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The captain cleared his throat. Dilan arched his eyebrows.
“Did you examine the room thoroughly?” Zane asked.
“There wasn’t even a trace of blood or the suggestion of an indent in the carpet,” Dilan confirmed. “And there was no body to be seen.”
“Mr. Roberts, as the captain of this vessel, I have to assure you that there is nothing on this ship that I don’t know about.” Captain Evans put his hand on Zane’s arm as he guided him toward the door. “Nothing slips past me. So, if a man had died and somehow gotten into Miss Sheppard’s room, I’d know about it. Trust me.”
Zane always disliked people who demanded trust. In his experience, they always seemed to be the people who were least trustworthy. “Are there security cameras on Miss Sheppard’s deck?”
“Yes, yes. Not in the cabin, of course, but Dilan checked the feed and found nothing unusual. No sign of a body being dragged into Miss Sheppard’s room—only her steward entering to turn down her sheets.”
“And her steward, he’s been accounted for?” Zane couldn’t make sense of any of this.
“Yes, of course, Ben is fine and didn’t see anything untoward happening on Miss Sheppard’s deck or the one below that he’s in charge of.” Captain Evans still held Zane’s arm—or tried to anyway—and motioned down the hall. “I wonder if you’d be so kind as to keep an eye on your friend? Make sure she’s okay for the remainder of the trip? And, of course, let me know if any new information comes to light?”
Was he being asked to spy on Cammie? He didn’t know her well and the evidence didn’t add up, but Zane’s gut was telling him that something was very off about the captain, not Cammie. The man definitely had some secrets of his own…secrets that might be helpful to dig into where Zane’s own investigation was concerned.
“I can do that,” Zane said.
“Good man!” Captain Evans patted his arm before turning away. “I’ll make sure you’re comped some extras while you’re with us.”
And now it felt like a bribe. “That’s very thoughtful, thank you.”
Captain Evans waved him off. “My gratitude for your empathy. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some things to discuss with Dilan. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Roberts.”
Zane didn’t bother to respond before heading down the hall and away from the captain’s office. He needed to get online so he could dig deeper into the crew profiles. There was something very fishy about the captain and his security chief that had Zane’s investigative radar pinging—definitely something that might influence his own case.
He didn’t get very far before Cammie pounced. She curled her hand under his arm and kept him walking. “We need to talk.”
“Hang on.” He used his considerably bigger size to halt them both, which forced Cammie to fling back enough to crush against his chest.
“Oof!” She braced herself with both hands on his pecs then looked up like she had no idea why they’d stopped walking.
“Are you okay?” Zane maybe didn’t believe one hundred percent that Cammie had seen what she said she had but he did one hundred percent believe that she believed she’d seen a dead man on her floor.
Cammie frowned as something that looked a lot like impatience flashed across her face. “Yes. I mean, no. Well, I’m pissed off that no one believes me about what I saw. I’m not delusional or on drugs.”
She was sleep-deprived if the bags under her eyes were any indication, and they’d definitely worked up a sweat together in his cabin. Exhaustion could cause a person to see things that weren’t there.
Zane had sense enough to keep that observation to himself.
“I’m frustrated that nothing is being done to figure out what happened to the guy that I found in my room—where his body is, for starters, and maybe, how did he die? There was no blood that I could see, but his face was contorted kind of, like he’d been strangled or at least taken by surprise.” She pushed away from him. “Which is why I need your help. I’d like to hire you—”
“Hire me?” Alarm bells went haywire in Zane’s head, along with the dawning suspicion that he’d said something he maybe shouldn’t have in one of the post-coital chit-chats he always seemed to do after a good orgasm.
“Yes, to investigate what I saw.” She rolled her eyes.
Zane sighed. Cammie may not have been drinking all night be he certainly had. “I told you.”
“That you’re a private investigator?” Cammie looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “Uh, yeah, don’t you remember?”
Zane closed his eyes briefly before ushering her to the side and away from potential eavesdroppers. “Listen… I can’t help you with this. I have my own”—he cleared his throat then lowered his voice even more—“my own investigation to conduct. I don’t have time to follow up on what you think you saw.”
“What I think I saw?” She crossed her arms and her lips thinned, which, fascinatingly, made her dimples pop. “You don’t believe me.”
“Cammie, you saw something. I believe that. But maybe it was some guy who’d had one too many and ended up in your cabin somehow.”
“You think I tripped over a drunk guy?” She huffed. “You think a drunk guy somehow stumbled into my room, then passed out on my floor with his mouth and eyes open, not breathing, blinking or having a pulse.”
