Page 34 of Under the Radar
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Mo pretty much floated from the gangplank through the halls of the ship on the way to her stateroom. It didn’t bother her a bit that Mac wasn’t keen on going to Little Havana tonight. Invigorated from the hours of sun and exercise they’d enjoyed on the beach, she hadn’t felt this alive and refreshed for a long time.
And hungry. The snacks they’d nibbled in the late afternoon in between bites of each other were wearing off. She stopped by her stateroom to pick up fresh clothes. There was a note in her mailbox.
Mo, do you know a Charles Reardon? He’s been texting me trying to get a hold of you. Three times today. If you need to use my phone, I’ll be in the Lido dining room for a couple hours. After that, I’ll be at shows and in the casino with a HOT date! Love ya—Emily
Mo’s heart flip-flopped. Why was her dad trying to get in touch with her? Was her mother alright? She’d texted him the other day with Emily’s phone to let him know she was on a cruise.
She opened the safe to retrieve her phone and stopped. It needed charging and she hadn’t purchased the Wi-Fi plan, which would mean a trip to the customer service desk.
A shower would have to wait. She grabbed her lanyard, jogged toward the elevator and caught the lift door just as it was shutting. The other passengers shuffled to let her in. For the first time during the cruise, the lift shot non-stop to the Lido deck.
Mo swerved around people near the food lines, glancing up and down the rows of tables. There she was—all cozy in a corner booth eating with her new stockbroker friend. Emily smiled at her and waved.
“Em, the person texting you is my dad,” Mo said as she reached their table. “I didn’t get the Wi-Fi package.” She smiled and introduced herself to the stockbroker.
“Hey, no problem.” Emily handed over her phone. “Take as long as you need. We’ll be here for a while.”
“Thanks. I owe you big time.” Mo accepted the phone and walked to a quiet section of the dining room. She sat facing a gorgeous red and orange sunset over the glimmering water and texted her dad. Can you talk?A sense of dread sucked the energy from her earlier lighthearted mood.
Her phone rang within seconds.
“Dad—is everything okay?”
“Sweetheart, we’re fine here. It’s you I’m worried about. Are you okay?”
“I’m great. I just got back from a day in South Beach. Why are you worried?” She hated it when she worried her parents. As if they didn’t have enough to think about.
“I had a visit from the Baltimore City Police yesterday afternoon. They’re looking for you. The detective said your apartment had been broken into and that you were missing. I’ve been frantic trying to get a hold of you. I texted three times yesterday, and three times today.”
Mo rubbed her forehead with an index finger. “My apartment was broken into, but I left the cops a note stating I was fine and a key so they could get in there. They should’ve told you that. What else did they say?”
“Nothing. I think the detective, guy’s name was Brewer, was fishing for information, so I acted clueless and told them you were supposed to be on vacation. They said you’re wanted for questioning. Why do they want to question you?”
Well, here goes. Mo explained everything in hushed whispers as she burrowed deeper into the unoccupied recesses of the dining room. The Escalade, the drugs in the trunk, the interview at the police station, the trashed apartment, the hotel room overnight, and finally—booking the cruise to sail miles and miles away from Baltimore. Her stomach twisted as she relived the damned nightmare right down to the red shoes in the toilet.
“Maureen, you need a bodyguard, and a lawyer. Do you want me to call Hadley in on this?”
So, the vermin had taken her non-disclosure seriously? Good to know. “I already retained Jason. He accompanied me to the interview at the police station. I asked him to keep my name out of the papers. He told me to stay close, but that was before I stumbled into my trashed apartment.”
“Hadley didn’t mention it to me, but he wouldn’t since you placed him on retainer. Why did you turn off your phone?”
“Dad, I don’t want anyone tracing me while I’m out of town. I shut it down and used Tia’s credit card.”
“Good. You’ve always been a fast thinker. Did you ever get around to stashing cash in the floorboard safe I made for you?”
Mo cut him off. “Yes. I can never go back to that apartment, Dad. They even destroyed Nana’s dresser.” The mental image of her grandmother’s broken dresser still slayed her.
“Honey, why didn’t you come home? You would’ve had everything you needed here.”
Mo shook her head. “And bring trouble to your doorstep? No. I didn’t want to risk this mess hitting the papers and hurting the company. I needed a vacation anyway.” Her hands agreed as she glanced at her pretty manicure.
Her father sighed long and deep. “The police suggested I beef up the security around here, which I’ve done. And I doubled the number of bodyguards in Cape Cod for your mother and her friends.”
Mo groaned. It was reprehensible that her mother now knew about this mess and it would affect her long-anticipated vacation with her college friends. If only she could go back to last Friday and park her Escalade in the school parking lot. Damn it.
“I’m sorry my actions have caused you and Mom heartache.” She ran a hand through her sand-laden hair and nervously toyed with an earring.