A chill settled around her heart, and immediately she wished she had taken a better look before exposing herself like this. Brian Johnson was lying on a nearby lounger, and now pushed himself up on his elbows. The man looked inebriated, his eyes unfocused and his face flushed.

  “That Harry is one lucky guy,” said Brian, slurring his words a little.

  “Thanks, I guess,” said Emily, none too friendly. She quickly put her T-shirt back on.

  “No need to cover up on my account,” said Brian with a sly grin. “If I were thirty years younger, I’d be all over you, honey. And if I wasn’t married, of course,” he added as he flicked his wedding ring.

  She decided not to make a scene, but instead shot him a quick smile, muttered a soft excuse, and hurried away from the awkward scene.

  “Oh, don’t go!” Brian implored. But she had no intention of staying there one second longer, and soon had rounded the corner.

  Heather, who had left to go to the bathroom, arrived just in time to catch the last part of the exchange between her husband and Emily. The corners of her lips turned down in an expression of disgust. So now Emily was hitting on Brian, was she? Trying to seduce her husband by exposing herself to him. She should have known. The woman was a dancer, after all. Probably an exotic dancer who liked to wrap herself around a pole every night, and throw herself at any man who offered to make it worth her while.

  When Amanda told her Emily was a terrible choice for Harry, Heather had no idea how true those words were. But now she knew.

  She decided to leave Brian to stew in his own juice, and find her friend. There were certain things they needed to discuss. Important things.

  As she started to walk away, she almost stumbled over a fat red cat that had taken up position near the edge of the deck, where a section of the steering station’s console jutted out and provided shade.

  “Stupid cat,” she muttered, and had a good mind to give the creature a kick in the rear. But then she saw that it was accompanied by a second, fluffy cat, and Amanda’s dog. So instead she pressed on.

  CHAPTER 16

  Amanda welcomed her friend into her cabin, and both women walked through to the private balcony. Amanda had already put out refreshments in the form of a glass pitcher of iced tea, and the two friends took a seat. They had much to discuss, and Amanda couldn’t wait to tell Heather the good news. But before she could, the other woman had something she needed to get off her chest.

  “I just saw Harry’s girl practically throwing herself at Brian,” said Heather. “And of course the idiot managed to make an absolute fool of himself. A dozen cocktails didn’t help.” She shook her head as she took a sip from the cooling liquid. “Can you imagine? Brian and Emily? What would Harry say?”

  “You should have taken a picture,” said Amanda. “No picture, no evidence.”

  “I didn’t have my phone,” said Heather, clearly annoyed at this oversight on her part. She looked up at her friend. “When you told me Emily was bad news, I thought you were exaggerating. But now I see you were absolutely right. That girl is such a tease.”

  “She’s a dancer,” said Amanda. “What did you expect?”

  “Harry said she was a Zumba dancer, but clearly that was a lie. She must be an exotic dancer, a fact she’s kept carefully hidden from Harry.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” said Amanda. “I’m starting to believe that Harry knows exactly who and what she is, but he’s too smitten to ask any questions. And when I try to tell him, he gets upset.” She threw up her hands. “Honestly I don’t know what to do at this point.”

  For a moment the two friends contemplated ways and means of getting rid of this unwanted girlfriend of Amanda’s son, but then Amanda couldn’t wait any longer. “I just got the results back from the tests,” she said.

  “And?” said Heather, scooting forward in her chair.

  “All good,” said Amanda triumphantly. “I got the all clear.”

  “Wow, that’s great news, hon,” said her friend. “So you’re going through with it?”

  “I’m going through with it.”

  “Have you told Steven?”

  “Not yet.” She paused. “Maybe I won’t.”

  Heather stared at her. “You won’t tell him?”

  She shook her head. “You know Steven. He wouldn’t agree. And if I’m going to do this it’s important that I go into the process with a positive mental attitude. So no stress. And you know what’s going to happen when I tell Steven.”

  “He’s going to freak out.”

