18. Captain’s Confrontation #2
“Can’t we follow her into the hall?” Poppy asked, watching security arrive on the scene and get the now unmoving Joshua out of the jacuzzi. “I want my shoes back, by the way,” she added, side-eyeing Davide.
“They’ll be returned to your suite.” Davide nodded, not putting up a fight. “I wish following the killer into the hall was as easy.” He swiped to another viewpoint, but no one was in the hall.
“She can’t have disappeared,” Isaiah said, wanting to look at the corridor in person to see if there were any blind spots.
“I’ve scanned every second of footage from every angle, and there’s no blurry figure anywhere to be found – nor is there any other woman with dark hair even in the area,” Davide explained, as though the culprit was a ghost.
“Did you check the area in person?” Isaiah asked. “Last night, they might have been so busy trying to cover up the scene that they missed something important.”
“Why do you think we had the area marked off? We checked anywhere and everywhere a guest could get to.”
“Okay, if we can’t track her, we focus on Joshua.
Have you figured out when Joshua boarded the ship?
If he was with anyone? Can we go back that far into the footage?
” Poppy interrupted. “Joshua isn’t—” She hesitated.
“ Wasn’t some ninja with a special set of skills.
How did he get past the security you’re so proud of? ”
The Captain exchanged a nervous look with her first mate.
“I get the feeling we aren’t going to like the answer,” Isaiah muttered as the tension in the air thickened.
“We discovered Joshua boarded the ship with the help of one of our crew members. Joshua told the crew member that he wanted his presence kept quiet, since he had a surprise for Ms Roe. Since he did have a ticket, we had no reason to suspect that he was a danger to Ms Roe, so we made an exception. An exception that we deeply regret,” Captain Hamill explained.
“However, Davide traced Joshua’s movements from the theatre to his room. Security found nothing suspicious.”
“Who was the member of staff? Can we talk to them? They might be the fucking killer!” Isaiah exclaimed, hoping they had this person locked up for interrogation.
“We know they aren’t the killer,” Davide said, rubbing his brow.
“How? Who is it?” Poppy barked.
“Patrice,” Captain Hamill said quickly, like ripping off a bandage.
It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
“We found out when we went through Patrice’s log. She left you at the Empress Suite and subsequently scanned Joshua’s ticket at the general entrance, not the VIP one you came in, before we left port. Since it was filed under our private guest list, it took us a while to find it.”
Isaiah glanced at Poppy, afraid she was about to lunge at them for not telling them sooner. At least he was close enough to hold her back before she pounced on their new allies – not that he would blame her. This was all a lot to absorb.
Poppy let go of his hand as she started to pace.
“Let me get this straight: Patrice, the first victim, was blackmailing Calliope, the second victim, who was mad at Joshua for not going through with the plan to kill me and let Joshua, the third victim, on board secretly.” To Isaiah’s surprise, she began to laugh.
They gave her a moment to compose herself.
“Patrice was blackmailing guests?” Captain Hamill said when she was calmer.
Isaiah took the lead while Poppy took a seat.
“Poppy discovered Patrice was recording guests and keeping the tapes for blackmail. We found a tape with Calliope talking about a plot to kill Poppy, but we didn’t know who she was talking to.
Patrice was blackmailing her, and we think Calliope killed her. ”
“Have you got the tape?” Captain Hamill asked.
“I’ll hand it over once we’re done here,” Isaiah said, worried about Poppy as she rested her head in her hands.
“There are about half a dozen other tapes in her cabin you’ll want to destroy before your other guests find out about them,” she interjected.
“You were in her cabin?” Captain Hamill fumed.
“I think we should focus on the fact that our three suspects are dead,” Isaiah said. “Now you know about Patrice’s connection to Calliope, and we know their connection to Joshua; we’re even.”
“I don’t think Calliope killed Patrice,” Davide said suddenly.
“Why not?” Poppy asked.
“Because the same type of knife that was used on Patrice was also used on Joshua, and Calliope was already dead when Joshua was killed.”
“The killer could have stolen the knife from Calliope’s changing room,” Poppy argued, but Isaiah wanted to hear Davide’s reasoning. A fresh set of eyes never hurt.
“Then why didn’t the killer use the knife on Calliope?
It would’ve been much more effective than the metal hairpin.
