“Poor Emily,” said Dooley. “Nobody here seems to like her, except Harry. Must be very sad for her.”

  “It is,” said Odelia. “When your in-laws hate you and are actively trying to stop you from marrying their son it’s bound to make you feel unwanted.”

  “Maybe Emily should stop the wedding herself,” I suggested. “Amanda is never going to like her, and it’s going to make life really difficult for her. And for Harry, of course, since it’s his own mother who objects to his bride.”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time that a mother hated her daughter-in-law,” said Odelia. “And I don’t think Emily should allow Amanda to scare her off. Besides, it’s Harry’s decision, not Amanda’s. And if he loves Emily, and wants to marry her, he totally should.”

  “I think it will be fine,” said Dooley. “Emily is so sweet that Amanda will learn to love her eventually.”

  Odelia smiled and so did I. It was just like Dooley to offer the roseate version of this story, and to see a future where Amanda and Emily would become the best of friends. Somehow I doubted whether that would be the case, though. Then again, miracles do happen.

  CHAPTER 18

  The blackmail case was proving a lot harder than Odelia had expected. Not only did she have more suspects than she knew how to handle, but Heather and Amanda might try to use her in a bid to stop Harry’s wedding. Maybe they should have chosen a different cover than the ex-girlfriend one, which seemed to have inspired Amanda and her friend.

  She opened her laptop and launched Skype, then put in a call to her mom. If her calculations were correct Chase would be at work right now, and her mom would be babysitting Grace, since she didn’t have to work today.

  It didn’t take long for Mom’s face to appear, but when it did, she was surprised to find that Dad was also in the frame, and so was Grace.

  “Hey, honey,” said Mom. “How is France?”

  “Busy,” she said. “The case is getting a little complicated. How are things over there?”

  “Great,” said Mom. “We have a little surprise for you.”

  “A surprise? What is it?”

  Mom grinned. “We just booked a trip to France. We’re following in your footsteps, honey!”

  For a moment she was too stunned for speech, then she finally found her tongue. “You’re coming to France? All of you?”

  “Well, not all of us. Chase has to work, unfortunately, and my brother doesn’t want to give him time off. But your father and I are coming, and we’re bringing Grace, if that’s okay with you.”

  “O-of course,” she said, still reeling a little. “When are you coming?”

  “Our flight leaves tonight, can you believe it?”

  “We should be there by morning,” said Dad, smiling widely. “Though morning in France is probably a different morning than the one we have over here, so I’m not sure exactly when we’ll arrive.”

  “Um, it’s later over there than it is here, right?” said Mom. “So that means…”

  “That means we’ll be there… tomorrow afternoon?” Dad guessed.

  “Anyway, we’re coming over, that’s the most important thing,” said Mom. “And we’re bringing Grace, so you won’t have to miss her.”

  “Chase is going to miss her,” Dad pointed out.

  “Well, that’s my brother’s fault,” said Mom.

  “We could abduct him,” Dad suggested.

  “Don’t talk nonsense, Tex,” said Mom, then turned back to Odelia with a smile. “Isn’t this great, honey? We could pay you a visit, once you’re done cracking that case of yours. Or you could pay us a visit.”

  “Where is your grandmother?” asked Dad, a note of concern having slipped into his voice. “Is she on the boat with you?”

  “No, I haven’t seen her, actually,” said Odelia. “Last time we exchanged messages she said Dick was navigating along the coast. I believe they’re making their way over here. Where will you be staying?”

  “In a place called, um…” Mom put on her glasses and brought her face closer to her phone. “Villeneuve-Loubet. Some small town, apparently. It’s a little ways away from Saint-Tropez.”

  “You’re staying in a hotel?”

  “An Airbnb,” said Mom. “Very nice person.”

  “Great reviews,” said Dad. “All five stars.”

  “Yeah, lots and lots of five-star reviews.”

  “We looked for one that allows pets.”

  “You-you’re bringing Harriet and Brutus?”

  “Of course!” said Mom. “Couldn’t leave those poor creatures behind.”