  “He’s going to freak out, and he’s going to make a big fuss, and that’s the last thing I need. So I’m going to do this all by myself.”

  “You have me,” said Heather, and reached out to grasp Amanda’s hand. Amanda squeezed it gratefully. “I’m going to be there for you every step of the way—you know that, right?”

  “I know,” said Amanda. “And thank you. I don’t think I could do this without you.” A slight frisson of anxiety niggled at her and she quickly pinpointed the reason. “You haven’t told Brian, have you?”

  “God no. Are you kidding me? I’m never telling that man anything ever again. In fact I just got the results of my own little experiment.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “And guess what?”

  “What?”

  “She figures Brian is trying to get it on with Sarah.”

  “Sarah Dawson? No way.”

  “Yes, way. He doesn’t stand a chance, of course.”

  “No, I wouldn’t think so. Sarah is too smart and too classy for a man like Brian.”

  “That’s never stopped him before. And when he makes his move, I’ll have the evidence, and that’ll be the end of that.”

  “Finally. Oh, I hope you can make it work, honey.”

  “I know I will. And it’s all thanks to you, Amanda.”

  “Did… Brian have any luck with Emily, you think?”

  “No, she must have realized I was watching. She walked away.” She stared at her friend. “You just had an idea, didn’t you? Your eyes are glittering, hon. Positively glittering!”

  “I was thinking, what if we encouraged Brian and Emily?”

  Heather blinked. “Amanda Griffiths, you are one very wicked woman.”

  “It would fix a lot of problems in one fell swoop.”

  “It would,” Heather readily agreed. “No more Emily.”

  “And no more Brian. A nice clean divorce for you.”

  “And no unsuitable daughter-in-law for you.”

  The two friends shared a look of triumph.

  “Can I tell you my fondest wish?” Amanda asked.

  “Please do.”

  “It’s the whole reason I invited her on board.”

  “Who?”

  “Sarah. I think she and Harry would be the perfect match. She’s so cultured, so beautiful, so rich, but also so intelligent.”

  “Not to mention a prominent member of the royal family.”

  “Well, maybe not prominent, but nevertheless a member. When you marry into the royal family, do you become a royal yourself, you think?” she asked.

  “I doubt it, honey. But I’ll bet they give you one of those medals they’re so keen on over in England.”

  Already Amanda could see herself in Buckingham Palace, accepting a CBE or OBE or whatever those things were called. “I could be a dame. Dame Amanda Griffiths. Now wouldn’t that be something?”

  “I like your thinking,” Heather cooed. “And then once you’re a dame, you can put in a good word and make me a dame, too! Dame Heather Johnson! Though I might take back my maiden name.”

  “Oh, absolutely. Once Harry and Sarah are married, I bet that’ll be a cinch.”

  Over the course of their conversation they had fixed Heather’s divorce, Amanda’s future and Harry’s future. And the great thing was that it all seemed perfectly feasible. Absolutely doable.

  “Oh, God, no,” said Heather suddenly. She was looking at something with a look of absolute distaste. “It’s those cats again.”

  “Where? What cats?” said Amanda. And then she saw it. Frankie had walked out onto the balcony with two cats in her wake. “Oh, them,” she said, relaxing. “They belong to Julie Henderson.”

  “Julie Henderson? Who’s she?”

  “I told you about her. She’s one of Harry’s ex-girlfriends. For some reason he decided to invite her this week. Don’t ask me why.”

  “Harry’s ex-girlfriend, huh? And they’re still friends, you say?”

  “Oh, absolutely. Best pals and all that.”

  “Mh,” said Heather as she took another swig from her iced tea.

  “What?” said Amanda, who could always tell when her friend got some bee in her bonnet.

  “Nothing. It just strikes me as odd, that’s all. Inviting one of his ex-girlfriends on board when he’s about to tie the knot with Emily.”

  “What are you thinking? That he might change his mind?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. That maybe Emily’s position as the future Mrs. Harry Griffiths isn’t the slam dunk you think it is.”

