“That isn’t helpful, Piper,” Viv retorts.
“Oh, you’re right,” Piper slurs. “There’s no killer here. My bad.”
A beat passes as the two women stare at each other, a wordless game of chicken.
Trey, so distracted by our predicament that he is oblivious, doesn’t seem to notice. “I’ll need to talk to everyone separately,” Trey decides. A thoughtful expression crosses his face, but then he shakes his head and becomes somber once again. “And then I’ll go back to the bridge. I locked it for the night. I’ll work on the sat phone until the sun comes up if I have to. I’ll get us out of here, don’t worry.”
I should not provoke anyone, but I can’t help it. The impulse is too strong. “All due respect, but you didn’t really take our situation seriously before, and Carl paid for it.” I pause, gaze darting between Piper, Viv, and Trey. “This is a whole mess.”
Gone is the chill, easygoing bookworm who wants to recommend a good novel to her followers. It’s a relief to let my real self shove through the ill-fitting costume of my social media personality, the one I was wearing around these people for the past few days. There’s no one to impress anymore.
“I understand you’re upset,” Trey says calmly. He’s recovered rather quickly from his initial shock over finding his friend’s body on the floor. “But we’re still in the midst of a hurricane, if you haven’t noticed. I’m doing my best to keep us all safe. All we can do for now is try to get help and figure out who destroyed the bridge. And with the absence of legal authority on this yacht, I am in charge, so that falls to me.”
I don’t like this. I don’t like the way he’s talking; I don’t like the words he’s saying. He views himself as some sort of king, but as far as I know we’re not in international waters and he’s not allowed to conduct some weird rich-dude investigation.
“We should cordon off this area,” I insist. I glance at Piper. “Maybe Piper’s right. I suspect it’s secondary drowning, but you never know. It could be alcohol poisoning, heart condition—anything. And if this is…not an accident, we need to make sure no one touches anything. Leave Carl be.”
Piper bares her teeth. “Someone is finally talking sense. My money is on poison.”
I don’t think Carl was poisoned. I’m fairly certain I’m right, but I’m not a doctor or a cop. It feels risky to make an assumption about how he died when I believe someone on board killed Elena, and Iknowsomeone on board made damn sure we’d all be trapped here. Yes, maybe it was secondary drowning like I guessed, but who’s to say Elena’s killer wasn’t involved? We won’t know what happened to Carl until someone opens him up on an autopsy table.
“We can’t leave him here like this,” Viv says exasperatedly. She, like Trey, has adjusted quickly to this new reality—the dead man on the ground.
“Well, what do you suggest?” Trey asks.
I interrupt before Viv can answer. “We should lock ourselves in our respective rooms with an equal distribution of the food we have left and wait for the storm to blow over so we can call the police.”
Viv and Trey exchange a look, and my stomach clenches.
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Trey says, but his voice is placating in a way I don’t trust. “But I still want to talk to everyone about what happened. And then in the morning when we’ve all calmed down, we can discuss next steps. Come on. Please.”
Fighting with Trey isn’t going to get me offEmpressfaster, nor is it going to solve the mystery of what happened to Elena and who sabotaged the bridge. I can’t keep challenging him. Not while I’m stuck here with a potential murderer and no idea who it is.
“Fine,” I finally say, gritting my back teeth together. “I’ll go to my room.” I immediately hate how childish it sounds coming out of my mouth. Like I’m a kid being punished for misbehaving.
“I know this is crazy,” Viv says to me, abandoning her staring match with Piper and getting close to my face, putting a hand on my shoulder. Her face crinkles with what she must think looks like sympathy. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for. But I promise, we’ll get everything taken care of.”
“Viv, Piper, Charlie, please go to your rooms. I’ll finish up here. I’ll cover him. Out of respect.” Trey’s voice is dazed, unstructured, like he’s thinking out loud.
“But Trey—” Viv starts.
Trey interrupts, his attention snapping to her. His tone grows stern. “Viv, please, do it.”
Her face darkens, but she nods at Piper. The two of them headback upstairs and I, after glancing once more at Carl’s body, slink down to my room.
When I’m back in my bathroom, staring at my split lip, the mirror is clear. But when I dab the cut with a tissue, cold air blooms against the back of my neck, and the shower begins to gently drip water on the tile floor.
Chapter 25
I’ve only been onEmpressfor a few days, and the new clothes Viv ordered for me from the mainland aren’t arriving anytime soon now, so I’m wrapped in the thick white robe that came with my room when someone knocks on the door.
Grimacing, I glance around, but I’m out of clean clothes. I could slip back into my lounge set, but I’ll need to sleep in that now, since I sweated through my pajamas during the discovery of Carl’s body. There must be a washing machine somewhere, but I haven’t had time to look for it.
The knocking on my door is becoming more like pounding, and I dart over to open it, wishing there was a peephole.
Trey stands in my doorway, face drawn. He glances down, realizes I’m in a robe. He should definitely leave. He should say he’llcome back later. But he doesn’t. He steps around me and slips into my room, even though I haven’t invited him in.
I’m immediately on high alert.
