Page 105 of Backtrack
“Nope.” Cutter reached past her and opened the door. “I do not. The universe already came knocking and decided to make me a father after forty-five years.”
Joellen’s hands fell to her side. She bounced away from the wall, filling the narrow entryway. “I … I didn’t mean to … Mim didn’t say anything about a baby on the phone.”
“What’s she supposed to say, Jo?Hi Arliss’s ex-wife, sorry someone is stalking you. Just thought I’d let you know I’m pregnant with Arliss’s child.”
Joellen wheeled for the door. “I’ll be fine. You don’t need to follow me.”
“Knock it off, Jo,” he said.
She groaned. “A baby … Arliss Cutter a daddy. …”
She walked ahead, the swing in her hips far more exaggerated than it was when Lola was around. Maybe their breakup was just a little bit her fault after all.
CHAPTER 47
Shayna’s phone buzzed while she and Ricky Pink rolled their bags up the ramp to boardThe Polar Star. A dark frown spread across her face as she listened. She mumbled an angry curse and then ended the call.
Ricky glared down at her. “What was that about?”
“Leo said he’s got the Hawaiian girl.”
“Got her, got her, or just has her in sight?”
“You mean has he caved in her head yet?” Shayna sneered.
“I figured he’d be a little more subtle,” Ricky said. “But I’m fine with that, too.”
“She’s in her hotel room.”
Pink stopped in midstride. “Is Cutter with her?”
“Leo says she’s alone. Cutter’s still on the ship.”
“That works,” Pink said. “Tell Leo to make it happen.”
Joellen’s cabin was amidship on 12, three decks below Cutter’s suite. He didn’t hang around when they got there, unwilling to spend a minute longer with his ex than absolutely necessary.
Lola would be disappointed if he cut their cruise short, but if there were no solid leads by the time they docked in Juneau the next morning, he’d leave Joellen in Ajit Gupta’s capable hands. The man was Indian Special Forces. He’d have no trouble handling any problem.
Back in the suite, Cutter checked out the video monitors Rishi had set up, then took a few minutes to familiarize himself with the deck plans Ajit provided.The Polar Starwas 1006 feet from bow tostern and 136 feet wide. She boasted seventeen decks, two swimming pools, a theater, a library, a casino, and, among other things, eleven restaurants. The layout looked to be intuitive—support, kitchens, laundry, and crew quarters decks 5 and below; common areas, restaurants, casino, and shopping 6 through 8, with cabins on decks 9 through 15. An observation lounge, a buffet, and swimming pools on the top three decks. The wide passageway on Deck 5 that ran from the entire length of the ship was marked “I-95” on the diagram, apparently a high traffic area. Cutter resolved to have Ajit take him on a tour of the crew areas that were normally off limits.
Satisfied with his self-briefing, Cutter stuck an AirPod in his ear and stepped out on the balcony to call Mim. What had been a gorgeously bright day had turned gray and misty. It was difficult to tell where sea stopped and sky began.
He took a deep breath of the moist ocean air. Hard to believe he was getting paid for this. Seagulls wheeled and cried overhead, sharing the air with the numerous floatplanes eager to beat the weather moving in from the south. Wispy clouds crawled through the mist, nestling in the trees across the water on Pennock Island, the three-mile-long hazard that made the Tongass Narrows even narrower. The airport ferry chugged its way through the weather across the narrows toward Gravina Island to his right.
A Tlingit poet in Skagway had once told Cutter that he refused to let cloudy weather dictate his moods. This was a rainforest, for crying out loud. What did people expect?
Cutter slid the door shut behind him so as not to re-create the wind tunnel from earlier when Lola returned. Spitting moisture came from up, down, and sideways, but this wasn’t nearly cold nor wet enough to chase him back inside.
Mim’s face appeared on his screen on the second ring.
“Hey there!” She fell backward into her favorite blue recliner in the living room. The twins squabbled about a chess game behind her. “I just got in from Costco. They had leg of lamb on sale for Sunday with your mother.”
Cutter filled her in on his day, leaving out Joellen’s advances. Mim must have seen it in his eyes.
“Your ex-lover behaving herself?”
“She’s my ex for a reason,” Cutter said.
