Page 40 of Hook, Line and Single

‘Sorry. It’s a police thing, I guess. I’m very observant, and I saw you folding it up and putting it in your pocket.’

‘It’s not a crime, is it? You’re not going to arrest me for failing to hand in an empty form?’

‘Of course not, but it got me thinking. We took part in the speed dating just as much as anyone else, so why shouldn’t we be in with a chance of winning Barry’s Bonanza? It’s actually a good prize and I think you deserve it for being such a selfless friend to Sam. So I disguised my handwriting, filled in your name at the top of my form, wrote my name underneath as a match, and put it in the box.’

‘But that’s only half the equation. It only works if there’s a matching paper with your name at the top.’

‘Exactly. So I pretended to Barry that I’d lost mine and he happily gave me another one. I filled it in with your name underneath, put that in too, and we won! So unless you have other plans, which I sincerely hope you don’t, an air-conditioned Mercedes is waiting on the dock to take us for a VIP tour of Malta at Barry’s expense.’

‘But…’

‘What?’

‘Surely Barry must know that we didn’t spend any time together at the dating thing last night? He’s going to smell a rat, isn’t he?’

‘I’ve learned two things about Barry. He’s a hopeless romantic and he’s not very observant.’

I study him for a moment. I know I ought to be cross about being outmanoeuvred again, but it’s actually a lovely thing for him to have done, and I can’t help but grin at him. ‘For a police officer, you have some very shady practices.’

He smiles back. ‘Sometimes you have to resort to unconventional methods for the greater good.’

‘What if we hadn’t won? Did you have a contingency for that?’

‘I was fairly confident we would.’

‘Why? Is there something else you need to confess?’

‘Nothing shady this time. Just honest deduction, I promise. The way I saw it was this: on a speed dating event like that, you’re probably not going to get that many matches. You might get one or two, but the odds are slim. That’s part one. Part two is all about the box and Barry. I carefully made sure that ours were the last two slips to go into the box, meaning they’d be on top of the pile and therefore be the first two that Barry drew out. He’s got his match for the big prize, job done. He probably didn’t even look at the others.’

‘Did they teach you that in police college?’

‘Not exactly, but they did encourage us to look at problems from a variety of angles, not just the obvious ones.’

I think for a moment. ‘There is a big flaw in your plan though.’

‘Which is?’

‘Barry’s going to expect us to wax lyrical about our date and basically become a couple. Either that or we have to say it was a disaster and not speak to each other for the rest of the cruise.’

His expression falters for a moment. ‘Good point, but I’m sure that’s not an insurmountable problem. Let’s figure something out while we’re on the tour.’ He swigs down the last of his coffee. ‘Coming?’

* * *

I have to admit, as the day draws to a close, that Barry’s Bonanza is actually rather better than the tour I’d booked for Sam and me. The car took us straight to Mdina, where we had a happy time exploring the silent city before it got too hot and, crucially, before the main tourist buses arrived. Once we’d seen everything we wanted to there, we were whisked across to St Julian’s for lunch in a superb pizzeria before being given a guided walking tour of Valletta in the afternoon. When we started to flag, we were taken back to the ship and we’re now sipping ice-cold drinks by the pool, which is pleasantly quiet as most people are still on their shore excursions. This is the first time I’ve been here since my unfortunate encounter with Guido, but I’m relieved to see no sign of him today.

‘I have a suggestion, if you’re open to it,’ Cameron says as a gentle ocean breeze just takes the edge off the heat.

‘OK.’

‘It’s about Sam, Barry and how we deal with all of it.’

‘Go on.’

‘The way I see it is this. From what you’ve told me about Sam, she’s going to be pretty heavily invested in Robin until the end of the cruise, assuming they don’t fall out first.’

‘That’s true,’ I admit. ‘He seems like a nice guy, from what I saw of him last night, so I’d say their chances of falling out are pretty slim. Sam’s an all-or-nothing person when it comes to romance, so she’ll definitely be putting the work in.’

‘That leaves you kind of on your own. I know you don’t mind that, and I don’t want to presume anything, but it does potentially make things awkward because you’re part of the Friends of Marco Polo group, so Barry’s going to be on the lookout to matchmake you.’

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