  “Oh, God, I hope you’re right. I’d give absolutely anything to stop that wedding.”

  “Let me talk to my PI,” said Heather. “See what she has to say. Either we set Brian up with Emily, which will end my marriage and stop Harry’s. Or we set Harry up with this ex-girlfriend and have my PI snap a couple of compromising shots.”

  “Or we could do both,” said Amanda.

  “Or we could do both,” Heather agreed.

  Amanda held up her glass, and clinked it to Heather’s. “I’ll drink to that,” she said, and launched a quiet prayer everything would work out for the best.

  CHAPTER 17

  “What was Amanda talking about?” I asked. “What’s this project her husband can’t know about?”

  “Oh, that,” said Frankie. “It’s no big a deal. Just that she’s having a baby.”

  Dooley and I both stared from Frankie to Amanda. “A baby?” I said. “But isn’t she… I mean won’t she… I mean don’t you think she’s…”

  “Isn’t she too old to have a baby?” asked Dooley, taking the words right out of my mouth.

  “She’s only forty-eight,” said Frankie. “And according to her doctor that’s not too old to have a baby. She’s done all kinds of tests in some special clinic, and she’s been given the go-ahead just before we flew out to France. Though apparently it’s all very hush-hush.”

  “And why is that? Why isn’t Steven supposed to know?” I asked.

  “Because she’s afraid he won’t approve. They already discussed this last year, and he made it clear he doesn’t want a third kid, especially now that their eldest is getting married and Kim is going off to college in the fall. He figures they’re too old to have a baby.”

  “Clearly Amanda doesn’t feel the same way,” I said.

  “Oh, no, she wants this baby,” said Frankie. She smiled. “I think it’s sweet, don’t you? It’s going to be so much fun, to have a baby in the house. I think we’re going to be great friends, me and the kid.”

  I thought back to when Grace had first arrived in our midst, and had to admit that eventually it was great fun, but not at first. Not those first couple of months. That hadn’t been a lot of fun at all.

  “It could be great,” I said therefore. “But you have to be patient. At first babies aren’t so great.”

  “They’re more annoying,” said Dooley. “They spit on you and they pull your tail and they bite you.”

  “Bite you!” said Frankie, much surprised.

  “Yeah, they go through these periods,” said Dooley. “And when they do, you better stay away from them. But once the danger has passed, it’s fine.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” said Frankie, and I could see we had given her a lot of food for thought.

  “So Amanda is going to have a baby, and Heather is getting a divorce,” I said. “A lot of stuff seems to be going on in this family.”

  “Yeah, they like to keep us on our toes,” said Frankie, and even though she didn’t specify who this ‘they’ was she was referring to, I knew she meant humans. And she was right about that. Humans do keep us on our toes!

  And since it had been a little while since we had seen our own human, we said our goodbyes for now, and returned to our cabin to deliver our report, straight from the front line.

  We found Odelia typing up an email on her laptop, and she looked up when we strode in.

  “Do we have news for you,” I said.

  “Plenty of news,” said Dooley. “In fact we have so much news I don’t think I’ve remembered it all.”

  “Give it your best shot,” said Odelia with a smile as she turned to us and gave us her full attention.

  “Okay, so first off, Amanda Griffiths is having a baby,” I said. “But her husband Steven isn’t supposed to know, since he thinks they’re too old to have babies. So she’s having it in secret, and is only going to tell him once she has delivered the baby. Though I wonder how she’s going to hide being pregnant.”

  “Huh,” said Odelia. “Interesting. But what does that have to do with Emily?”

  “We’re getting to that,” I said. “But I wanted to get that off my chest before I forgot.”

  “It’s hot off the press,” Dooley said proudly.

  “Yeah, straight from the horse’s mouth,” I added.

  Dooley laughed. “Are you calling Amanda Griffiths a horse, Max?”

  “It’s just an expression, Dooley,” I said. “Now let’s see what else we’ve got. Oh, Heather Johnson wants a divorce. So she’s hired a private detective and somehow has managed to get him or her on board. The detective has to catch Brian—that’s Heather’s husband—in the act of being unfaithful to her with Emily.”

