I dressed for dinner that night with a sigh. I had a good day with Ranger. I'd had him all to myself and I'd really enjoyed it. I even got to be part of picking out his daughter's present. I felt close to him. Especially since we'd talked about Disney World and he had not made fun of me too much.

I sat in front of the vanity mirror and brushed my hair lazily. I was still in that dreamy state from my day with him. My dress looked fabulous on me. My skin looked gorgeous with a soft pink glow. I felt good.

Ranger took the brush from my hand with a smile, "at the rate you're going we'll get to dinner at about ten."

"I'm not that hungry," I sighed.

"You're not," he said in surprise. "Who are you and where is my Babe?"

I smiled up at him in the reflection, "I had a good day Ranger. Thank you for that."

His smile softened, "you're welcome." He swallowed and broke our gaze, "you look beautiful. Let's go to dinner."

"Sure," I said and got up and slid my feet into my shoes.

"Ready," he smiled.

"I am," I nodded and slid my hand onto the crook of his arm with a smile.

We strolled down to the dining room still smiling and whispering about things that had happened during the day. We returned to our table with my parents and grandmother and it was fine. I didn't mind.

"We missed you today," my mother said cheerfully. "We all went to the beach and had a grand old time. Jean Luc convinced me to try snorkeling. I had a ball. When your father and I move to Florida, we're going to do it all the time."

"When are you moving to Florida," I blinked

"Sometime," she smiled affectionately at him.

I blinked, this was almost a dream come true. If Grandma would move to France for the Nudist Colony, my life could be somewhat normal. Well, as normal as it can be for me.

"What did you kids do," Mom smiled.

"We went on a Zip-line tour in the Jungle," I grinned.

"What's that," she frowned.

"We got into harnesses and kind of flew around all over the place. It was sooo much fun," I grinned. "Then we had seafood for lunch, and went to a butterfly farm and ended the day with some shopping. It was a good day," I beamed up at Ranger.

"It sounds like it," Mom laughed.

"Did you go and see that singer from Chile last night," Grandma asked.

"Yes we did," I agreed. "We danced some…Mom saw us."

"I thought we were going to have to turn a hose on them," she teased

Ranger laughed, "We had a good time."

"Until the smack down," Lester leaned over our table and grinned.

"Smack down," Grandma grinned.

"Yes, our former friends from the rangers decided to yank Stephanie's chain by having Louisa Del Ray claim that she and Ranger were having a…you know."

"You mean a tryst," Mom gasped.

Lester blinked at her taken aback, "Er…yea, like a tryst. Anyway…they pushed and pushed and pushed old Ranger and he didn't react like they wanted so they decided to open up a can of whoop ass on him and they lost the fight."

"You beat them all up," Burt blinked.

Burt really didn't talk much. I think he was impressed.

"No," Ranger shook his head. "I did not. I just made sure they'd be confined to quarters for the remainder of the voyage…and they are."

"The boy's a genius," Lester grinned and hurried back to his table.

"Boy," Ranger raised a brow at his retreating back.

"I don't think he meant it in a derogatory way," I smiled up at him.

"You sure," he blinked down at me.

"Oh for God's sake, get a room," Tank clapped him on the back.

"We have a room," Ranger reminded him.

"We're heading into the lounge after dinner to do a little dancing. You are joining us?"

"Of course," Ranger agreed. "We wouldn't miss it, would we?"

"Absolutely not," I smiled up at Tank. "Did you have good day?"

"I had a great day," he grinned and looked over toward his table. "Get a look at Lula."

I rose up slightly so I could see and saw Lula in lime green spandex. "That's my girl," I grinned.

"Thanks for that," he said and kissed me soundly on the cheek before taking off.

"What was that all about," Ranger asked.

"We're just happy that Lula is being Lula," I smiled.

"Who else would she be," Grandma asked in confusion.

I laughed.

Dinner was most excellent and then we all headed into the lounge to dance and enjoy Louisa and Marco later.

Ranger pulled me out onto the dance floor and we danced till I had achieved that ladylike glisten. I grabbed his hand with a laugh and tugged him back to the table. Then he pulled my mother up who protested and giggled, but allowed it and took her to the dance floor to teach her while Daddy and I laughed at the table.

"Mom's got some rhythm," I grinned.

"She used to be the best dancer in the world," he sighed. "I've been lazy about taking her. That's why we're thinking about moving south to maybe Boca or something. We'd get our foot in one of those retirement communities. Your Grandma and Burt can stay in the house for as long as they like. It will be good for us."

"Yea, I guess it will," I sighed. "I just…I'll miss you Daddy."

"We'll miss you too Pumpkin," he smiled and leaned over to kiss my cheek. "But Valerie is settled now and I think you're really doing great. It's a good time for us to kind of…you know, fade out a bit and just start enjoying ourselves."

