Reardon thought a few moments before answering. He didn’t quite know what to say. “I think it’s up to the courts to believe her story or not, Don. Not to you or me.”
“That’s what I figured.” Dondero’s voice had strengthened as if Jim Reardon had given him encouragement. “I hope they take it easy on her.” There was a brief pause, and then his voice lost its bravado. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you? I mean, for a cop to talk this way.”
Reardon thought of Jan somewhere on one of the decks overhead, leaning on the polished railing, studying the lights of the enchanted city studding the sharp hills of San Francisco and Sausalito and Marin County and Berkeley and Oakland, admiring the wondrous sweep of the cabled bridges spanning the bay now that the fog had swept away, leaving the beauty of clear skies and soft breezes tinting the evening with the ultimate in loveliness. He thought that at this moment, beautiful and epitomizing freedom, she must somehow resemble Penny Wilkinson as she looked on the same deck of the same ship only two days before. And he wondered what he would do if it were Jan in that fifth floor cell at the Hall of Justice, instead of the girl Dondero had chosen.
“Jim?”
“No,” Reardon said slowly. “I don’t think you’re crazy, Don. No crazier than anyone else, at any rate.” He waited a few moments for Dondero to say something, but the other man remained silent. “I’ll see you in the morning,” Reardon added and hung up.
He stared at the tile floor a few moments, thinking, and started up the stairs toward the upper deck.
Thursday — 10:45 P.M.
Two figures could be discerned near the aft rail of the promenade deck, leaning on it facing away from the city, staring at the empty, mesh-covered swimming pool. Reardon put aside his conversation with Sergeant Dondero and walked the length of the planked deck, enjoying the sharp salt tang to the air. It was hard to believe that only a few hours before the bay had been a swirling sea of fog, dangerous to the extent of death, mysterious to the extent of fear.
Jan was waiting to say something as soon as he had come up.
“Jim!”
Reardon pulled his thoughts back from death, from dark waters hiding slowly rising bodies through bobbing wreckage. “Yes?”
“Mr. Thompson has convinced me!”
“Oh, he has?” Reardon got into the spirit of the thing. “Good!”
Jan considered him a bit uncertainly. “You don’t even know what he convinced me of.”
Reardon grinned and put an arm about her shoulders.
“I can imagine. Honey, there are lots better ways to spend a vacation. I was in the Navy and I know.”
“James Reardon, what are you talking about?” Jan stared at him. “Mr. Thompson has convinced me that a cruise is exactly what we need for our vacation! And on the Mandarin! He says if we don’t have time we can take it as far as Hawaii and take one of the sister ships back.” She looked around, adoringly. “Oh, Jim, it’s lovely! You should see the staterooms, and the little movie theater they have, and the cardroom in the lounge, and the library! And they have a little shop where you can buy—”
“I know all about the shop.” Reardon turned to a snidely smiling Mr. Thompson. His voice was dangerous. “Helpful Harry, eh? You want a friend at the police, eh? You double-crosser!”
“Maybe I exaggerated a bit to the young lady,” Thompson conceded. He shrugged. “Anyway, with passengers along like you and Jan, I might enjoy a trip for a change. What’s your beef? Do you expect me to fight that idea?” He looked at Reardon with twinkling eyes. “Anyway, what do you have against cruises? You’re not a purser.”
“No, but—”
“And Jan says you were in the Navy; and you’ve got to admit being a passenger on the S.S. Mandarin has to beat that a mile.” He smiled knowingly. “Do me a favor and don’t argue. I know.”
“You know!” Reardon shook his head in disgust. He turned to Jan. “When we were looking at this bucket through the glasses from my window, I thought a trip with you on a ship like this would be lovely, indeed — except for one thing—”
Jan looked up at him, queryingly. Reardon looked at Harry Thompson.
“You know!” he repeated. He put his arm about Jan and smiled at her upturned little face with a touch of embarrassment. “What neither one of you know — is that I get seasick...!”