Page 57 of Millie's Cruise Ship Mysteries
Gloria shifted her feet. Back and forth, back and forth.
The head of security stopped what he was doing and stared at them. “Are you two okay?”
“We sampled Fire Up, an energy drink that the fitness center sells.”
A mischievous grin filled Patterson’s face. “Giselde got you.”
“Camille tried it first. We were curious after discovering someone had tried prying the cabinet open.”
“Fire Up is potent.”
“You’re telling me.” A sweat broke out on Millie’s forehead. She grabbed a tissue and began dabbing at it.
“It’s hot in here.” Gloria tugged on her blouse, her face turning a blotchy shade of red.
“Water helps.” Patterson reached inside his mini fridge, removed two bottles of water and handed each of them one.
Millie unscrewed the cap and guzzled the contents while Gloria did the same.
“Much better,” Gloria gasped. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Fire Up isn’t for the faint of heart,” he said. “I have the first clip ready.”
Millie and Gloria stepped in behind him. A shadowy figure stealthily crept across the theater stage and out of view. A second camera, this one mounted in the corner above Millie’s office door, appeared.
The vandal reached into a sling bag, removed a canister and sprayed the outside of the door before shoving it back into his bag and slinking off.
Patterson clicked through a couple of screens. Another still shot appeared. He pressed the play button again. The darkly clad figure appeared. Similar to the previous incident, he took the canister from his bag and spray-painted the handicapped restroom door. Instead of cow, they wrote crip.
“What does crip mean?” Gloria asked.
“I can’t be certain, but my guess is it’s short for cripple.”
“How rude,” Millie said. “Sharky didn’t mention this.”
“Because I had my guys remove it this morning. One or two passengers may have noticed it but not many.”
“You said the fitness center was first,” Millie prompted.
“Correct.” Patterson clicked out of the screen and opened another one. He zoomed in on the frame before pressing the play button.
The trio silently watched as the same person approached the door leading into the fitness center. He removed the can from his bag and wrote “Fix” with a line through it on the door.
After finishing, the vandal entered the fitness center and veered right, out of the camera’s range.
“They’re heading toward the storage room where the Fire Up is kept,” Millie said.
“We don’t have a camera mounted in there. Clearly, they knew what they were looking for.”
“I know who I would start with,” Millie said.
“Arturo Bautista,” Patterson said. “His brother is being held in Miami until the FBI concludes their investigation.”
Millie stared blankly at the screen. “So maybe it wasn’t just Angelo behind the theft, vandalism and pranks. Maybe the brothers were in on it together.”
“I was thinking along the same lines.” Patterson started to add something and abruptly stopped.
“You’re keeping an eye on him.”
