Part 3 (1/2)

She made kind of a frown. ”I don't know, he seemed like kind of a nice guy.”

”Don't get cold feet on me now, baby.” He stood up and hugged her. ”I been working on an idea for when we get home. Something that'll fix all our problems. No more sneaking around.”

She looked up at him, a hopeful look on her face. ”Really?”

He nodded. ”Really.”

Standing in front of the tiny dresser, Dan slipped his wallet and cash, the bills folded and held together by a gold-colored money clip, into his pockets. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a pistol. It was blue steel, Beretta .25 semi-auto, just a little bigger than the palm of his hand.

”What's that thing?” Lucy said.

Dan tucked the gun into the front of his waistband and pulled his s.h.i.+rt-tail down over it. ”Nothing.”

”Don't tell me nothing,” she said, voice rising. ”I can see it's a gun.”

He turned to face her. ”Then why'd you ask?”

”What are you gonna do with that?”

”It's like an insurance policy.”

She folded her arms across her chest. ”What are you talking about?”

He reached out and put his hands on her shoulders. ”You hope you don't have to use it, but it's there just in case.”

Turning away from him, Lucy said, ”You know I don't like guns.”

Dan got there ten minutes early. He'd stopped in at the bar and ordered three beers. Two for him and one for William.

Standing on the mid-level deck at the back of s.h.i.+p, he polished off the first beer. With one hand he kept hitching up his shorts; the Beretta felt like it weighed a ton, like his pants were going to fall down to his knees. Sure someone was going to notice he was carrying a gun, he kept looking around to see if anyone was staring at him, but there was no one there, he was alone.

The empty beer bottle he tossed over the side, watching it as it tumbled down and disappeared into the darkness. Not seeing it splash into the foamy water of the s.h.i.+p's wake and definitely not hearing it over the hum of the engines.

There weren't many people out this time of night, and those who were either hung out on the top deck, the one directly above him, or on the main deck below him. For some reason the middle deck wasn't popular. It gave him an idea.

Dan was halfway through his second bottle when William showed up. He handed his old neighbor the unopened beer. William took a sip then asked Dan why all the mystery.

Dan was leaning against the railing, beer in his left hand, left elbow propped on the top rail. William about four feet away, leaning back against the rail, both of his elbows resting on it. Glancing down he saw that William's feet were about a foot and half away from the railing.

Dan reached into the back pocket of his shorts and pulled out the small envelope he'd gotten from the purser's office. He'd put a five dollar casino chip in it to give it some weight and had Lucy write William's name on the front.

”I think she likes you,” Dan said. ”She asked me to give you this.”

William's face brightened. ”Really?”

”I swear,” Dan said, holding the envelope out to William.

As William reached for it, Dan let the envelope slip from his fingers. ”I got it,” Dan said, as he stooped over and set his beer bottle on the deck.

Suddenly, he lunged forward and wrapped both arms around William's legs.