"But take a real good look," Nana instructed. "It"s got real fine detail. Little oars. A fishin" rod. A tackle box. Your grampa woulda loved that boat."
Yeah, Grampa Sippel had always been fond of well-appointed fishing boats and ice shanties.
Bailey dropped the chain back under her blouse. "You think we"ll be leaving anytime soon? Seems like everything around here is always hurry up and wait." She looked around the cabin once more. "Would you excuse me? I"m going to stake out a seat while there are still some available."
"Us, too," said Nana, grabbing Bashful and Snow and heading off behind her.
I leaned against the wall by the men"s head, completely flummoxed. So now what? Throw in the towel?
I shook my head and tried to think of the kinder, gentler days of my youth, when my responsibilities included nothing more than playing, daydreaming, and netting fish for Grampa Sippel when he"d nose his boat out into Gull Lake. Only Grampa never called it a fishing boat. He"d always called it a -- Bailey"s fourteen-karat gold charm flashed in my brain. I pushed away from the wall, trembling at what I was thinking. I scrubbed my face with my hands, puzzling together all the pieces of the jigsaw, until the whole picture revealed itself to me -- the lies, the illusions, the chance meetings, the deceit. Holy s.h.i.t! Sh.e.l.ly had been right! Something weird had had been going on! been going on!
Unlooping my la.s.so from my waist, I coiled the rope into two large circles. Targeting my prey, I strutted toward the bow, and with Wonder Woman stealth, slid into the bench behind Friar Tuck. "GET HIM!" I yelled as I threw the la.s.so over his head.
"Are we doing that again?" Dopey asked behind me.
I jumped onto Tuck"s back, clobbering him with my fists. "You fake!"
"GET OFF!" he barked, twisting his body to detach me.
"Leave her alone!" shouted Jonathan, steamrolling across the aisle to head b.u.t.t Tuck in his round little belly. WOOF! WOOF! "Let her go!" "Let her go!"
"She has me!" me!" Tuck spat, batting Jonathan"s florets out of his face. Tuck spat, batting Jonathan"s florets out of his face.
"Emily, dear!" I heard Nana yell over the din. "Do you know that man?"
"YES!" I screamed, sinking my fingers into his beard and ripping it off. "IT"S DORIAN SMOKER! Sh.e.l.ly recognized him even in his beard and fat suit. She called him a dead man because, guess what? He"s supposed to be dead!"
"Owww!" he hissed, clapping a hand to his naked jaw.
"Who"s Dorian Smoker?" asked one of the crayons.
"DORI?" screeched Catwoman, pouncing up onto a bench. "You"re alive? You sc.u.mbag! You rat! I"m going to kill you myself!"
In the next moment Smoker jackknifed his body and catapulted me over his head, propelling me into Jonathan"s stalk like a misfired rocket. BOOM! BOOM! We crashed to the deck in a heap of limbs, my head woozy as Smoker jerked me onto my feet and collared his arm around my throat. "No one is going to move, or I swear, I"ll snap her neck like a twig." We crashed to the deck in a heap of limbs, my head woozy as Smoker jerked me onto my feet and collared his arm around my throat. "No one is going to move, or I swear, I"ll snap her neck like a twig."
Catwoman clawed the air hard enough to draw blood. "I don"t care what you do to her. I don"t like her anyway." She leaped onto the deck, her eyes spitting venom as she took a step toward us. "Sh.e.l.ly"s right. You"re so dead, Smoker. Meooow!" Meooow!" She scratched the air again, making me cringe to think what she might have done if there"d been chalkboards handy. She scratched the air again, making me cringe to think what she might have done if there"d been chalkboards handy.
"Not so fast," Nana said, seizing her tail as if it were the end of a tug-of-war rope. "Sneezy! Dopey! Lucille!"
Jennifer shot a glance behind her shoulder as her forward motion suddenly switched to a backward slide across the deck, compliments of three dwarfs and a pig.
"That"s my granddaughter," Nana scolded Jennifer. "So we"re not gonna make no waves. Understand?"
