Cabin Fever

The turquoise dress never did get worn for the company Christmas party. Estelle and Mark, who owned and ran the company, had sent Ryder to New Jersey on urgent business, so Becky had made her excuses to Estelle. But Estelle had insisted she make an appearance for Ryder’s sake, and even sent over a car on the night of the party.

But Becky was stronger than both Ryder and his sister Kim. She knew how to say no to Estelle and mean it.

As her fingers touched the dress, a classic style, it slipped off the polished wooden hanger and onto the floor. Becky picked it up and reached for a satin padded hanger from the other end of the closet. It would prevent the gown from sliding off and ending up in a heap on the closet floor.

As she pulled the hanger toward her, something glittered in the center of the pink satin. At first she thought she was seeing a reflection from the hook, but as she slid the hanger closer, she saw that something was wrapped around the center. On further inspection, she realized she was staring at what had to be the moon goddess’s pendant.

As she reached for it, Connor’s voice startled her. “I’ve looked everywhere in this darn room and it’s not here.” His voice was heavy with despair. “We’re just unlucky, that’s all. We’re one unlucky family.”

Becky had become so lost in her memories that for a brief moment she didn’t know what he was talking about. Then reality came rushing back.

She pulled the pendant off the hanger, walked into the next room and leaned against the doorjamb. Spinning the necklace around her hand, she said, “Now, just what were you saying about us being unlucky?”

CHAPTER THREE

“I DON’T CARE what you have to do, but if you ever want to see your son again, you’ll find my diamond.” Sal Morena’s voice was harsh and menacing and it made Tracy Irvine shake right down to her very core.

“How do I know he’s all right?” She pleaded into her cell phone, tears streaking her face. “I need to talk to my son.”

“He’s fine,” he said lightly. “Never been better. A boy needs his father. I don’t know why I stayed away so long.”

“A court ordered you to,” Tracy reminded him.

“That was your fault,” he yelled. “If you weren’t cheating on me, none of that would have happened.”

She wiped the tears away with shaking fingers as she remembered the beatings she’d suffered. Being involved with Sal and his scheme scared her more than she could imagine, but she knew she had to be strong for her son.

“I never cheated on you, Sal.”

He laughed and her knees went weak. “Don’t lie. It won’t help the situation. You’re a whore. Everybody in Vegas knew it, but I was just too blind to see it. Hell, if it wasn’t for that blood test I got on this kid, I wouldn’t even know he was mine.”

“He looks just like you.”

“Yeah, lucky kid.”

“I want to talk to my son,” she repeated, forcing herself to sound calm as she sat on the floor of her tiny cabin and nervously picked at the tan carpet. The floor was strewn with brochures announcing the silly, gimmicky pendant hunt. Brochures that she hadn’t even finished passing out because Sal had tried to call her several times on her cell phone. It was only now, after the ship had left the pier, that she had time to finally take the call.

“I want my diamond,” he insisted. “That bastard Giorgio Tzekas owes me. He’s in prison, but my payment is still on that ship and I want it.”

Sal had loaned Giorgio Tzekas, who had been the first officer of the ship, a lot of money. Tzekas had been going to pay him off with the diamond, but had been arrested before it ever happened.

“It’s a big ship, Sal. It’s going to take time.”

“Honey, the longer it takes, the more the kid and I are bonding. How old is he now? Five? Six? He’s a pretty smart kid.”

Her mouth felt dry and her throat tight. “He’s five, Sal. He just turned five.”

“Yeah? I bet he knows what a whore is.”

Tracy squeezed the phone tighter, praying she could keep her voice calm, not let him hear her fear. “Sal, put Franco on the phone.”

“Let me see if I can say this in words you might understand. Find my damn diamond!” He swore, and then her cell phone gave her those sweet tones to indicate that the caller had hung up. Tracy called him back several times, but Sal never answered.

She slowly pulled herself up from the floor and began picking up the brochures, when suddenly it was as if a light had gone off somewhere inside her head. Why hadn’t she made the connection before? She quickly skimmed the brochure again, excited about the possibility.

Could this be the necklace she’d been looking for? The necklace that was hiding Sal Morena’s diamond? She’d heard that water sports instructor—Dylan somebody or other—mention how Patti and Ariana had found the pendant among Mike O’Connor’s things. He was that fake priest who’d smuggled real antiquities among the reproductions he lectured about when Alexandra’s Dream was cruising the Mediterranean. She’d simply assumed it was a piece of costume jewelry. However, now that she saw how big the silver teardrop was in the brochure, her heart skipped a beat. She knew with every fiber of her being that she was actually looking at Sal’s hidden diamond. The coincidence was too strong.

Could she really get her hands on the pendant? One of the passengers would need to find it first, of course. There were almost a thousand passengers on board and all she had to do was find the one wearing that pendant. God help her, she would do whatever it took to steal it away so she could get her son back.

