~*Eight*~
Jack, the Honest Thief

After leaving Catherine, which was hard in itself. I quickly discovered Rose was nowhere to be found. I found Ruth at the table with the Countess of Rothes. But Rose was not with her.

Odd, I thought to myself. Then Mr. Lovejoy approached me.

"Anything wrong?" He asked in his gruff, serious voice.

"Where's Rose?" I spat back, trying to hold my voice low.

"I haven't seen her." He replied.

"Well find her." I ordered. I turned from him, and walked into the smoking room.

"Hey, Cal!" Mr. Astor called out.

I forced one of my million-dollar smiles to the table he was sitting at.

"Evening, gentlemen. About ready for some more brandy?" I asked, laughing a bit.

"Always." Mr. Guggenheim replied.

Everyone laughed. I sat down with the men. The steward lit my cigar. We sat communing about our millions. The same chatter that always took place among us. My mind was on Catherine. I knew I would never see her again. And that's how it was supposed to be. But she still plagued my mind.

Spicer Lovejoy reappeared in the room, motioning for me to come to him.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." I said standing.

"Of course." Colonel Gracie replied.

"Well?" I asked standing before my valet.

"None of these stewards have seen her." He said in his normal monotone.

"This is absurd. It's a ship. There's only so many places she could be. Lovejoy, find her!" I said powerfully, yet quietly.

He left again. I returned to the table. "Sorry about that, gentlemen." I laughed a bit. I was welcomed back into the conversation immediately, naturally.

The Colonel started a card game. Which I didn't participate in. I only sat watching and sipping my brandy.

"I've got fifty bucks, that says we'll make it to New York on Tuesday night!" Gracie announced. I was hardly listening.

I looked towards the doors. No sign of Lovejoy. I pulled out my golden pocket watch. Damn near 11:30 pm. Where could she be?

I headed for the door as the group of men and dwindled away. Lovejoy raced down the man stairwell.

"She's with him, again." He said, panting a bit. I could tell he had been running. "I chased them over the whole damn ship, but lost them."

I looked at him. "Hmm." I said thinking. "Where was the last place you seen them?"

"Storage room." He replied. "They were in your bedroom. The safe is locked though."

I immediately headed back to my room. My safe may have been locked. But Rose knew the combination.

I burst through the door to our suite. Going straight to the wardrobe. Lovejoy right behind me. He searched the rest of the rooms, and I unlocked the green safe.

"Anything missing?" He asked, standing in the doorway. I could see there was not. Everything was in it's place including something added.

I looked back to Lovejoy, as I pulled the object out. It was a leather binder, with a note from Rose. The note read: "Darling, Now you can keep up both locked in your safe, Rose."

I flipped open the front flap. To see the most horrible thing ever. My Rose. A drawing of her. Completely naked, sketched. Remarkable likeness. I knew it was drawn from life.

The date was labeled at the bottom. April 14, 1912. With this initials J.D. scribbled in the corner.

Anger enveloped me. Here I had been feeling so extremely guilty about Catherine. While Rose frolicked and posed nude with that heathen Jack Dawson.

I read the note once more, before crumpling it with the drawing. I was intent on ripping them in half. But another idea crossed my mind. I drew the papers away from me. Straightening out the wrinkles.

I turned to Lovejoy. "I've got a better idea." I said, calmly.

He stepped up to me. Looking over my shoulder at the portrait.

"When they return, and they will. You know it." I said, taking out the case containing The Heart Of The Ocean. "Place this in Mr. Dawson's pocket."

He nodded taking the blue gem from me, neatly placing it in his pocket.

A shudder in the ship's calm voyage, knocked me forward.

"What was that?" Lovejoy asked.

I looked from him, back to the safe. "Who cares." I spun the combination lock, securing my fortunes.

"Remember, don't let anyone see you do it." I ordered.

He nodded. I left through the sitting room, rushing out into the hall. Which was abnormally crowded.

A steward passed by.