  “But Chase could take care of them,” Odelia pointed out.

  “We wouldn’t want to do that to them,” said Mom sternly. “You know what men are like. He’d forget to feed them, or to clean out their litter box. By the time we got back they’d be completely feral.”

  Odelia couldn’t imagine Harriet or Brutus ever becoming feral, but when she pointed this out to her parents, they dismissed her out of hand. “They miss their friends,” said Mom. “They’ve talked of nothing else than Max and Dooley.” She lowered her voice and brought her face closer to the camera. “I think they’re still upset that you decided not to take them along. Harriet keeps saying something about the four musketeers and Brutus keeps repeating ‘All for one and one for all,’ as if I should know what that means.”

  “I think it means they don’t like to be split up,” said Odelia. Only in this case there was no other way. She couldn’t very well bring along four cats on this trip. Amanda and Steven would have kicked her off the boat. As it was they didn’t even seem to like Max and Dooley very much. But that couldn’t be helped. Already the twosome had proven themselves to be invaluable in figuring out this mystery.

  “Okay, so we gotta start packing,” said Mom. “Here’s Grace. I’ll let you talk to her.” And she positioned Grace in front of the camera.

  “Hey, sweetie,” said Odelia, happy to see her baby. “How are you doing with daddy and grandma and grandpa?”

  Grace gurgled something she couldn’t understand but she seemed happy enough. Odelia wondered how she was going to fare on this trip, though. Grace had never traveled before and she wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. She’d call Chase and discuss it with him. And if he said no, she would tell her parents not to bring her along.

  Dooley had crawled up onto her lap, and as Grace’s burbling intensified, it quickly turned into the kinds of sounds cats make. And as Odelia watched on, her cat and her baby communicated! She knew they did this from time to time, but it was still an odd thing to witness. Unfortunately she couldn’t understand Grace’s version of the cats’ lingo, which was a pity. And since they seemed to enjoy shooting the breeze, she vacated her chair and allowed Max to hop on.

  As the threesome chatted happily, she took out her phone and put in a call to her husband.

  Chase picked up at the first ring. “Hey, babe,” he said in that deep baritone of his. The sound instantly put a smile on her face. “How’s life in the fast lane?”

  “Pretty hectic,” she admitted. “And it’s only getting more so, since I just heard that Mom and Dad have booked a flight to France and they want to bring Grace along—and Harriet and Brutus.”

  “Looks like I’ll be the only one to hold the fort,” he said. “I wish I could join you, but your uncle has me working a homicide.”

  “A homicide?”

  “Yeah, some hacker who managed to get himself killed. Was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Apparently someone didn’t like him hacking into their computer and decided to hit reboot. Sorry. Bad joke.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got your hands full.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “So what about Grace? Do you think it’s safe for her to travel?”

  “I don’t see why not. Your dad says it’s fine, and he’s the doctor.”

  “I know he is, but still.”

  “The thing is that I’m really busy right now, babe. And with you gone, and your grandmother and your folks, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to bring her along. I mean, your dad gets a little goofy from time to time, but your mom is as solid a person as they come. I think we can trust her to take good care of our sweetheart.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Odelia said. “Okay, so looks like Grace is going to enjoy her very first big overseas trip.”

  “Next time we’ll make it a family trip,” Chase promised. He frowned when the sound of Grace and the cats vocalizing could be heard. “Is that your cats?” he asked.

  “And Grace,” she said. “She’s on Skype, talking to the cats.”

  “Just when you think you’ve heard it all.”

  “So what’s going on over there?” asked Grace.

  “Oh, this and that,” I said, not wanting to go into great detail about our assignment. It wasn’t a very pleasant business, after all.

  “We’re also coming to France,” said Grace. “Or at least that’s what Grandma and Grandpa said. So will I be staying with you guys?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” I said. “You’ll be with Harriet and Brutus, and Grandpa and Grandma. And we’ll be on a boat with Odelia.”

  “Too bad,” said Grace. “I would have liked to be on a boat.”

  “It’s not a lot of fun,” said Dooley. “There’s a lot of water.”