"Let go my tail!" Jennifer twisted her body around, swatting at Sneezy and Dopey. "So help me, Granny, when I get my paws on you, I"ll --" THUNK! BOOM BOOM.
Snow White stood over Catwoman"s body, all satisfied smiles and innocence. "Whoops. My walking stick must have slipped."
The green Crayola elbowed the brown one. "Help me out here. Are those guys dwarfs or elves?"
"Step away from her body!" Smoker snarled at the dwarfs. "Nice and slow. That"s it. Now, everyone over to the port side of the boat."
People shuffled left. People shuffled right. The undecideds stood in the center aisle looking desperately confused.
"TO THE LEFT!" Smoker bellowed.
Everyone shuffled left while Jonathan rolled around on the floor like an upended tortoise.
"I"ll save you, Emily!" he vowed as he tried to get his legs beneath himself. "Any minute now!"
Nana raised her hand. "Excuse me, Professor, but I seen on a Travel Channel special where too many people crowded onto one side of a boat wasn"t a good idea, on account a it could make the boat capsize and sink."
"I"ll make a note of that, Mrs. Sippel." He exerted pressure on my throat as he wrenched me into the aisle. "Anything else?"
Nana gave her mushroom cap hat a little scratch. "I can"t figure somethin" out. If you"re still alive, who was it what got throwed over the side?"
"No one!" I croaked within his hammerlock. "It was a sham! He --!" I gasped in panic as he tightened the circle of his arm.
"No one died?" Nana enthused. "Did you hear that, Emily? Isn"t that nice?"
"You"re a thief, sir," Tilly accused. "What have you done with my journal?"
"And a sweeter journal I have never seen, Professor Hovick. You"re going to make me a very rich man. Thank you for the windfall. Where would we be without the unmitigated trust of Midwesterners like you? No need to worry about the book"s whereabouts; it"s safe. In a place where you"ll never find it, I might add. Can you believe the d.a.m.ned thing was authentic?"
I squirmed futilely in his grip, nearly breaking out in song when Darth Vader swept menacingly into the cabin, boots pounding, cloak flying. Thank G.o.d! Duncan would know what to do. Duncan wouldn"t let my neck be snapped like a twig. Duncan would -- "If you"ll kindly join the others," Smoker instructed calmly, "I won"t be forced to break this young woman"s neck."
Duncan joined the rest of the group without a word of protest. A little disappointing, considering he could have protested in five freaking languages! five freaking languages! On the up side, at least Smoker hadn"t called me ma"am. On the up side, at least Smoker hadn"t called me ma"am.
"Hold on, Emily," Jonathan wailed, his feet flopping around like fish. "I"ve almost mastered it."
Smoker made a point of kicking Jonathan"s stalk as he steered me around him. "Who would have thought that a lowlife like Griffin Ring could change my fortunes so radically two centuries later? Finding his journal was like winning the lottery."
"I won the lottery," Nana piped up. "If you let Emily go, I"ll write you a check. I got twelve million."
"Twelve million?" said Dopey. "Last time I heard it was eight."
"Tech stocks," she explained. "I made a killin" before I bailed."
Tilly"s expression hardened. "Since you have the journal, Professor, I a.s.sume you also have the treasure?"
"A logical a.s.sumption. You were quite lucky to uncover it the way you did. I was absolutely certain it was buried somewhere on the grounds of the Secret Falls; that"s why I scavenged the place on my own after all of you cleared out. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea, and much to his detriment, he recognized me." He jerked my body around in the direction of Nils and Gjurd. "Sorry about your companion, gentleman, but it couldn"t be helped. Prime example of wrong place, wrong time."
Nils seemed to expand to twice his size. "It was you you who killed Ansgar?" His voice thundered like that of the Great Oz. who killed Ansgar?" His voice thundered like that of the Great Oz.
"Not my fault. He forced my hand."
Color stained Nils"s cheeks. "You killed him? You stole his wallet? You boarded the ship using his identification?"
Smoker nodded. "It couldn"t have worked out better if I"d planned it myself."
