Chapter 2 - The First Swing
My palm struck the underside of Gregory's jaw before he could recover from the missed swing.
His teeth snapped together with a sharp click.
The bat slipped half an inch in his grip.
That half inch was enough.
I twisted his wrist away from my body, turned my shoulder beneath his arm, and used his forward momentum instead of fighting his strength.
Gregory stumbled past me with a stunned grunt.
The bat clattered against the carpet.
I kicked it beneath the desk.
Then I stepped back.
I did not chase him.
I did not hit him again.
I did not need to.
For three seconds, my husband stood with one hand pressed to his jaw and stared at me as if I had suddenly become a stranger.
I suppose I had.
The woman he thought he married would have cried.
The woman standing in front of him was counting exits.
Gregory's eyes flicked toward the desk where the bat had disappeared.
Then they returned to me.
His face changed.
The arrogance was still there, but now something ugly had moved beneath it.
Humiliation.
He had expected fear.
What he got instead was proof that he had never known me at all.
"You hit me."
His voice sounded almost offended.
I stared at him.
"You swung a baseball bat at my ribs."
"You hit me in the face."
"And I stopped when the threat stopped."
Gregory gave a short laugh.
There was no humor in it.
"You really think anyone is going to believe that?"
The question landed harder than the bat ever had.
I looked at the locked cabin door.
Gregory followed my eyes.
Then he smiled again.
It was smaller this time.
Colder.
"Go ahead."
He nodded toward the door.
"Open it."
I did not move.
The latch was still engaged from the inside.
If someone came in now, they would find Gregory with a red mark spreading along his jaw and me standing in a fighting stance.
The bat was under the desk where I had kicked it.
For the first time since he had pulled it from the suitcase, I wondered how much of this had been planned.
Gregory reached slowly into his pocket.
I shifted my weight.
He noticed.
"Relax, Marine."
He pulled out his phone.
Then he tapped the screen twice.
"Security."
My stomach tightened.
"What did you do?"
"What any terrified husband would do."
His voice suddenly changed.
It became shaky.
Weak.
Convincing.
"Please send someone to Suite 1412."
He took a breath that sounded almost like a sob.
"My wife attacked me."
I stared at him.
Gregory turned slightly away from me and lowered his voice.
"She has military training."
He paused.
"Yes."
Another pause.
"Yes, she is still aggressive."
The performance was perfect.
That terrified me more than the bat.
He ended the call.
Then his shoulders relaxed.
The frightened husband vanished.
"How long have you been planning this?"
Gregory slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"Planning what?"
"This."
I pointed toward the suitcase.
"The bat."
Then I pointed toward the locked door.
"The security call."
My voice stayed calm.
"The story you already knew you were going to tell."
His eyes narrowed.
"You always did think you were smarter than everyone else."
"No."
I took one slow step toward the door.
"I just know what preparation looks like."
There was movement in the corridor.
Heavy footsteps approached quickly.
Gregory heard them too.
He immediately stumbled backward against the bed.
Then he pressed one hand against his jaw again.
"You should probably look scared," he whispered.
"I am scared."
He smiled.
"Good."
I looked directly at him.
"Just not of you."
A fist pounded against the cabin door.
"Ship security."
Gregory did not unlock it.
I did.
Three uniformed officers were waiting outside.
The man in front was in his fifties, broad shouldered, gray at the temples, and far too calm for someone responding to a reported assault.
His badge read DANNER.
The younger officer behind him had one hand near his radio.
A third man stood slightly farther back.
He wore no visible name tag.
Danner looked first at Gregory.
Then at me.
Then at the room.
"Mr. Hartman?"
Gregory gave a weak nod.
"Thank God."
I almost laughed.
Danner turned toward me.
"Mrs. Hartman, I need you to step into the corridor."
"There is a baseball bat under the desk."
The younger officer looked toward the room.
Danner did not.
"Ma'am, step into the corridor."
"He brought it onto the ship in his suitcase."
Gregory exhaled sharply behind me.
"Ashlynn, please don't make this worse."
I turned my head just enough to see him.
