“Hint that you’ve left it safely in your jewel case in your cabin. Then see if the thief comes to take the bait.”

“And you want me to stay in my cabin to catch the thief? What about when I’m asleep?”

“Have your maid stay in the cabin when you’re not there and we’ll have it watched at night. It is the last night before we land. We don’t have much time.”

“Queenie? You want Queenie to do something brave and responsible?” I had to laugh.

“She’s been pretty brave before, Georgie. Hopeless in many ways but certainly she has spunk. Didn’t she try to clobber me once when I was sneaking into your room?”

I went pink again and nodded. “It’s worth a try, I suppose.”

Darcy stood up, patting my shoulder as he did so. “Good, then chat freely to your fellow passengers, especially at dinner, and we’ll see.”

I was about to get up too when someone banged on the captain’s door. A worried young officer came in. “Captain, sorry to barge in like this, but a Mrs. Waldeck has reported a diamond ring missing. She knows it was in her jewelry case as she took it off after the ball last night. And when she went to put it on, after the lifeboat drill, it was gone.”

“So your thief has not been idle after all,” the captain said, looking at Darcy.

Chapter 10

ON THE BERENGARIA

STILL JULY 15

I followed the captain and Darcy as we made for Mrs. Waldeck’s cabin. She was a skinny, almost gaunt, American woman with a beaky nose that made her look like a bird of prey. And at this moment she looked ferocious enough to pounce on any of us.

“What kind of ship are you running here?” she demanded. “You hire crew members who are criminals and thieves—send us up to the top deck for a completely unnecessary lifeboat drill, insist that our servants also leave their posts and then wonder that valuable jewels get stolen. What did we need another drill for, I’d like to know? We are not children. We learned our lifeboat stations on the first day out. And now here comes this stewardess saying, ‘Hurry up. Everyone wanted on deck,’ as if we were a flock of ducks.” She paused for breath then wagged a threatening finger at us—a finger dripping with rings. “I expect you to search every cabin and have my ring restored to me before we dock in New York or there will be hell to pay. Believe me, Mr. Waldeck is not a forgiving sort of man. He will be furious. The ring came from his mother and is valued at over ten thousand dollars.”

“Mrs. Waldeck, I assure you we will do everything within our power to find your ring. Are you sure you didn’t just drop it or mislay it?”