Roaring in anguish, Nils hurled his trident through the air, scoring a direct hit in the center of Smoker"s forehead -- a blow that could have killed him if we"d been talking steel instead of styrofoam.
Smoker kicked the trident out of the way as Tilly"s voice grew more stern. "You forced your way into my cabin last night and stole the puzzle box."
His manner grew short, his calm rapidly deteriorating. "Aren"t you the academic genius? Thanks for leaving it in the open the way you did. You made my job much easier. Ransacking a cabin isn"t my idea of fun."
My eyelids flew up into my head at his admission. Smoker was the one who"d stolen the treasure from Nana"s cabin? Smoker Smoker was the one who"d shot pepper spray into my face? was the one who"d shot pepper spray into my face? Smoker was the one who"d slammed me into the wall? Smoker was the one who"d slammed me into the wall? SMOKER WAS THE ONE WHO WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING TO NANA IF SHE"D ANSWERED THE DOOR? SMOKER WAS THE ONE WHO WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING TO NANA IF SHE"D ANSWERED THE DOOR?
I inhaled a deep breath, clearing my mind, expanding my lungs, energizing my will, igniting a hot, inner fire that turned me into the justice seeking Amazon known as WONDER WOMAN!
"AAARH!" I screamed, hammering my boot heel into the instep of his sandaled foot. He yowled in pain, dropping his arm from around my throat to hop backward on one foot. I spun around and slammed my palm upward into his nose. CLONK! I dropkicked his kneecap. THUNK! He stumbled backward over Jonathan, falling onto his fat suit in an awkward heap.
"I"ve got him!" cried Jonathan, rolling on top of him like a giant rolling pin.
I pivoted on my heel. "Grab Bail --"
She was smiling at me from the far end of the aisle, a can of pepper spray in each hand, fingers on the nozzles. "You are such such a pain," she said patiently. "Get the broccoli off Dori, then step aside." a pain," she said patiently. "Get the broccoli off Dori, then step aside."
NUTS! Would n.o.body give me a break here?
"You"ve got some good moves for an escort," she said begrudingly. "Self-defense lessons?"
"It"s the costume," I said, panting. I stood my ground, matching her stare for stare. "You fell in love with the wrong man, Bailey."
"Says you. I know he"s the right man."
"He"s slept with half the student population of Penn State!"
"So? He"s a man. He has needs."
"Does he need condoms?" Nana interjected. "Margi"s got extra."
I shook my head. "So if he was sleeping with the immediate world, why keep your relationship with him a secret? What difference would it make to anyone?"
Bailey stared at me as if I"d suddenly sprouted a spare head. "Hel-looo? I can"t afford to have any hint of scandal appear in my personal records. I want to teach in the Ivy League! You think I"d stand a s...o...b..ll"s chance in h.e.l.l if word got out that I was s.h.a.gging my major professor? If I don"t maintain the appearance of being intellectually superior and morally upright, I end up at East Podunk University with all the other academic losers. Do I strike you as the kind of person who"d let that happen?"
"I"ve heard a East Podunk," said Nana. "Where"s that at? New Jersey?"
Bailey threw an irritated look at Nana and Tilly before circling back to me. "You put two and two together, didn"t you? Dori thought he was being so clever by giving me that necklace. No one ever made the connection. He loved it that we were pulling the wool over everyone"s eyes."
I shrugged. "People in Pennsylvania might say rowboat, or fishing boat, or dinghy, but in the land of ten thousand lakes where my grampa lived, a lot of people say dory dory. So if you"re wearing a fourteen-karat gold dory dory around your neck, and the people in Professor Smoker"s inner circle are the only ones allowed to call him by his pet name, I"m thinking that makes you about as inner circle as they come." around your neck, and the people in Professor Smoker"s inner circle are the only ones allowed to call him by his pet name, I"m thinking that makes you about as inner circle as they come."
She smiled with quiet respect. "Touche." "Touche." Nils hedged slightly toward her. Nils hedged slightly toward her. Pssssssst! Pssssssst! She blasted him with her pepper spray. She blasted him with her pepper spray.
