New Year's Madness by Beth Byers

Author:Beth Byers [Byers, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Mysteries
Published: 2018-12-30T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Julia and Jacob spent the better part of the next hour searching below decks for Opal to no avail. After they’d checked her sleeping quarters, they’d snuck a peek into the Mediterranean-themed grand ballroom. She wasn’t in there, and Julia, now feeling quite nervous about her friend’s whereabouts, didn’t have any enthusiasm for taking in the sights of this new destination.

“I want to check the engine room.”

“Why is that? Do you think Opal would have had business down there?”

“No, I don’t. It’s just one of the few places we haven’t’ checked, and I’m beginning to feel very unsettled about all of this. The petrol cans—Oscar said they were from the engine room because they were labeled Cutty Sark. Perhaps Opal caught the river arsons at their work and they’ve secured her there, where nobody would look. If we don’t’ find her there, I’ll need to tell Oscar that she’s missing. I’d hoped to avoid that so he could go on enjoying his party, but he should know. We might to enact a ship-wide search for her.”

They made their way down the narrow flight of steps that Julia insisted would take them to the mechanical areas of the ship.

“I keep seeing those flames, Jacob. You don’t think Opal’s fallen overboard and we’ve just left her to burn or drown or both?”

Jacob squeezed her hand. “Now, darling. I don’t think that’s what’s happened at all. Let’s check the engine room and then I have some ideas of where to begin with interviews if we don’t find her there.”

“Who would you interview?”

“We need to discern the last time someone saw her. Ji Ah is someone who was in the ballroom until she ran out when you spoke with her. Her behavior was suspicious. Perhaps she saw something or knows something.”

“Ah, yes, of course. Very good. In addition to her, we can ask the other members of the band. In all likelihood, her disappearance seems like it may be connected to the river fire. Nobody, that we are aware of, has seen her first. We may need to approach this from that angle. We catch who started the fire, and maybe they’ll know what’s happened to Opal.”

They trudged the ships corridors, their shoes clanging on the floors of the ship.

“We aren’t very stealthy, are we?” Julia asked Jacob, who was following her. She heard a thunk and a crash behind her and turned to see what the commotion was about. She barely had time to gasp at Jacob’s crumpled body on the ground in front of her before she sensed movement to her side. She turned her head, but something crashed down on her, sending her into blackness before she could focus on who was there.

When she came to, the cool on her face was the first sensation she noticed. Her cheek was pressed against the cold floor and her legs were twisted at an unnatural angle beneath her. The pounding sensation in her head was the next bit of detail she noticed, and then the events that put her there came flooding back.

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