A LIFE’S TRAGEDY
Chapter Eight
After leaving Catherine, which
was hard in itself, I quickly discovered that Rose was nowhere to be found. I
found Ruth at a table with the Countess of Rothes, but Rose was not with her.
Odd, I thought to myself. Then Mr. Lovejoy
approached me.
"Anything wrong?" he
asked in his gruff, serious voice.
"Where’s Rose?" I spat
back, trying to hold my voice low.
"I haven’t seen her,"
he replied.
"Well, find her," I
ordered. I turned from him and walked into the smoking room.
"Cal!" Mr. Astor called
out.
I forced one of my million-dollar
smiles at the table he was sitting at.
"Evening, gentlemen. About
ready for some more brandy?" I asked, laughing a bit.
"Always," Mr.
Guggenheim replied.
Everyone laughed. I sat down with
the men. The steward lit my cigar. We sat talking about our millions, the same
chatter that always took place among us. My mind was on Catherine. I knew I
would never see her again, and that was how it was supposed to be, but she
still plagued my mind.
Spicer Lovejoy reappeared in the
room, motioning for me to come to him.
"Excuse me, gentlemen,"
I said, standing.
"Of course," Colonel
Gracie replied.
"Well?" I asked,
standing before my valet.
"None of the stewards have
seen her," he said in his normal monotone.
"This is absurd. It’s a ship.
There’s only so many places she could be. Lovejoy, find her!" I said
powerfully, yet quietly.
He left again. I returned to the
table. "Sorry about that, gentlemen." I laughed a bit. I was welcomed
back into the conversation immediately, naturally.
The colonel started a card game,
which I didn’t participate in. I only sat watching and sipping my brandy.
"I’ve got fifty dollars that
says we’ll make it into New York on Tuesday night!" Gracie announced. I
was hardly listening.
I looked towards the doors. No sign
of Lovejoy. I pulled out my gold pocket watch. Damned near 11:30 PM. Where
could she be?
I headed for the door as the
group of men dwindled away. Lovejoy raced down the main staircase.
"She’s with him again,"
he said, panting a bit. I could tell he had been running. "I chased them
all over the whole damned ship, but lost them."
I looked at him. "Hmm,"
I said, thinking. "Where was the last place you saw them?"
"A storage room," he
replied. "They were in your bedroom. The safe is locked, though."
I immediately headed back to my
room. My safe may have been locked, but Rose knew the combination.
I burst through the door to our
suite, going straight to the wardrobe, Lovejoy right behind me. He searched the
rest of the rooms, and I unlocked the green safe.
"Anything missing?" he
asked, standing in the doorway. I could see there was not. Everything was in
its place, including something added.
I looked back at Lovejoy as I
pulled the object out. It was a leather binder with a note from Rose. The note
read:
Darling,
Now you can keep us both
locked in your safe.
Rose
I flipped open the cover to see
the most horrible thing ever. My Rose. A drawing of her. Completely naked,
sketched. Remarkable likeness. I knew it was drawn from life.
The date was written at the
bottom, April 14, 1912, with the initials JD scribbled in the corner.
Anger enveloped me. Here I had
been feeling so extremely guilty about Catherine, while Rose frolicked and
posed nude with that heathen Jack Dawson.
I read the note once more before
crumpling it with the drawing. I was intent on ripping them in half, but
another idea crossed my mind. I drew the papers away from me, straightening out
the wrinkles.
I turned to Lovejoy. "I’ve
got a better idea," I said calmly.
He stepped up to me, looking over
my shoulder at the portrait.
"When they return, and they
will--you know it," I said, taking out the case containing the Heart of
the Ocean, "place this in Mr. Dawson’s pocket."
He nodded, taking the blue gem
from me and neatly placing it in his pocket.
A shudder in the ship’s calm
voyage knocked me forward.
"What was that?"
Lovejoy asked.
I looked from him and back at the
safe. "Who cares?" I spun the combination lock, securing my fortune.
"Remember, don’t let anyone see you do it," I ordered.
He nodded. I left through the
sitting room, rushing out into the hall, which was abnormally crowded.
A steward passed by.
"You there! You!" I
tapped him on the shoulder.
