Cabin Fever. Mary Leo

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      “How do I know he’s all right?” She pleaded into her cell phone, tears streaking her face. “I need to talk to my son.”

      “He’s fine,” he said lightly. “Never been better. A boy needs his father. I don’t know why I stayed away so long.”

      “A court ordered you to,” Tracy reminded him.

      “That was your fault,” he yelled. “If you weren’t cheating on me, none of that would have happened.”

      She wiped the tears away with shaking fingers as she remembered the beatings she’d suffered. Being involved with Sal and his scheme scared her more than she could imagine, but she knew she had to be strong for her son.

      “I never cheated on you, Sal.”

      He laughed and her knees went weak. “Don’t lie. It won’t help the situation. You’re a whore. Everybody in Vegas knew it, but I was just too blind to see it. Hell, if it wasn’t for that blood test I got on this kid, I wouldn’t even know he was mine.”

      “He looks just like you.”

      “Yeah, lucky kid.”

      “I want to talk to my son,” she repeated, forcing herself to sound calm as she sat on the floor of her tiny cabin and nervously picked at the tan carpet. The floor was strewn with brochures announcing the silly, gimmicky pendant hunt. Brochures that she hadn’t even finished passing out because Sal had tried to call her several times on her cell phone. It was only now, after the ship had left the pier, that she had time to finally take the call.

      “I want my diamond,” he insisted. “That bastard Giorgio Tzekas owes me. He’s in prison, but my payment is still on that ship and I want it.”

      Sal had loaned Giorgio Tzekas, who had been the first officer of the ship, a lot of money. Tzekas had been going to pay him off with the diamond, but had been arrested before it ever happened.

      “It’s a big ship, Sal. It’s going to take time.”

      “Honey, the longer it takes, the more the kid and I are bonding. How old is he now? Five? Six? He’s a pretty smart kid.”

      Her mouth felt dry and her throat tight. “He’s five, Sal. He just turned five.”

      “Yeah? I bet he knows what a whore is.”

      Tracy squeezed the phone tighter, praying she could keep her voice calm, not let him hear her fear. “Sal, put Franco on the phone.”

      “Let me see if I can say this in words you might understand. Find my damn diamond!” He swore, and then her cell phone gave her those sweet tones to indicate that the caller had hung up. Tracy called him back several times, but Sal never answered.

      She slowly pulled herself up from the floor and began picking up the brochures, when suddenly it was as if a light had gone off somewhere inside her head. Why hadn’t she made the connection before? She quickly skimmed the brochure again, excited about the possibility.

      Could this be the necklace she’d been looking for? The necklace that was hiding Sal Morena’s diamond? She’d heard that water sports instructor—Dylan somebody or other—mention how Patti and Ariana had found the pendant among Mike O’Connor’s things. He was that fake priest who’d smuggled real antiquities among the reproductions he lectured about when Alexandra’s Dream was cruising the Mediterranean. She’d simply assumed it was a piece of costume jewelry. However, now that she saw how big the silver teardrop was in the brochure, her heart skipped a beat. She knew with every fiber of her being that she was actually looking at Sal’s hidden diamond. The coincidence was too strong.

      Could she really get her hands on the pendant? One of the passengers would need to find it first, of course. There were almost a thousand passengers on board and all she had to do was find the one wearing that pendant. God help her, she would do whatever it took to steal it away so she could get her son back.

      There was a knock at her door. Two of the other dancers were calling her for the bingo game they were working together. The other dancers seemed to love the extra duties they had to perform, but she’d been secretly dreading them, especially bingo. But now she was thinking of ways she could take on more duties.

      That way she’d have greater exposure to passengers.

      “Coming,” she yelled through the door as she touched up her makeup in the mirror above the small dresser. When she looked human again, long chestnut hair combed behind her ears, golden eye shadow caressing her brown eyes, red-apple on her lips, she opened the door, smiling. “Can I take the floor first? I really can’t wait to meet our passengers.”

      “Sure,” one of the dancers said. “But I thought—”

      “Never mind what I said before. I’m loving all this extra duty. It’s exactly what I need to, um, get over a really bad relationship.”

      The other girls started comparing bad breakup stories as the three of them made their way to the Bacchus deck and Caesar’s Forum casino. With each step, Tracy could feel hope blossom as she formulated a plan to find the passenger with the pendant.

      BECAUSE THE KIDS WERE SO excited about Becky finding the pendant they wanted to eat dinner early and at the Garden Terrace buffet instead of the formal dinner in the dining room. Of course Estelle wanted nothing to do with casual dining, but relented when the kids were so persistent.

      Laura, Connor and Sarah had all insisted that Becky wear the pendant to get her luck started right away. She had contacted Patti Kennedy to report that she’d found it, and within thirty minutes a steward had brought her another large basket of goodies—there had already been one in the room—and a list of the perks she and her family were entitled to. Becky hadn’t had time to go over everything, but was definitely considering the free massage in the spa.

      Of course, the leaflet also made it quite clear that the pendant had to be returned at the end of the cruise for even more surprises. Sarah couldn’t wait to see what those were.

      Reluctant to attract attention as they made their way to the Garden Terrace, Becky compromised and told the kids she would wear the pendant once she had a chance to tell the rest of the family.

      Laura had helped her convince the kids of the plan. The reality was, both Becky and Laura knew that if Becky took all the attention away from Laura’s mother, Kim, and her grandmother, Estelle, on the very first night of the cruise, the rest of the trip would probably turn ugly.

      The dining room was surrounded by large picture windows and the tables were positioned in tiered seatings. There was a relaxed attitude about the place that Becky liked. She didn’t have to worry about what she wore, or if her kids were using the proper fork. It was the first night of the cruise, and now that she had found the missing treasure, she was feeling rather comfortable about the entire adventure.

      That was until the rest of the Montgomery clan walked up to the table and everyone began a marathon of hugs. Estelle was wearing some sort of purple cowboy hat, matching purple jacket and leather pants, her blond hair perfectly styled. Then there was her ex-husband Mark. According to Laura, he’d only agreed to come on the cruise because of his grandkids. He and Estelle had recently divorced after being married for nearly forty years, and Estelle was probably going to use this cruise to try to win him back. She hated losing a fight, and theirs had been a whopper.

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