Red Ranger 1 Posted July 24 Author Report Share Posted July 24 On 22/07/2024 at 03:14, pembie said: So Archibald was having building work done could he afford to pay the money? Wendy got sacked for stealing she’s bit obvious though 6 hours ago, Zig said: Love all the twists and turns that this chapter had. Can't wait for more Thanks, both of you! I needed to build up some suspects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pembie Posted July 26 Report Share Posted July 26 On 24/07/2024 at 19:01, Red Ranger 1 said: Thanks, both of you! I needed to build up some suspects! I’m waiting for Bella to take a picture of something she’s not meant too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted July 26 Author Report Share Posted July 26 Thanks for the comments, pembie and Zig! CHAPTER EIGHT Ryder once again found himself following Bella down a corridor with an uncomfortable feeling that he was being dragged along on something he was better off staying out of.“Where exactly are we going?”he asked as they headed towards the staff quarters. “What do we know?”Bella replied challengingly. Ryder thought hard about this.“Not a lot?”he offered at last. “We know that the thief and the money are almost certainly still on board,”Bella answered,“Which means the thief must have hidden the money somewhere.Which probably means their cabin!”She held up a key. Ryder asked the question even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.“Where did you get a master key from?” “Maid cart.And I got a list of the quarters as well.So I know Wendy’s is right here.”She paused, unlocked a door and went inside. Ryder somewhat reluctantly followed her.“What makes you think Wendy’s the thief?” “Well, she and Archibald were the only ones I found who had anything suspicious in their history, so it’s probably one of them.Have a look around!” Seeing Bella opening up the wardrobe on the other side of the room, Ryder dutifully looked under the bed before checking in some drawers.“I guess we’re talking a lot of money here.It wouldn’t be that hard to find it.” “Exactly!”Bella was checking through a number of bags.“You can’t exactly put it in your pocket.If it was in here, we’d find it pretty much straightaway!”She looked round, before checking the cabinet on the other side of the bed, then sighed.“I don’t think it’s here.” Ryder nodded slowly.“So we’re checking Archibald’s cabin now?” The disappointed look on Bella’s face turned into a grin.“Now you’re getting it!” *** A few minutes later, they were in Archibald’s cabin, carrying out a search that was proving equally fruitless.“Nothing in here,”Ryder announced as he closed the drawers.He opened up a cupboard door set into the wall and stared in shock.“Woah!” Bella turned round at the exclamation and came to his side.They both stared at what opening the cupboard had revealed:a sturdy-looking door, with a keypad set into it.“Is that a safe?”she asked. “Looks like it,”Ryder confirmed,“Do you know how to open it?” Bella shot him an exasperated look.“How would I know that?” “You used to hang out with River Boys.” “They’re not exactly well known for cracking safes!” Ryder heard a noise out in the corridor and quickly slammed the cupboard shut.He and Bella spun round as the door opened and Archibald stepped in.He stopped at the sight of them, his expression suspicious. “What are you two doing in here?” Ryder tried to think of an excuse.“We, er, we were just…” “We were going to have sex!”Bella blurted out.Ryder stared at her but she just carried on.“We’ve done it in his bed but it’s really cramped in there…” “…and her cabin has all these really weird…teddies,”Ryder attempted,“Puts me right off.” “So, we figured, well, someone as important as you must have one of the best beds on the ship!”Bella grabbed Ryder’s hand and dragged him into sitting down with her.“Wow, that is really comfortable.” Archibald’s expression hadn’t changed.“How did you get in here?” Bella held out the key.“I kind of borrowed this.” Archibald took it from her.“I’ll be putting an official warning in your file, Ryder.And you”-he looked at Bella-“you don’t exactly work here but I’ll be telling the captain about this.Go on, get off with you.” *** As soon as they were in her cabin, Bella sat down heavily on her bed, looking despondent.“You were right.” Ryder wasn’t sure if he’d ever been less happy to hear those words.“I was?” “This whole thing was stupid.I mean, who was I kidding?I’m not a detective, I’m not going to solve a crime.It’s probably not either Wendy or Archibald, and even if it is, they’ve probably hidden the money somewhere I’m not going to find it.What was I thinking?” Ryder had been keen for Bella to drop the whole thing.But now, seeing how upset she was, he was realising he didn’t want that.“Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way,”he suggested. Bella looked up at him, suddenly interested.“What do you mean?” “Well, maybe we don’t need to find the money.Maybe we need to trick the thief into finding it for us.” He took a deep breath.“I think I’ve got a crazy idea of my own.