His expression was wounded.
His voice was gentle.
If I had not watched him swing the bat myself, I might have believed him.
Danner stepped between us.
"Mrs. Hartman."
His tone hardened.
"Now."
I walked into the corridor.
The unnamed officer immediately moved to my side.
He stood too close.
Not touching me.
Just making it clear that he could.
Danner entered the cabin with the younger officer.
I heard drawers opening.
I heard the suitcase close.
Then silence.
Thirty seconds passed.
A minute passed.
Danner came back out.
His face was unreadable.
"Where is the bat?"
For one second I thought I had misheard him.
"Under the desk."
"There is no bat under the desk."
I looked past him into the cabin.
Gregory was sitting on the edge of the bed.
The desk was visible from the doorway.
The bat was gone.
My pulse accelerated.
I had never taken my eyes off the doorway after opening it.
Gregory had been behind me for only a few seconds before Danner entered.
That meant one of two things.
Either Gregory had moved the bat before security crossed the threshold.
Or someone inside that cabin had helped it disappear.
"Check the bathroom."
Danner's eyes stayed on me.
"We checked the room."
"Then check his suitcase again."
Gregory stood slowly.
"This is exactly what I warned you about."
Danner turned toward him.
"Warned us about what?"
Gregory hesitated just long enough to look reluctant.
"Her episodes."
The word hit me like cold water.
"My what?"
Gregory lowered his eyes.
"Ashlynn has trouble after stressful situations."
I stepped toward the doorway.
The unnamed officer blocked me with one arm.
"Do not touch me."
He did not move.
Gregory continued.
"She served in the Marines."
"That is not a diagnosis."
"I know."
His voice cracked beautifully.
"I love her."
I stared at him.
He had practiced this.
There was no other explanation.
Danner looked at me again.
"Mrs. Hartman, have you been drinking tonight?"
"No."
"Medication?"
"No."
"Any history of blackouts?"
"No."
"Violence?"
"No."
Gregory made a quiet sound behind him.
I snapped my eyes toward him.
"Say it."
He shook his head.
"I'm not doing this with you."
"You started this with a baseball bat."
The younger officer finally looked uncomfortable.
Danner raised one hand.
"Enough."
He turned to me.
"You are going to the medical center for evaluation."
"And him?"
"He will be examined separately."
"Am I being detained?"
Danner paused.
That pause told me more than his answer.
"You are being escorted for everyone's safety."
"That is not what I asked."
The unnamed officer stepped closer.
"Move."
I looked at Danner.
"Am I being detained?"
His jaw tightened.
"Not formally."
"Then I want my phone."
Gregory answered before Danner could.
"I don't know where it is."
I turned slowly.
My phone had been on the dresser beside the champagne bottle when Gregory opened the suitcase.
Now the dresser was empty.
"My passport too."
Gregory frowned.
"What?"
"My passport was in the cabin safe."
"I haven't touched your passport."
"Then open the safe."
Danner looked between us.
"We will inventory the room."
"Do it now."
His expression cooled.
"Medical first."
I understood then that the room was already lost to me.
Every minute I spent away from it was another minute for evidence to disappear.
I also understood that fighting security in the hallway would hand Gregory exactly the picture he wanted.
So I lowered my hands.
I straightened my shoulders.
And I walked.
Passengers had begun opening their doors.
A woman in a silk robe watched me pass with wide eyes.
A teenage boy held his phone halfway out of his cabin.
The unnamed officer noticed and barked at him to stop recording.
That interested me.
People usually stopped recordings when they feared what the recording might show.
We reached the elevator.
The doors opened.
I stepped inside with Danner and the unnamed officer.
Gregory remained in the corridor.
He was free.
I was not.
Just before the elevator doors closed, he looked directly at me.
For one heartbeat, the wounded husband disappeared again.
His mouth barely moved.
"You should have let me teach you."
My hands went cold.
Then he added four words.
"Now Dad will do it."
The doors slid shut.
May you like
And for the first time that night, I understood that Gregory was not the most dangerous Hartman on the ship.