  “That often happens with boats, Dooley,” said Grace.

  “Yeah, but the water is all around, and so if we sink we’ll have to swim, since they don’t have a lot of lifeboats here. It was the first thing Max and I checked. So it’s just like on the Titanic.”

  “You’re not actually moving, though, are you?”

  “No, we’re not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t sink.”

  Grace smiled a gummy smile. “Dooley, in order to sink, you first have to hit something. Unless there’s an explosion, of course, which punches a hole in the hull and causes the boat to take on water.”

  “An explosion!” said Dooley. “Oh, no!”

  “There won’t be an explosion,” I was quick to say.

  “No, of course not,” said Grace. “Unless the engine were to blow up, which probably won’t happen.”

  “The engine will blow up!” Dooley cried. “Oh, no!!!”

  “The engine will not blow up,” I said, darting a warning glance at Grace.

  “Of course the engine won’t blow up,” said Grace. “But a shark might come, and bite a piece out of the boat. Or a giant jellyfish, or some monster from the deep. It happens, you know.”

  “But I don’t want a monster from the deep to eat our boat!” said Dooley.

  “It won’t happen,” I said emphatically.

  “Of course it won’t happen,” said Grace. “Unless it does.” She was looking a little mischievous, I thought, and seemed to take a particular pleasure in riling Dooley up. “And besides, you guys can swim, can’t you? Though if a monster does show up, I wouldn’t go in the water. It might snap you up and devour you whole in one bite.”

  “Devour us whole!” Dooley cried. “Oh, Max, no!”

  “Nothing is going to devour us whole!” I said, and looked for the button to end this conversation.

  “Of course not,” said Grace. “Are you nuts? There are no monsters. But there are submarines, and submarines launch torpedoes. And that might create a big hole in the hull, which would sink the boat.”

  “A submarine!” Dooley cried, much dismayed. “But why?”

  “They might think you’re the enemy,” said Grace, smiling from ear to ear now. “You know, they could be Russians, or the Chinese, or North Korea. Or even the French Navy conducting a drill. It only takes one push of a button to accidentally fire off a torpedo and kaboom!”

  “Kaboom?” said Dooley in a small voice.

  “You’re a goner,” said Grace with a shrug.

  “Max?” said Dooley. “I don’t want to be a goner!”

  “Nobody is gonna be a goner!” I said. “And nobody is going to fire a torpedo at us, accidentally or on purpose. Is that understood!” I was directing my words at Grace, who was starting to infuriate me.

  “Of course nobody is going to fire a torpedo,” she said. “That’s just crazy talk, Max. I was speaking hypothetically. Though you could run across a mine.”

  “A mine!” said Dooley.

  “Yeah, I’m sure the Germans dropped plenty of those in French waters back in the day,” said the little tormentor. “You hear stories about fishermen dragging some old mine up from the deep and then before you know it: kaboom!”

  “More kaboom!” cried Dooley.

  “You’d be obliterated. Nothing left but blood and guts and—”

  “Grace, I think it might be a good idea to terminate this conversation,” I said.

  “Oh, too bad,” said the little girl. “I enjoy chatting with you guys. It breaks up the monotony of my day. And besides, I feel like my advice could be very valuable. Being on a boat carries a lot of risk, you know.”

  “A risk,” Dooley whimpered. “A big, big risk.”

  “There is no risk,” I grunted. “Goodbye, Grace. Have a safe trip.” And I pressed the button to end the conversation. I turned to my friend. “Don’t listen to Grace. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “But she had a lot of very interesting things to say, Max! About mines and torpedoes and monsters and sharks…”

  “Nothing is going to happen to us, Dooley. We’re in a harbor, and the water is very shallow here. Plus, there are no mines, no submarines, no monsters, no sharks, and most definitely no divers ready to attach explosive devices to our hull because they think we might be an enemy vessel for some strange reason.”

  “Divers with explosive devices!” Dooley cried.

  Oh, shoot. Now I had gone and done it myself.

