He shrugs, sliding down, his little tongue darting out to lick his lips. ‘Finished.’
‘Can you tell the chefs that I’ll come by later with a tip for them, please?’
They are both standing, shaking their heads vehemently at us, a look of fear in their eyes. Emir translates quickly as he skips away. ‘No need. They say I can have whatever I want, whenever I want.’
* * *
Dinner service is backbreaking toil, even with Garry, Astrid, me, Shaun (yes, Shaun putting his energy into something other than shagging staff members for a change) and Tiffany all on duty pulling our weight. I have tried several times to approach Emir’s parents about both his party and the jewellery without success. Finally, as the crowd thins and people make their way to the bar or the upper deck, his mother sidles up to me at the rear of the dining area.
‘Why don’t we put Emir to bed for you? He’s shattered anyway, and then we’ll come meet you at the bar later to discuss thething,’ she says under her breath.
‘Great. Yes, sure.’
As soon as they’ve gone, Garry Gee corners me. A quick glance around tells me we are alone in this area of the boat. All the diners and staff have gone. ‘What was all that about?’ he snaps.
‘All what about?’
‘Don’t mess with me. I heard you. What’s the “thing” you were talking about?’ he says, his tone increasingly threatening.
I gather my courage, take a deep inhale and stretch to my full height in an attempt to ground myself. ‘Ooh, I wonder what it could be,’ I say in a fake jovial manner. ‘Maybe thethingis a complaint to head office against you for upsetting her son earlier. Or maybe it’s against Astrid for pushing him into an ocean full of sharks. Or maybe it’s to do with you going around charging people for things they haven’t had!’ My voice is getting louder and louder as the anger builds, swirling in the pit of my stomach.
I see his face flinch at the accusations as he steps closer. ‘You have no proof of that. How dare you,’ he growls.
‘No proof?’ I yell now. I’m sick of his bullying ways. And I’d quite like some company on this deck but I can’t see anyone around. The music is thumping out from the bar area, and it’s starting to feel incredibly dark and isolated here in the dining room. Hopefully, the captain is on deck and will come to investigate. ‘I’ve seen the clipboard. I’ve seen how much you are charging. There’s a word we use for what you’re doing. Theft, it’s called. You’re not only overcharging for food and snacks but also for equipment hire and non-existent port taxes. You’ve totalled up people’s bar bills and we’re only halfway through the trip! What the heck is going on?’
Garry’s face turns puce. He’s livid. He raises his hands as though to wring my neck, causing me to freeze as I stare back bog-eyed, before he slowly lowers them. ‘Hand them over.’
I shake my head.
‘Hand them over, right now.’
‘Hand what over?’ I say, playing for time. He has me trapped between two tables. ‘The fraudulent ticket stubs? The copies of receipts, the dodgy banking books or the ledger for an audit that you couldn’t possibly get past a qualified accountant without them calling the police?’
‘I’ve been running these gulet trips for fifteen years!’ he bellows. ‘How dare you waltz in and try to take over! You’re only analmostqualified accountant for fuck’s sake!’
‘Everything okay in here?’
I look over Garry’s shoulder to see Mehmet, and wilt, relieved.
‘Need some assistance?’ Mehmet pushes up the sleeves of his shirt and flexes his massive biceps.
Garry gives me a panicked look.
‘No. I’m fine. Garry was just leaving, weren’t you?’ I say, holding my ground.
Mehmet screws his eyes, flicking his gaze back and forth between Garry and me, assessing the situation. He’d have to be a social and emotional void not to detect the volatile atmosphere. He holds out the crook of his arm. ‘Coming?’
‘Yes,’ I say determinedly, barging past a livid Garry Gee as Mehmet continues to pierce him with a death stare.
23
I wake up the following day shattered. Even though, after three nights, I’m getting used to the feel of sleeping at sea, it was very late by the time I got to bed, and I was plagued with bad dreams. And because Mehmet had effectively saved me from… God knows what with Garry Gee, I felt obliged to have an apple tea and a game of cards with him and Emir’s grandmother. And another game of cards as I became slightly better at it and more family members joined in. Then another, but this time I was really getting the hang of it to the point of obsessively wanting to win. But so did everyone else. The upshot being I went to bed obscenely late, and now I have to get up and clean the decks and prep for breakfast while horrendously sleep deprived. Urgh. I prise my eyes open and blink some moisture back into them.
At least I have the full day at sea to pull myself together and make myself look presentable for this evening when Jackson will meet me at the harbour in Selimiye Bay to officially transfer me to head office. I’ll be free from Garry. I can report his unorthodox financial practices and blatant bullying tactics to head office and be welcomed into the fold like an accounting superhero.
I’ll be much more suited to the office environment and managerial structure. I picture an open-plan office with desks piled high with stacks of important papers and never-ending filing, while the low vibration of click-clacking from my calculator fills the air. My heart skips a beat as I allow myself to imagine number-crunching my way through the day opposite Jackson (I have no idea how I will refrain from staring into his dreamy face) while I diligently process the LoveIt Holidays accounts. Even though it has not even been two full days since I last saw him, it feels like forever.
I drag myself out of bed, sneaking by both Astrid and Tiffany, who are still sleeping, both wearing eye masks and earplugs. As the cold shower helps soothe my tired brain, I formulate a plan. There are a lot of things to do regarding my stealthy escape. First, I need to gather all the evidence of financial misconduct to take with me. I should do a thorough search of the boat. If only I could gain access to Garry and Shaun’s cabin, I could probably find even more incriminating evidence. Secondly, I need to return all of the stolen jewellery and the wads of cash to Emir’s family. They’ve been incredibly generous, but I’d hate them to think I’d want extra money just for looking after their adorable, sugar-addicted son. Finally, I need to be packed and ready to go, before I say goodbye to Emir because he will probably need to spend the evening with his parents and disembark at Selimiye Bay with the other guests. I hurriedly towel dry my hair and silently slip into clean underwear and clothes before lifting my case up onto the bed without a sound.
