Chương 12
Tessa had gone to check cabins.
Grant appeared in the doorway.
“You okay if I come in?”
Maya looked around the six-foot-wide room.
“Where exactly would you go if I said no?”
“Fair.”
He stepped inside.
For the first time that night, he looked tired.
Maya said, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“The cameras.”
“I didn’t install them personally.”
“You know what I mean.”
Grant leaned against the counter.
“I almost didn’t check immediately.”
Maya looked at him.
“What?”
“I considered separating everyone first.”
“Why?”
“Because public accusations can get worse when you investigate in front of the crowd.”
“But you checked.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant thought about it.
“You looked confused.”
Maya frowned.
“That’s it?”
“No. Vanessa looked certain.”
“I don’t understand.”
“People who find stolen property unexpectedly usually look at the property.”
Maya waited.
“She looked at the room.”
Maya remembered.
Vanessa turning toward the guests.
There. Now everyone has seen it.
Grant continued.
“She was watching witnesses.”
A chill moved across Maya’s shoulders.
“You knew?”
“I suspected something was wrong.”
“That’s not knowing.”
“No.”
Maya looked at the tea.
“Thank you for not pretending it was.”
Grant nodded.
After a moment she said, “Are you going to lose your job?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Why would I?”
“Because she hates you now.”
“I have survived that before.”
“Tessa said yachting is small.”
“It is.”
“So rich guests can hurt people.”
“Yes.”
The answer came without comfort.
Maya appreciated that too.
Grant rubbed one hand over his jaw.
“Management asked whether you’d signed confidentiality paperwork.”
“Tessa told me.”
“What did she say?”
“That you looked like you wanted to throw someone overboard.”
Grant almost smiled.
“She exaggerates.”
“She really doesn’t.”
He looked toward the corridor.
“I should tell you something before management frames it differently tomorrow.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
“Okay.”
“Three years ago, another charter guest complained about Tessa.”
Maya stared.
“For what?”
“Disrespect.”
“That could mean anything.”
“It did.”
“What happened?”
“Guest claimed she’d entered a cabin without permission. Tessa said she was responding to a service call.”
“Was she?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Access logs.”
Maya waited.
Grant’s eyes dropped.
“I had them.”
“And?”
“I gave them to the captain.”
“Then what?”
“Management asked us not to challenge the guest directly because they were negotiating another charter.”
Maya’s face hardened.
“Did Tessa get blamed?”
“She received a written note.”
“For something she didn’t do?”
“Yes.”
“Did you say anything?”
“Not enough.”
Maya stared at him.
Grant accepted it.
“I told myself the access log protected her.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because tonight I knew what happens when people in our position mistake evidence for protection.”
Maya looked toward the pantry door.
“Tessa kept her job.”
“Yes.”
“She told me that.”
Grant nodded.
“She did.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
They sat with it.
Maya finally said, “You’re not as comforting as Tessa.”
“That is a devastating review.”
She smiled despite herself.
Grant pushed away from the counter.
“One other thing. Don’t let anyone rush you into signing anything tonight.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You considered it.”
Maya looked at him sharply.
“Were you listening?”
“Observation lounge has excellent acoustics.”
She groaned.
Grant held up a hand.
“I didn’t hear numbers.”
“One hundred thousand.”
He stopped.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a lot.”
“Thank you.”
“I was going to say don’t be ashamed that it matters.”
Maya looked at him.
He shrugged.
“I won’t make it sentimental.”
“Good.”
“It’s still a lot.”
She laughed.
Then she became serious.
“Would you take it?”
Grant looked at the dark tea in her cup.
“At twenty-seven?”
“Yes.”
“Probably.”
Maya blinked.
“You’re supposed to tell me not to.”
“You asked.”
“What would forty-one-year-old you do?”
“Ask for the written correction first.”
“That sounds annoyingly wise.”
“It’s mostly expensive mistakes.”
He left.
Maya remained in the pantry.
One hundred thousand dollars.
She let herself imagine accepting it.
Not as corruption.
As relief.
She could tell herself the truth had already been proven. She could tell herself Vanessa’s public humiliation would not undo Maya’s private fear. She could tell herself people signed confidentiality agreements every day.
All of that could be true.
She could also imagine the next stewardess.
That thought annoyed her because it sounded heroic.
She was not trying to save hypothetical women.
She was trying to decide what she could live with.
At one fifteen, Avery knocked on the pantry door.
Maya almost did not recognize her without the formal engagement-party posture.
She had removed her heels and carried them by the straps.
“Can I come in?”
Maya nodded.
Avery sat on a crate of sparkling water because there were no chairs.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Avery said, “I’m sorry I looked away.”
Maya knew exactly what she meant.
The accusation.
Their eyes meeting.
Avery looking elsewhere.
“You thought I stole it.”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“That’s different.”
Avery looked relieved.
Maya added, “It still hurt.”
Relief disappeared.
“I know.”
Maya leaned back against the counter.
“I don’t really blame you.”
“I do.”
“That seems inconvenient.”
Avery laughed softly.
“My mother offered you money.”
“Yes.”
“She’s going to offer more.”
Maya studied her.
“How much?”
“I don’t know. Enough to make it feel irresponsible to refuse.”
“That’s a horrible sentence.”
“I know.”
Avery looked at the shoes in her hands.
“When I was sixteen, one of our housekeepers broke a crystal bowl.”
Maya waited.
“My mother fired her.”
“That’s not shocking.”
“The bowl was already cracked.”
Maya frowned.
“I knew because I cracked it.”
Avery rubbed one thumbnail against the sole of a heel.
“I had dropped a candleholder against it two days earlier. Tiny crack. Then Rosa picked it up to clean underneath and it split.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
The answer sat between them.
Avery continued.
“I told myself I would talk to Mom after she calmed down. Then Rosa left before dinner. I never saw her again.”
May you like
Maya did not say, You were sixteen.
She sensed Avery had heard it from herself for fifteen years.
