Four
“Clarity, please ensure Ms. Avenworth can relax and find another cabin for her,” said the captain.
Clarity and the girls helped Ms. Avenworth gather her clothes and they found another cabin for her, one floor above her cabin. Clarity walked by the bridge and saw a long queue of more than one hundred passengers grumbling about the sudden examination of their passports which were cutting short their morning shopping visit to downtown Acapulco. The City of Wellington was going to spend three days docked at most and would then set its bow towards Costa Rica.
While the interrogations were taking place on the bridge and after ensuring Ms. Avenworth was playing darts in the game room, Clarity walked to the ship´s second floor and stepped out to a deck where Shazaiah was giving her outdoor yoga class. Everybody who was part of the crew was allowed to attend ship´s activities and the attractive woman´s lively classes, which included advice on how to adopt a millionaire mindset, were among the most popular. As she was lifting her legs upward with her head on the floor and body upside down, she saw the imposing silhouette of Cactus come towards her.
“Clarity, come with me, Officer Juarez wants to see you for interrogation.”
She ran across Lanai and told her she was headed for the bridge. Walking in front of Cactus, she picked up her passport in her room and reached the captain´s upmost deck for the first time. In contrast to the rest of the ship, the command post was dark, and it took Clarity several seconds to absorb the view before her. Juarez´s assistants were busily speaking on two phones with American authorities, ensuring that the passport numbers and photographs of the interrogated tourists did not match that of any criminal on file in the U.S.
“Passport please, Miss, sit down here.” Clarity handed her passport to Juarez and sat on the chair used by the person in charge of the ship´s radar. She rested her head on the headrest, hearing the radar´s beep behind her. She watched Juarez open her passport and hold her picture to the neon lamp above them.
“So, Miss Nice, the captain told me you are a hostess on this ship. That means you must know every passenger by their name, I assume.”
“Well, more or less, not everybody, but I knew Ms. Avenworth, if that´s what you mean. Not directly, but I saw her engage in the ship´s daily activities.”
“What activities exactly?”
“Shuffleboard, pool games, baccarat, water aerobics, there´s a daily list that we, as hostesses organize to ensure the passengers have a good time.”
“Evidence, evidence, Miss Nice, never forget the evidence. I think we´re getting somewhere with this interrogation.”
“We are?”
“Yes, your cabin exactly, Mr. Cactus here will escort you and walk us there. Somebody told us we could find something of interest there.”
Clarity stepped out of the bridge, her mind uncomfortable. Somebody had not so nice thoughts towards her, she thought, and those thoughts sounded like trouble. She saw Lanai outside the bridge and told her she was going to her own cabin. The girl from Hawaii insisted to go with her and they reached her cabin in a few minutes. Juarez himself performed the search, first the drawers, then the bed, finally the closet. She saw Lanai speak nervously to Juarez´s assistant, telling them that her friend was a very nice woman.
“Open your safe please,” said Juarez, glaring at Clarity.
Clarity opened the safe and a bundle of dollars clipped together, silver dollar on top, practically fell out of the box. Juarez counted the bills and raised his baritone voice triumphantly.
“Exactly two thousand three hundred and seventy two dollars, and a silver dollar. The evidence is unsurmountable, Miss Nice, you´re under arrest for theft and under the custody of the Mexican authorities for an indefinite period.”
“But this is a mistake, I never…” mumbled Clarity.
“I´m going with her,” said Lanai immediately.
“But you´re not under arrest,” said Juarez.
“Well…well…Mexican police is corrupted to the bone and you have been bribed to arrest my friend,” said Lanai.
“Defamation to a police officer from the United States of Mexico, you´re under arrest now and may keep company to Miss Nice during her stay here. Welcome to Acapulco ladies.”