Chapter 6 - THE CAPTAIN'S CODE
Captain Rourke met me at 7:00 the next morning in a private conference room near the bridge.
He was fifty-something, compact, silver-haired, and careful in the way powerful people become careful when they realize a problem has escaped the category they hoped to contain it in.
Chief Vance sat beside him.
Dana joined through a secured video call arranged by the cruise line.
I sat across from all of them with a cup of coffee I did not drink.
Captain Rourke began with an apology.
"Mrs. Hartman, what happened in your cabin is deeply concerning."
Dana interrupted before he could continue.
"Please do not reduce this to a concern."
Rourke looked at the screen.
"Counsel, I am not reducing anything."
"Then call it an alleged assault with a weapon."
He inhaled through his nose.
"An alleged assault with a weapon occurred in a guest cabin, and we are cooperating fully with the investigation."
"Better," Dana said.
I almost smiled.
Rourke looked at me.
"We also have a serious issue involving an unauthorized safe override."
"Your code."
"A code assigned to my office."
"Who can use it?"
"Myself, the staff captain, the hotel director, and two senior security officers under documented circumstances."
"Did any of you open Charles Hartman's safe?"
"No."
"Then someone stole the code."
"Or accessed a terminal where it was cached."
Vance slid a printed log across the table.
It showed an override at 1:52 a.m. from a handheld service device identified as HS-41.
"Whose device is that?"
"It belongs to housekeeping supervisor Lidia Morel."
"Where is she?"
"We don't know."
I stared at him.
"Another missing person."
"Her badge was used at 5:14 this morning to enter a crew stairwell on Deck Nine."
"And after that?"
"Nothing."
"Is she missing or hiding?"
"We are treating her as missing."
Rourke leaned forward.
"We have initiated a full internal search."
"Have you told passengers?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because there is no evidence of danger to the general passenger population."
"There wasn't supposed to be danger to me either."
His expression tightened.
"I understand your frustration."
"No, Captain."
I kept my voice level.
"Frustration is when the pool closes early."
Vance looked down.
Rourke accepted the correction.
"You're right."
Dana asked whether law enforcement had been notified.
Rourke said the ship's corporate security team had contacted authorities in the United States and the Bahamas because Nassau was our next port.
"We are scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning."
"Will Gregory and Charles be allowed to disembark?" Dana asked.
"That decision will be coordinated with authorities."
"Will Ashlynn?"
"She is not accused of a crime by the ship."
I noticed the wording.
"By the ship."
Rourke met my eyes.
"Mr. Hartman has asked to file a criminal complaint against you."
I felt my pulse jump.
"For defending myself?"
"He alleges aggravated assault."
Dana's voice sharpened.
"On what evidence?"
"His statement and medical findings."
"What findings?"
Vance answered.
"A shoulder contusion and a minor cut inside his mouth."
"I never hit his mouth."
"He says you struck him."
"When?"
"After taking the bat."
"He's lying."
"I know your position."
"It's not a position."
I leaned toward him.
"It's what happened."
Dana cut in before anger could carry me farther.
"Did the medical examination estimate the age of the mouth injury?"
Vance looked at his notes.
"The doctor wrote that it appeared recent."
"Recent can mean hours."
"Correct."
"Did Gregory have the injury when security first entered the cabin?"
Vance hesitated.
"The photographs do not clearly show his inner lip."
"Did anyone see blood?"
"No."
"Then preserve medical bay cameras."
Rourke nodded.
"Already done."
Dana asked whether Gregory had been alone at any point before his exam.
Vance checked the timeline.
"He spent approximately four minutes alone in a restroom outside medical."
I looked at Dana on the screen.
She did not need to say it.
Four minutes was enough time for a man determined to manufacture an injury to make one appear.
We could not prove that yet.
The important thing was to preserve what existed.
Rourke moved to another issue.
"There is also the matter of the camera outage."
"You found Martin Cole?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"We found a payment."
