Sam

As we walk down the corridor to Debbie and Ruth's stateroom, I can't get the image of Cindy, with that white towel wrapped around her tanned body and her wet, freshly combed hair hanging around her shoulders, out of my mind's eye.

The look on her face when she looked appreciatively over my own body was sexy as hell. She adorably blushed when she got caught checking out my package. The way she slowly retreated into her room was amusing.

I glance down at her as we approach the ladies' room. She wears a simple back tee-shirt dress with a bright pink bathing suit strap tied around her neck. I can't wait for the bathing suit to be revealed at the pool later.

She knocks on the door, and a moment later, the ladies, overhead talking about their two friends missing, answer the door. The brunette is attractive but is nowhere in the same league as my Cindy. The bleach-blonde woman with dark roots has a friendly smile.

"Hello, again." Cindy smiles sweetly at the two women while she makes introductions. "This is my friend, Sam. Sam, this is Debbie and Ruth."

I hold out my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

Debbie shakes my hand firmly. "Thank you for inviting us to lunch and giving us your time."

I smile. "Of course, Cindy and I are concerned for your friends and want to help in any way we can."

I take Ruth's hand; her handshake is not as firm as Debbie's, but it's not limp either. "It's very nice to meet you. As Debbie said, we appreciate you both taking time out of your vacation to help us figure out what happened to Lucy and Kelly."

Cindy pipes in, "We don't mind at all. Remember, we came to you."

They both give Cindy an appreciative smile.

"Shall we?" I move my hand in the direction of the elevators.

We made small talk as we ascended to Deck 17, where our restaurant is. We quickly learned that four friends, Lucy, Kelly, Debbie, and Ruth, were college roommates and now live worldwide. Ruth is from California; Debbie is from Arkansas; Lucy, Illinois; and Kelly is from Montana. The four of them take a vacation together every year to catch up and get away from their everyday lives. This year, they chose this cruise.

We make it up to Deck 17. The doors open, and we take a short walk to the restaurant. I held Cindy's hand when I caught Ruth looking down at our interwoven fingers. "So, how long have you two known each other?"

I look down at Cindy and smile. "We met on the first night of this cruise, but we quickly bonded because we live in the same city, have mutual friends, and our love for detective work."

Cindy gives me a wide grin, and I could have swept her into my arms and given her one hell of a kiss. Instead, I press my lips to the top of her head and enjoy the smell of her floral shampoo.

"Lucky you!" Ruth says to Cindy, and I can't wait for Cindy's reaction to Ruth's comment.

Cindy smiles, and our eyes meet. "I'm fortunate!"

"Me, too!" I return her smile.

We're seated and look quietly over the menu. When the waitress returns, we're ready to place our orders. Ruth decided on French onion soup, Debbie ordered an asparagus salad with orange slices and duck, Cindy chose butter-roasted jumbo shrimp, and I ordered the pan-seared jumbo scallops.

Cindy and I had discussed how this would go with Debbie and Ruth while we were on our excursion. Cindy was to approach the ladies first to gain their confidence, as only women can do. I'm to take the lead on the questioning.

I lean forward to begin and see Cindy pull a pad of paper and pen out of her bag. She catches my eyes, and I smile at her preparedness. She cutely shrugs her shoulders. Every day, this woman impresses me more and more.

Once I see that Cindy is ready, I begin my questioning. "You four have been vacationing together for years. Is it normal for Lucy or Kelly to go off with someone and not contact you for a long time?"

The women look at each other before Debbie replies, "Kelly goes a little wild, but never Lucy. She's timid, especially around men. She's extremely responsible and would tell us if she was hooking up with someone."

I see Cindy frantically writing.

Ruth adds to Debbie's statement, "Here's the strange thing about this situation. We were all dancing on the upper deck on the first night. Well, everyone except for Lucy. She doesn't like to dance, so she told us that she would drink at the bar and watch. That was the last time that Debbie or I had seen Lucy. Kelly, however, saw Lucy speaking with a member of the ship's staff. Kelly was not worried until she returned to their stateroom, and Lucy wasn't there. At first, Kelly thought she got lucky and hooked up with a guy. Although, when she had not heard from Lucy by the time she met us at the pool, we all became extremely concerned."

Ruth paused, and Debbie picked up where she left off. "After none of us had heard from Lucy after dinner, Kelly told us that she was going to find the staff member that she saw Lucy with the night before. We've not seen either Lucy or Kelly ever since."

I saw Cindy give me a look, and I knew that she was thinking the same thing I was thinking. "Do you know which staff member Lucy and Kelly talked to?"

Debbie and Ruth both sadly shook their heads no.

We enjoyed getting to know the ladies better throughout lunch. They asked if they should contact the women's families. I told them that was entirely their decision and that the media would get involved if they did. I promised to keep them in the loop with anything Cindy and I discovered.

We said our goodbyes and hugged. Debbie and Ruth thanked Cindy and me profusely before we left them to head to the pool.

Cindy and I decided to take the stairs down the one deck to the pool area. Once we were out of earshot, I turned to her. "So, what are your thoughts? Where would you start?"

She jumps right in. "First and foremost, I would talk to the Ship's Captain. One, to let him know what's going on, and two, to get the names of the staff on this ship that are permitted to mingle with the passengers. Once I receive the list from the Captain, I would check for priors, and then I would check to see if other passengers have gone missing from other cruises that they were associated with."

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her tightly into me. "You, my girl, are pretty amazing."

She looks up at me and smirks. "I bet you say that to all the detectives you work with."

I laugh. "No, I don't say that to any other detective. Only you, beautiful, only you."

She wraps both of her arms around my waist. We pause right there in the stairwell, and I kiss her tenderly.

"For the record, I don't kiss the other detectives I work with either."

She laughs, and I love it. Now for the bright pink bikini reveal!

*****