Chapter 11

We rode the elevators up three decks, then followed a long corridor of doors until we found an interior room with 11205 on the plaque next to the door. Ranger rapped loudly. A second later, the door creaked open.

"Well ain't this a pip," Grandma Mazur exclaimed. "My granddaughter and soon to be grandson-in-law!"

Beside me, Ranger's lips twitched. I wondered if he was second guessing dating someone who swam in this gene pool.

"Can we come in?" I asked, glancing up and down the hallway.

Grandma moved aside, and we entered the tiny room. Our suite's bedroom, closet, and bathroom were bigger than the entire space combined. A king-sized bed occupied most of it, with a flat screen TV tuned to the ship's on-board station hanging on the wall across from the bed. A small closet and desk took up the rest of the floor space. The sound of someone showering could be heard from behind the closed bathroom door.

"Grandma, what are you doing here?" I demanded as soon as the door closed behind us. "Mom's been worried sick. She thinks you're lying dead somewhere."

She blew a raspberry. "Your mother worries too much. I mailed her a note, explaining where I was and when I'd be back." Something crossed her face, and she pulled a large black purse off the desk. Rummaging around inside, she pulled out a stamped and addressed envelope. "Whoops. Guess I was so excited I forgot to mail it. Oh well."

"Oh well? You're impersonating a dead woman and out of the country without your passport."

Waving off my concern, she pulled a passport out of the room safe. "Stella and I bear a striking resemblance."

She smiled, holding the passport photo next to her face. Aside from the wrinkles, Grandma and the late Stella Barnett looked nothing alike. Internally, I groaned. She was never going to get through customs on the way home. The ticket agent who allowed her to board must have been blind.

"That's why Ernie asked me to come along," Grandma continued. "He and Stella booked this cruise last year. Wanted to cross it off their bucket list, except Stella kicked the bucket first. The tickets were already paid for, and non-transferable. Ernie and I sort of hit it off at Stella's viewing, and he thought I could pass for her. He invited me to come along."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ranger fighting off a smile. Or a stroke. It was hard to tell which caused the twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"What are the odds?" Grandma continued, oblivious to any wrong doing on her part. "Us all on the same cruise? Have to say, wish I could have seen your mother's face when she heard you were marrying Ranger. Bet she was snookered by noon. But I couldn't resist that scoop. I've been telling everyone I see how my granddaughter is engaged to the hottest man on the ship. Our steward, Emilio. Everyone at the buffet. That little gay photographer and that good looking Asian bartender at the pool bar…"

Any amusement drained from Ranger's features.

I jumped in before Ranger found a way to permanently silence her. "Grandma, Ranger and I aren't really engaged. We're here undercover on a job for Rangeman. You need to stop telling people I'm your granddaughter."

The flames of excitement ignited behind Grandma's hazy eyes. "Undercover? You mean like spies? Gee whiz. You don't need to worry about me. I know how to keep a secret." She motioned zippering her lips. "So, who are you after? It's the cruise director, isn't it? Always thought she was shady looking…"

"We can't tell you that Grandma. Just, please, if you see me while out and about, just pretend we don't know each other, okay?"

"Okie dokie. But we should probably have a secret code signal, though, in case things are going south and you need my assistance. I've seen all those spy movies, and things always go south at the end. Then someone unexpected steps in and saves the day. I can be your backup."

By this point, Ranger appeared to be in physical pain. "Babe," he ground out through gritted teeth.

"Ranger and I have this covered," I assured Grandma. She looked slightly crestfallen. "Just, remember, Ranger and I aren't here."

At that moment, Ernie stepped out of the bathroom. Buck naked. If I'd thought time hadn't been kind to his face, it was nothing compared to the ravages on the rest of his body. As much as I wanted to turn away, my eyes wouldn't budge from the horror before them.

"Huh. Didn't know we had company," Ernie said, totally unfazed by his dangling bits. He walked across the room and bent over to pull open a dresser drawer.

I gagged. Ranger grabbed my bicep, dragging me from the room.

"Thanks," I muttered once we were safely back in the hallway. "It was like a horrific car accident. I just couldn't tear my eyes away."

