Her tone sounded so, well, sad. I could feel my forehead crease, as she lay there with her breathing rather shallow. She moaned.
“I just assumed-”
“Do not assume anything around here, Pauline Sokolé. Nothing.” With that she shut her eyes, while mine bugged out at the scary thought. It wasn’t only what she said, but how she’d said it.
Suddenly my singles cruise of fun and bronzed men had become a cruise to hell.
I said a quick prayer to my favorite saint, Saint Theresa, that it would be a round-trip.
I managed to finish unpacking as quietly as I could while Jackie slept. I wondered what my family was doing, but knew I couldn’t go traipsing about to find them. What size was my parents’ cabin? I wondered, then hoped it was nice and large, since they deserved to get away and have fun.
Only not on my cruise!
After there was nothing else to rearrange or unpack, I looked at Jackie. Maybe I should wake her to find out what to do to get to work.
Before I could, a knock sounded on our door.
I looked through the peephole to see a woman standing there. Dressed in white slacks and shirt, she looked as if she were in the Navy.
I opened the door. “Hi.”
“Pauline?”
I nodded. “Come on in.” Then I said, “My roommate is sleeping,” as if the woman couldn’t see Jackie passed out.
“I’m Betty Halfpenny. No relation to Money-penny from 007.” She chuckled while I admired her English accent. “Born and bred in London, educated U.S., nursing degree from University of Pennsylvania. Real name Elizabeth-no great surprise, with the queen and all-but to annoy my mum, I started calling myself Betty in my teen years and it stuck. Family has royal connections, but don’t ask me about them.”
In one hand she held a hanger of white clothing. She reached out to shake mine with the other. “Oh, these are yours. Put them on for a little orientation. They should fit. The paperwork said you were a bloody size four. I hope the trousers are not too baggy.” She laughed. “No great surprise that Jackie is napping.”
Betty was several inches shorter than myself, a few pounds heavier and had curly red hair, which went splendidly (I thought in a mock English accent) with the millions of freckles on her face, arms and neck.
I took the clothing and wondered what she meant by “don’t ask about the royalty” part. Maybe she just didn’t know that much about it. “Yes. Four. Thanks.”
She looked at Jackie. “Did you at least get to meet her before she went to the land of Winken, Blinken and Nod?”
“I did.”
“She’s a great nurse, but sometimes has bad form. You know, has issues.”
Issues? Hmm. Could be right up my alley.
In my past cases, I’d found that disgruntled employees often sang like canaries where fraud was concerned. I’d have to buy Jackie a drink tonight-if she sobered up by then-and hear what tune she sang.
All I knew from Fabio was that someone (and he never shared with me who it was) had reported possible fraud involving overcharging patients for medical care while out at sea and then skimming the difference off when the insurance companies coughed up the huge amounts.
Fraud cost the insurers thousands of dollars. They kept raising their rates up and up so they wouldn’t have to shoulder the losses, and as a middleman, it cost Fabio too. Nothing started his day off on the wrong foot like losing money.
All I had to do was find out the who, how and how come of this case. Ha! Nothing was ever easy in this business, but I figured there had to be a few folks involved, to pull off this kind of scam.
“I’ll give you five to change in the loo, and I’ll come back for you,” Betty said.
“Thanks. Shall I wake Jackie?”
Betty shook her head. “Not that I think you could, but it’s her day off. Always better to leave her be.”
Thank goodness she’s not on duty, I thought as I headed to the “loo” to change.
If the room we were housed in was tiny, and it was, the “loo” made my closet at home look like a sprawling mansion. The shower didn’t even have a curtain on it, since the entire room was tile and the floor had a drain in the center. A sink protruded from the wall, but looked as if it folded back up to allow for more room and to shower. Although done in white tile, it sure didn’t look like it belonged on the Golden Dolphin. I really was glad that my friends’ and, hopefully, my family’s rooms were 100 percent better.
I slipped into the freshly pressed slacks and button-down, short-sleeve shirt Betty had given me. Epaulets sat rigid on my shoulders, giving me the “Love Boat” of the late seventies look.
Actually I felt very professional, and told myself I really wasn’t a nurse any longer. This was a disguise I was forced to wear to do my current assignment. And I knew just where I’d start.
I’d start with my orientation by Betty and work my way up to drinks with disgruntled Jacquelyn Arneau.
I had a gut feeling that would be when my real work would begin.
Three
I stood on my tiptoes to try to see myself in the tiny sink’s mirror, since there wasn’t any room for a full-length mirror around here. Damn, but a uniform did wonders. I looked spiffy in the white top and ‘trousers,’ as Betty had called them.
I had pulled my hair up to look more professional and thought I even looked a bit sexy. Neat. Couldn’t hurt on a singles cruise.
When I came out of the bathroom, Jackie was sitting on the edge of her bed, and Betty was settled in the chair near my desk, looking at some paperwork. She looked up. “You look peachy, mate.”
I smiled.
Jackie stared for a few seconds. “Yeah, peachy.”
There was that accent again that made me unsure if Jackie was being flattering or sarcastic.
Betty stood and ignored Jackie, so I assumed there was no love lost between the two. Hmm.
There was also something else I noted about the two. I couldn’t say for sure, but they occasionally looked at each other…oddly. It reminded me of the looks my sister Mary and I gave each other when we were keeping a secret from our other sister, Janet.
Secrets? Right up my alley.
Jackie collapsed onto her bed. “She has a right to know, Halfpenny.”
Betty cleared her throat and gave Jackie a dirty look. That one I couldn’t mistake for anything else.
Jackie curled her lips at Betty. “Tell her, or I will.”
“Shut up!” Betty turned to take my arm.
“Excuse me,” I said, to remind them that I was in the room. “Tell me what?”
Betty’s grip tightened and then released.
Jackie sat up. “You’re replacing Remy Girard. He and I went to nursing school together. Rem…Remy was a good friend.” She curled her toes. Very gently she touched one nail with a finger and said something in French. I was guessing it was a curse, since the nail polish had chipped off the corner of her nail. Then she lifted her pillow to take out a picture framed in a brass holder.
I could see Jackie smiling at the man. Remy? He had on a crew uniform and, I noticed, one of those woven bracelets made out of some kind of rope.
Jackie had a similar one on her ankle.
Good friend indeed.
Betty took my arm again. “Let’s go.”
This time Jackie stood up. Make that, jumped up like a Jack-in-a-box. “She has a right to know!”
Oh, boy. “I’m getting confused. I have a right to know what?” My heart started a little arrhythmia brought on by fear. These two were driving me nuts. “Someone better clear this up soon, or-”
“Remy didn’t get sick!” Betty shouted. I had only just met her, but the tone of her voice seemed very uncharacteristic. Especially for a polite Englishwoman.
Jackie let out those same French phrases and this time I was certain they were X-rated. “You are nuts, Betty.” She turned toward me. “But she is correct. Remy didn’t get sick. He…disappeared.”