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straight to bed. I think something happened to her between the time she left the club and the time she got back to the cabin. But what?”
    “That’s what we want to find out,” Drake answered. “Nicole, Rowan, why don’t you tell us what happened last night at Aqua?”
    “We went there after dinner,” Nicole answered. “After about an hour, Amber said she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go back to the cabin.” Nicole looked nervously over at the governor. She was obviously scared and intimidated by him, Rachel thought.
    “Did she say what was wrong?” Drake asked.
    “She was seasick and had a headache. I offered to walk her back, but…” Nicole said, looking first at Rowan, then again at Governor Knowles. “She said she didn’t want to ruin our good time.”
    Governor Knowles leaned forward and put his hand under his square jaw. Sarah stared at the girls intensely, as though this were the first time she’d heard the story, even though Rachel knew the girls had to have repeated it several times.
    “How did Josh get involved?” Drake asked.
    “Josh was kind of hanging out with us. He got us into a private VIP room and bought us drinks and snacks. When Amber said she was sick, he offered to walk her back,” Nicole said defensively. She looked at Rowan for help.
    “He was a nice guy. He talked about how he liked working on the ship and meeting new people,” Rowan said, trying to help her friend out. “Have you talked with him?”
    “Not yet. We’re interviewing all the crew members now,” Drake said, not letting them know that Josh was missing, too. “What time did you get back to the suite?”
    “We left the club around one thirty to go check on Amber,” Rowan answered.
    “We were concerned about her,” Nicole added. She looked nervously at the Knowleses again.
    “What did you find?” Drake asked.
    “Amber’s door was closed. We knocked, but she didn’t answer. I opened the door and looked around. I didn’t see her,” Nicole said. “I noticed the sliding glass door was open to the balcony, and I went out there. One of the chairs and a small table were turned over, and Amber’s phone was left under the chaise lounge. When I saw that, I yelled for Rowan.”
    “I was changing in my room and heard Nicole yelling, so I headed out to the balcony,” Rowan added.
    “I didn’t know what had happened—if the wind blew the table and chair over, or what. I got worried,” Nicole said.
    “We ran back inside and called out again for Amber. We searched every room.” Rowan started crying. “We couldn’t believe she wasn’t there.”
    “Then what did you do?” Rachel asked softly.
    “We decided to look around the ship for her,” Nicole said uneasily. She patted Rowan’s hand, reassuring her.
    “We thought maybe she’d gone back to the club looking for us since it was so late,” Rowan said.
    “Did you go there to look for her?”
    “Yes. We asked some of the employees who were still hanging around if they’d seen Josh or Amber, and no one had. The other guy who was working with Josh…uh…his name was…”
    “Andy,” Rowan said.
    “Andy. He went with us to look for her. We walked around the pools and the other decks.”
    “How long did you look for her?” Rachel asked.
    “About an hour, I guess. We came back to the room and called Mrs. Thompson while Andy called the captain,” Rowan said.
    “Mrs. Thompson is one of the chaperones,” Governor Knowles said.
    “The crew searched the ship and didn’t find anything. By then we’d already started docking,” Nicole finished.
    “Tell us about Josh.” Rachel got a notepad out of her bag. “How did you meet him?”
    “He was standing outside the club. Amber walked up to him first and started talking to him,” Nicole said.
    “He was wearing a uniform?” Rachel asked.
    “Yes. He told us that he was a club host and asked if we wanted a private VIP room. We said sure, so he took us to one, and then our other friends came.