Those birdlike eyes glared at him. “Captain, I am a most careful woman. I do not drop or mislay things.”

“I do apologize, Mrs. Waldeck. As I said . . .”

“Mrs. Waldeck,” Darcy interrupted, “have you had any visitors to your cabin, apart from the steward? Anyone who could have noticed where you kept your jewel case?”

“Nobody—except that movie actress woman, Stella Brightwell. She did come in here one evening but I didn’t let her in.”

“Stella Brightwell?” the captain said. “Is she a friend of yours?”

“Never met the woman in my life. I heard someone trying my door handle when I was getting undressed. I opened it and there was Stella Brightwell. She was a bit tipsy, I think. She apologized and said she had an identical suite one floor above ours and she had come up in the elevator and must have pushed the wrong floor button.”

“Easy enough to do, I suppose,” the captain said.

“If one has consumed too much alcohol. I was in favor of prohibition, myself. And these actresses—they may look pretty but not a brain in their heads. In the old days it used to be the true upper classes who traveled on ships like this. Not so-called Hollywood royalty. I don’t know what the world is coming to.”

The captain escorted me back up the stairs while Darcy and other crew members searched Mrs. Waldeck’s cabin. Having instructed Queenie that she was to stay in my cabin until told that she could go out, I went up on deck. Queenie had not been happy. “But what if you don’t come back and I miss me dinner?” she demanded.

“Until recently you were groaning that you could never face food again,” I pointed out.

“Ah, but I got me sea legs now and me appetite has come back. And bloody good food they serve here too.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t miss your dinner, I promise,” I said. “But stay unobtrusive. Keep the curtains partly drawn so that nobody can see you’re in the room. And if anyone tries to come in, call for help right away.”

“What exactly is this in aid of?” she asked.

“You are not to say a word to anybody, but someone may come to steal my jewels.”

This made her convulse in laughter. “Gorn!” she said. “You ain’t got nothing worth stealing with yer.”

“I know that, but the thief may not. Try to get a good look at him.”

“What if I’m in danger and he clobbers me?”

“I don’t think that will happen. If he sees you, he’ll simply disappear.”

“Bob’s yer uncle then,” she said.