"Uff da!" he cried in a spate of rabid Norwegian, driving his fists into his eyes. I winced in sympathy. he cried in a spate of rabid Norwegian, driving his fists into his eyes. I winced in sympathy.
"Anyone else?" she offered. "There"s plenty where that came from."
"Nice job playing the aggrieved graduate student," I complimented her.
"Thanks. I minored in theater as an undergrad."
"So how was this supposed to work?" I prodded. "Smoker dies, then the two of you rendezvous on some remote Carribean island where you divide the proceeds from the sale of the journal and treasure?" I tried not to react as Darth Vader materialized by the men"s head behind her. Wait a minute. Darth was already there. I shifted my gaze from the evil lord on my right to the one standing straight ahead. Holy c.r.a.p Holy c.r.a.p. There were two of them?
"Orkney Islands," Bailey corrected. "Not so much tourism there. A change of ident.i.ty for Dori. A fake pa.s.sport. It was rather an ingenious plan, considering how quickly we had to hatch it. Dori gets to escape the censure of school administration for his s.e.xual practices, and I get to spend the rest of my life with a man who has placed me in the center of his universe."
"You and everyone else," I fired at her. "Not to mention, he killed a man!"
"That wasn"t part of the plan. What do you want me to do? He said he was sorry! Look, enough with the chitchat. Help him onto his feet. We have a boat we need to sink."
Halfway up the aisle, Jennifer French stirred back into consciousness, coiled her body around to regard Bailey, and before I could blink, charged at her like an offensive tackle.
"EHH!" cried Bailey, as the pepper spray flew out of her hands and rolled out of reach.
"Catfight!" cried Dopey, leaping onto a bench for a ringside seat as the two women crashed to the deck with a reverberating BOOM! The two Darths swept forward, one yanking Jennifer to her feet, the other hoisting Bailey off the floor.
"Leave me alone!" Jennifer shrieked at Darth Number One, swinging her fist at his mask. "Daaaamn!" she cried, cradling her hand against her black feline chest. "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! You"re all b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"
I shook my head. Was anyone besides me noticing that Jennifer might have a few unresolved issues with anger management?
"Give it up," Darth Number One ordered Jennifer, forcing her onto an empty bench.
"You, too," ordered Darth Number Two, cuffing Bailey to an upright pole.
He had handcuffs? I looked on curiously. Was that part of Vader"s official equipment, or were cuffs only included in the superdeluxe version of the costume?
"Emily!" Jonathan beckoned from atop Smoker, his florets fluttering wildly. "I could use a little help over here!"
The dwarfs and crayons rallied, coaxing him to his feet and standing him upright, while two little pigs replaced him on top of Smoker, paralyzing the professor beneath six hundred pounds of pork on the hoof. "Would somebody get a picture of this?" yelled one of the pigs. "Emily might be able to use it in her newsletter."
I brushed off Jonathan"s stalk, embarra.s.sed that I could have ever thought him capable of murder.
"Did I do good?" he asked shyly.
"You did great." I flashed him a face-cracking smile, my mouth dropping open as I looked beyond him to the two Darths who stood before me, minus their breathing masks. EH! "Duncan?" I rasped, touched by the desire playing on his handsome face. "Etienne?" I whispered, warmed by the pa.s.sion smoldering in his electric blue eyes. "You"re both here." I forced the smile to remain on my lips. "Imagine that." And one of them had asked me to marry him.
Euw, boy. This was a little awkward. "About my cabin upgrade." I darted a desperate look between them. "That was so generous and...and romantic of you!"
"It was nothing," said Jonathan.
I swiveled my head, drilling his little green face with a horrified look. "Excuse me?" "Excuse me?"
"Your upgrade. I wanted to thank you for saving my life."
"You?" I stabbed my finger at his stalk. "You paid for the upgrade?" I stabbed my finger at his stalk. "You paid for the upgrade?"
"I was happy to pay for it."
"But you have no money, Jonathan. You don"t even have a job!"