The man’s face quickly changed, from anger to annoyance, but he didn’t say anything else, just leading us straight back down the hallway, towards the door we’d come in from.
“Well, look how easy it was to get out of there,” Evan told the man in a shocked tone once we were back in the public part of the ship, and I had to hold back my laughter. “Thank you so much, sir. We were are all turned around, and I was afraid we’d be stuck in there forever.”
The man simply nodded at us and turned away, headed back into the crew area. Once he was out of earshot, Evan looked at me, eyebrows raised.
“I don’t know about you, but that made me as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers,” he confided as we made our way back to our room.
I started laughing. “Really?” He didn’t comment, so I asked him a question that had been bugging me for a while. “What’s up with all your weird sayings?”
“Weird sayings? What do you mean?” Evan asked, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was teasing, and knew exactly what I meant.
“You know. Madder than a wet hen. A couple of sandwiches shy of a picnic.’ No one talks like that.”
“So you’re saying I’m no one?”
“You know what I mean,” I said, smacking him playfully on the arm. “Did you come up with those sayings?”
Evan laughed. “No. They’re just things people say in the South, where I grew up. My neighbors were ranchers, and my mom thought of herself as a modern-day Southern Belle. They were always saying stuff like that.”
“So should I start going around using Finnish phrases?” I asked.
“I would love that,” Evan answered enthusiastically.
“So next time you’re in a bad mood, I’ll say you’re Kuin perseeseen ammuttu karhu?”
He looked at me sideways, clearly waiting for a translation, so I gave it to him. “That means, ‘like a bear shot in the ass.’” When he chuckled, I named another one. “Or Hävisi kuin pieru Saharaan, which means ‘to vanish into thin air,’ but the exact translation is, ‘to vanish like a fart in the Sahara.”
“Yes. Please use Finnish phrases as much as possible from now on,” Evan said with a grin. “It seems like Texans and Finns have more in common than I thought.”
I wanted to say more, but we were back at our room, and as Evan unlocked our door, Ally stepped out from her cabin, ready to compare notes.
“I’m guessing the crew is more careless on excursion days, with fewer people on the ships,” Ally said once the four of us were together in Ally and Knox’s room. “I found a couple employee name tags laying around—one was on the ground, and one I took off of an apron laying on a chair— so we put those on and we were able to get into the crew area and pretend we were one of them.” Ally sounded proud of herself, and I honestly wished I’d thought of that myself.
“We found where the crew eats their meals, and it’s pretty bad,” Knox said, handing me his phone so we could see the pictures. I scrolled through them as Evan looked over my shoulder. “It has wires sticking out all over the place, the oven and other equipment isn’t bolted down enough and could honestly crush someone if the ship rocked too much. And it’s loud, cluttered, and dark. I’m surprised no one’s gotten killed in there.”
“We don’t know for sure whether any crew members have died or not,” I reminded him.
“That’s true,” Knox agreed with a frown. “Plus, the food was disgusting, but we had to eat it as an excuse to look around.”
“And we found an area with a lot of crew cabins, and a tiny common room. It looked like there was one tiny bathroom for a ton of workers. It has a line to use, and it’s dirty, which is understandable, with so many people using the same one all day,” Ally added.
“And we also got a peak into a laundry room. That place was a hazard, with bottles of chemicals and detergents rolling around on the floor. Plus there was an incredible amount of steam and heat coming out, so I can only imagine how bad it feels inside,” Knox said.
“What did you two find?” Ally asked after they’d told us everything.
“I got some pictures of the inside of a crew cabin,” I said, handing Knox’s phone back, and giving mine to Ally, so she could see the pictures I’d taken. “It took me a minute to realize it, but there’s four beds, and eight people staying in that room. I could tell based on the belongings that were inside. And as you can tell, it’s so cluttered and small, you can barely walk around in there.”
“If given a choice between this room, and sleeping on the ground in Afghanistan, I’d choose Afghanistan every time,” Knox said.
“Don’t exaggerate,” Ally scolded him.
“I’m not! I’m completely serious right now.”
Ally rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything else, so Evan spoke up.
“Kassidy and I also had a chance to listen in on some of the kitchen crew without them knowing we were there. It was in Spanish, and Kassidy recorded it on her phone, but I can give you the highlights,” Evan said. “They mentioned working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, and talked about how badly their management was treating them. And, a couple of them also said that they’d signed contracts that ended months ago, but hadn’t been allowed to leave or contact their families.”
“Well, there you go! They basically admitted they’re slaves, and we have a recording of it,” I said with excitement. “So what do we do now?”
Evan thought for a moment. “Well, as FBI agents, and since we’ve been sneaking around without a warrant, I’m pretty sure if we tried to use any of this as evidence, the case would be thrown out immediately.” I started to argue, agitated at what he’d said, but he held up a finger, signaling me to wait. For once, I listened, and I let him continue without interruption. “I think the best option is to present the recording and the other evidence as evidence provided by Kassidy. She can be the witness and can testify to the pictures and the video recording being legitimate. Plus, she can testify to seeing the Visas and Passports at the Paradise Cruises office.”
“Will they argue that Kassidy made the recordings and took the pictures illegally, since she was trespassing in a private area of the ship?” Knox asked, and I noticed that both he and Evan were looking at Ally, as if expecting her to have the answer.
“I’m honestly not sure,” she admitted. “We’re really operating in the gray area here, so it’s hard to say.”
“I wasn’t trespassing when I saw those Passports and Visas. William invited me into his office,” I argued.
“True, but that’s not enough on its own. They could come up with a legitimate reason for having them, I’m sure,” Knox explained.
I started to argue, but Evan cut me off. “I don’t think this is something we can figure out until we get back to the FBI office. For now, we’re doing everything we can.”
“I agree,” Knox said. “Plus, it’s been a long day, and I’m ready for dinner. All I’ve eaten today is gross kitchen leftovers.”
I rolled my eyes, but I knew Evan was right, so I dropped the subject. We were doing all we could, and that would have to be enough.