  “With Emily?”

  “Yeah, we also caught Brian making a pass at Emily just now. He was very drunk, though, and Emily clearly hated it. But Heather, who saw the whole thing, seems to think Emily was trying to seduce her husband. And now she hopes to catch those two in the act, ending both her marriage and Harry and Emily’s engagement.”

  “That will never happen,” said Odelia, as she unscrewed the cap of a water bottle. “Emily adores Harry and vice versa. She would never be unfaithful to him.”

  “Okay, and then there’s the second scheme they’re going for,” I said. “And in this scenario they want to set Harry up with you.”

  “Me!” Odelia cried. She had been in the process of taking a sip from her water bottle and now spat it out… across me and Dooley!

  “Ugh,” said Dooley. “I really don’t need a shower, Odelia.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Odelia, wiping her mouth. “But me and Harry. Can you imagine?”

  “Heather figures there must be a reason that Harry invited his ex-girlfriend to spend time with him on the Audrey. She thinks he’s still in love with you, and if they rekindle the flame, it will be the end of his engagement.”

  “These people are really too much,” said Odelia, shaking her head. “Isn’t there anyone on board who actually approves of this match?”

  “Is that a rhetorical question?” I asked. “Since I don’t think there actually is such a person.”

  “Okay, give me the rest of it,” said Odelia resignedly.

  And so we told her about Steven having a picture of Emily on his phone—the picture! We also told her about Eric, Kim and Chloe all feeling that Emily was bad news. That she was coming between Harry and his old group of friends. That Harry had changed since he met Emily and they didn’t like it.

  We also told her that Kim had a plan to get rid of Emily but wouldn’t tell Eric or Chloe what it was. And that Eric had told Harry to take it slow and postpone his engagement and that it had led to a fight between the two friends.

  And finally, that Steven’s secretary Matthew Brown was up to something. That we had overheard him making a mysterious phone call, and that Emily had also overheard and it had clearly spooked the man.

  “Okay, so the conclusion is that a lot of people on board don’t like Emily, and have reason to get rid of her,” said Odelia when we had finished delivering our report. “Amanda doesn’t think she’s a good match for her son, and would much rather see Harry marry Sarah Dawson instead, because she’s a royal and Amanda and her friend Heather want to become dames. Steven has a picture of Emily on his phone, and the only reason that would be is if he’s the mystery person sending those threatening messages.”

  She was jotting all this down in her digital notebook, neatly making a new entry for every one of our suspects.

  “And then there’s Heather, who thinks Emily is seducing Brian, and that she’s an exotic dancer, which she isn’t. Eric Atkinson thinks Emily is driving a wedge between him and his best friend Harry. Eric’s girlfriend Chloe thinks the same thing, and so does Harry’s sister Kim, who admitted she’s working on a plan to get rid of Emily. And then we have Matthew Brown, who’s conducting mysterious phone calls that no one is supposed to overhear.” She heaved a sigh. “That’s a whole lot of people who have a good reason to get rid of Emily, you guys. And not a single one who wants her here.”

  “Harry wants her here,” said Dooley. “He’s in her corner.”

  “That’s true,” said Odelia. “And this Sarah Dawson doesn’t seem to have any beef with Emily either.” She tapped her notebook. “I wonder who this private detective could be.”

  “I had the impression it’s a member of the crew,” I said. “Why?”

  “Because if Heather gave this PI instructions to catch Brian in a compromising position, she might have done the same with Emily.”

  “You think a private detective might be behind this business?”

  “It’s possible. This hacking of Oliver Rose’s phone is not something a lot of people are capable of. But a PI might have the kind of resources or contacts that could pull that off.” She directed a smile at us. “You did great, you guys. Excellent work. We haven’t even been here a whole day and already you have identified a bunch of possible suspects. Now all we have to do is figure out which one of these people is behind this business with the pictures and the notes. And expose them.”