“If you don’t mind, Susan, I‘ll do the talking,” Larry offered.
“Fine with me. The more I think about my story, the worse it sounds. Why would anyone be after me?”
At 8:01 am we heard the Purser’s door click to unlock. Larry opened the door and stood back for us to enter the office.
A uniformed man was standing by a filing cabinet leafing through one of the file drawers when we entered. He turned around and we sat in the chairs in front of his desk.
“Good morning. What can I do for you folks?” he asked.
“Is the Master of Arms in yet?”
“No, he’s on duty at the moment. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Remember me, Larry Paige, the one who brought you that necklace?”
“I do,” he replied, pulling on his swivel chair.
“Well, we have a problem and it’s beginning to ruin our vacation,” Larry began. “This woman, Susan Edwards, is a friend I referenced when I gave you the necklace. I want to adjust the statement I gave you about finding the necklace. Susan brought the necklace to me when she was sorting out her purchases. I believe someone at the jewelry shop slipped it into her bag. Your security scanners didn’t catch it when we returned to the ship.
“But the reason why we are here is this nice lady is being harassed by some men and she had to escape through your service hatch. I believe they are the real thieves,” Larry explained.
“Is this true, Ms. Edwards?” the Purser asked, taking his chair which squeaked when he sat down.
“Yes, the first man with a beard kept saying, “Where’s my package?” and when I thought I was rid of him by the time I ended up on the fifth deck, three large men came after me. Thank goodness, I was able to enter the Crew Only door and I came out the other end where the theater was.”
Larry and Trisha exhaled. “Had they been holding their breath, afraid I might mention Ivan?”
“I see. When did this occur and have you ever met these men before?”
“Yesterday. Honest to God, I have never seen them before. They stand out from the usual crowd we see dressed on this ship. Surely, you can do something,” I implored.
“You said the Crew Only door was unlocked?”
“Uh, a steward must have seen me in trouble and held the door open. It was dark, so I couldn’t tell you what the attendant looked like.”
Larry exhaled again and decided to give the man an offer.
“I understand there were two men missing a couple of weeks ago. One of them has a criminal background. Your registration told me he had stayed in the same room as Susan. Any reason their deaths are related to this theft?”
“How much do you know about these men?” the Purser asked.
“Only what was in the newspapers and my digging around about this Peter Hamfield’s background,” Larry said.
Just then, the Master of Arms entered the office. The Purser rose out of his swivel chair and motioned the officer over to one side of the office. My guess was he was filling the man in on our story so we didn’t have to repeat everything. They leaned together, whispering. I couldn’t hear what they were saying as the purser gestured and pointed at Larry and then at me. After a short discussion, they both returned to us. The Purser took his seat.
“You say these men chased you?” the Master of Arms asked me.
“I did, and so did the man with the beard,” I replied. “He told me elsewhere on this ship, his name was Vernon McCarty.
“I see. Where was this at? Describe the men to me,” he asked, jotting down my renditions in his notebook.
“They were all wearing black suits. Two men were heavier than the third man. They all had rough features, so I can’t help you much there.”
Then the Master of Arms walked over to the filing cabinet and picked out a folder. Pulling over a chair closer to us, he then locked the office door. I would guess for privacy. I watched as he sat down and opened the folder that had a clip on one side to hold loose papers. After he flipped through a couple of documents, he presented a photo of a bearded man to me.
“That’s him. Who is he?” I asked, pointing at the man’s face in the photo
“A person of interest,” the officer said and leaned back into his leather chair.
Larry leaned over to look at another photo inside the folder. He then turned to the Master of Arms.
“What can you tell us about this Ivan? Did he work on this ship?” Larry said, pointing at the loose photograph.
“Yes, Ivan Ramanoff was one of our buffet stewards. He also worked on the Tenth Deck as the Floor supervisor in Housekeeping.”
“Did he work on that deck the night he became missing?” I asked.
“Sometimes, why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” I said. “Oh, have you found anything on that blood stain on the life raft container?”
“We are still waiting for the blood results. How do you know about that, Mrs. Edwards?”
“I saw it on my walk around the ship and then I let Larry, know about the stain.”
“Yeah, I thought maybe Susan was wrong and had to find out for myself. That’s how I obtained the sample that I gave you,” Larry finished.
“Hmm, as to the men who chased you, what we need is a good reason to arrest the man and his friends. Mr. Carthy and his associates have been on our cruises many times for business in the islands. So he says. We believe he’s the reason jewelry thefts have occurred at several jewelry shops. We just can’t charge him when he doesn’t have the items on his person or in his rooms.”
“Should I open my mouth or keep it shut,” I asked myself, but there wasn’t time to think.
“You need someone to lure him to gain possession so you can arrest him, right?”
“Susan?” Larry
