Page 75 of Uncharted

“That bad?”

“Easton dropped the wrench on my leg twice. I’m fine.” Zane laughs, and Calvin stirs.

We all freeze, staring at him. When the bed is set back up, Haley has it made. And damn if it isn’t big enough for us all. I’ve got to admit, if it wasn’t for the white waving bandage on Calvin’s foot, I’d toss Haley on it right now to try it out.

“I’ll stay with Green if you want to take a break?” Zane says.

Haley nods. “Okay. I should go help Dante wash dishes.”

“On your birthday? No way. I’ll go help Dante.” And Zane’s gone before she can tell him not to go.

“I’ll stay, Haley. You go. Have you even checked out your cabin yet?” I push a clump of her hair back from her face.

“No, but... it’s fine. I was thinking we should search some more for the key.”

“We’ve gone through everything.” I turn to look around the room. The last search we did was pretty thorough. We found my mother’s necklace. But then I spot the closet. “You know, I looked in the bottom of the closet, but I didn’t search the pockets of the clothes in there.”

“That’s a good idea. I’d never think to look for a key in clothes hanging up.” Haley stares into the closet, her hand on the handle. Her shoulders slump.

“What?”

“It was one of the last things Shayla did on the boat. Candy had her re-iron all her clothes after Rocky gave Shayla a compliment on the drink she made him.”

“She really was an ass,” I say.

Haley sucks at her lower lip. “My mother always said never to speak badly about the dead, but in this case...”

“Warranted.”

She pulls open the closet door.

“Where are my dad’s clothes?” The entire closet is full of nothing but Candy’s gross gowns and leather pants. The entire trip they were taking was tropical, and the majority of the clothes in the closet look like something you would wear to a winter ball.

“His clothes, along with Candy’s extra clothes, are in the next suite over, the one we hadn’t finished setting up. It was a big beef Candy had with us. But the Captain told her we were overworked as it was.”

“Right. I suppose we should be thorough, though.”

The hangers glide across as I pull them. Most of the outfits have more sequins, bows, and crystals than they have pockets. I pat down the fabric because I don’t want to start thinking, later, that I might have missed something. There’s nothing but price tags in most of them. I hold a tag out for Haley to see.

At the end of the closet is a garment bag. A big one. “What’s in there?” I ask.

“I don’t know, but I’m guessing that’s the wedding dress Shayla talked about. She said it was hideous. Candy told her that was the only thing she didn’t have to touch in the closet. In fact, she made a pretty big deal about not touching it.”

“Not touching it? Not showing off my father’s wealth to someone who she thought would fawn over it? Yeah, that’s suspicious.” I pull the zipper down on the bag, and a white and pink silk gown with feathers and crystals sparkles at us. Oh, for fuck’s sake. The crystals aren’t crystals. They’re actual diamonds, and they’re in the shape of a horse’s head on the back of the train.

“That’s... Wow! That’s like the ugliest wedding dress I’ve ever seen. And it doesn’t look cheap. Are those real diamonds?” Haley lifts the side of the dress and taps at them.

“I’m not an expert, but knowing Candy, the answer is yes.”

“Wow, no wonder she didn’t want Shayla to open the bag.” Haley pauses. “I guess Shalya did open it, since she said it was ugly...” Haley cringes a little.

“Firefly, you don’t need to worry. I would have opened it too.”

Her blue eyes widen. “Were they planning on getting married on board? No one told me. I certainly didn’t order supplies for a wedding.”

“Also yes.” My stomach flips. Emily and I had planned to talk Dad out of the whole thing. Emily had even made a PowerPoint about how Candy was just using him. And how it was going to come back and bite him in the ass. That if he wanted to play with Candy, that was one thing, but binding himself to her forever was a piss poor idea.

I pat down the side of the dress. It’s huge.

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