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zig Posted July 27 Report Share Posted July 27 Such a good chapter, I wonder who got the money, can't wait for more. Ps thanks for inspiring me to write my own fic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pembie Posted July 28 Report Share Posted July 28 Archibald could have the money in his safe still Hmm but no I think it’s somebody else someone who we are yet to meet maybe I liked the whole having sex cover and the idea of them seeking out the best bed to do it and Ryder being put off be Bella’s teddy bears yeah creepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted July 28 Author Report Share Posted July 28 On 27/07/2024 at 05:14, Zig said: Such a good chapter, I wonder who got the money, can't wait for more. 11 hours ago, pembie said: Archibald could have the money in his safe still Hmm but no I think it’s somebody else someone who we are yet to meet maybe Thanks, I'm glad you're both still guessing! 11 hours ago, pembie said: I liked the whole having sex cover and the idea of them seeking out the best bed to do it and Ryder being put off be Bella’s teddy bears yeah creepy Yes, that seemed like the sort of thing Bella would come up with on the spot and Ryder would have to run with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted July 28 Author Report Share Posted July 28 Thank you for the comments, Zig and pembie! CHAPTER NINE Ryder led Bella down the corridor and pointed to a box on the wall…marked Fire Alarm.“There.” Bella examined it and nodded.“And it’s only connected to the staff quarters?” “Right.There’s fire doors that are meant to stop any fire in this part of the ship spreading.And for the next”-he checked his watch-“half an hour, no-one’s on shift so they should all still be in their quarters from last night.” Bella nodded slowly, taking this in.“Are you sure this is going to work?” “If you had $30,000, would you leave it to get burnt?” “Guess not.” “Okay.Give me five minutes to get to the assembly point, then set it off and join me up there.” “Right.”Bella paused for a moment before noting,“Ryder?” “Yeah?” “You were right.This is a crazy idea.” *** Ryder made his way up to the deck.The section he was in was mainly avoided by passengers, since it was marked as the staff emergency assembly area.There wasn’t really anyone else around but it shouldn’t look too suspicious if anyone saw him there. He checked his watch and hoped Bella would play her part. *** A few decks below him, Bella also checked her watch.She had severe reservations about this plan but Ryder was right that it stood a good chance of succeeding.It also felt like the sort of idea she’d come up with.She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. She took a deep breath and hit the fire alarm. *** The alarm was muted up where Ryder was, in order to avoid alarming passengers.He knew it would be ringing below decks though and sure enough, soon the first members of the crew and staff started emerging up onto deck. Ryder moved around as inconspicuously as possible, keeping an eye on everyone that came up.The plan was based on one assumption:That no-one would steal $30,000 and then leave it to potentially be burned in a fire.They had to have the money with them. Ryder saw Archibald directing staff into moving into neat lines for roll call and watched the staff manager as closely as possible but saw nothing.And he couldn’t exactly go up and search him.He looked around, picking out Wendy without seeing anything special.He examined every figure he saw without seeing anything. And then he did.Chase.He was clutching some sort of holdall to his chest.As if it was something very special…Ryder’s mind raced back to that night.He and Bella had seen Chase at the bar, but then they’d left him alone.Plenty of time for Chase to sneak down to the casino after Denzel left… Without really having a clue where he was going with this, Ryder stormed up to his colleague and shoved him.“What’s in the bag, Chase?” Chase had a panicked look in his eyes which confirmed Ryder’s suspicions.“What?” “What’s in the bag?”Ryder wasn’t really good at this physical stuff but he grabbed the bag, pulling at it. Chase continued to hold on to it for dear life.They both pulled at the bag until Ryder took a large tug which had the effect of causing him to fall over backwards and drag Chase down with him.The loss of footing was enough to make them both let go and the bag spun across the floor. Bella must have only just made it up there but she had quickly taken in the situation.The bag ended up at her feet and she quickly scooped it up and poured out the contents:Hundreds of bank notes.“You want to explain this?” Captain Smith came over, saw the triumphant looks on Ryder and Bella’s faces and the horrified one on Chase’s, and quickly reached the obvious conclusion.He looked hard at Chase.“I’d say you definitely have some explaining to do.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zig Posted July 30 Report Share Posted July 30 Loving this story so much, didn't expect it to be Chase, can't wait to see what happens next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted August 3 Author Report Share Posted August 3 On 31/07/2024 at 00:24, Zig said: Loving this story so much, didn't expect it to be Chase, Glad you liked it, I was worried I'd gone too far in introducing him and then making people forget him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zig Posted August 4 Report Share Posted August 4 17 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said: Glad you liked it, I was worried I'd gone too far in introducing him and then making people forget him! Nah you haven't, love it. Would love to know your thoughts on chapter 2 of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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