Murder on the High Seas - The Devereaux CaseFiles Book 3

Chapter 19

Raidon decided that, after another three days of hearing nothing from Reed, he was going to go against Gino's 'advice' and investigate the cruise ship. There was something going on that Gino wasn't telling him and if no-one was going to let him on the big secret, he would just have to discover it all by himself. He had managed to get hold of Gideon, two days before, to give him a rundown of all that he had found out so far, and the kid was pleased to hear he was taking the case on personally. Though he agreed that he wasn't sure how it was going to work, leaving Amilo and Fred in charge of the rest of the crew and their business. It was a risky move, but he needed some free time to himself to do the necessary investigation work and as far as he had found out, they weren't doing a bad job.

With Gideon gone and Reed retired, he was relieved to know that there were at least two candidates he could rely on to keep the whole crew going if he ever had to leave them. Reed had always gone off on his own adventures and jobs, so why shouldn't he do the same?

Thankfully, Raidon had more friends and contacts than Gino knew about. That Tuesday morning, he contacted one of those friends who had hacking skills and within an hour, he was patched through to an emergency phone line in the Captain's office. His friend, Collin managed to switch the phone on, remotely, so that Raidon could leave a recorded message on the answering system.

"I want to speak to Reed Devereaux." Was the only message he felt was safe to leave. He didn't want to give a name or the name of the agency until he knew who was receiving his message and what side they were on. For two hours, they sat by the phone waiting to see if anyone would call them back, and thanks to Collin's skills, they were able to hack into the working security cameras on the ship. Only three were left of what Raidon assumed would have been a good hundred or so. The three cameras came from the laundry room, which was empty; the kitchen which only showed a chef working away at the counter, and the Captain's office, which was also empty.

What Raidon didn't know was that the Captain's phone was regularly checked for contact with the outside world, just as the normal contact methods were watched over for incoming communications. It was a necessary part of taking over the ship; to make sure that no-one suspected anything, the ship had to respond to messages and communications as normal. So far, everything had gone smoothly, but when Palmer went to check the Captain's office that morning around ten o'clock, to see a red flashing light on the machine, he felt a short flutter of panic. He didn't have a clue what to do about it. Out of sheer curiosity, he played back the only message, which just said:

"I want to speak to Reed Devereaux."

He had heard the name numerous times, from Griffin, who had explained that Reed and his wife were to be left unharmed, as they were old friends of his and they would keep quiet during the voyage, without causing problems. So far, it had proven true, but now he began to wonder. Sitting down at the table, he checked the log of incoming calls, writing down the number the message had been left from. Though he knew it was probably a bad idea, Palmer couldn't stop himself from dialing out.

"This is the cruise ship Paradise Island." He spoke calmly and with authority, trying to act as a member of the crew, the moment the phone was answered. Raidon was surprised but relieved to have contact with the ship, after Gideon had so much trouble. Yet, instinctively he knew he was talking to someone who had never worked on a cruise ship in his life.

"I want to speak to Reed Devereaux." He repeated his request to speak to Reed, only to be surprised by the answer.

"Mr Devereaux is indisposed but well. May I pass on a message?" He wondered, managing to sound like he belonged there and had every reason to be answering the Captain's phone and handling his messages. Both he and Raidon knew that he had never met or spoken to Reed in his life, and that he wasn't much likely to either. They both played the game as well as they could without giving anything away.