Ranger just shook his head.

Back in our room, I sighed. "So how bad have I messed things up?"

"You aren't responsible for any of this, Babe."

"It is my grandmother, so I kind of feel like I am."

With lightning reflexes, Ranger grabbed my hand and then hauled me against him. "Listen to me. This is on me. I should have prescreened the passenger list, and I didn't. We're both well known in Trenton, and I failed to consider people who might know us would be onboard. I'm also the one who decided to propose in a very public place. It's my fault there was a video for your grandmother to post in the first place."

"Still, of the thousands of passengers aboard, it was my grandmother who might have blown our cover. Thousands of miles from where she ought to be. It's like I'm cursed. Have you honestly ever met someone more unlucky than me?"

"If that's the case, you're the luckiest unlucky person I've ever met." Brushing a piece of hair away from my face, his hand trailed down my left arm. He meshed our fingers together, then lifted my arm so the diamond on the engagement ring glittered in the light. His pointed look said it all.

"Can the investigation recover from this?"

He shrugged. "Depends on how much damage was done. We have to move forward assuming the jewel thief is still oblivious. If someone on board says something about your grandmother or seeing the video online, claim ignorance. Suggest she's got dementia. Stick with your cover. That's all we can do."

I nodded in agreement. "Should we let Tank know we located my grandmother so he can tell my mother?"

"I'll e-mail him," Ranger replied. "At least that's one less thing to worry about."

"You don't suppose he can assure my mother we're not engaged while he's at it?" I wasn't looking forward to the messages that were surely already on my phone. The entire Burg had probably called my mother today.

"I'm going to have to give him hazard pay for that, Babe."

I offered him a salacious grin. "I think you'll find I'll make it well worth your while."

His eyes darkened slightly. "I should hire you. You're an excellent negotiator." He propped open his laptop, typed out a speedy e-mail, then snapped the lid shut again before turning his full attention on me. "Pay up, Babe."

Thursday and Friday passed in a whirlwind. We spent Thursday ziplining in Puerto Rico, followed by the second formal evening aboard. Draped in diamonds to keep up appearances, my gut told me it was all for nothing. Friday we docked in Labadee, Haiti, the cruise line's private beach paradise. I finally got to do nothing except tan on a lounger surrounded by sun, sand, and sea. Getting my sunscreen reapplied every few hours by Ranger was just an extra added bonus. That man truly had magic hands.

Friday evening, we checked the cameras as the ship set sail for home. Nothing suspicious had been captured. It left us just two days to complete what now felt like a doomed mission.

"We aren't going to catch the thief, are we?" I asked Ranger as we finished reviewing the footage.

"We've still got Saturday and Sunday," he replied.

"Okay, but what are the odds, really? If the thief hasn't shown any interest by now?"

Ranger sighed, and it confirmed my suspicions. "My only guess, at this point, is that we were wrong about the thief switching out the stones in the room. There's one last opportunity for him or her, and that will be the night before we dock in Cape Liberty. Our luggage gets packed and put out in the hall, then taken down to the hold to get sorted and prepared for disembarkation. That's a good ten to twelve hours it will be out of our sight."

Perhaps all hope was not lost. "So that's the plan? Pack all the jewelry in a suitcase, then check it as soon as we get it back? How are we going to tell if it's been tampered with? And even if it has been, how do we find out who did it?"

"I always knew this was a possibility," Ranger replied, unflappable as usual. "I have a pinhole camera that I can hide in the lining of the suitcase that should capture anyone who opens the case. It'll record to a SIM card, and we can view it on my laptop as soon as we get our luggage back."

Even after his reassuring explanation, I still had an itch between my shoulder blades. "Cutting it a little too close for comfort."

"Tell me about it."

"So what do we do the next two days?"

"All the ports of call are behind us. If we somehow failed to garner the thief's attention by now, it's a lost cause. From here on out, we just relax and have fun." He elbowed me, a hint of a smile playing around his lips. "I believe you asked to get your ass kicked at bumper cars."

