"I have no right, true, but I can keep you here. And while we're on the subject: don't get it in your pretty head to try and escape. The men on this ship are expert swimmers. You wouldn't get fifty yards even if you tried real hard."

"You can't keep me a prisoner forever." Her face twisted with loathing. A woman had never looked at Pitt like that. It made him feel uneasy.

"If my little caper comes off as planned this afternoon, you'll be out of my hair and in the hands of the gendarmerie by suppertime."

Suddenly Teri stared at him speculatively. "Is that why you disappeared last night?"

Pitt was ever amazed at the way her huge brown eyes—her devastatingly beautiful eyes—could run through so many emotions in one blink. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I sneaked on board one of your uncle's ships just before dawn. It was a most instructive excursion. You'll never guess what I found."

He watched her closely, mentally predicting what the next blink would bring.

"I couldn't imagine," she said dully. "The only ships I've ever been on were ferries."

He walked over and sat down in the bunk. The soft mattress felt good. He leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head. Then he yawned long and slowly.

"I beg your pardon. That was rude of me."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"You were going to tell me what you found on Uncle Bruno's ship."

Pitt shook his head and grinned. "Female curiosity, once piqued it's insatiable. Since you insist, I found a map to an underwater cave."

"A cave?"

"Of course. Where else do you think your good uncle conducts his slimy business from?"

"Why are you telling me these stories?" The hurt look was back. "None of them can be true."

"Oh good God, get some sense in your head. I'm not telling you anything new. Von Till may have hoodwinked INTERPOL, the gendarmerie and the Bureau of Narcotics, but he didn't fool yours truly."

"You're talking nonsense," she said slowly.

"Am I?" he asked thoughtfully. "At precisely 4:30 this morning your uncle's ship, the Queen Artemisia, anchored off the coast below the villa. The ship was loaded to the gills with heroin. Surely you must know about the heroin. Everyone else does. It has to be the worst kept secret of the year. I've got to hand it to your uncle, he's a master of the old magician's routine: dazzle the audience with one hand while you perform the trick with the other. His little act is about to end, however. I have a little trick of my own that will bring down the curtain."

She was silent for a moment. "What are you going to do?"