Silent Enemy by Lois Richer

Author:Lois Richer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2006-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

An accident?

Sure. And he believed in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus, too.

Daniel watched Samantha sleep for another moment then closed the door, her words ringing in his ears. Thanks for not bawling me out. Is that how she thought of him—as some kind of judgmental taskmaster?

He grabbed the phone and demanded the purser’s office. He learned the kitchen was aware of her allergy and had taken special pains to ensure no seafood was in it.

“We do, however, have some new kitchen help and it is possible that one of them mixed up an order.”

“This wasn’t a mix-up. The crab was buried at the bottom.” He wasn’t helping. “I’d like the names of whoever was working at the time.”

“I’m sorry. We do not give out the names of our employees. But you may be certain we are doing everything we can so this doesn’t happen again.”

Daniel thought a moment. “Okay, but tell me, was a man named Varga on duty at the time?”

There was a slight hesitation, then the sound of papers shuffling. “We do not have anyone by that name on staff, Mr. McCullough.”

With no other options, Daniel hung up. As soon as he did, the phone rang. He grabbed it, hoping it wouldn’t wake Sam. Before he could say anything, a voice spoke.

“Be at Tagus Cove, by the graffiti at 3:45 if you want to know about the statue.”

Two and a half hours until the meeting date. Daniel didn’t dare leave Sam for fear someone would try to hurt her again, and perhaps succeed this time. But finding the statue was her mission and he didn’t want to see her fail. There had to be some way he could get there without leaving her alone. He called to enquire, but since the cruise had no children aboard there were no sitters available. Off-duty staff were visiting the island.

Minutes crawled past like snails—every moment torture as he waited for the appointed hour and knew he’d have to miss this chance to find out more. He checked his messages from Finders, Inc. Shelby had learned that Señor Sanchez had recently withdrawn a large sum of money from his personal account—for a statue?

“Daniel?”

“I’m here.” After walking into Sam’s room, he studied her pale face, the way she struggled to sit upright. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Just lazy.” She leaned back against the pillows and searched his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s a lie. You said we’d have the truth between us.”

“Yes I did.” He told her about the phone call. “Any ideas?”

“No.” She glanced at his watch. “But we’ve only got an hour left! Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he exclaimed. As she rose from the bed, she teetered slightly before regaining her balance. “Look at you! You can hardly stand up straight. You’re in no shape—”

She turned on him, her eyes hard and glittering.

“This is my case, Daniel. I’ll decide what I can and can’t do. Right now I’m going to Tagus Cove to meet whoever phoned and find out exactly what he knows.

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