  CHAPTER 19

  Her confrontation with the obnoxious Brian Johnson had left Emily reeling. If she was going to have to spend another two weeks with this man, she needed to find a way to avoid bumping into him, which wasn’t going to be easy, considering the limited space the Audrey offered. It also meant she wouldn’t be able to use the pool or the jacuzzi, two of her favorite places on board the ship.

  For a moment she didn’t know where to turn for advice. She didn’t want to bother Harry again, and knew she couldn’t count on Amanda or Steven. And when she passed by Odelia’s cabin, she found her deep in conversation with her husband, so she held up her hand and mouthed, ‘Talk to you later!’ and left.

  As she stepped back into the corridor, she caught a glimpse of Sarah Dawson. One of the crew members Steven employed had just gone in to bring the stricken royal a little snack and a cup of tea, and when Emily walked past, Sarah beckoned her in.

  “Close the door,” said Sarah. Emily gratefully accepted her invitation to pull up a chair and take a seat. Sarah was in bed, her head propped up by several pillows, and she looked pretty pale.

  “How are you doing?” asked Emily with concern.

  “This mal de mer has really taken me by surprise,” Sarah lamented. “I didn’t think it would be this bad, especially considering the fact that we’re not even moving.”

  “It’s a vessel, it always moves a little,” said Emily. “What did the doctor say?” She knew Amanda had asked a doctor to drop by the boat, just to make sure Sarah wasn’t suffering from something else entirely.

  “He gave me some pills, and said it should take the edge off the nausea. And it does, it really does, but I’m still feeling a little dizzy.”

  “Poor thing,” said Emily feelingly. “I hope you feel better soon.”

  “Oh, let’s not talk about me,” said Sarah with a weak smile. “How are you doing? Has Brian Johnson been bothering you again?”

  Emily stared at the woman. “How did you know?”

  “I have my sources.” When Emily simply stared at her, she laughed. “That sounded very James Bond, didn’t it? No, it’s just that I’ve made friends with the woman who just brought me that cup of tea. She’s French and very kind. She’s the one who told me about some contretemps she happened to witness just now between you and Brian. How he was obnoxious and practically threw himself at you.”

  “He didn’t exactly throw himself at me, but yeah, he was pretty obnoxious. Said he’d be all over me if he was thirty years younger.”

  “He tried the same thing with me,” said Sarah. “He’s not a bad person, but when he drinks he becomes a little handsy, shall we say? I’ve talked to Amanda about it, but she said it’s just typical Brian.”

  “She doesn’t care that Brian is forcing himself on her guests?”

  “I guess not,” said Sarah with a shrug.

  “And that’s typical Amanda,” said Emily before she could stop herself. The moment she had spoken the words she realized she had made a terrible mistake. Sarah was Amanda’s honored guest. “I’m sorry,” she said immediately. “I didn’t mean that.”

  “I think you did,” said Sarah, and studied her for a moment. “You’re not exactly having a great time on board, are you, Emily?”

  She hesitated for a moment, but finally confessed, “It hasn’t been easy.”

  “I can imagine.” She smoothed the sheet with which she had covered herself. “It was much the same for my mother, you know. When she married my father, his family wasn’t all that welcoming. Quite the contrary, in fact.”

  “Your mom?”

  Sarah looked up, and Emily admired her green-flecked eyes. There was a definite sparkle there, in spite of the paleness of the woman’s face. A liveliness that spoke of Sarah’s intelligence. “My father’s parents weren’t exactly over the moon when he announced that he had proposed to her. They had someone completely different in mind for their youngest son.”

  “Oh, so your mom married into the royal family, did she?”

  “She did, yes. My father is a minor royal, and we don’t even live in London, but still we’re part of the family. So when he introduced my mother to his parents, they weren’t happy. She wasn’t exactly high-born herself, you see.” She laughed. “I can imagine it came as quite a shock to my grandparents when my father brought his future wife home for the first time. Especially my grandmother took an instant dislike to her. Though I have to say that’s all in the past now. They didn’t become best friends, but Grandmama tolerated her. But if it hadn’t been for my father’s unwavering support, it would have been so much harder.”