"Oh, bring it on, Batman. While you were learning to drive in Miami, I learned on the mean streets of Jersey. You've got nothing on me."

Ranger blinked once, silent for a beat. Then he tipped his head back and laughed long and hard, radiating pure joy. Snagging my arm, he dragged me over until I was sitting on his lap.

"This is why I love you."

Then he kissed me with enough passion to wipe my mind of all coherent thought, bumper cars included.

Saturday morning, Ranger let me indulge in the buffet breakfast again before demonstrating his destructive capabilities on the bumper car rink. He had an irritating knack for being able to strike my car at just the right spot on the rear quarter panel to send me into a 360 spin. To rub salt in my wound, he then took me up a deck to soundly kick my ass in several rounds of Halo in the gaming room.

"You could at least let me regen for more than two seconds before you snipe me," I grumbled as my virtual character's brains got blown out yet again.

The grin he shot me with was so full of carefree, teenage boy that it made it impossible for me to stay upset. Having played all our cards, with nothing left to do but wait, he'd truly put aside the job for a little while. I wondered if this was Ranger next to me at all, or a glimpse at the man he used to be. The real Carlos.

After lunch, he led me to the end of the line of people waiting to climb the ship's rock wall.

"Race ya," he offered, mood still light.

"Going for the trifecta, I see." Even if I hadn't just pigged out at the lunch buffet, I stood no chance of beating Ranger at a physical activity of any sort.

As expected, he reached the top and rang the buzzer before I'd made it half-way. Then he hung there, doing pull ups off the top hand holds until I finally heaved myself into range of my buzzer.

"Show off," I hissed across the space dividing us. Looking down, there were gobs of women, and a few men, watching his show of physical aptitude appreciatively.

He laughed, then pushed off the wall with his feet and rappelled back down.

"What do you want to do next?" he asked as I stepped out of the climbing harness. "There's a surfing simulator."

I rolled my shoulders back, cringing at the pops. "I think I'll pass. I've met my physical exertion quota for the week. What about that giant viewing ball thing that goes above the ship? That would be nice and relaxing."

And non-competitive.

A knowing smile graced his face as he said, "Sure, Babe."

The line for the North Star Viewer, however, was over an hour long. And my patience was significantly shorter than that.

"We currently have a short wait time for RipCord, our sky diving simulator," the line attendant informed us cheerfully, pointing toward the aft of the ship.

"Think I'll pass on that one too," I informed Ranger, already regretting the three pieces of pie I'd scarfed down for dessert. I really didn't need to see them make a reappearance.

He shrugged. "No simulator can compare to actually jumping out of a real plane, anyway."

"I'm just going to trust you on that." I had no plans to ever throw myself out of a perfectly good airplane. Or any desire to simulate throwing myself from a perfectly good airplane.

"Well, where to next?" he asked, amusement shining behind his eyes.

I pondered it for a few seconds. "The shops. I need to get some souvenirs for Mary Alice, Angie, and Lisa. And something for Connie and Lula to soothe the disappointment when they find out I'm not really marrying you."

"You ever want that to change, you just say the word."

I glanced over at him, intent on elbowing him for his joke, and caught his eyes. There wasn't an ounce of levity on his face. "Omigod. You're serious," I squeaked as I forgot how to inhale.

The corners of his lips twitched upward as he took my hand. "Breathe, Steph. I'm not down on one knee. It'll take a very clear signal from you before I do that again."

"Any by clear signal…"

He chuckled lightly. "You're going to have to tell me you're ready to get married. You know what I want, Steph." He fixed me with a soft look, and my heart melted. "Those things haven't changed now that I'm offering them to you. But this relationship will move only at the pace you're comfortable with."

I've been known to leap before I've looked on more than a few occasions. I did that once before with marriage in my eagerness to finally do something in my life that pleased my mother. In love with the idea of being in love. It was a mistake I wouldn't make again. Even though Ranger and I wanted the same things, I wasn't going to rush it.

"Thank you," I told him, my head on his shoulder. "For understanding how screwed up I am."

"Takes one to know one." He planted a gentle kiss on my temple. "Besides, a beautiful woman once told me she'd wait for me. I think I owe her the same in return."