Vance placed another paper in front of me.
Martin's cruise fare, premium drink package, and onboard credit had been purchased through a travel services company called Blue Meridian Hospitality.
I had never heard of it.
Dana had.
"That company is registered in Delaware."
Rourke looked at her.
"You know it?"
"I searched while you were talking."
"Of course you did," Vance muttered.
Dana ignored him.
"Blue Meridian is managed by a holding company called Hartwell Consulting Group."
I felt my stomach drop before she said the next part.
"Hartwell's registered agent is Charles Hartman's longtime attorney, Stephen Pike."
The room went quiet.
Captain Rourke leaned back.
"That is significant."
"It's evidence Charles paid to place a former maintenance employee on the ship," Dana said.
"Indirect evidence," Rourke replied.
"Strong indirect evidence."
I thought about the disabled camera.
"Can you prove Martin touched it?"
Vance shook his head.
"The footage only shows him near it."
"Can you prove it was manually disabled?"
"IT says a service panel was opened."
"Fingerprints?"
"Smudged."
The word hit me like an echo.
The bat had been wiped.
The camera panel had been wiped.
Someone was thinking about evidence before each move.
"What about the guest-assistant tablet?"
Vance's expression changed.
"We found unauthorized software."
Dana leaned closer to her camera.
"What kind?"
"A modified diagnostics package."
"Could it record?"
"It could activate the microphone remotely."
I felt cold despite the warm conference room.
"Was it activated in our cabin?"
"We found two remote sessions."
"When?"
"One at 4:16 p.m. and one at 4:34 p.m."
The attack happened between those times.
"So someone may have been listening."
"Yes."
"From where?"
"We are tracing the connection."
Dana asked whether audio files had been stored.
"Not on the tablet."
"Remote destination?"
"Possibly."
"Then find it."
Rourke rubbed his forehead.
"Counsel, our IT team is working through it."
"Your IT team missed modified software on a cabin device and a former employee disabling cameras."
"Dana," I said quietly.
She stopped.
I understood her anger, but I needed answers more than I needed the captain embarrassed.
"Who had cabin 1427 before us?"
Rourke looked at Vance.
Vance checked his tablet.
"No guest on the prior sailing."
"Why?"
"It was placed out of service for carpet replacement."
"Who requested it back into inventory?"
He scrolled.
Then stopped.
"Hotel operations."
"Whose approval?"
Another pause.
"A manual override from corporate guest relations."
Dana spoke first.
"Who requested the override?"
Vance tapped through another screen.
His expression hardened.
"A VIP service note attached to Charles Hartman's reservation."
My honeymoon cabin had not been randomly assigned.
It had been chosen.
The camera had been disabled.
The connecting door had been bypassed.
A former maintenance employee tied financially to Charles had boarded the ship.
The cabin microphone had been remotely activated.
And somewhere before the attack, someone had decided they needed to hear what happened inside.
Rourke asked me whether Gregory had tried to make me sign anything before the confrontation.
"No."
"Did he mention documents?"
"No."
I remembered the leather portfolio again.
"But his suitcase contained a document case."
Vance looked at me.
"We inventoried it."
"What was inside?"
"Blank paper."
I stared at him.
"Blank?"
"Twenty sheets."
"No agreement?"
"None."
Evelyn said the agreement had been in Charles's safe.
Now it was gone.
Rourke ended the meeting by assigning me an escort and moving me to a secure suite near the ship's administrative area.
As I stood to leave, Vance's radio crackled.
A crew member spoke rapidly.
Vance's face changed.
"Repeat that."
The answer came through more clearly the second time.
"We found Lidia Morel."
Vance grabbed the radio.
"Where?"
"Laundry service room, Deck Seven."
"Condition?"
A pause.
"Alive."
I exhaled.
Then the crew member added something that made everyone in the room go still.
May you like
"She says Charles Hartman paid her ten thousand dollars to open the safe."
