But he had enough authority to put them all in their place.
Helen burst through the door and said, “Captain, I need to talk to you about my contract.” That was their prearranged signal that Helen had found something.
“Would you excuse us, Carl?” the captain said.
The first mate nodded and stepped outside on the deck.
Josiah checked to make sure Carl wasn’t listening at the door, then said, “You found the smuggler?”
“Two smugglers,” Helen said. “And I have bad news about Louise.”
“Start with the emerald smuggler,” Josiah said.
“It’s Mira,” Helen said. “She’s got twenty big stones on board hidden in a duffel bag in the bosun’s locker.”
Helen watched the captain’s face. Josiah showed no surprise. He showed no emotion at all.
“Mira,” he repeated.
“She was one of your three suspects,” Helen said.
“Right,” the captain said.
“I think she’s smuggling to help her boyfriend’s theater company.”
“I don’t care why she’s doing it,” Josiah said. At last, his anger ignited. “If the Coast Guard finds those emeralds, my reputation is ruined and my boat is padlocked to the dock. It will take years to sort out the mess. I’m confiscating those emeralds and turning her in.”
“You could do that, Captain,” Helen said. “But if I may make a suggestion, Mira is planning to fly to New York at three o’clock, after we dock at the marina. How many times have you been boarded by the Coast Guard?”
“None,” he said.
“Then why not risk one more trip and let her leave the yacht with the emeralds? When we get back to Lauderdale, Phil will make an anonymous tip and her suitcase will be searched before she boards the plane to New York. That way the Earl won’t be directly involved in her takedown.”
“I like that,” Josiah said. He smiled and Helen almost felt sorry for Mira.
“Now, tell me about Louise,” he said.
“I’m afraid she’s dead,” Helen said. “I found this—a thousand dollars’ cash—hidden in the toilet paper holder in our cabin.” She handed the tightly folded bills to the captain.
“I also found her seizure medicine in a tampon box in the medicine cabinet. I left it there.”
“Why do you think she’s dead?” Josiah asked.
“Louise left her medicine behind,” Helen said.
“She could have enough pills in her purse to get home,” Josiah said.
“She didn’t take her thousand dollars,” Helen said. “She couldn’t have paid for her passage back in cash, like Mira said.”
“Helen, there are other ways a pretty young woman can pay for her passage,” Josiah said.
Now Helen felt naive and foolish. “You know Louise, Captain. Do you really think she’d get on a boat full of men she didn’t know and hook her way back to Miami?”
“No,” Josiah said. “But maybe they weren’t strangers. Crews party together when they’re in port. Louise or her boyfriend could know the charter captain or a crew member. She could have agreed to pay them when she got back to Florida. She could have come back for this money—or asked one of our crew to get it for her.”
Helen wasn’t convinced. “I still think Mira is a liar as well as a smuggler,” she said.
“Why would Mira lie?” Josiah said.
“Because Louise discovered she was smuggling emeralds,” Helen said. “Mira threw the second stew overboard in those high waves. Louise is dead and Mira killed her.”
“Mira isn’t violent,” Josiah said. “I know that.”
“Really? You didn’t know she was a smuggler,” Helen said.
Josiah didn’t react. Helen wondered if he was angry.
“If Louise suspected the head stew was smuggling, she would have come to me,” he said.
“Would she?” Helen said. “Louise is what—twenty-one?”
“Twenty-three,” Josiah said.
“You think a twenty-three-year-old toilet scrubber would have the nerve to approach you and accuse her superior of smuggling?” Helen asked. “I’m eighteen years older than Louise, and I’d think twice about accusing Mira, except I’ve seen the proof.”
“Proof, Helen,” Josiah said. “That’s what you’re missing. You have no proof Mira killed Louise. We don’t even know that Louise is dead. She could be drinking in a bar with her boyfriend right now.”
“If she is, I’ll take it all back,” Helen said. “But I’m worried about her. I know she isn’t your problem anymore. The Bahamian official said so.”
“No, she is,” Josiah said. “My ship, my crew, my responsibility. I need to know she’s safely back in the States. I’ll check with the Bahamian authorities and see if they’ve located the Aces High. I promise I’ll tell you, one way or the other.”
“A deal,” Helen said.
He was the captain. On this ship his word was law. But Helen knew Louise was dead.
CHAPTER 31
Silence followed the captain’s promise to find Louise. The waves playfully slapped the yacht’s side and the showy tropical pink sky mocked Helen’s fears.
It seemed impossible that this postcard-pretty sea had been a crazed killer a few nights ago, raising up waterspouts and six-foot waves.
But Helen knew better. The storm had been so rough she couldn’t walk the short secret passage without being thrown against a wall. Even an experienced stew like Louise couldn’t carry a tray without nearly dropping a glass.
Louise was small and wiry. Mira was a sturdy woman. Helen thought she was stronger and more muscular than the second stew.
How had she killed Louise? Knocked her out, then dragged her out on deck and thrown her overboard? Lured her out on deck by asking for help with an unsecured hatch? Told her a piece of deck furniture had come loose from its lashings and she couldn’t reach the boys to put it back?
Any of those excuses would work. And Mira could quickly wipe up the seawater after she opened a door.
Helen hoped Mira had knocked Louise unconscious first. It would be unbelievably cruel to throw her overboard alive. No one would hear Louise’s shouts for help on board the ship. She would see life—and hope—sailing away.
Helen was grateful the captain interrupted her thoughts with another question. “You said there was another emerald smuggler?” Josiah asked.
“There’s another smuggler, but he’s not bringing in emeralds,” Helen said. “Carl is smuggling wallets.”
“Wallets. What’s in them?”
“Nothing,” Helen said. “These are designer wallets, cosmetic cases and small purses. The real deal. He has about twelve thousand dollars’ worth of smuggled merchandise in a black Prada backpack in his closet.”
“Huh,” the captain said.
“Are you going to fire him when you see the wallets?” Helen asked.
“He’s a good first mate. I’d like to keep him. I will confiscate those wallets.”
“Could you wait a bit first?” Helen said. “Otherwise, he’ll know I saw you early this morning and ratted him out.”
She didn’t want to disappear over the side like Louise.
“I’ll wait till we’re back at the marina,” Josiah said.
“And then you’ll drop the smuggled wallets over the side?” Helen asked.
“We don’t pollute,” Josiah said. “But I could give them to charity.”
“One more thing,” Helen said. “I know why Mitzi attacked the engineer. I think Andrei kicked her when he came back here drunk.”
“You think? You didn’t see him?”
“No, I was upstairs. But I heard the dog yelp.”