Page 42 of Wicked Trouble

“So, you don’t think the captain has anything to do with the missing money?”

“Evans? Nah. He’s too much of a boy scout.” Jasper tapped his cue on the floor. “You’re cleaning up! I’m not even going to get a chance to take a shot, am I?”

Zane chuckled as he lined up another two balls.

“According to my dad, the captain is suspicious of everyone. Thinks that it might be the crew who are up to something, but he can’t nail down what’s going on.” Jasper tsked when Zane missed the next shot. “Doesn’t help that his Chief of Security is a moron.”

Zane snorted.

“Seriously, there isn’t a full brain between Ross and Evans.” Jasper sunk another ball. “Dad told me that the captain’s been cutting corners with security measures to save money.”

The missing camera on Cammie’s floor must have been a victim of cost savings, along with all the other decks that Zane had noticed didn’t have video feeds.

“Now he’s got my dad sold on sinking more money into this place when it’s hemorrhaging.” Jasper shook his head. “I heard the captain even pressured his bro to hire a PI.”

Zane froze on reflex but recovered quickly. “Oh yeah?” He tried to sound casual, disinterested even, but the news that it was the captain who’d pushed for bringing in a PI sent Zane reeling. Cal Underwood obviously hadn’t been upfront with Zane about having his brother on board as the captain. He also hadn’t been upfront about Evans being the one to spearhead the investigation. Was that an effort to keep Zane unbiased or was it an attempt to handicap Zane from the get-go? Or was the captain putting himself up for Zane’s scrutiny so that he could be ruled out, because he had nothing to hide? That sounded too calculated for a moron.

It would make way more sense to Zane to have had access to all the captain’s knowledge from the second he’d boarded the ship. If the captain wanted Zane blind to keep him from being skewed, then Zane had to wonder why. “Sounds like those old narc stories that used to go around when I was in high school. Everyone was always worried that there was an undercover cop pretending to be a teenager.”

“Yeah, right?” Jasper laughed before getting all serious about his next shot. He lined things up then sank the next two balls into pockets. He chalked up his cue before leaning over the table again. “Makes me think that maybe you and Cammie don’t just happen to keep running into my father after all.” Jasper took out the eight ball. “And maybe there are two investigators on board instead of one.”

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