Baked Alaska by Josi S. Kilpack Page B

worked it. She could do obnoxious, even if it wasn’t her favorite part to play, and it might be worth it. But both Pete and Shawn had asked her to stay away. Would she betray their trust and perhaps complicate whatever it was they were doing?
    Another option was to snoop around on her own and see what she could learn about this Tanice woman...at midnight...on a ship with three thousand passengers, not counting at least a thousand staff members. That didn’t seem like it would be a very effective use of her time.
    She could wake up Breanna and force some answers regarding what she might know, but that was assuming what Breanna knew was connected to the woman. And Breanna had already been so stressed out tonight.
    Why was Pete so supportive of the idea of waiting until tomorrow to tell her what he knew? That was perhaps the scariest part—whatever it was must be so bad that Pete needed time to figure out his approach.
    Without thinking about it any longer, Sadie popped the pill into her mouth and chased it with a glass of water from the bathroom sink. She went through her nightly routine while obsessing over what Shawn and Pete were doing, wondering if Tanice was coming out of her stupor and, if so, what she and Shawn might talk about.
    Not long after climbing into bed, her thoughts began jumping in and out of reality, a sign that the pill was kicking in. Hadn’t Jennifer Hudson once been a cruise ship performer? Was Jennifer Hudson on this ship? Was Steven Tyler a merman?
    The final thought she had before she fell asleep, however, was remarkably lucid. What was Ben from the wine bottle gift tag doing right now? And why hadn’t he been in the welcome photo?

Chapter 9
     

     
    Sadie’s brain woke up several minutes before her body recovered from the chemically induced sleep. It was why she’d stopped taking the pills unless she absolutely had to—waking up felt like swimming through oatmeal. Or Jell-O. Or the ship’s bread pudding.
    Finally she was able to open one eye, then the other. She stared at the darkness since she couldn’t yet move her head. There wasn’t a window in the room, so there was no indication of daylight or time. She heard the movement of passengers in the hallway on the other side of the door, though it wasn’t loud.
    She was eventually able to sit up, and a minute later, she stood, and once her brain accepted that she was officially awake and in motion, she moved toward the bathroom where she turned on the light, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. She undressed and then stepped into the shower. The water ran over her head for a solid five minutes before her brain finally remembered what had happened the night before. She straightened up so fast that she hit her head on the side of the tiny shower. She quickly washed her hair, then shut off the water, stepped out of the shower, and dried off as quickly as she possibly could. She hadn’t gone to bed until nearly midnight; it had to be close to eight o’clock by now. Shawn and Pete might already be waiting for her in the library.
    Having not thought to bring her clothes into the bathroom with her, she wrapped herself up in a towel and opened the door slowly. She didn’t want to wake Breanna, so as soon as there was enough light in the cabin for her to see the drawers of the tiny dresser opposite the bathroom door, she moved as quickly and quietly as possible, gathering her underthings and a pair of jeans from the drawers before moving toward the closet for a shirt. A quick glance at Breanna’s bed caused her to do a double take, however.
    Breanna’s bed was empty, her pajamas wadded up near the pillow. Sadie hit the main lights, illuminating the room. Where was Breanna? What time was it? She hurried for her cell phone on the nightstand. It didn’t have reception, but it still had the time.
    “Ten fourteen!” she said aloud, then dropped the towel and proceeded to get dressed a whole lot faster. Once dressed, she returned to