The killer went to see Calliope before meeting with Joshua and didn’t have their weapon of choice on them.
They were working together, or Calliope figured out something she shouldn’t have and confronted the killer, or they disagreed on how to proceed with their plans.
Either way, the killer didn’t have the knife until she met with Joshua.
I don’t think she expected to end up fighting with Calliope,” Davide said, adding another fork in the road.
“I think the key to this is Calliope. If her death wasn’t planned, then the killer probably messed up or wasn’t as careful. ”
“So we focus on Calliope. Is there anything else that needs to be shared?” Captain Hamill asked, looking around the room. “Now’s the time.”
No one spoke up.
“Then I suggest we get back to our duties. Davide, I want you to take another sweep of Calliope’s dressing room and the theatre footage.
I want every female guest who attended the opera or was even on that level accounted for,” the captain ordered, before turning her attention to Poppy and Isaiah.
“Here is the number to the bridge. It’s a direct line to me from your suite.
If anything happens, or you wish to share any other information, you can speak to me exclusively.
Please inform our security before any more snooping.
We’re all on the same team, and I don’t want two more deaths on my conscience. ”
Isaiah hesitated, unsure of whether she could be trusted. The Midas’s security was meant to be one of the best teams in the world. Yet, through either stupidity or complacency, so much had slipped through the cracks. Still, since they had limited allies, they couldn’t be picky.
“While security is going back over the videos with Davide, what are we supposed to do?” Poppy asked, holding her chin high. Isaiah admired her steel. He couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for her to keep it together.
“You two will act like any other guests. Once we dock in Amalfi in the morning,all guests will disembark the ship, but not without a smartwatch, private or not; all guests will be kept track of from now on. While you enjoy your day trip, we will search the ship from top to bottom. The evidence we collected will also be sent to the lab, and hopefully, when we dock in Greece, we will have a name to put to our killer.” Captain Hamill sounded confident, but Isaiah couldn’t help but notice her hand shaking by her side.
Running a ship was no easy feat, but running one with a killer on board had to be eating away at her.
“There’s a private dinner tonight for those who knew Calliope, and I think you should both attend.
If the killer is part of her group or someone who knew her, then they might be tempted to show themselves. ”
“Nothing says grief like a tasting menu. I wish I could stay in the tub,” Poppy said under her breath.
“It seems we have a gameplay we can all agree on,” Isaiah said, looking to Poppy. She nodded, but he could see she was already lost in thought. He wasn’t sure if she was even paying attention.
“And we all agree that if anything happens in the meantime, we let each other know?” Captain Hamill said, and everyone nodded again.
“If the killer’s tracking our movements, we don’t want them to think we’re working together,” Poppy said, reminding herself to update Mina when they were together again.
She could enjoy a few more hours of sun to herself before they dropped another murder bomb on her.
“I’m not sure about tonight, but maybe it would be useful.
Calliope boarded with her niece. Despite having known Calliope for most of my life, I’ve never met her.
Getting to know her tonight might give us some insight into who she has been close to recently. ”
“Her name is Sophia Monroe, and she was devastated when we broke the news about her aunt. She was in her suite when Calliope was killed – seasick. She asked that we arrange the dinner to honour her memory and stop others from gossiping about how she died,” Captain Hamill informed her.
“Since you were seen helping Calliope, the other guests are also talking about your involvement…”
“And you also want them to stop talking about it? Poppy attending will put an end to their curiosity,” Isaiah put in.
“Yes,” Captain Hamill admitted.
“Fine, we’ll be there,” Poppy said, heading for the door. “We should go, or Mina will wonder where we are.”
Isaiah followed her.
“Are you not going to lecture me about my snooping?” she asked once they were alone in the hallway, but he shook his head.
“Why would I? It’s good that everything is out in the open now. We can work together,” he said, walking by her side.
“I keep replaying what happened with Joshua. I wish I’d asked who hurt him sooner. The killer could have attacked me but didn’t. Why?”
“You can’t blame yourself. You were in shock. I saw his injury report –it wouldn’t have changed anything,” Isaiah reassured her. “As for the killer, maybe they didn’t have time or didn’t expect you, but I’m grateful they didn’t. The thought of losing you—” He couldn’t finish the sentence.