There was a knock at her door. Two of the other dancers were calling her for the bingo game they were working together. The other dancers seemed to love the extra duties they had to perform, but she’d been secretly dreading them, especially bingo. But now she was thinking of ways she could take on more duties.

That way she’d have greater exposure to passengers.

“Coming,” she yelled through the door as she touched up her makeup in the mirror above the small dresser. When she looked human again, long chestnut hair combed behind her ears, golden eye shadow caressing her brown eyes, red-apple on her lips, she opened the door, smiling. “Can I take the floor first? I really can’t wait to meet our passengers.”

“Sure,” one of the dancers said. “But I thought—”

“Never mind what I said before. I’m loving all this extra duty. It’s exactly what I need to, um, get over a really bad relationship.”

The other girls started comparing bad breakup stories as the three of them made their way to the Bacchus deck and Caesar’s Forum casino. With each step, Tracy could feel hope blossom as she formulated a plan to find the passenger with the pendant.

BECAUSE THE KIDS WERE SO excited about Becky finding the pendant they wanted to eat dinner early and at the Garden Terrace buffet instead of the formal dinner in the dining room. Of course Estelle wanted nothing to do with casual dining, but relented when the kids were so persistent.

Laura, Connor and Sarah had all insisted that Becky wear the pendant to get her luck started right away. She had contacted Patti Kennedy to report that she’d found it, and within thirty minutes a steward had brought her another large basket of goodies—there had already been one in the room—and a list of the perks she and her family were entitled to. Becky hadn’t had time to go over everything, but was definitely considering the free massage in the spa.

Of course, the leaflet also made it quite clear that the pendant had to be returned at the end of the cruise for even more surprises. Sarah couldn’t wait to see what those were.

Reluctant to attract attention as they made their way to the Garden Terrace, Becky compromised and told the kids she would wear the pendant once she had a chance to tell the rest of the family.

Laura had helped her convince the kids of the plan. The reality was, both Becky and Laura knew that if Becky took all the attention away from Laura’s mother, Kim, and her grandmother, Estelle, on the very first night of the cruise, the rest of the trip would probably turn ugly.

The dining room was surrounded by large picture windows and the tables were positioned in tiered seatings. There was a relaxed attitude about the place that Becky liked. She didn’t have to worry about what she wore, or if her kids were using the proper fork. It was the first night of the cruise, and now that she had found the missing treasure, she was feeling rather comfortable about the entire adventure.

That was until the rest of the Montgomery clan walked up to the table and everyone began a marathon of hugs. Estelle was wearing some sort of purple cowboy hat, matching purple jacket and leather pants, her blond hair perfectly styled. Then there was her ex-husband Mark. According to Laura, he’d only agreed to come on the cruise because of his grandkids. He and Estelle had recently divorced after being married for nearly forty years, and Estelle was probably going to use this cruise to try to win him back. She hated losing a fight, and theirs had been a whopper.

Mark looked his usual handsome self, dressed in a white polo shirt and khaki shorts, brown deck shoes and no socks. His face had aged since Becky had seen him last, but in a good way. The lines around his steel-blue eyes only added to his charm. For what it was worth, Becky had always liked Mark, even though he would sometimes push Ryder too hard. It amazed her how much Ryder had resembled his father, and for a brief instant a wave of sadness washed over her until Kim, Laura’s mother, emerged from behind Mark, hanging on to what had to be her latest boyfriend.

He was briefly introduced as Bob Ducain. He was an average-looking guy, with thinning gray hair and enough of a stomach that even his loose-fitting island shirt couldn’t disguise it. He had a ruddy complexion, pale blue eyes, and a smile that seemed to lack sincerity. There were gold chains around his neck and gold diamond rings on each pinky. No doubt Estelle had handpicked this guy for Kim. He must have been from one of her social clubs, or the son of a wealthy friend. At any rate, in Estelle’s eyes, he was probably Kim’s perfect match.

“I hate buffets,” Kim announced before she even sat at the table. Her hair was its usual shade of blond, hanging straight down her back. She wore a Chanel black-and-white sleeveless sweater, a black short skirt and sandals. Kim was somewhere around Becky’s age, thirty-six, but Botox had removed any hint of aging, so she still looked as if she was in her twenties. She had the same blue eyes as her dad, and a perky paid-for nose that she’d changed at least two times.

Kim bent over and briefly hugged Sarah and Connor, then continued to whine about the buffet. “The food is never good, and I have to serve myself. I hate it.”

“You sit and I’ll fix you a plate,” Bob offered, pulling out a chair for her to sit on. Then he took off toward the rows of steaming food.

Kim made herself comfortable and glanced over at Becky, who was across from her at the large tan-speckled table. Kim sat with her back to the buffet. She obviously didn’t even want to look at it. Instead of sitting by her mother and new boyfriend, Laura sat next to Becky, while Sarah and Connor moved down to the end of the table to sit with Estelle and Mark.

“Isn’t he great? He does everything for me. I don’t know how I ever got along without him,” Kim remarked to Becky.