Chương 13
“I don’t want to do that again,” Avery said.
“What does that mean?”
“My mother is refusing to speak to the guests.”
Maya’s chest tightened.
“I figured.”
“I can send everyone a statement.”
“That isn’t your job.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Avery looked at her.
“Because some of them are my friends. My fiancé’s family. People who watched it happen because they were there for me.”
Maya thought.
“What would you say?”
“That the security footage confirms you did not take the necklace and shows my mother placing it in your bag before the accusation.”
Maya’s pulse quickened.
“That’s very direct.”
“I’m tired.”
“Direct and tired are dangerous.”
“I know.”
Maya almost smiled.
Then she said, “If you send it, she’ll say you betrayed her.”
“She already says I did.”
“Do you want that because it helps me or because you’re angry at her?”
Avery looked down.
“Both.”
Maya respected the answer.
She sat across from her on an overturned crate.
“I don’t want your engagement to become evidence.”
Avery stared at her.
“What?”
“You’re allowed to be mad for your own reasons. You’re allowed to cancel whatever you want. But don’t turn your whole night into a statement for me.”
Avery’s eyes filled.
“That is a very kind thing to say.”
“It’s not.”
“No?”
“I don’t want to owe you.”
Avery laughed through a breath.
“Okay.”
Maya smiled.
“There. Less kind.”
“Much better.”
They sat quietly.
Somewhere aft, glass bottles clinked as the bar was cleared.
Avery said, “I think Noah’s mother hates us.”
“Who is us?”
“My family.”
“Tonight?”
“Generally.”
Maya considered.
“She tips well.”
Avery looked at her.
Maya shrugged.
“Professional observation.”
Avery laughed harder than the comment deserved.
The laughter tipped briefly toward crying.
She covered her mouth.
Maya looked away to give her privacy.
After a moment Avery asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“About the money.”
“I don’t know.”
“If you take it, I won’t think less of you.”
Maya looked back.
“That somehow makes it harder.”
“Sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.”
“I’m having a complicated evening.”
“So am I.”
Avery wiped beneath her eyes.
“My mother thinks apology means surrender.”
Maya thought of Vanessa in the blue gown.
“What do you think?”
“I think sometimes it’s just accurate.”
At one forty-two, Daniel received the first draft of management’s proposed incident communication.
He read it once.
Then again.
Then walked directly to Grant.
“You’re going to hate this.”
Grant read over his shoulder.
During a private family event aboard M/Y Aurelia, a personal jewelry item was temporarily misplaced and subsequently recovered. A misunderstanding involving a crew member was promptly clarified through onboard security procedures. No property was lost, and all parties are cooperating.
Grant handed the tablet back.
“No.”
“That was my reaction.”
“Temporarily misplaced?”
“No.”
“Misunderstanding?”
“No.”
“All parties cooperating?”
Daniel gave him a tired look.
“Apparently words no longer mean things after midnight.”
Grant crossed his arms.
“What did you tell them?”
“That I will not sign it.”
“Good.”
“They asked me to propose alternate wording.”
Grant looked at him.
“Mrs. Sterling intentionally placed a jewelry case in a crew member’s bag and publicly accused her of theft.”
“That may be accurate, but legal will burst into flames.”
“Let them.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“You are becoming emotional.”
“I have been awake since five.”
“So have I.”
Grant leaned against the console.
“What are you going to write?”
Daniel thought.
“An incident occurred in which charter guest Vanessa Sterling placed a jewelry case in crew member Maya Collins’s work bag and subsequently accused Ms. Collins of theft. Security footage established the placement. Ms. Collins has been cleared by onboard review. The relevant records have been preserved.”
Grant nodded.
“Accurate.”
“Boring.”
“Good.”
Daniel began typing.
Grant said, “Management won’t approve it.”
“I didn’t ask them to.”
Grant looked at him.
Daniel continued typing.
“I’m putting it in Maya’s personnel incident file.”
“That’ll cost you.”
“Probably.”
“Worth it?”
Daniel stopped.
“I have spent twenty-six years telling crew that documentation protects them.”
Grant waited.
Daniel resumed typing.
“It would be embarrassing to find out I was lying.”
At two seventeen, Vanessa asked to speak privately with her daughter.
Avery said yes.
They met in the observation lounge after everyone else left, but Grant remained outside the closed glass door where he could see them and not hear.
Vanessa sat first.
Avery remained standing.
“Your grandmother would be horrified by tonight,” Vanessa said.
Avery looked at her.
“That’s how you want to start?”
Vanessa’s fingers tightened around the arm of the sofa.
“I don’t know how to speak to you when you’ve decided I’m a monster.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t need to.”
Avery sat across from her.
“I think you did something monstrous.”
Vanessa flinched.
The distinction hurt more.
“I was afraid.”
“Of Maya?”
“Of being right again.”
Avery frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does to me.”
“Then explain it.”
Vanessa looked toward the dark window.
“When my mother got sick, everything became uncertain. Doctors changed their minds. She changed her mind. One day she wanted hospice, the next she accused me of trying to kill her. She gave jewelry to people and forgot. She hid cash. She called me at three in the morning because she thought strangers were in the house.”
Avery’s face softened.
Vanessa continued.
“I started writing everything down. Who entered. Who left. What moved. What disappeared.”
“You never told me.”
“You were finishing graduate school.”
“I could have helped.”
“I didn’t want you to see her like that.”
Avery looked down.
“I wanted to see her at all.”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
That wound was older than tonight.
Avery had spent much of her grandmother’s final months being told there would be a better time to visit.
There had not been.
Vanessa said, “After she died, I couldn’t stop checking.”
“Checking what?”
“Everything.”
Her laugh was small and bitter.
“Locks. Statements. Inventory. Staff.”
Avery waited.
May you like
“The brooch at the hotel made me feel sane again.”
Avery stared at her.
