Chương 5
By the time we reached the crew stairwell, my legs felt packed with sand.
“Can you make it?”
“Yes.”
“That sounded fake.”
“It was.”
He slowed.
The bridge sat one deck above the main salon, accessible through a short passage that guests were normally expected to enter only by invitation.
Elias knocked twice.
A voice answered.
“Come.”
Captain Laurent stood at the navigation console with a tablet in one hand.
He was in his late fifties, silver-haired, narrow-shouldered, and always so precisely dressed that even his short sleeves looked formal.
He glanced at Elias, then at me.
His expression changed.
“Madame Delorme.”
“I need to speak to you privately.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Are you ill?”
“Yes.”
Elias closed the door behind us.
Laurent looked at him.
“What is this?”
“You should hear her.”
“I asked her.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“I know.”
The captain set down the tablet.
“Madame?”
I had rehearsed nothing.
The whole story came out badly.
I told him about the staircase, the conversation, the pills, the plan for after midnight.
I told him about my parents.
I told him Florent believed the crew would be indoors during the squall.
I did not tell him about the message to my father.
Not yet.
Laurent listened without interrupting.
That frightened me.
People interrupted unbelievable stories.
They laughed.
They objected.
They asked whether you were certain.
He did none of those things.
When I finished, he looked at Elias.
“How much did you hear?”
“Nothing from them.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because she appears sedated.”
Laurent’s eyes returned to me.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sit.”
I sat.
He poured water from a bottle and handed it to me.
I drank because refusing would look ridiculous.
“What medication did you take today?”
“Nothing except one labeled seasickness tablet.”
“And before today?”
“Whatever my husband gave me.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I don’t have a better one.”
Laurent pressed his lips together.
“You have the tablets?”
“In my shoe.”
He blinked once.
Elias said, “I already told her that was a terrible storage method.”
Laurent ignored him.
“Give me one.”
I removed my left shoe.
The indignity of it would have been funny in another life.
My foot was damp.
The tissue had flattened beneath the insole.
I unwrapped it and handed Laurent one white tablet.
He did not touch it directly.
He took a small plastic evidence bag from a drawer and tipped the pill inside.
“You keep evidence bags on the bridge?”
“We keep sample bags.”
“For what?”
“Fuel, contaminants, anything we may need to preserve.”
Elias said, “Sometimes people put screws in them.”
Laurent gave him a look.
Elias stopped talking.
The captain held the bag toward the light.
“No imprint.”
“That means?”
“It means I cannot identify it by looking.”
He sealed the bag.
“Does your husband know you are here?”
“No.”
“Does anyone?”
“One woman in the galley saw me looking for Elias.”
Laurent swore softly in French.
“Name?”
“I don’t know.”
Elias said, “Probably Sofia.”
The captain checked the clock.
Seven fifteen.
Dinner at eight.
The number on the display felt like a threat.
Laurent moved to the console.
He brought up a screen I could not see clearly.
“Current position puts us roughly forty nautical miles from the nearest inhabited island.”
“Can we change course?”
“Yes.”
My chest loosened.
Then he added, “Without explanation, no.”
I stared at him.
“You’re the captain.”
“And this vessel has an owner, charter documentation, voyage plan, insurance obligations, and passengers who will notice a major course change.”
“My family owns the vessel.”
“Your father’s holding company owns it.”
“Then turn it.”
Laurent’s face hardened.
“You are frightened, and I understand why.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Do not mistake procedure for indifference.”
I stood too quickly.
The bridge tilted.
Elias caught my arm.
I pulled away.
“My husband is planning to throw me into the ocean, and you’re worried about paperwork.”
“I am worried about doing something that alerts him before I know who else may be involved.”
That stopped me.
Laurent stepped closer.
“You said he told his parents the crew would be inside.”
“Yes.”
“Which means he believes he can predict crew movement during the weather.”
“He could have asked.”
“He could.”
Laurent looked at Elias.
“Who issued tomorrow’s watch adjustment?”
Elias frowned.
“Chief officer.”
“When?”
“After lunch.”
“Requested by whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Laurent picked up the bridge phone.
He dialed one digit.
“Marc, come to the bridge.”
He hung up.
“No details,” he said to us.
“Not until I know more.”
I sat again.
My anger had burned through some of the fog.
“You believe me.”
Laurent looked out through the forward windows.
“I believe something is wrong.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
At least nobody aboard seemed interested in comforting lies.
The door opened.
A broad man with a shaved head entered.
Marc, the chief officer.
I had seen him twice at meals and once on the tender.
He looked from Laurent to me to Elias.
“You called?”
“Tomorrow’s watch schedule.”
“What about it?”
“Why was it changed?”
Marc shrugged.
“Forecast.”
“Who requested the adjustment?”
“No one.”
Laurent stared at him.
Marc’s shoulders stiffened.
“What?”
“You moved two deck crew off the midnight exterior rotation.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s weather coming.”
“We run exterior checks in weather.”
Marc glanced at me.
“Is this about something?”
Laurent said nothing.
Marc rubbed his jaw.
“Florent mentioned his wife had been ill and asked whether we could minimize movement near the aft guest deck tonight.”
My mouth went dry.
Laurent’s voice remained neutral.
“When did he ask?”
“Lunch.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“That she’d been sleeping badly and might want fresh air without crew walking through.”
Marc looked at me.
“I assumed privacy.”
Laurent asked, “Did he ask for the exterior rotation to be removed?”
“No.”
“Did his request influence you?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Laurent nodded once.
“Restore the original watch.”
Marc frowned.
“Captain.”
“Do it.”
“What’s going on?”
May you like
“Nothing you need yet.”
Marc did not like that.
