LUCY
For seconds that felt suspended in time, she’d wanted to kill Rory – or at the very least, hurt him. She’d really thought she might: her rage and frustration … the injustice of it all was too overwhelming.
But she’d left him unharmed on the massage bed, except for the cut he already had. With the scissors in her hand, she’d stared at the bandaged wound on Rory’s face – and she’d thought of Alfie, and her Mum, and all the blood on their faces that day.
So she’d let the scissors fall to the floor.
And as she did, she realized something else.
That she didn’t really want Rory dead – or even harmed, at least not physically.
She wanted justice and she wanted peace, but hurting him wouldn’t give her either of those things.
Inflicting pain was never the answer: it would make her as bad as Rory, or even worse. That’s not who I am.
I can’t keep living like this. I need my life – my happiness – back. I can’t let Rory steal it from me any longer.
Perhaps it really is time to let this go.
It was still gloomy as she headed out into the passageway below deck. How is the power still not back up? It must have been at least half an hour since the lights went out; she was sure Brett said the back-up generator would kick in soon. Maybe there was more damage to the engine than he’d thought.
Lucy hurried along the corridor, guided by the floor panels, keen to get back to Mark.
He might have gone to the sky lounge to check on her by now – he would have realized she’d been lying.
She’d tell him the truth: that she’d been to see Rory and tried to confront him.
That she’d brought it all out in the open and ended up quitting her job; that her one last attempt to get justice for the people her boss had hurt had come to nothing.
And that she knew now that Mark was right – it was time to let this go.
She reached their cabin door, pushed it open and peered inside: there was enough light in the room to see Mark sprawled on the bed, earbuds in, legs akimbo, fast asleep.
She smiled at the sight and was about to go in and join him, when hushed voices caught her attention from across the corridor.
Something in their tone – an urgent, anxious cadence – made her walk to the door opposite and press her ear against it.
She was right: the voices were coming from the master stateroom.
She pushed against the door and it cracked open; it hadn’t been closed properly.
She crept into the suite and glanced around – there was no sign of anyone, but the voices were louder now, and Lucy could hear who was speaking: Eleni and Talia.
And what they were saying …
Lucy walked softly towards the bathroom, pausing for a second to allow her eyes to adjust to this shadowy area of the cabin, then pushed open the door to the en-suite – and stopped still in shock.
She stared at the marble floor, and saw the dark, almost black liquid – blood, so much blood – and the man lying in it, with some kind of ornament next to him, then clamped a hand over her mouth to dull the scream in her throat.
‘Oh my God – Nick. What happened? Is he—?’
Both women started at the sound of Lucy’s voice; then there was a heavy silence until Eleni said dully, ‘He’s dead.’
Lucy opened her mouth and closed it again, then managed: ‘How did he … what the fuck happened? Eleni – Talia – tell me!’
There was no reply; it was difficult to see, but Lucy could hear Talia taking fast, laborious breaths. That doesn’t sound right. Lucy switched on her phone’s torch and shone it in Talia’s direction – then gasped. There were reddish-purple marks criss-crossing her neck and throat.
‘Talia – how did you … what happened?’
‘Nick … did this to me,’ said Talia.
What? ‘I – I’m sorry,’ Lucy stuttered, ‘I don’t understand.’
There was a pause, and then: ‘Nick wasn’t who you – everyone – thought he was,’ Eleni said quietly. ‘I mean, he was loving and generous and kind a lot of the time. But he could be cruel and controlling too – sometimes violent.’
No – Nick – police sergeant Nick? And Eleni – perfect, shiny Eleni – married to someone violent? I can’t be hearing this.
‘I thought … Nick … was going to kill me. She protected me,’ croaked Talia. ‘She stabbed him … with the statue. She … saved me from him – he was … a monster.’
Eleni’s eyes flooded with tears. ‘He wasn’t always like that,’ she whispered. ‘It’s hard to explain. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved – the only man who’s ever loved me.’
Talia shook her head. ‘People who … love you … don’t …’
Lucy could imagine what she was about to say: People who love you don’t hurt you like that.
But it wasn’t that simple. This was a different situation, of course – Alfie never meant to hurt Lucy, to leave scratches and bruises on her arm.
But still, Lucy knew how hard it was to let go of someone you loved, even if that person sometimes hurt you.
Eleni continued to sob quietly as she spoke.
‘I know it’s hard to understand. But by the time I saw who he really was, we were married.
And he was always so horrified with himself afterwards.
I kept thinking he could change – that it wasn’t who he really was.
That deep down, he was a good person; just wounded. Broken.’
She took an uneven breath. ‘I know how naive that sounds. But I was able to manage him, most of the time. As long I did everything the way he liked, we got along fine – he smashed up the house a few times, and screamed at me pretty often, but I could handle that.’
Talia shook her head. ‘Eleni, you shouldn’t have had to handle that.’
‘Oh Eleni,’ Lucy managed finally, ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea – I thought you two were so … perfect. But why – why did he attack Talia?’
‘Nick and I had been … we’d been involved,’ Talia said. Lucy glanced at Eleni, who shrugged, her expression vacant. ‘I wanted to end it, and I told him that tonight. It was as if a switch just flipped, and he—’
She moved her hands up to her throat. ‘It was so fast. One second he was trying to sweet-talk me into keeping things going, the next he had me by the throat.’
