Chapter 6 - The Audit File
Danner did not let Blake touch the evidence envelope.
That was the first encouraging thing that had happened since the cabin door locked.
"Where exactly was it?"
I asked the question while looking at Blake.
Danner answered instead.
"False bottom in the suitcase."
"Who found it?"
"I did."
"Who was with you?"
Danner's eyes moved to Blake.
"Officer Blake."
Blake folded his arms.
"And two cabin security staff."
"Names?"
"They are in the incident log."
"Good."
I pointed toward the envelope.
"Because that log is going to matter."
Blake gave me a flat look.
"Everything seems to matter to you."
"That is usually how evidence works."
Danner raised one hand.
"Enough."
He held the envelope beneath the light.
Inside was a small encrypted storage token used by Asteron Systems to authorize high-level digital signatures.
Mine had a black stripe across one end and a tiny serial number engraved into the casing.
I knew the number.
It matched.
"That should have been in my apartment safe."
Danner looked at me.
"Could your husband access the safe?"
"He knew the code."
The admission tasted bitter.
"Why?"
Blake asked.
I turned toward him.
"Because I married him."
He did not react.
"People sometimes trust the person they marry."
My voice hardened.
"That is not evidence of consent to theft."
Danner slid the envelope into a locking metal box at the nurses' station.
"No one touches this without me."
Blake's mouth tightened.
"Captain will want it upstairs."
"Then the captain can come sign for it."
The two men looked at each other.
Something had changed between them.
I could feel it.
Danner had started the night protecting ship procedure.
Now he was protecting evidence from his own officer.
That meant he had seen something I had not.
"Chief."
I waited until Blake walked several feet away.
"What does the access log show?"
Danner lowered his voice.
"The cabin door opened four times after you left."
"Who?"
"My keycard first."
"Then?"
"Officer Blake."
My eyes moved toward Blake.
"Twice?"
"Once."
Danner continued.
"Then a maintenance master card."
"Whose?"
"Assigned to Deck Fourteen technical services."
"And the fourth?"
Danner looked at me.
"Your husband's."
"You told me he was in the owner's corridor."
"He was."
"Then he came back."
Danner nodded.
"For ninety-three seconds."
I thought about the hidden compartment.
Ninety-three seconds was enough time to place the token inside.
It was also enough time to remove a bat.
"Did the hallway camera show him?"
Danner's expression hardened.
"The camera was still offline."
"Convenient."
"Yes."
That single word told me Danner had stopped calling it a coincidence.
Blake returned before I could ask more.
"Captain wants the token."
Danner did not turn around.
"Captain can wait."
Blake stared at him.
"That is a direct order."
"So is evidence preservation."
For a moment, neither man moved.
Then Blake smiled.
"Your funeral."
He walked away.
I watched him disappear around the corner.
"You trust him?"
Danner gave a humorless laugh.
"I did twelve hours ago."
"What changed?"
"He lied about where he was during the camera outage."
"Where did he say he was?"
"Casino patrol."
"Where was he?"
"Deck Fourteen technical control."
My stomach tightened.
"At the camera system."
"Close enough to access it."
That was not proof.
But it was a line.
Lines became patterns.
Patterns became cases.
Danner looked toward my room.
"Get some rest."
"I need to call my office again."
"Not from the clinic phone."
I studied him.
"Why?"
"Because the call log was requested five minutes after you used it."
"By whom?"
"Corporate security."
"Hartman?"
"Cruise corporate."
I almost laughed.
The distinction no longer comforted me.
"Can you get me outside communication?"
Danner hesitated.
"Not officially."
"I have stopped having good experiences with official channels."
That earned the smallest hint of a smile.
"I will see what I can do."
He walked away.
Lena appeared ten minutes later.
I looked at her differently after Charles's warning.
She noticed immediately.
"What did he tell you?"
I kept my face neutral.
"Who?"
"Charles Hartman."
She set a tray beside my bed.
"You have the face people get after someone poisons a well."
