Voyage of the Dreadnaught: Four Stella Madison Capers by Lilly Maytree Read Free Book Online Page A

attack down
there?” Millie accused. “I was in there for hours!”
    “But you were out by the time we got back,”
the girl reasoned.
    “A lot of this is my fault, “said Stella.
“You see, I had a bit of extra time before we moved onto the boat
and mailed them off to the pawn shop they were addressed to. As a
favor to Millie because her return address was on there.”
    Now, a unanimous gasp of horror escaped
everybody.
    “My pills!” Millie reached into the pocket
of her pink housecoat, in search of them. “My heart pills! Oh,
Mase—I’m going to faint!”
    “Wait!” This time, it was Lou Edna who
raised her hand. “It’s OK—it’s OK! Oh, this is all too funny!” She
leaned her head back to indulge in a moment of nervous laughter.
“If you mailed them just the way they were, we’re OK!”
    “You have the weirdest sense of humor, Lou.”
Cole got up and poured himself a cup of coffee, realized it wasn’t
coffee, and poured it down the sink, instead. “I’ve never felt this
stupid in my life, and we still have major problems, here.”
    “J.D.’s going to be wondering where those
pictures are!” Millie complained. “I gave him our forwarding
address, too.” She moaned at her own stupidity. “Now, when they
turn up on the black market, somewhere, any investigator with half
a brain will be able to trace things back to me. The real crooks
will get away, scot-free, and I could end up in women’s prison,
after all! Lou—how could you do this to me!”
    “I didn’t do anything that bad, Millie. I
addressed them to Peabody’s Peculiar Treasures —J.D.’s
antique place—not the pawn shop we were dealing with. In case you
found them in the dumbwaiter before we could actually make the
deal. Didn’t want to give you another heart attack.”
    “You mean, I didn’t send them to the mafia,
after all?” Stella was so relieved she leaned her forehead against
the Colonel’s shoulder and sighed. “Oh, thank heaven!”
    “Mr. Peabody’s probably had them for days,
now,” the girl assured. “So—other than harboring an illegal
allien--”
    “Oh, Lou Edna!” Millie dropped her face into
her hands. “If you aren’t the death of me, one of these days, I
will be a lucky woman!”
    “Shortcake, we can handle.” Mason jerked a
thumb toward Cole. “It’s him we got to figure out what to do with,
now.”
    “I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do with
him!” The booming voice of Captain Stuart echoed from the
companionway leading down to the engine room. He ducked smartly
into the galley, with his hair all slicked back, and a clean shirt
on. It had a small rip at the left shoulder, and only smelled
faintly of diesel.
    “Yeah, I knew this was coming sooner, or
later, so…” Cole stood up straighter and looked him in the eye.
“Let’s have it, Old Man.”
    “You’re promoted to First Mate.”
    “Are you kidding me?”
    “You will remain aboard this vessel—without
shore leave—all the way to Alaska. Where you will immediately apply
for a passport. And the rest of you…” Stuart looked them all over
with a warm appreciation shinning in his eyes, and pronounced, “Are
hereby released from idiot-status. By the Almighty—you performed
like regular sailors, out there. Every last one of you!”
     

 
    7
     
    That night, as Stella sat tucked beneath her
rose-colored throw, reading before a pleasantly crackling fire, it
suddenly occurred to her how far they had all come, working
together as a team. Why it had literally saved them! And—without
the many miracles she was so sure she had experienced that day—they
could all be dead. In fact, she was beginning to feel like
something of a cat with nine lives, lately, the way she had been
escaping so many disasters.
    Now, here she was in her safe little home,
in this quiet harbor, halfway to Alaska. Could it be that God truly
cared for her—in a personal way—and took a “divine hand” in all
things concerning her? Why, if that were true…