“Welcome!” a sultry voice called out. “Welcome aboard the Rosita!”
It was Lila Templeton, dressed in a long robe of shimmering sea green silk that opened in the front to reveal an extremely small bikini. Her honey blond hair spilled over her bare shoulders like a lion’s mane, and she was flashing her toothpaste-ad smile to everyone coming up the gangplank. “If there’s anything my boys or I can do for you, just let us know,” she called out, “because we want each and every one of you to have the most fantastic night of your lives!”
Each and every one of us except two, Nancy said to herself, thinking of Kim and Maria. Turning to her “date,” she flashed a smile of her own, ducking her head and pretending to be fascinated with whatever he was babbling about. That got her safely past Lila, but she knew she’d still have to be careful of Lila’s “boys,” who were patrolling the deck like sentries.
Fortunately, the party to nowhere was booked solid, and Nancy soon found herself on the jam-packed deck, trying to dance and make conversation with her new friend, whose name she still didn’t know. She was hot and sweaty, and she’d lost sight of Bess and George, but at least she was inconspicuous.
At eight o’clock, a cheer went up as the Rosita pulled smoothly away from the dock. In twenty minutes, they’d left the lights of Fort Lauderdale behind and were moving swiftly through the water under a starlit sky. Nancy decided she’d better start exploring. It wouldn’t take long to reach the island, and she knew she had to find Kim and Maria before then, or it might be too late.
“Listen,” she said when there was a break in the music, “I’m going to collapse if I don’t get some breathing space. I think I’ll just wander around a little bit, okay?”
“Aww, come on,” her date said, “the party’s just getting started.“.Grabbing her hand, he pulled Nancy close to him as a slow number began playing. “I thought you and I were going to spend the whole night together,” he whispered in her ear.
“You thought wrong,” Nancy whispered back. She slipped down out of the circle of his arms and turned him around until he was facing another girl. “Sorry, but I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding a partner.”
Obviously not heartbroken, the boy immediately asked the other girl if she wanted to dance, and Nancy left them together, threading her way quickly through the crowd until she reached the deck rail. Then she craned her neck around, trying to find Bess and George.
She spotted George standing near the entrance to the galley, which was roped off, sipping a can of soda and watching the dancers. Bess was still attached to the group of unattached girls, tapping her foot to the music and looking frustrated. Lila was nowhere to be seen, but her boys were all over the place, carrying trays of drinks, mingling with the crowd, and keeping their eyes wide open, Nancy noticed.
Casually Nancy raised her hands above her head, as if she were stretching. Bess and George both caught the movement, and just as casually, started making their way toward the Rosita’s bow. Nancy lowered her hands, pretending to be adjusting her turban, but instead of the silk of the scarf, her hands came down on her hair.
What had happened to her scarf? Nancy’s reddish blond hair was as big a clue to her identity as a fabulous figure was to Bess’s. With her telltale hair swirling around her shoulders and her thick makeup dissolving in sweat, Nancy knew she’d be recognized by anyone who’d spent even five minutes with her. And that includes Lila, Dirk, and at least two more of Lila’s boys, she thought frantically.
Nancy realized it was too late to go searching for her scarf. It must have come loose when she broke free from her date’s arms, and had probably already been trampled by at least eighty feet. She grabbed her hair in both hands and swept it back, tying it in a loose knot that she knew wouldn’t hold for long, but it was the best she could do. Hoping to get lost in the crowd, she moved into the mass of dancing bodies, and that’s when she saw Lila’s “maintenance” man.