The Chocolate Pirate Plot by JoAnna Carl

me wonder if he’s working here under a fake ID.”
    â€œWhy would he do that?”
    â€œIt’s fairly common. To work backstage in a city like New York or Chicago, you have to belong to the union. The Warner Pier Showboat can’t pay union wages or offer union benefits. So if a guy is desperate for a job, he takes it under a fake name.”
    â€œWould that be a reason for staging a disappearance?”
    â€œI don’t see why. If they get caught, they just drift away and deny the whole thing. The union isn’t likely to track them down.”
    Maggie sipped her coffee and nibbled a treasure chest pastille. “Honestly, Lee, these kids face so many temptations! I worry, worry, worry about them. They think they’re all grown up and know everything, and they don’t know anything!”
    Maggie shuddered. I remembered that at nineteen Maggie had gone to California to try to break into the movies. She has never confided just what happened, but I do know that there are episodes from that time that she deeply regrets.
    â€œThere are so many pitfalls,” she said. “Bad guys are just lurking behind every potted plant, luring them into things that they’ll be sorry for for the rest of their lives.”
    â€œI know,” I said. “Those guys hang around beauty pageants, too. The only thing that saved me from having nude photos on the Internet was my mom. If I was asked to go on a photo shoot, she insisted on going along. It’s funny how fast a lot of photographers lost interest in me as a model.”
    Maggie laughed. “Did you ever have any interest in an entertainment career?”
    â€œNo! And a good thing, too, since I barely scraped by in the talent competition. I’d sing my medley of John Denver songs, smile, and retire to the back row, where the tall girls stood.”
    â€œBut you got to the Miss Texas competition.”
    â€œOne year out of the five I tried. I wasn’t particularly disappointed. Accounting is a much safer way to make a living.”
    â€œToo bad you can’t do an audit for the talent competition.”
    We both got the giggles at the thought of a beauty pageant that featured a contestant in a bikini with a ledger under her arm or wearing an evening gown and carrying a computer while demonstrating Quicken. It was a good five minutes before we got back to the subject at hand.
    â€œWell,” I said, “if you don’t know anything about Jeremy, what have you figured out about Jill?”
    Maggie frowned. “Lee, you usually avoid gossip. So I don’t think these questions are idle curiosity. What are you up to?”
    I quickly sketched my suspicion that Joe and I were intentionally being drawn into some plot. And I wasn’t sure just what the plot was about.
    â€œBut why were we the first boat boarded?” I said. “And we were the smallest boat. All of the others have been yachts. After Jeremy disappeared, why did Jill run past five houses to ask us to help her? Why did this Hal—a friend of Jeremy’s—want Joe to help him with a legal matter? And what’s happened to Hal? After he asked Joe to meet him, why didn’t he show up?”
    â€œI see your concern,” Maggie said. “But I have no idea what’s going on.”
    â€œI’m sure you don’t. But Jeremy and Jill seem to be part of it. Whatever it is. So I thought I’d try to find out more about them.”
    â€œOkay, okay.” Maggie took the final bonbon, then stared at the ceiling before she spoke again. “You hit a nerve, that’s all.”
    â€œWith you? Why?”
    â€œI guess I have a certain sympathy for Jill.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause I’m afraid she’s headed for trouble, Lee.”
    Maggie leaned against the desk and looked at me with serious eyes. I could even see tears welling up.
    â€œI worry about Jill, Lee, because she’s just like I was at that