A door closed somewhere nearby; Talia’s expression darkened. ‘Quickly – we need to work out what to say. We can’t let you take the fall for this. You saved my life by coming in here and doing what you did, Eleni.’
Lucy thought for a second. ‘We could go and tell the captain – and the police – the truth, all three of us. We could tell them Eleni was just trying to protect you, Talia, they’ll understand. They’ll let you go, Eleni – they’ll have to!’
Eleni shook her head miserably. ‘I don’t know, Lucy. I’ve tried that before, and it … it didn’t go well for me.’
Lucy frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Eleni sniffed. ‘He had me arrested last year.’
Talia gave a soft gasp. ‘He … what?’
‘He tried to choke me, and I retaliated – the only time I’ve ever done that. I scratched his face, properly clawed him to get him off me. But our neighbours heard the screams through the wall and called the police.’
She paused. ‘When they got there, Nick introduced himself to the officers – he said he knew their sergeant. They looked at the bloody scratches on his face and listened to him explain how stressed and anxious I could get. He told them I didn’t mean to hurt him, but I lashed out sometimes.
I just let them put me in handcuffs and take me to the police station.
They only let me off with a caution after Nick insisted they didn’t press charges. ’
‘So he attacked you – nearly choked you to death – and you were arrested for it?’ Lucy was aghast.
Eleni nodded. ‘And with a police record, this won’t look good for me … I might go to prison – I might never see my babies again …’ She burst into heaving sobs.
Lucy frowned. ‘Eleni … this is …’ She ran out of words. Come on, Lucy, think of something.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor. ‘Oh God – someone’s going to hear us and come in.’
‘Fuck. Please don’t let it be Sam,’ murmured Eleni.
They paused to listen, but the footsteps seemed to have moved away.
‘I think whoever it was has gone,’ Lucy said. ‘But what do you mean – why would it be Sam?’
Eleni’s face took on an expression of disgust. ‘He’s been watching us all like hawks this week, for his blackmail of Rory – he even put a camera in my cabin to spy on me.’
Lucy’s jaw dropped. ‘Blackmailing Rory?’ She looked at Talia.
‘Oh yes,’ Talia confirmed. ‘Needless to say, our marriage is over.’ She gestured at Eleni, who hurriedly related what Talia had found on Rory’s phone.
‘He’s even worse than I thought,’ Lucy said, shaking her head in revulsion.
‘Has he … has he ever behaved inappropriately towards you, then, Lucy?’ Talia asked.
‘Oh, no, nothing like that,’ she replied. ‘I don’t have time to tell you now, but in a nutshell, Ashworth destroyed my family.’
As Talia reached out a hand to Lucy in sympathy, a new voice piped up:
‘Can I … can I help you?’
Lucy whirled around in horror to see Michaela hovering outside the bathroom door.
Shit. They hadn’t noticed her come into the cabin – what had she seen? What had she heard?
‘How long have you been there?’ asked Eleni sharply.
Michaela stepped forward, took in the bloody scene on the bathroom floor and blanched. Then she exhaled. ‘Long enough. I know what happened.’
Eleni got to her feet, began to approach Michaela. Lucy had no idea what she was about to do, but Michaela held a hand up to stop her, and said quickly, ‘Please – I want to help, if you’ll let me.’
Eleni paused. Lucy repeated: ‘You want to …’
‘I want to help you. After what I’ve seen this week – and after what Nick did to me …’
Eleni clapped a hand to her mouth. ‘What did he do?’
Michaela swallowed, then glanced nervously between the three women. ‘Since pretty much the first night, he was finding ways to get me alone and trying to … hit on me.’ She looked at Eleni and mumbled, ‘Sorry.’
Eleni waved her apology away. ‘Go on.’
‘I brushed it off at first – I’m used to it, to be honest, we get a lot of unwanted attention on charters.
But then he got … scary, I suppose. He got his hands on a crew key card somehow and tried to get into my cabin – thankfully Noah came down and scared him off, but he tried again later that night – I think he was drunk, and he backed out when he realized some of the other crew were nearby. ’
‘Jesus,’ Eleni murmured.
Michaela went on, ‘While he was there, he said he wasn’t done with me yet.
He said if I didn’t give him what he wanted before the charter was over – or if I breathed a word about what he’d said and done – he’d—’ Michaela’s voice wobbled; she took a deep breath to steady herself.
‘He said that with his police authority and his criminal contacts, he knew how to find my family back home. And that he’d find a way to make them suffer because of my stupid decisions. ’
A guttural noise emerged from Eleni’s throat, something between disgust and rage.
‘He was trying to scare you,’ she said. ‘He wanted to get you under his control.’ She took Michaela’s hands in her own. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’
Michaela shook her head. ‘No – don’t say that. I understand. I saw what he was like … so, can I help?’
Lucy’s mind raced. Yes – if this was all going to come together, they could use all the help they could get. All hands on deck.
‘Okay. I think there’s a way we can do this – but we need to work together, and we need to act quickly,’ she said, her voice steely with determination. ‘Here’s what I need you to do.’