Chương 6
His face made it obvious.
“Then why am I changing operational scheduling because a guest is sitting here?”
Laurent’s tone cooled.
“Because I instructed you.”
Marc looked at Elias.
Elias became intensely interested in the floor.
Finally Marc said, “Fine.”
He left.
The door shut harder than necessary.
I said, “He’ll tell Florent.”
Laurent’s mouth tightened.
“He might.”
“Then you just alerted him.”
“I changed a schedule.”
“Because I’m here.”
“No.”
He looked directly at me.
“Because if your husband intends to isolate the aft deck, I will not leave it isolated.”
Elias said, “Marc talks.”
“I know Marc talks.”
“Then—”
“I also know what Marc says when he is irritated.”
Laurent checked the clock again.
“If he complains, he will complain that I am micromanaging him because of weather.”
I watched him.
“You’re using his personality.”
“I’m accounting for it.”
For the first time since the staircase, I felt something other than fear.
Not safety.
Something narrower.
A possibility.
Laurent asked, “Do you have any reason to believe your husband controls communications aboard?”
“The guest internet stopped.”
“It did not stop.”
Elias and I exchanged a glance.
Laurent noticed.
“What?”
Elias said, “I gave her maintenance access.”
Laurent closed his eyes.
Only for a second.
“You did what?”
“She needed to contact someone.”
“You bypassed network restrictions for a guest?”
“She said her husband planned to murder her.”
“That does not make you less employed.”
Elias folded his arms.
“I’m aware.”
The captain looked at me.
“Who did you contact?”
“My father.”
“How?”
I told him.
Laurent’s anger shifted into concentration.
“Did you instruct him not to call?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“He may ignore me.”
“That would be less good.”
Elias said, “Her father sounds difficult.”
“He is.”
The bridge phone rang.
All three of us looked at it.
Laurent answered.
“Bridge.”
He listened.
His eyes moved toward me.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“No, she is not here.”
My blood turned cold.
Laurent’s face did not change.
“I have not seen her since lunch.”
He listened again.
“Yes, of course.”
He hung up.
“Florent?”
I asked.
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“You.”
The walls seemed to contract.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth he expects.”
“That you haven’t seen me.”
Laurent nodded.
Elias said, “How long before he starts looking?”
“He already is.”
The captain walked to a cabinet and pulled out a folded crew jacket.
He handed it to me.
“Put this on.”
I stared at it.
“What?”
“You cannot return to your cabin yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I need twenty minutes.”
“For what?”
“To determine whether we can get you off this vessel without provoking the people you say intend to kill you.”
Elias looked at the weather display.
“In that sea?”
“Not by tender.”
“Then how?”
Laurent did not answer.
He picked up a satellite handset and entered a code.
My heart accelerated.
“Who are you calling?”
“A maritime coordination center.”
“You believe me enough for that?”
“I believe enough to create options.”
He held up one finger for silence.
Then he spoke in French, identifying himself, the vessel, and our position.
He did not say murder.
He reported a passenger with possible involuntary drug exposure and a credible personal security concern.
His language was maddeningly calm.
I understood why after listening for less than a minute.
Calm got answers.
Drama got questions.
He gave medical symptoms.
He gave the forecast.
He requested confidential guidance and asked about nearby assets.
The reply was too faint for me to hear.
Laurent wrote something down.
Then he said, “Understood.”
He disconnected.
“What?”
I asked.
“There is a commercial vessel northeast of us and a patrol craft farther south.”
“How far?”
“Too far for immediate assistance.”
My hope collapsed.
Laurent continued.
“But the patrol craft can alter course.”
“How long?”
“Hours.”
“Midnight is hours.”
“I know.”
He picked up another handset.
Elias moved closer to the bridge windows.
“Captain.”
Something in his voice changed the room.
Laurent turned.
Elias pointed toward the aft monitor.
The security display showed the corridor outside the engine spaces.
Florent was walking through it.
Not searching casually.
Not lost.
He stopped beside the technical office where I had used the computer.
He tried the handle.
Then he looked directly up at the security camera.
Even through grainy video, I knew that expression.
I had seen it across dinner tables when a waiter contradicted him.
I had seen it after my father refused to add Florent to a foundation board.
Not anger.
Calculation.
Florent took out his phone.
A second later, Elias’s phone vibrated.
None of us moved.
It vibrated again.
Elias looked at the screen.
“Guess who.”
“Answer,” Laurent said.
Elias stared at him.
“Seriously?”
“Answer.”
Elias swiped.
“Hello?”
Florent’s voice was faint but audible.
“Elias, have you seen my wife?”
Elias looked at me.
“No.”
My husband paused.
“She asked about you in the galley.”
“Did she?”
Another pause.
“What are you doing right now?”
Elias’s face went blank.
“Working.”
“Where?”
The bridge became silent enough that I could hear my own breathing.
Elias looked at Laurent.
The captain pointed toward the engine room on the monitor.
“Engine deck,” Elias said.
Florent stood beneath the camera, still holding the phone to his ear.
Then he smiled.
“All right.”
The call ended.
Elias lowered his phone.
“He knows.”
I whispered, “How?”
“He may not.”
Laurent was already moving.
“He suspects.”
The bridge phone rang again.
This time nobody answered immediately.
It rang a second time.
Laurent reached for it.
Before his hand touched the receiver, the bridge door opened.
Florent stepped inside.
His gaze found me at once.
For half a second, nobody spoke.
Then my husband smiled.
“There you are.”
His voice was warm.
Relieved.
Perfect.
He crossed the room toward me.
I stood.
He looked at the crew jacket in my hands.
Then at Laurent.
“What is going on?”
The captain answered before I could.
“Your wife became ill.”
“I know she’s ill.”
Florent reached for me.
May you like
I stepped back.
It was a tiny movement.
