If Gabriella’s accommodation was cramped then that which Sandy, Agnes and Heather were enjoying was considerably better.

With customs officials all watching the ports after the apparent abductions of Agnes and Heather, Sandy had come up with a plan that allowed them all to join the next transatlantic sailing from Southampton. As a result they were to enjoy the comfort of an ocean liner’s first class cabin. Well at least Sandy and Agnes were.

While the ports had been alerted to watch out for the novelist and the publisher’s secretary and their presumed abductors, they weren’t particularly worried by a woman leaving for America with her elderly, wheel chair confined aunt and her aunt’s nurse. Every assistance was provided to help the party board, the crew being particularly solicitous over Sandy’s aunt, the poor old lady in the head scarf and dark glasses, who put up so stoically with her wheel chair being man-handled up the boarding ramp. They were even provided with a cabin that opened directly onto the promenade deck so that Sandy could take her aged aunt out for air. It was just a shame that at such short notice they had only been able to accommodate the nurse in one of the third class cabins on F deck.

In Sandy and Agnes’s cabin, Heather was being thoroughly un-amused. She had thrown her starched white cap on the bed angrily as soon as she entered the cabin. �It’s completely unfair,� she protested. �You two are up here enjoying the comfort and I’m stuck down in the bowels of the ship. Have you the slightest idea how hot and stuffy it is down there? Not to mention the noise? Have you?�

Agnes was sitting back on the bed, her head scarf and glasses tossed to one side. Sandy was at the cabin’s dressing table. �Let me think, Heather, let me think,� she said, smirking. �Well, on reflection, no. No, I don’t think we do.� She giggled.

Heather was standing with her arms folded. Well it’s jolly unfair. I had by far the worse kidnapping dumped in the back of that van and then bouncing around in the side-car. And now I have to wear this stupid uniform on top of being in the smallest metal box that could be possibly referred to as a cabin. It doesn’t even have a window.�

�Port-hole, dear,� Agnes corrected. �Didn’t you learn anything at that publishers?�

�Window, port-hole who cares?� said Heather sulkily.

�And besides,� chimed in Sandy, �I think white suits you.�

�Yes, and so do half the perverted old men I have to pass from my cabin to get up here! My backside must be black and blue.� Heather ran her hands tentatively over her buttocks.

�Most unfair, Heather dear,� Agnes replied. �I thought I was the only one allowed to take advantage of you below the waist. You must show me later. Now don’t be difficult or I’ll be asking the Captain to clap you in irons. Do be a good girl and fetch me some tea.�

Heather gave an irritated snort and left for the dining room. She had just reached the foot of the stairs leading down up to the main saloon when she heard a voice behind her.

�Heather Logan! How extraordinary!�

Heather turned around to find herself face to face with Jennifer Bayliss.

�Oh, this is wonderful,� Jennifer gushed. �It must be eight years or more. How are you? What have you been up to? What are you doing now? Oh, silly of me.� She noticed Heather’s uniform.

Heather thought swiftly. �Well you can see, I went in to nursing. I’ve got a really good job now, looking after an old dear on the crossing. It’s a bit dull but not too much hard work,� she laughed.

�It’s funny seeing you here. I met Lucy Jordan just before I left England, you remember her, she thought you were working for some publisher she was worried in case you’d been caught up in that dreadful business with Agnes Crystal. She must have been thinking about someone else.�

Now Heather was worried. Lucy wasn’t thinking about anyone else, she Lucy and Jennifer had been firm friends at school but she’d kept in contact with Lucy and they’d often used to meet for tea at Lyons Corner House in the Strand. There would be a real problem when Jennifer and Lucy next spoke - by then Lucy would be sure to have heard about her supposed abduction. It would only take a call on the ship-to-shore radio telephone and she, Agnes and Sandy could be in real trouble.

�Yes, she must.� Heather tried to gather her wits and think what to do. �Still it’s lovely to see you. How are you enjoying the trip? What have you been up to?�

�Oh, I’ve got a wonderful opportunity. You know I was always keen on sports at school,� Heather remembered that Jennifer had been captain of the school netball team and she still had the lithe, loose limbed body and the long blonde hair that had made her the crush of every girl in the lower fourth. �I’ve been invited to Boston as part of a sports exchange programme between the Americans and ourselves.�

�Goodness,� said Heather. �Will you be in America long?�

�I’m not sure, I� � An elderly couple were trying to make their way along the corridor and Jennifer edged back to let them pass. �Well look, we can’t stay here chatting,� she said. �Look, you’re obviously in the middle of some errand, why don’t you stop by my cabin later on? I’ve got a bottle of gin down there it’ll be quite like some of those dorm parties back in school.� She laughed.

�Hmm, yes, that will be great. There’s so much I have to tell you,� said Heather conspiratorially.

�All right then. How about five o’clock? It’s cabin B227.�

�Lovely,� said Heather, �I’ll see you then. But you’re right I really must get back to the old lady.� She waved and scuttled off back to Agnes cabin.