"You there, hey you!" I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Please, sir, there is no emergency." He said. I didn't understand what he meant by that.

"Yes there is! I have been robbed! Get the master-at-arms." I shouted.

He stood there dumbstruck.

"Now, you moron!" I shouted. He ran in the opposite direction. I waited in my state room until the Master-at-arms showed up.

I pounded on the door to Ruth's room. I heard her stir within.

"What all the commotion, Mr. Hockley?" She asked. She wore her night dress, with a red robe over it.

"Rose is missing and I have been robbed." I said.

She clasped a hand over her mouth. She was clearly shocked. The Master-at-arms walked in.

"What's wrong, sir?" He asked in his Scottish accent.

"I have been robbed." I repeated the same thing again. "A very expensive jewel was stolen from me. The Heart of The Ocean. And Rose is no where to be found."

I took out the pictures again, shoving them at the master-at-arms.

He looked at them in turn.

"I think they are very good, sir." He said.

I jumped up from where I was seated, snatching the pictures from him. "Don't touch anything! I want the entire room photographed." I exclaimed.

Then I spotted Rose in the doorway, Jack right behind her.

"Something serious has happened." Rose was saying.

Lovejoy silently nodded to me. I knew he had done his task.

"Indeed, two things very dear to me have disappeared tonight. Now that one is back…" I looked from Rose to Jack. "I have a pretty good idea where to find the other."

I turned to the master-at-arms. "Search him!"

They moved to Dawson, stripping him of his jacket. Searching every pocket.

"Is this it?" Stewart Barnes asked pulling the blue stone from the pocket of the jacket.

"That's it." I said in disgust.

"This is horseshit!" Jack exclaimed.

Rose's expression purely stunned, as well as Jack's. I of course, knew what had really happened. I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about framing him either.

The master-at-arms moves in with the handcuffs. Locking Mr. Dawson's hands behind his back.

"Don't you believe it Rose. Don't! You know I didn't do it, Rose!" Jack pleaded.

Rose still looked shocked, I walked over to her.

"He couldn't have." She said.

"Of course he could. It's easy enough for a professional." Was my reply.

"He was with me the whole time, this is absurd." Rose's voice almost frantic.

I leaned in close to her. "Perhaps he did it while you were putting your clothes back on, dear." I whispered.

"Yeah, you're real slick, Cal. Rose, they put it in my pocket!" He continued to plead.

"It isn't even your pocket, is it son?" Lovejoy asked, holding up the jacket, looking at the inside label. "'Property of A. L. Ryerson.'"

"That was reported stolen today." The master-at arms replied.

This was all too great. I was framing him, and yet he had stolen something.

"I was just borrowing it." Jack spoke up.

"Oh an honest thief? We have an honest thief here." I laughed.

I watched happily as Lovejoy and the master-at-arms carried Jack away.

His voice still rang out through the hall. "Rose, don't listen to them... I didn't do this! You know I didn't! You know it!"

After a few moments. A calm fell over the room. I was so thoroughly angry. She had removed her clothes for him, at that moment I didn't know the extent that had led to. But I had a pretty good idea.

All thoughts of Catherine were now gone from my mind. All I could think about was Rose's slutty behavior.

"I better go dress." Ruth said, when she heard the commotion in the hall. She retreated to her room.

I leaned in the doorway staring at Rose across the room. I walked over to her.

"It is a little slut. Isn't it?" I accused. I slapped her violently across the face. "Look at me you little -" My sentence was cut short by Steward Barnes.

"Sir, I've been told to ask you to put on your lifebelt and come up to the deck." He said.

"Get out! We're busy!" I said angrily.

The steward came in against my wishes. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience, Mr. Hockley, but it's Captain's orders. Please dress warmly, it's quite cold out tonight."

He brought out two lifebelts. Ugly things. White padded. What was the point the was trying to make?

"This is ridiculous." I mumbled to myself.

I was glad when the steward finally left.