Pivoting, I pushed myself onto my tiptoes to place a soft kiss on his mouth. It rapidly devolved into a passionate lip lock.

Behind us, someone cleared their throat loudly. My face flushed as Ranger and I hurriedly separated. I couldn't look the intruding employee in the eye as Ranger took my hand and led me toward the elevators.

An hour later, I was finally done perusing the stores, shopping bags in hand and deep thoughts on my mind.

"You've been quiet, Babe," Ranger noted, his hand resting protectively on the small of my back as we walked the esplanade. "Everything okay?"

I nodded, lowering my voice. "Seeing all the shop employees just has me thinking. Wondering who it might be, that's all. We might never know."

"When you give up hope that the mission can still succeed, that's when it has failed."

I sighed. "I'm trying to be optimistic. Really, I am. But I just keep thinking, even if our perp is waiting to make the switch when our luggage is in the hold, how did he or she get a good enough look at my jewelry to get the right cuts and sizes of cubic zirconia? I mean, even a jeweler can't be so good to just be able to eyeball it, right?"

He answered with a shrug.

The idea was still nagging at me as we passed the photo gallery, where dozens of thin rods popped out of the floor to create a garden of waist high, glowing, touch screen digital picture frames.

I smacked my forehead. "I almost forgot. I want to buy that picture of us from when we embarked."

Ranger groaned. "How much will it take for me to convince you otherwise?"

"Some things in this world are priceless," I shot back with a grin as I slid my SeaPass card through the reader on the side of the nearest screen. Instantly, photos of us taken by the ship's photographers filled the screen. Wow. I didn't realize how many there had been.

The embarkation photo was the cheesiest thing I've ever seen in my life. Too cheesy to pass up. I'd have it framed and hung in the comm center to boost Rangeman morale if I weren't terrified of waking up alone in a third world country as retribution.

The photos that followed, from the first formal night, took my breath away. Stunning black and white imagery captured the opulence of that evening perfectly. The way Ranger looked at me in some of those pictures, a man completely enthralled by the woman next to him, made my knees go weak.

Ranger was right. I needed to have faith we'd complete the mission we'd set out on. Looking at these photos, there was no way we could have failed to gain the attention of the jewel thief. I mean, the image was so crystal clear, I could count the individual diamonds in the necklace I'd worn that night.

Omigod. Anyone could count the diamonds in the necklace, because it was frozen forever in a photograph.

With a clink, my shopping bags hit the floor as they slipped from my suddenly limp wrists.

"Steph?" Ranger's hands grabbed my waist before my knees could buckle.

"The photographs," I whispered, clutching his shoulder and hauling myself upright before we could make a scene.

"What about them?"

"The jewelry was photographed. If the thief has access to these pictures, there was never any need to break into our room or our safe. They could study an image all cruise, get the right size stones made, and then swap them out for the real diamonds while the luggage is in the hold the night before docking back in Jersey."

Ranger's eyes widened as he took in my theory, then his blank face slid into place. "You might be on to something, Babe." He kissed me behind the ear. "This is why you're an asset to Rangeman. You see things I don't," he murmured so no one could overhear.

I flushed lightly under his praise, distracting myself by pressing the 'Order all prints' button on the screen. This 'asset' just cost Ranger a few hundred more dollars, but it would give us time to study the photographs closer in the privacy of our suite.

The employee working the photography desk gasped lightly, causing both Ranger and I to look up at her. Evidently, my order had just come across her computer screen. She looked us over, flustered, and took in the expensive clothing and the rock on my finger.

"We'll deliver your order to your room as soon as it is processed, Ms. Wheeler. Should only be a few hours."

I smiled back at her. "Is there any way we could get a list of the photographers who took these wonderful photos? Assistants too? We'd like to leave tips for them before we dock."

That flustered her further. "I'm not..." She took a second to recollect her wits. "I'm sure I could arrange that. I can look up the information on the computer and include a list with your prints."

"Would you? Thank you so much. Please don't forget to put your name on that list, too, for going above and beyond." I offered her a broad smile, my words implying there would be a large reward in it for her as well.

