Death of an Aegean Queen Read Online Free

searched the vicinity for something that would give me a clue about what time it was.
    Giving it up as a lost cause in the dark and having no memory of where any light switches were, I stumbled to the door and opened it a crack.
    “I’m so, so sorry to wake you up at this hour, Dotsy, but I can’t find George anywhere.” Kathryn Gaskill appeared to be fully dressed and desperate. Rubbing a bit more sleep out of my eyes, I looked at her again. She was dressed in cropped pants and cotton shirt, but wore no makeup and her hair was uncombed.
    I waved her into my room and flipped a light switch I found near the door. She didn’t want to sit down, but I plopped myself on the side of my bed and yawned. “He and Ollie Osgood were going to the casino, weren’t they?”
    “Yes, but that was about nine o’clock. It’s after three now, and neither he nor Ollie is in the casino. I’ve already been up there and checked.” Kathryn’s tiny voice sounded strained.
    “Is the casino still open?”
    “I think it stays open all night. I asked a dealer and the bartender and the girl at the place where they change the money. The dealer remembered him and he remembered Ollie, too, because he’s so big, you know. He said George played blackjack at his table for a while, but he and the big man left a long time ago! About ten o’clock, he thought.”
    “Have you checked with Ollie?”
    “I don’t know what room they’re in. I remembered your room number because you said it was the number of days in a year.”
    “I’ve written their room number down somewhere.” I stumbled around, fumbled through my evening purse, and finally found the number on a note pad beside my phone.
    I called their room and Lettie answered in a sleepy sort of croak. Ollie didn’t know where George was. In the background, I heard Ollie’s gravelly voice saying, “He went back to his room. Same time I did.”
    Lettie and I put Ollie and Kathryn on the phone so they could communicate directly. Kathryn pumped him for more information but it appeared that he wasn’t much help. She hung up and said, “They went up to some guys’ room and played poker for a couple of hours. A couple of guys they met in the casino. But Ollie says they left about midnight. He says he got back to his own room at twelve-fifteen.”
    “And George was on his way back to your room then?”
    “Oh, golly! Where can he be? George isn’t a big drinker. He wouldn’t have gone to the bar, I’m sure.”
    “There’s a disco lounge on one of the upper decks, I heard. We could check there. If you’ll give me a minute to dress, I’ll go with you.” I could think of little I’d like to do less than get dressed and go hiking around the ship, but Kathryn was clearly in need of a companion. I pulled on a pair of Bermuda shorts and a big shirt while Kathryn stood near the door, her hands clasped prayerfully in front of her face.
    “Wait,” I said. “Didn’t I see some deck plans of the ship in the booklet they gave us when we boarded? Let’s take it with us.” I found my envelope full of shipboard information under my bed and pulled out the booklet I wanted. The first diagram showed the disco bar on the Zeus deck at the very top of the ship.
    “Before we hike up there, Kathryn, I think we should try the promenade deck first. He might simply be getting a little fresh air.”
    “For three hours? Well, at least it’s a place to start.”
    We climbed up one flight and out the same doors Marco and I had used earlier in the evening. The deck was deserted now except for two women at the rail about forty yards to my left.
    “If he’s out here, we’ll miss him completely if we walk around the ship together and he’s walking the same direction we are,” I said, imagining us and George Gaskill, like carousel horses on opposite sides, circling eternally and never meeting each other. “You go that way,” I said, pointing to the right as I pivoted to my left. I passed the two women.