I forced a smile, stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. “Thanks so much. I’ll be…I’ll be…er…fine! That’s it. I’ll be fine. Please go look for my…Wait! No. No. Don’t worry about that silly bag. I don’t need it.” I gave him a gentle push toward the elevator. “Shopping bags are a dime a dozen. I’ll get another room key from the purser too. Don’t you worry about that stupid bag.”
He leaned over and kissed me back. “I’m getting worried about you.”
“Ha! It would take more than a little fall to break my noggin. I’m as hard-headed as any Polack comes.” I forced a laugh, sounding more as if I were being strangled. “Okay. I’ll see you later. No!”
“Pauline, really. Let me-”
“Oh no, you don’t, buddy. My hard-earned tax dollars are paying your salary, and I want my money’s worth.” I chuckled. “Go find that killer so the world will be a safer place. I’ll see you later.” I turned and swung back, watching the hallway spin around me. Yikes. “By ‘I’ll see you later’ I mean call me. Call me first. Okay?”
The elevator door opened. Tim stepped in. As the doors started to move, he said, “Whatever you say-if I can figure out what the hell that is.”
“Ha! Funny! You’re a real card. Funny FBI agent. Isn’t that an oxymoron?”
The elevator door closed. For a second I leaned against the wall and let out a breath. Then I pushed my door all the way open and stood there for several seconds. “What on earth are you doing here?”
Jagger merely smiled. Oh so very Jagger-like.
I finished filling Jagger in on the details of my case, leaving out that Remy pushed me down, but leaving in how I managed to pepper-spray his butt-well, half of it anyway.
“Atta girl, Sherlock.”
As proud as the proverbial peacock, I sat on the edge of the bed and felt as if I would collapse at any moment. But I told myself that I couldn’t. This case was moving fairly quickly, and as soon as Tim brought Remy in, I’d be able to question him as to who else worked with him on the fraud.
Jagger made me rest for a while since he claimed I looked pale. I had to do some maneuvering so he never got a look at the back of my head. Thank goodness Doc didn’t have to cut any of my hair to sew me back up.
Even though I felt a bit “punk” as my grandma-Babci, we called her-would say, I wasn’t able to sleep a wink. Jagger did, however, remain by my bedside, so I felt pretty darn relaxed.
“Oh, shoot,” I mumbled as someone knocked on the door-and I heard my name screeched out.
“I forgot I was supposed to meet Goldie and Miles for lunch.”
“Suga? You in there?”
“Pauline! We are frantic. Are you all right?” Miles asked. “We hear talking. Are you…oh, God. Someone is not in there harming you!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
I looked at Jagger. “Open the door before they hurt themselves.”
When he opened it, Goldie and Miles rushed in, grabbed both my hands then turned and shouted, “Jagger! Thank goodness it’s you. We were worried about our girl.”
Miles leaned forward. “You’re pale. What happened?” He touched my hair to push it back and must have felt the bandage beneath my locks. “Oh! Oh! What really happened?”
I rolled my eyes and figured it was a losing battle. With Miles being a nurse, Jagger a topnotch PI and, well, Goldie being darling Goldie, I never could make up a lie good enough to fool all of them.
So I spilled my guts, including how I ran into my parents and finished with, “Hey, I never had lunch. I’m starving. Oh, and Miles, please call and let them know I’m fine.”
He nodded.
Jagger stood up. “I’ll go get us something to eat.” He looked at Miles and Goldie. “You two stay here with her.”
Great. Now he’d frightened them with his guilt order and they’d never leave.
They nodded in unison and plopped down like obedient children, one in each white chair.
As soon as the door closed behind Jagger, I said, “You guys go. I’ll be fine.”
Miles merely looked at me.
Goldie mumbled. “Jagger said-”
I waved my hand. No use in getting them into trouble with Jagger-but I had to get out of there soon and find out if Remy had been caught. Something told me Tim would not give me a buzz and nonchalantly say they had the guy. I know his loyalty to his job had to come first.
So, how to get out of here before Jagger arrived?
Goldie sat very still, barely taking his eyes off of me. How sweet. Every once in a while I’d smile at him.
Miles, being an OR nurse and less worried, yet definitely concerned, dozed in Betty’s chair. Hmm.
I motioned with my index finger for Goldie to come near.
He looked at Miles and tiptoed over. “What is it, Suga? Need something?” he whispered.
“Actually, I do. Jagger is taking way too long. I’m dying for a Coke. I think the caffeine would be good for me right now.” Good thing Goldie wasn’t up on medical stuff. “I’m feeling a bit nauseous.”
“Oooooooh.”
“Shh!” I looked at Miles. “Please just go to the machines near the infirmary, out to the right, and get me a can of Coke. Would you be a dear and do that?” How I hated lying to my precious friend.
Goldie put his finger to his lips, motioned toward Miles and winked at me. “Done.”
When I heard the door click and noticed Miles hadn’t stirred, I made my move. In slow motion, which I was hoping would cause less ruffling of sheets or any other kind of noise, I got up, grabbed my shoes, and was out the door, guiding it very slowly so it wouldn’t shut with a bang.
I said a short prayer that Jagger would not take my escape out on my friends as I hurried down the hallway to the left. At the end, I leaned against the wall to put on my shoes. With one foot in the air, I bent to slip one on. The elevator door opened.
Out walked Jagger!
I flung myself around a corner as fast as I could before he saw me. Remaining like a statue, I waited. Nothing. No footsteps on the carpeted floor but also no Jagger peeking at me from around the corner. Phew. I made it.
Soon I was in the elevator, all alone, thank you very much, and on my way down to who knew where.
I had to find out more about my case, since I knew Remy was no longer on the ship. And I knew Jagger, Miles and Goldie would be out looking for me any second. Where would they go first?
The main lobby, thinking I was leaving the ship.
I looked across the room to the north elevator and…bingo! The three of them were on the elevator going down!
Quickly I swung to the side and leaned against the wall so they wouldn’t see me. Knowing Jagger, I had to be really careful, so I slunk down below the glass, nearly sitting on the floor. I couldn’t even peek out to see if they saw me. Too dangerous. So I remained there until the elevator stopped and the door opened.
“What the hell are you doing, Pauline?” Betty asked before I could jump up.
Thank goodness it was my roomie. “Oh, I fell today and felt a bit woozy.” I got up. “I’m fine now.”
“I heard about your fall.” She still gave me an odd look. “You all right?”
“Peachy,” I said and laughed. “Who told you about my…accident?”
“I stopped by the infirmary to get my jumper.” She held out her white sweater. “Rico and Peter told me. I’ll check on you throughout the night if you’d like.”
“I wouldn’t like to get woken up, but a few times may be necessary. Thanks.”
She nodded. “Where you off to?”
Yikes. I had no idea. Maybe I could feign confusion. Then again, they’d take my job away from me. “Actually, with my accident, I missed lunch. I guess I’ll go for an early meal.”
“I’ll join you. Just in case you get a bit loony.” She chuckled.
I smiled and was actually glad for the company. When we got our trays of food, Betty and I sat near the window. The place was practically empty, since it was around three and so early for dinner, but the food was warm and good. We talked about our pasts and Betty wanted to know all about what it was like to grow up in America and about my nursing jobs.