cafeteria making tomato soup!”
“Tomato soup?” Stone questioned.
“Or maybe not,” Daisy reconsidered aloud, oblivious to Stone. “He’s probably eating in the dining room with my money !”
“If we could take this one step at a time, Ms.—?”
“Moon,” the purser interjected.
“Daisy Moon,” Daisy confirmed. “And we have to hurry or he’ll spend all my money out of spite. He might even throw it overboard!”
“I know this is very upsetting, Ms. Moon, but we need more information. Start at the beginning. When did you discover the robbery? Did you see the man—”
“His name is Max Kendall,” Daisy interrupted. “And I didn’t need to see him to know he stole my money and credit cards!”
The two men exchanged glances. “You know the man who robbed you?”
“Yes! Well, not exactly. Kind of. In an odd sort of way.”
Stone took a deep breath while Keller pulled out a pad and pen from his shirt pocket. “Please, sit down, Ms. Moon,” Stone requested. “I’ll have Purser Smith check the passenger list for a Max Kendall.” The grandmotherly woman moved to her computer screen. “Now, Ms. Moon, take a deep breath and start at the beginning.”
Daisy sat down on the vinyl sofa, took a deep breath, and started from the beginning. The very beginning, from when she first met Max and his mother at her garage sale, then detailing her date with Max and his subsequent lawsuit, before moving on to his surprise appearance on the ship and finally ending with the theft of her wallet and the cash which had been tucked inside her shoe—“a leather basket-weave in matte gold.” She even mentioned Otter Bite and her new job at Wild Man Lodge so they would understand why she was on the ferry in the first place. When she was done, the two men shared an uneasy look.
“I think he’s stalking me,” Daisy finally suggested.
“It’s certainly coincidental,” Stone said ambiguously. “And you’re positive the man you saw this morning is the same man from your garage sale?”
“Chief?” the purser interrupted. “I found Max Kendall on the passenger list. No cabin. But he’s on a wait list. I remember him now,” she added, intimating just how memorable she thought Max was. “He’s in a full leg splint and those lounge chairs are pretty hard on him.”
“Told you,” Daisy said, ignoring the purser’s sympathy for an undeserving thief.
“But there’s no Adam Bricker,” the purser added. “ Anywhere .”
“Adam Bricker?” Stone asked with suspicious eyes.
“Yes. He’s a friend of Ms. Moon’s. They had dinner last night.”
“He’s not my friend ,” Daisy countered. “I mean, he is my friend, but first he’s the medical officer. I can’t believe you people don’t know your own crew.”
Stone and Keller quirked their heads in unison as if they shared the same light bulb.
“Believe me, Ms. Moon, we do know our crew,” Stone informed her. “Now tell me about this Adam Bricker.”
Picking up the ominous tone in the chief’s voice, Daisy looked first at Stone and then at Keller. She started to speak when a figure in the doorway caught her attention. Her eyes widened and her right hand flew into a point. “Oh my God! That’s him. Right there! That’s him !”
All eyes shot to the doorway and lighted on the dark-haired man with stubbled cheeks and a mix of dread and disbelief on his face.
Stone mustered an imposing stance. “Are you Adam Bricker?”
“No!” Daisy squawked. “He’s Max Kendall—the man who stole my money!”
Fifteen minutes later, Daisy stared at a fax with a fuzzy photo of Myron Porter, aka Dr. Adam Bricker, aka Captain Merrill Stubing, and aka Julie McCoy.
“Julie McCoy?” Daisy asked incredulously. Apparently, women were not Myron’s only victims—whom he typically drugged with sleeping pills so he could safely rob their cabins.
Stone shrugged. “In this work, after a while you see everything. So, Ms. Moon, is that the man you had
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