten because of all the cabins on this end of the ship. I rode the elevator down to the fifth deck where I walked outside on the warm but shady side and found an empty deck chair. The ambient air was sticky with humidity and the sky had turned cloudy. I began playing solitaire on my phone when I thought someone was asking me something. Lifting my drowsy eyes to glance around, I couldn’t see anyone nearby. The sway of the waves rising and falling below had been too relaxing for me. I must have fallen asleep.
Chapter 12
Ivan
“Ma’am?” I heard a man’s voice ask from my right side. He was wearing a white jacket.
“Huh? I’m sorry, I must have dozed off for a minute. What time is it?” I asked.
I tried to get my phone to work, but for some reason, the ship’s wi-fi was down again. My screen was blank. The steward standing in front of me asked me again.
“Ma’am, would you like a drink?”
“Uh, no. I’m fine, but I think I’ll head back to my cabin. Thank you. Are you Ivan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I’m sure there are many stewards named Ivan. Why would this Ivan be the man who fell overboard? It just didn’t make sense. I looked around to see where he went, but he wasn’t nearby.
I rose out of my chair holding my sweater close to my neck to keep out the chilly breeze and walked through the double doors to catch an elevator up to my room. Another couple who entered the elevator wore tank tops and shorts.
“Whew, that’s too much sun for me,” she said.
“Excuse me. Did you say it’s sunny outside?” I asked.
“Why yes, I got a light burn on my arms.”
“I’ll remember that next time. I was on the shady side and about froze to death,” I said.
They looked at me in that odd way people do when they don’t believe you. They continued to stare at me as I stepped out onto the tenth deck and turned down the hallway.
I located my cabin door and entered, but before I could close the door behind me, a man came up behind me in the hallway. He was taller and broader than I was, dressed in a black suit. He narrowed his eyes at me as his wide mouth pressed his lips together. I judged by his creased face with a scar on the right cheek as someone not to trust. As I was about to close my cabin door, the man spoke again.
“Ma’am,” he began. Do you happen to have a package for me?”
I stared at him through the opening of my door and slid the security chain through the slot. I then placed my foot behind the door.
“No, you must have mistaken me for someone else,” I said as I wrapped my fingers around my mace sprayer in my pants pocket.
“It’s important that I pick up my package,” he continued.
“Well, it’s not here. Goodbye.”
I slammed the door in his face and viewed through the peephole to see if he was still there. When I couldn’t, I drew out my cell phone to call Larry Paige.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Larry, this is Susan. Will you check to see if there is a man still standing in front of my door?”
“Sure thing,” he replied and I could hear him opening his cabin door over the phone. “Nope, I don’t see anyone.”
“Thanks.”
“Have you had any trouble?” he asked.
“No, maybe he must have thought I was someone else. I’ll see you and Trisha for dinner in the buffet, okay?”
“Okay, just call if you need us.”
“I will.”
As soon as I closed my phone, I turned around and received