Her eyes doubled in size. "Of course, Ma'am. Have a pleasant rest of your cruise."

With his arm around my waist, Ranger steered me away. "You want a full-time job with Rangeman?" he whispered into my ear.

"Ha ha."

"I'm serious." He stopped, dragging me into a secluded alcove, and fixed me with a serious stare. "That bordered on brilliant."

I shrugged off his compliment. "Like you wouldn't have gotten the list on your own?"

"Not in such a devious way. I would have directed someone to hack in or demanded Aurand get it to me. Your way had a lot more finesse, with faster results."

"Speaking of Aurand, shouldn't we let him in on our hunch?"

It was a purposeful misdirection from Ranger's job offer, and we both knew it. Thankfully, Ranger seemed willing to let it go.

"Yes. Come on."

We snuck through the off-limit corridors silently, Ranger leading the way and frequently pushing us into doorways and around corners to avoid crew. Somehow, we managed to reach the security nerve center without incident.

Rayburn answered the door, his eyebrows racing into his hairline when he saw us.

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to speak with Aurand," Ranger returned.

"He's not here. He had to see to a situation in the Solarium."

From down the hall, someone whistled cheerfully. And it was coming closer.

"Get in here," Rayburn hissed, stepping aside so Ranger and I could enter. "You can leave your message for Aurand with me. I'll make sure he gets it when he gets back."

Ranger nodded. "We think one or more of the ship's photography crew might be involved in the diamond thefts. We suspect the diamonds will be swapped out while our luggage is in the hold tomorrow night, so Aurand will need to assign eyes on the suspected employees."

Rayburn looked at us both like we'd grown second heads. "The photographers?"

"Yes. We requested a list of photographers and assistants with the pictures we ordered. Once we get them later today, I will have Rangeman run their names and see if anything odd stands out. That might help Aurand narrow down who he should keep a close eye on."

"Of course. We'll look forward to hearing what your men find." Behind Rayburn, a radio crackled as someone asked for security at one of the lounges. "I need to get that," Rayburn added. "You can find your way back to the public areas?"

"Yes. Please have Aurand call me when he gets back."

Rayburn brushed off the request, preoccupied with the radio. "Yes, yes, will do." And he waved us toward the door.

Back in our room, Ranger reviewed the video footage, not that either one of us expected to find anything. At this point, it was simply habit.

I was contemplating inviting Ranger to join me for a shower before dinner, when I suddenly realized none of my shopping bags had made it back to the room with me.

"Oh no!" I smacked my head with the heel of my palm. "I left all the souvenirs I bought at the photo gallery. When I dropped the bags, I never picked them back up."

Ranger's lips twitched, but he managed to hold back the smile. "Give me a second, and we can go get them."

"Nah, I'll go myself. You might as well stay in case our photos get delivered. That way you can e-mail the list of photographers to Rangeman. Be right back."

I gave him a peck on the lips before slipping back out the door. My shopping bags weren't on the floor when I got back to the photo gallery, but the same friendly employee from earlier was still on duty.

"Have you seen any shopping bags? I think I forgot them earlier."

She gave me an apologetic smile. "We found them, but policy demands we send them to lost-and-found. They'll be at the Guest Services desk one deck down. Oh, and your photo order is out for delivery to your room," she added. "One of our photography assistants was so excited over your order she insisted on delivering them herself."

"Wow! Thanks." Talk about service.

I headed around the corner to the elevators, riding down a floor. Finding Guest Services near the opposite end of the ship, I retrieved my lost purchases and headed back to the suite. As soon as I got within a few feet of the door, my spidey sense tickled the hairs on the back of my neck. The door to our room stood ajar. Something was amiss.

Listening from the hall, I heard nothing from within. Quietly, I cracked the door wide enough for me to slide into the suite. I spotted the blood immediately.

AN: This is the last cliff hanger, I swear! I'm enjoying seeing everyone's guesses as to who the jewel thief is. Some of you are sooooo close, but no one's nailed it yet. Promise you'll find out in the next chapter.