45ebf3c490593574dd454e5dfd5a5758

Odelia nodded and took out her phone.“Oh, dear. He sent a message.” She frowned, then pressed her phone to her ear. “Garth, hi. Odelia,” she said warmly. “You wanted to talk to us? No, we went to St. George’s.” She listened for a moment, then suddenly sucked in her breath. “No way! When was this?” She pressed a hand to her phone and said, “Someone broke into Garth’s office this afternoon.”

“What did they take?” asked Chase, frowning.

“What did they… They did? No, of course. We’ll be there right away.” She hung up and stared before her for a moment, apparently assuming we could all read minds.

“What did they take?!” Chase practically yelled.

She jerked her head up.“Oh, um, the earring. Remember that earring he found in Lil Thug’s cabin? Someone took it.”

“Was it very valuable?” asked Dooley.

“I don’t think so,” said Odelia, then studied Chase’s face for a moment. “You don’t think…”

“Ruby?” said Chase, showing us they were on the same page. In fact all of us were. Ruby seemed to have earned herself quite the reputation by now, as the ship’s number-one thief.

“I really thought I’d gotten through to her,” said Odelia. “She promised me she’d never do it again.”

“I think you’ll find that she’s made that same promise many times before,” said Chase, and got up.

Odelia, too, rose from her chair, and I had a feeling our lazy afternoon was at an end. And not a moment too soon. Lazing about is all fine and dandy, but sometimes a cat likes to get some action, too. Even when on holiday!

23

When we arrived in Garth’s office Ruby was already there, and so were her parents.

“I swear I had nothing to do with it,” the girl was saying.

“But you were on the ship,” said Garth.

She nodded.“I didn’t feel like joining my mom and dad today. After all that’s happened I just wanted to stay here and spend some time by the pool.”

“And can anyone vouch for you—for the entire afternoon?”

“Yes—well, maybe not the entire afternoon. I was with Jacob most of the time.”

Both her mom and dad looked up as if stung.“Jacob? Who’s Jacob?” asked her dad.

“Oh, just a boy I met yesterday,” said Ruby.

“A boy? What boy? How old is this boy?”

“Let’s not get sidetracked here,” said Garth. “Were you with this kid all afternoon?”

“For the most part. He had to get back to work at three.”

“Work? What work? What does he do?” asked her mom.

He works in the casino,” said Ruby. “He’s training to be a croupier. He doesn’t get a lot of time off and he wanted to spend it with me, which I thought was very nice of him, as I don’t know anyone else here.”

“How old is this kid?” her father demanded.

“I don’t know, Dad. Nineteen, maybe? Twenty?”

“Twenty!”

“Look, he’s just a friend, all right? And he’s really sweet.”

“So you were with Jacob until three,” said Garth musingly.

“When was your office broke into?” asked Chase.

“I was here until four, then I was called away on some emergency in one of our restaurants. Two guys got into a fight and were smashing up the furniture.” He gave Ruby a not-too-friendly look. “Please tell me the truth, Ruby. Did you break into my office and take that earring?”

“No, of course not! Why would I break into your office?”

“Because you saw me put that earring into my desk drawer when you were in here yesterday and you wanted to have it?”

“Oh, my God! Who do you think I am? Danny Ocean’s grandkid?”

“Who’s Danny Ocean?” asked her dad.

“I don’t know the first thing about breaking into an office, all right?”

“You broke into our cabin,” Odelia reminded her.

“No, I didn’t. The door was open. The cleaner had just left and the door was open.”

Garth didn’t look entirely convinced, which just goes to show the girl’s dilemma: once a thief, always a thief.

“I would like your permission to search your daughter’s room,” said Garth, suddenly adopting a formal tone.

“Yes. Yes, of course,” said the girl’s mom, looking visibly shaken.

“You won’t find anything,” said Ruby. “I didn’t take your stupid earring. It’s ugly anyway.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Garth, and nodded to Chase. “Can you keep an eye on her?”

“Of course,” said Chase, and so now suddenly he and Odelia had been relegated to babysitting a potential criminal and her distraught parents.

And as Garth walked out, Ruby’s mom said, “Where is Jacob from?”

“Oh, God, Mom, seriously?”

“You remember what we discussed yesterday, Ruby?” asked Odelia.

The girl nodded.

“What did you discuss?” asked her mother.

“Nothing,” said Ruby, refusing to look at her folks.

“Did you do what we talked about?” asked Odelia.

“I haven’t had time yet. Mom and Dad were out all day.”

“What…” Ruby’s mom laughed nervously. “What’s going on here?”

“Ruby has something she wants to talk to you and Charles about,” said Odelia.

Ruby rolled her eyes.“Can we do this some other time? Like when I’m not being accused of stealing?”

“Do what?” asked her mother.

“Please, Mom, not now.”

“Is this about that boy? Did you ask Odelia about anti-conception? Because if you did, you know you can always talk to me, honey.”

“Mo-om!”

“I just want you to know that you can ask me anything. Anything at all.”