"You do deserve some time for yourselves," I agreed. "I'll miss you though. I love you, you know?"

"I know Pumpkin," he smiled. "And what about you and Ranger, is there something there?"

"There's something there," I smiled. "I don't know if it's what I want or what he wants yet, but there's definitely something there."

Molly Perkins entered the lounge and looked around when she found me she walked over and leaned over, "I need you and Mr. Manoso on the Jade deck please."

"Sure," I signaled to Ranger and we followed her out of the lounge and down the stairs.

"What is it Molly," I asked. She looked pale.

"The captain would like to see you," she said softly and left us in the doorway of an open cabin."

The captain hurried toward us, "I'm afraid we need your help again Mr. Manoso and Ms. Plum."

"There hasn't been another death, has there," Ranger smiled.

"I'm afraid so. It appears that Mr. Drake Hess has electrocuted himself in the shower," he sighed.

"Oh," Ranger said and we stepped around him to peek inside the bathroom. The shower was off and Drake was sprawled at the bottom of his tub with his electric razor in his hand. He was very definitely dead. The doctor was taking his liver temp when we peeked in.

"How long has he been dead doc," Ranger sighed.

"About five to six hours," he sighed. "He's been dead since somewhere between three thirty and four thirty."

"We were on the island," Ranger frowned at me.

"That's why I feel comfortable having you up here," the Captain said tiredly. "It appears to be an accident, but that's two deaths on this ship in four days and we've been sailing for almost twenty five years and this is the first time anyone has died. It's…it's too much of a coincidence at this point."

"I'd have to agree with you Captain," Ranger said softly.

"We've radioed ahead and the Federal Marshalls will board us in Santo Tomas. We'd appreciate it if you could get them up to speed about this whole thing. You know we're not really sure we'd speak the right language."

"Of course," Ranger nodded.

"Could it be an accident," the Captain asked.

"I suppose it could be," Ranger frowned.

"But you don't think it is," he sighed.

"No…like you said, it's too many coincidences to be normal."

"Well, take a look around. We'll lock Mr. Hess up in sick bay later on. Please, as before, keep this under your hats," he pleaded.

"Of course," Ranger nodded.

I studied the bathroom and then went back into the cabin and glanced around. The room was neat. As a former military man, he was four square. The place was extremely tidy. The bathroom was tidy too except for the dead guy on the floor. I frowned and studied him thoughtfully.

"What is it," Ranger asked.

"It's nothing," I sighed. "I don't have it yet."

"You mean other than he was shaving in the shower. Don't they put warning labels on those things nowadays?"

"Yea," I agreed and took another look at the scene. I walked out of the bathroom again and found the security officer there, "has anything been moved?"

"No ma'am, nothing," he shook his head.

"Nothing was tidied up or put away to make room or anything like that?"

"No ma'am," he shook his head.

"May I," I asked pointing to the box of latex gloves.

"Yes ma'am," he agreed offering me the box.

I took a glove from the box and opened the drawers and closet and then stepped back with a thoughtful frown. I went into the bathroom and repeated the process. Then I stepped out of the bathroom and dropped the glove into the trash. "Thank you."

"You're welcome ma'am," he said solemnly.

"Ready Steph," Ranger asked exiting the bathroom.

"Sure," I nodded.

We were silent all the way to our cabin.

"Did you figure it out," he asked once he'd closed the door behind us.

"Yea…something weird," I nodded.

"Like what," he frowned.

"What are the odds that Drake Hess has been lying around his hotel room naked for the last couple of days?"

He laughed, "They're pretty slim."

"That was my feeling too," I agreed. "But there was no evidence that he'd been wearing clothes prior to getting into the shower. There were no clothes laid out for him to wear when he got out of the shower. The dude…I mean, nothing was out. Even you have clothes laid or something."

"That's true," he nodded.

"It doesn't feel right Ranger," I sighed.

"There's more right?"

"Yea," I frowned and dropped to the sofa, "even if he had been lying around naked for days…even if… He had nowhere to be Ranger. He wasn't making preparations to go out. He was confined to quarters. The only time you make stupid mistakes is when you're in a hurry. He couldn't have been in a hurry. He had nothing to be in a hurry for."

"That's a very good point," he sighed.

"This was murder Ranger. I'd bet my life on it."

He sat down and tugged me against him. "Let's not do that Babe. We don't know who is doing this or why. Until we have an idea that we're not targets, let's just not tempt fate."

"Okay," I sighed and nestled into him. "What do we do next?"

"I don't know. I suppose we let the Marshalls get in here and see what they have to say. At least we're off the hook for this one. That sort of takes us off the hook for Hunter."

"What are the odds that Tank and Lula were still on the island when Cable died," I sighed.

"Knowing our luck, not good," he sighed.

"Yea…knowing our luck," I sighed with him.