34 - The Queen's Jewels by Fletcher Jessica; Bain Donald

Author:Fletcher, Jessica; Bain, Donald [Fletcher, Jessica; Bain, Donald]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Murder, Mystery & Detective, Fiction, mystery fiction, Women Sleuths, General, Women Novelists, Jessica (Fictitious Character), Media Tie-In, Fletcher
ISBN: 9781616647988
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

My time spent with Dennis Stanton raised a number of questions that I chewed on while dressing for dinner.

His surprise that someone from Kensington, the British insurer, might be on board didn’t make sense to me. Dennis was working for Consolidated Casualty, which had partnered with Kensington Limited to insure the Heart of India. Surely they’d be working closely together to locate the missing gem and avoid having to pay the beneficiary of the policies, Walter Soon Yang’s company, in which Kim Chin-Hwa was now the sole surviving partner. And if they were not cooperating, why not?

Too, what was behind Stanton’s sudden enthusiasm for my dinner invitation? It was after I’d named those who’d be at our table that he’d changed his mind and agreed to join us. Whose name had triggered his abrupt turnaround?

I had almost forgotten about the young couple who’d shared our table that first night at sea. Aside from when I’d seen them engage in horseplay on the deck, and noticed that they now sat at a table for two, Richard Kensington and his wife, Marcia, had slipped my mind. But he shared the same name as the British insurance firm that had coinsured the Heart of India. Of course, the similarity in names could easily have been coincidental. I assumed that “Kensington” was a relatively common name in Great Britain. But that didn’t mean that it was coincidental. Was there a link between the sour young man and the coinsurer of the Heart of India? It was too providential to simply disavow the possibility that his presence on board was connected to the theft. Were those young people really on their honeymoon? I had no tangible reason to doubt it, but made a mental note to ask some questions should the opportunity arise.

Rupesh was in the hallway when I exited my cabin dressed in a long black gown with a beaded bodice.

“Good evening, madam,” he said. “You are off to the formal dinner, I see.”

“Good evening, Rupesh. You work long hours, I see.”

“Very long hours, madam. It is expected of room stewards.”

“I hope you’ve found time to contact your mother back in India.”

“Oh, yes, I did, madam. I wrote and told her that a lovely lady on the ship had reminded me to do so, and mentioned that you and Maniram live in the same town.”

“Good,” I said, laughing. “I trust it’s the first of many letters to her.”

As I walked away and set out on the long trek to the Princess Grill, I thought about Rupesh. He was an excellent steward, of course, but I wondered why he’d wanted the job in the first place. According to his cousin Maniram, he had a college degree and was skilled in computers and had taught school among other activities. Of course, Maniram had also said that Rupesh was a free spirit, an adventurer who, it was clear to see, had trouble sticking with any career for very long. Some people have a different work ethic. They can’t adjust to a nine-to-five job.

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