Page 25 of Waylaid in Whittier (Cruise Director Millie Mysteries #5)

Sharky removed a rock from the black bag.

“It looks like an ordinary old rock,” Millie said.

“Looks can be deceiving.” Using his fingernail, he scraped off a chunk of dirt. “It looks a little shiny.”

“We need something to polish it.”

Sharky untucked his shirt and rubbed the spot. A glimmer of gold appeared. “Sure enough. This belongs to Elvira.”

Millie eyed the bag with interest. “How many gold nuggets are in there?”

“Enough to make it worth her while to hide them.”

The doorknob rattled.

Sharky shoved the nugget inside the bag and held his finger to his lips. He motioned for Millie to follow him to a hiding spot a few feet away.

They made it just in time to see Elvira scurry around the corner. She stopped in front of the spot where Sharky had found the bag and swooped down to grab it.

“What the?” Elvira fell to her knees, frantically feeling around.

Sharky stepped out from behind the pipe, dangling the black bag in his hand. “Looking for this?”

Elvira jerked back, her eyes round as saucers. “I…uh. What are you doing here?”

“A better question is…who gave you permission to sneak into a restricted area and use it as your hiding spot?”

“I-I…well…you see. I needed to keep my find on the down-low,” she stammered.

Millie emerged. “To keep your boyfriend from finding out how much gold you actually found?”

“The thing is, I mean, you have a lot of friends, people I don’t know. Not to mention those room stewards, the cleaning ninjas, are everywhere.”

“Everywhere in passenger cabins.” Sharky rolled his eyes. “No one comes and cleans my cabin. It’s my responsibility.”

A flicker of skepticism filled Elvira’s eyes. “Seriously? I would think having someone take care of your cabin, keeping it neat and tidy, would be a given.”

“You thought wrong. The housekeeping department comes in every few months to do a deep cleaning. The rest of the time, it’s all on me.”

“Elvira Cobb,” Millie scolded. “Those friends you seem so worried about, including me, spent our own time, what little we have when we’re not working, trying to save your neck and this is the thanks we get?”

Elvira hung her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were thinking you would pull a fast one, smuggle your gold out of Whittier, and no one would be the wiser.” Sharky clenched his jaw. “I hate to say it, but I’m seeing you in an entirely different light and not necessarily a good one.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “It was uncool of me to hide it from you.”

“You two discuss this in private. Let me know if we’re still on for heading to the stakeout site.” Millie whispered, “good luck,” in Sharky’s ear and took off.

She ran upstairs to pre-record “Fun Times at Nine with Millie.” After finishing, she treated herself to a shot of caffeine from the specialty coffee shop, along with a gourmet banana nut muffin, and made her early morning rounds.

All the while, she monitored her cell phone, waiting for Sharky’s call to let her know if the stakeout was a go, or if he’d decided he’d had enough of Elvira’s antics, helped pack her bags and escorted her off the ship.

The small clue bouncing around in the back of her mind from the previous night continued nagging her, but no matter how hard she tried, Millie couldn’t figure it out.

Finally, at quarter past seven, Sharky sent a text letting her know the surveillance mission was still on. She promptly ran upstairs and swapped out her work uniform for street clothes. Reaching the gangway, Millie found a somber Sharky and a sullen Elvira waiting.

“Thanks for meeting us, Millie. Elvira has something she wants to say.”

Elvira blew air through thinned lips. “I’m sorry…genuinely sorry I didn’t trust you enough to let you know I found gold.”

“Sharky mentioned you had found some. One would only conclude you wouldn’t leave it behind. As you pointed out, we have a lot of people…crewmembers on board the ship. Having said that, you need to trust someone. At the very least, trust your boyfriend, who has been trying to help you,” Millie lectured.

“I know, and I’m truly, truly sorry. Please don’t tell the others what I did.”

“Apology accepted.” Millie made a zipping motion across her lips. “My lips are sealed. Moving on, we should hit the road.”

Elvira brightened. “Thanks, Millie. You’re as awesome as Sharky says. In fact, you’re a lot like Carlita. Between you and me, she’s put up with a lot of my cockamamie antics over the years.”

“We have the patience of saints,” Millie joked.

It was a short trek from the gangway to Elvira’s old jalopy. Millie climbed in the back and set her bag next to her. “Do you really believe there’s a chance whoever was behind Wanda’s attack and your break in will show up?”

“The DNR is closing the roads leading to the mining sites tonight. If they’re gonna make a move, it will be today. The closings coincide with it being the last day of the show’s taping. They either hit it hard or wait until spring.” Elvira reached the end of the port’s parking lot and turned left. “Wanda texted. She’s outside waiting for us.”

“You two must be good friends for her to drop the charges,” Millie said.

“She knows it wasn’t me. Wanda and I have a lot in common. You know the saying, ‘birds of a feather.’” Elvira glanced in the rearview mirror. “I would like to mention something else.”

“What?” Millie asked.

“Wanda thinks I only found a small chunk of gold.”

“You want to keep it from her? I thought you were partners.”

“We partnered after I found the nuggets. Therefore, I don’t consider what I already found to be part of our partnership.”

“It’s your call.” Millie shook her head. “To be honest, I’m glad I’m not your partner.”

Taking a shortcut down a side street, they arrived at Wanda’s apartment complex in no time and found her standing on the sidewalk. As soon as the truck stopped, she hopped in the back. “Thanks for picking me up. I called Alex and Carter this morning to confirm the show’s filming was wrapping up today.”

“Smart move. It’s good to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row.” Millie shot her a side glance. “Aren’t you a part of the show?”

“I was. They’re doing a final take and I wasn’t in it.” Wanda tapped her bandage. “Probably a good thing with this little gem. I called Neil to let him know we might be onto something. He’s hanging around the courthouse with papers in hand.”

“Who is Neil?”

“My brother.”

“He’s a cop,” Elvira added.

“He’s going to get a search warrant as soon as we confirm Carter is behind the attack and has gone to our special spot. It gives the cops probable cause, clearing the way for them to search for evidence,” Wanda explained.

“All of which hinges on him showing up, and if there’s evidence to find,” Millie pointed out. “That’s a lot of ifs.”

“Even if we don’t find anything, at least we tried,” Elvira said.

Passing through the tunnel, they turned onto a dirt road Millie had never noticed during their previous trips. She peered out the window. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Positive.” Wanda explained the shortcut to Mount Baldie was relatively unknown and only a handful of locals knew about it. To her knowledge, the route hadn’t been shared with the production crew. “We’ll be driving up from the opposite side, so there’s no chance we’ll be spotted.”

The road narrowed. Deep ruts appeared, forcing Elvira to slow to a crawl and jostling the truck’s occupants despite straddling as many of the pockets as possible.

“I would hate to break down out here,” Sharky said.

“Or run out of gas.”

“We have plenty, a quarter tank.”

Millie stared at Elvira. “You’re kidding.”

Sharky leaned over to check the gauges. “Actually, it’s more like an eighth of a tank.”

“Don’t you think it would have been a good idea to make sure we had plenty of gas?”

“I’m giving this clunker back to Otis. You think I should fill the tank for him too?” Elvira asked incredulously. “I’m a generous person, but not that generous.”

They continued at a snail’s pace, climbing higher and higher while the trees and clumps of brush grew thicker. Finally, she pulled off and into a small clearing. “This is it. We’ll have to hoof it the rest of the way.”

Millie grabbed her bag, exited the vehicle, and met up with the others near the front.

Elvira patted her backpack. “Time to hit the trail.”

Millie let the others take the lead, slowly following behind. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach. Something told her she was going to regret this stakeout. She hoped for once she was wrong.