Two hours later, Jennifer responded to a knock on her cabin door and opened it to Heather. �Come in,� she urged. �Or are you still on duty?�

�Oh, no, no,� said Heather looking down at her uniform. �I’ve just finished but I thought I’d stop by before I went back to my cabin. I’m right down on E-deck, I’m afraid.�

�That’s all right. It’s good to see you anyway. Come on sit down. Put that satchel down anywhere.� Heather tossed her first aid bag down on the couch and sat down alongside it. �What do you keep in there anyway? All your pills and potions?�

�Yes, it’s a regular drug store as the Americans would say,� Heather laughed.

�Well, I’ll fix a drink. Gin all right for you?�

�No, look, this should be my treat. Here,� Heather pulled a bottle of champagne from her satchel, its neck blocked by an ornate silver stopper. �I liberated a bottle of bubbly from the old dear she keeps having them sent up but never seems to get around to drinking them. It’s only just been opened so there’s still plenty of fizz in it.�

�Lovely,� said Jennifer producing two glasses from a wall cabinet. �I’m all for freebies.�

Heather poured each of them a glass. �Happy days,� Jennifer laughed taking a big gulp.

�And old times,� replied Heather joining her.

A few sips later, Jennifer said, �Oh, this is really going to my head. I know I haven’t had any for a while but I feel really giddy from just those couple of sips. Oooh, I must sit down.�

�Mmm, I feel quite muzzy, myself,� said Heather. �It must be because it’s warm in here, don’t you think��

�Well, I,�.� Jennifer began but suddenly her eyes drooped shut and she slid back unconscious on the bed. Heather smiled for a moment but then the effects of the drug took hold on her and she slipped into unconsciousness too, falling to the floor beside her old school friend.

The soft thump of the two girls sliding into oblivion was Sandy’s cue. With a stolen pass key she opened the door to the cabin and slipped inside, bringing with her a folding wheel chair and a small soft bag. Surveying the scene she slid Heather away from the bed where Jennifer was sprawled before setting to work. She turned to the chest of drawers and rummaged in each drawer in turn, pulling out a selection of stockings and scarves. Sandy tied Jennifer’s ankles together with a stocking. Working quickly, she took each wrist in turn and tied it to her leg, just above the knee. Finally she tied her knees tightly together as well. Then picking up two scarves she jammed one into Jennifer’s mouth before tying another across it. She had only just worked quickly enough. Jennifer gave a choking grunt from behind her gag as the effects of the drug began to wear off. Heather gave an equally inarticulate groan from the floor but was soon sitting up, holding her head to try to stop the throbbing ache that remained now that consciousness had returned.

�That’s definitely dedication above the call of duty,� said Sandy, helping Heather groggily to her feet. �Are you all right?�

�Hmm, yes, but, oh, my head hurts. If we need to do that again can we try a different way to lull the suspicions of our victim?�

Jennifer, now fully conscious, had realised her situation without understanding the reason for it. Even so she was not afraid to show that she was both angered and scared by what was going on, grunting vigorously into her scarf gag and throwing herself around the bed in an attempt to get loose. Sandy looked down at the struggling girl. �You were right she is quite athletic, isn’t she. Are you OK for the next bit?�

�Mmm, yes, fine,� said Heather. �No worse than after one of Snipcock’s book launches. Now where’s my satchel?� She picked the bag up from the floor and rummaged inside. Triumphantly she pulled out a hypodermic needle and a small phial containing a colourless liquid. She pushed the needle into the cork cap of the phial and drew a measured dose up into the barrel of the hypodermic. �Now if you could just help the patient to be quite still. This has to go into a vein and I wouldn’t want to have to try too many times.�

Sandy grabbed hold of Jennifer and twisted her right fore arm around exposing the veins in her wrist. Heather tapped the syringe, peered at it and pushed a small amount of the drug out to ensure that no bubbles of air were trapped in the needle. Then, ignoring Jennifer’s wide eyed terror and muffled protests she slipped the needle into a vein and pushed the plunger.

Jennifer felt a cold sensation in her arm and then unconsciousness returned.

Sandy and Heather bundled the drugged Jennifer onto the wheel chair, put a blanket across her lap, pulled a scarf around her head and put a pair of dark glasses on her. They wheeled her out of her cabin and back towards the lift that would take them up to the promenade deck. As far as anyone they met in the corridors of the ship was concerned, the old lady was simply being taken out by her nurse for a breath of air.

�She’ll be out for several hours,� said Heather to Sandy, as they got her back to Agnes’s cabin. �She can have another shot this evening and she’ll be ready to leave the boat like this when we dock tomorrow morning.�

�No one will miss her from her cabin tonight with all the jollity of the Captain’s dinner,� said Sandy. �You couldn’t have met at a more convenient moment, if you have to bump into friends from your past.�

Jennifer, bound, gagged and unconscious was stretched out on Agnes’s bed. �What a very healthy looking young lady,� Agnes smiled, sitting beside her and running a finger down her cheek. �I do like the tone that exercise brings to the skin. So much more attractive than the pallor of a life of alcohol and tobacco.� She looked across at Heather who was sitting at the cabin’s cocktail bar with a drink in one hand, cigarette in the other. Heather simply scowled in return. She was used to Agnes’s bitchy comments.