Page 63 of Ship Happens
“No clue. I have no secrets. I guess King grew tired of me trying to climb the ladder, so he figured this was the best way tobe rid of me.” She keeps her voice steady, but the hurt shines in her eyes. “I just don’t know how I’ll tell my mother. This was her greatest fear.”
“That you’d give up your government job?”
“No,” she says with a laugh. “That I’d fall in love with a serial killer and abandon my scruples.” Her eyes widen and her lips clamp shut. “Not that I’m in love. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Sure it’s not,” I say as I drag her against me again. She struggles to pull away, but I just hold her tighter. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I tend to have this effect on women.”
She lands a punch to my side. How cute. “I’m not in love with you. I just like you.” She punches again, a little weaker this time. “A lot.”
I lean down and kiss the top of her hat. “I like you too. A lot. And that’s why I don’t think you should do this.”
Leaning back, she looks up at me. “You don’t think I should kill Castle?”
“No, I don’t. I think you should let me do it.”
The pirate music cranks up again, and Jim shouts for everyone to man their stations. Still locked in an embrace, Frankie and I watch as people scurry to and fro, some setting up for the event and some preparing to play.
The crew drags pieces of a small metal stage to the middle of the deck, where they begin a speedrun assembly of the multiple pieces. Another group rolls the barrels up a shallow ramp and onto the stage. This must mean they were part of the games all along, not just set dressing.
“What’s in the barrels?” Frankie asks.
Eve steps up beside us. “No clue, but what the fuck is happening on the island?”
Frankie and I turn toward the blip of land. Most of the Normies still sit at their tables, but toward the right end of the line, some sort of commotion has broken out.
I motion for Frankie to hand over the spyglass, and she does. As I peer down the long metal tube, I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
“It’s Ice Pick,” I say. “He’s fighting one of the...” I lower the spyglass. “Shit.”
“What?” Eve squeals. “Don’t leave us hanging like this, honey! Spit it out!”
I push the device into Eve’s hands and motion for her to see for herself. She ends up as speechless as I am as she passes the spyglass to Frankie. They had to see it for themselves. No one would have believed me otherwise.
Because on the island, Ice Pick is currently refereeing a vicious cat fight, and they appear to be fighting overhim.
“Oh, the money I would pay to be the fly on that potato salad,” Frankie says. “I want to know what they’re saying.”
Eve takes the spyglass from Frankie and holds it to her eye again. “I don’t know, but the brunette is finally walking away. Well, hobbling away. She’s missing one of her Red Bottoms, so she’s moving a bit funny.”
“Damn, I was rooting for the brunette,” Frankie says.
“Seems like you prefer blondes, though,” I say with a wink, and she swats my chest.
“Yall’s little fling ain’t no secret, honey,” Eve says with a flick of her wrist. “No need to keep playing coy when you already announced that you’re fucking him.”
Frankie’s cheeks blaze red, but she smiles before cracking her knuckles and looking around. “Where is everyone? It seems there aren’t as many people out here now.”
“Since Grim killed the fed, they were down a man, so their team bowed out. Rosie joined up with Bennett, Ezra, and Kindra because Cat had to go downstairs to die. I don’t know where the other team disappeared to,” Eve says. “Aven went to use the bathroom and hasn’t come back.”
A woman approaches from our left, and we turn to look at her. Her gray hair says she’s over forty, but like Frankie, her face and body could easily pass for much younger. I’ve seen her here and there in passing, but we haven’t spoken before, and this is definitely her first trip with us.
“Hello,” she says with a wiggle of her fingers. “Jim said I should join you guys because Aven no longer wishes to play. Something about being too hot. I’m Anne, by the way.”
Frankie looks her up and down and cocks her head. “What’s your designation, Anne?”
Anne blinks, her head slightly rearing back. “Pardon? I’m not sure what you mean.”
“What’s your assignment, then, if you feel the need to play dumb?”
