SOPHIE EPILOGUE
SOPHIE
EPILOGUE
The captain sits alone on the bridge. She is back in Papeete, and the crew have been dismissed.
The police have finished their investigations, taken away what they needed as evidence.
The Lusso is her boat again. She no longer has to play the role of captain; she can simply be herself. She can simply be Sophie.
She is glad this charter is over, and feels no sadness over Nick’s death, though she is devastated that her guests will leave with memories of violence and lingering trauma.
She doesn’t want that for anyone. Especially the women who, like her, have been on the receiving end of male cruelty for far longer than the few days of this trip.
The police spent a day interviewing her and the rest of the crew. The guests were all released from custody too – all except Sam, of course. The evidence against him was far too compelling for Chief Robert to consider any alternative version of events.
Sophie has also finished sending investigators the CCTV footage from the yacht – not that they’d have found anything useful there.
There are no cameras inside the crew areas or the cabins – that is, except for the fake smoke detector she planted in Nick and Eleni’s ceiling on the very first night of the charter.
Sophie has an eye for abusers – she knows from first-hand experience the subtle ways they exert control.
She’d been suspicious of Nick immediately and concerned for his wife.
From day one, his easy charm and watchful eyes reminded Sophie far too much of her husband, Daniel.
As for Nick’s affair with Talia – Sophie had picked that up on camera on only the second day of the charter.
She’d seen enough of both the yacht’s CCTV and her own secret footage to confirm exactly the type of man Nick was.
She didn’t need to see any more. Though she’s glad Eleni left the camera in the cabin, albeit deactivated, and that the women blamed Sam for its presence – it would have caused Sophie untold problems if they’d traced its installation back to her. Her secrets are still safe.
More importantly, Nick’s death means there is one less abusive man alive and walking the planet since this charter. The squall and subsequent blackout presented themselves at just the right moment, creating the perfect conditions for chaos below the deck.
The exact circumstances of his murder are still somewhat murky in Sophie’s mind.
Sam was caught, red-handed, next to Nick’s body in a dark bathroom, with the weapon used to murder Nick at his feet.
That makes it all seem like an open and shut case.
And yet somehow, it doesn’t add up. From everything Sophie observed, Eleni and Talia had far more motive to kill Nick than Sam did; and Sam had been adamant that it was the women who framed him.
And then there is her intuition that Michaela was lying to her. Sophie can’t put her finger on it, but something about her insistence on the course of events and how the women couldn’t possibly have been involved – well, it doesn’t quite sit right.
Sophie is curious about all of that. She has a suspicion – perhaps more than that – that the female guests and her own chief stewardess were the ones who brought about Nick’s demise. And that they somehow conspired to set Sam up to take the blame.
But she has no desire to investigate further.
The police have concluded their interviews, Sam has been charged, and all of these women have suffered enough.
If Eleni and perhaps Talia did end Nick’s life, as Sophie suspects – well, then she feels only admiration for them.
She is glad to watch Eleni go home and start her new future, safe and free, with her children.
A fresh start, the chance to grab life with both hands again – just like Sophie herself has had.
This is the last time she will captain the Lusso di Mare – after everything that’s happened, she no longer feels safe here.
It is time to move on – to a new yacht in the Solomon Islands, perhaps, or Fiji.
Witnessing Nick’s cruelty has brought back too many memories for her, of her own marriage – a marriage Sophie was able to escape more than a decade ago.
It’s mind-blowing to Sophie how similar they all are, these cruel men.
As though they’ve all read the same instruction manual: How to Destroy Your Wife.
At least Nick never made it as far as the final chapter.
Sophie checks the control centre and her quarters one last time. Satisfied that she’s left nothing behind, she picks up her suitcase and walks down the superyacht’s gangway to the solid ground of the marina.
With one last look back at the boat, she walks away from the harbour and towards the bustle of town.
She touches the tip of her tongue to the salty sea air that has settled on her lips, and smiles; it tastes like freedom.