Deadly Reunion by June Shaw Page B

down, we were worried about the extent of his injuries. Sue insisted we go to the medical center.”
    “That seems like extra concern if she and Jonathan had only met,” Gil said, voicing my thoughts.
    “A security guard turned us back. They’d only let Jonathan’s family members inside or someone with an emergency. Sue and I went up to our rooms. The next time I saw her, she was hurt.”
    “And she’d been to see the doctor,” Gil determined. “She was hurt near enough to her eye so that her wound constituted an emergency. If she’d hit any closer, she could have lost her eye.”
    “That’s what your uncle told her.”
    “Are you guessing what I am—that she led Jonathan on? He convinced her to come to his stateroom under the impression that she was all woman—but then discovered she wasn’t?”
    “I don’t know what to believe. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Help me sort out what happened and maybe ask your uncle about that type of surgery.”
    He rubbed his chin. “After Sue went down there, she learned the injured man was dead, is that correct?” he asked, and I nodded. “Maybe Jonathan had discovered she was still part man and really put her down, crushing her feelings.”
    I cringed, determining he would voice the final thing I feared about what had happened between Sue and the man who’d died.
    “There you are, Cealie,” said a voice I knew.
    I pushed up to my feet. “Sue,” I said with an involuntary shudder.

Chapter 6
    I sounded high-pitched to my own ears, saying Sue’s name. I worked to get my tone deeper. “Where are the others? Are we gone from the glaciers?”
    “Why? Would I be doing something bad if I stopped watching them?” Sue asked.
    Not nearly as bad as what Gil just suggested you might have done.
    “Not at all. There will always be glaciers. We hope,” Gil said.
    “We’ve moved away from them,” Sue said. “Oh, the rest of the gang is way over there, looking around for us. Let me go get them.” Taller than most, she marched off, waving her hand above the crowds in the hallway.
    “I’m going to leave so you can be with your friends,” Gil told me, adding a brief kiss. “I don’t imagine you’d want to come over for a nap after lunch?”
    My stern eyes gave the reply.
    “Got it. Maybe you’ll feel better this evening. I’ll be in my room before midnight.”
    Midnight? Where would he be until then? I wouldn’t ask him, just like I wasn’t going to inquire more about who he’d taken this journey with before.
    Sue caught up with the others from my class and pointed toward us, leading the group our way, a huge smile across her face.
    Gil leaned closer to me and spoke with a guarded look toward her. “Just be careful. You could be fooling with someone who’s dangerous.”
    “Why? What do you think happened?”
    “She got thoroughly pissed at that man for making derogatory comments about her sex change and later saw him coming toward the dining hall. With no one else around, she shoved him down the stairs.”
    I drew back. Maybe I’d entertained similar thoughts but had nudged them out of my mind. After all, she was my blood relative. She wouldn’t do anything so sinister.
    “Talk to your uncle,” I told Gil.
    He gave my classmates a wave and strode in the direction opposite from their approach.
    Sue stopped. “He didn’t want to be with us?”
    “He had an appointment.”
    “On a ship?”
    “Maybe at the spa, just like you did yesterday,” Jane said.
    Sue appeared puzzled. Seconds later her eyes brightened as a realization seemed to dawn. “Right, for my massage.”
    “You had a massage? Already?” Randy asked. “Did you come on the ship tense?”
    “Doesn’t everybody live with tension?” Sue asked in a snippy tone.
    “I don’t. I have a terrific life.” Jane’s smile spread toward her ears. “How about you, Tetter?”
    “It’s okay,” she said with a shrug.
    “And you seem really happy, Cealie, especially when you and your