"Please, sir, there is no
emergency," he said. I didn’t understand what he meant by that.
"Yes, there is! I have been
robbed! Get the Master-at-Arms," I demanded.
He stood there, dumbstruck.
"Now, you moron!" I
shouted. He ran in the opposite direction. I waited in my stateroom until the
Master-at-Arms showed up.
I pounded on the door to Ruth’s
room. I heard her stir within.
"What is all the commotion,
Mr. Hockley?" she asked. She wore her nightdress with a red robe over it.
"Rose is missing, and I have
been robbed," I said.
She clasped a hand over her
mouth. She was clearly shocked. The Master-at-Arms walked in.
"What’s wrong, sir?" he
asked.
"I have been robbed." I
repeated the same thing again. "A very expensive jewel was stolen from me,
the Heart of the Ocean, and Rose is nowhere to be found."
I took out the pictures again,
shoving them at the Master-at-Arms.
He looked at them in turn.
"I think they are very good,
sir," he said.
I jumped up from where I was
seated, snatching the pictures from him. "Don’t touch anything! I want the
entire room photographed!" I exclaimed.
Then I spotted Rose in the
doorway, Jack right behind her.
"Something serious has
happened," Rose was saying.
Lovejoy silently nodded to me. I
knew he had done his task.
"Indeed. Two things very
dear to me have disappeared tonight. Now that one is back…" I looked from
Rose to Jack. "I have a pretty good idea where to find the other."
I turned to the Master-at-Arms.
"Search him!"
They moved to Dawson, stripping
him of his jacket and searching every pocket.
"Is this it?" Steward
Barnes asked, pulling the blue stone from the pocket of the jacket.
"That’s it," I said in
disgust.
"This is horseshit!"
Jack exclaimed.
Rose’s expression purely stunned,
as well as Jack’s. I, of course, knew what had really happened. I didn’t feel
the slightest bit guilty about framing him, either.
The Master-at-Arms moved in with
the handcuffs, locking Mr. Dawson’s hands behind his back.
"Don’t you believe it, Rose.
Don’t! You know I didn’t do it, Rose!" Jack pleaded.
Rose still looked shocked. I
walked over to her.
"He couldn’t have," she
said.
"Of course he could. It’s
easy enough for a professional," was my reply.
"He was with me the whole
time. This is absurd." Rose’s voice was almost frantic.
I leaned in close to her.
"Perhaps he did it while you were putting your clothes back on,
dear," I whispered.
"Yeah, you’re real slick,
Cal. Rose, they put it in my pocket!" he continued to plead.
"It isn’t even your pocket,
is it, son?" Lovejoy asked, holding up the jacket and looking at the
inside label. "Property of A. L. Ryerson."
"That was reported stolen
today," the Master-at-Arms replied.
This was all too great. I was
framing him, and yet he had stolen something.
"I was just borrowing
it," Jack spoke up.
"Oh, an honest thief? We
have an honest thief here." I laughed.
I watched happily as Lovejoy and
the Master-at-Arms dragged Jack away.
His voice still rang out through
the hall. "Rose, don't listen to them...I didn't do this! You know I
didn't! You know it!"
After a few moments, a calm fell
over the room. I was thoroughly angry. She had removed her clothes for him. At
the moment, I didn’t know the extent it had led to, but I had a pretty good
idea.
All thoughts of Catherine were
now gone from my mind. All I could think about was Rose’s slutty behavior.
"I’d better go dress,"
Ruth said when she heard the commotion in the hall. She retreated to her room.
I leaned in the doorway, staring
at Rose across the room. I walked over to her.
"It is a little slut, isn’t
it?" I accused. I slapped her violently across the face. "Look at me,
you little--" My sentence was cut short by Steward Barnes.
"Sir, I’ve been told to ask
you to put on your lifebelt and come up to the deck," he said.
"Not now! We’re busy!"
I said angrily.
The steward came in against my
wishes. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience, Mr. Hockley, but it's
captain's orders. Please dress warmly. It's quite cold out tonight."
He brought out two
lifebelts--ugly things, padded and white. What was the point he was trying to
make?
"This is ridiculous," I
mumbled to myself.
I was glad when the steward
finally left.