I said nothing.
Lena sighed.
"He told you I gave them the photos."
That answered more than I wanted it to.
"Did you?"
"I uploaded them into your chart because I was required to."
She sat on the edge of the chair.
"Then someone with administrator access downloaded them."
"Who?"
"The access identifier belongs to Dr. Hale."
"Did he do it?"
"He says no."
"Do you believe him?"
Lena's expression tightened.
"I believe his password is apparently less secure than this ship's buffet."
I almost smiled.
"Do you still have the off-network copy?"
She reached into her shoe.
Then she pulled out a tiny memory card wrapped in plastic.
I stared at it.
"You put it in your shoe?"
"I work on cruise ships."
She shrugged.
"You learn where people do not search."
I took the card.
"Thank you."
"Now you can thank me."
I slipped it beneath the foam lining of the paper coffee cup.
"Charles knows about Project Meridian."
Lena's brow furrowed.
"What is that?"
"A corporate acquisition audit."
"His company?"
"A subsidiary."
I leaned back.
"I was going to vote against buying it tomorrow."
"How much money?"
"Four hundred eighty million dollars."
Lena stopped moving.
"That is not honeymoon money."
"No."
"So this is not just about a husband wanting control."
"I think control was real."
I looked toward the locked door.
"I also think it was useful."
Gregory could have believed everything he said about wives and obedience.
He could also have chosen this particular night because I would be isolated before a board vote.
Cruelty and strategy were not mutually exclusive.
Often they worked together.
Lena folded her arms.
"What happens if you miss the vote?"
"Normally, nothing."
I paused.
"But Charles said Gregory has paperwork allowing him to act for me if I am medically incapacitated."
Lena's eyes widened.
"You're not incapacitated."
"I know."
"My notes say that."
"Your medical director already wrote something else."
She stood.
"I am going to talk to Hale."
"Wait."
I caught her wrist lightly.
She looked down at my hand.
I released her.
"Do not confront anyone yet."
"Why?"
"Because they are already changing records."
I lowered my voice.
"We need copies before they know which copies matter."
Lena sat again.
"You really did teach combat."
"This is not combat."
"Feels like it."
"Combat is simpler."
I looked at the door.
"At least the person trying to hurt you usually admits which side they are on."
At 3:04 a.m., Danner returned carrying an old crew phone with a cracked case.
"Five minutes."
"You are becoming my favorite person on this ship."
"That says terrible things about your honeymoon."
He handed me the phone.
"It routes through a crew Wi-Fi account registered to engineering."
"Can it be traced?"
"Eventually."
"Eventually is enough."
I called Renee again.
She answered instantly.
"Tell me you're okay."
"I am okay."
"General counsel is awake."
"Good."
"The board secretary is awake."
"Better."
"And Ashlynn, we found something."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"What?"
"Your Project Meridian access logs."
I looked at Danner and Lena.
Both were watching me.
"Go on."
Renee inhaled.
"Someone has been opening the audit file from your home network for almost eight months."
The room seemed to narrow.
"Eight months?"
"First access was January eighteenth."
I remembered the date.
I had met Gregory on January twelfth.
Six days earlier.
"What account?"
"A cloned local session."
"From my laptop?"
"Looks like it."
My mouth went dry.
Gregory had been in my apartment for the first time on January seventeenth.
He brought dinner.
He brought flowers.
He stayed overnight.
The next morning, I went for a run while he slept.
At least I thought he slept.
"What files did they open?"
"Vendor summaries at first."
Renee's voice tightened.
"Then shipping exceptions."
A pause.
"Then your confidential investigator notes."
I closed my eyes.
Those notes included concerns I had never put into the formal audit.
Names.
Questions.
Potential witnesses.
One of those witnesses had resigned unexpectedly two months ago.
Another had withdrawn a statement.
A third had disappeared from company contact entirely.
"Renee."
"I know."
"Pull personnel records for everyone named in my private notes."
"Already doing it."
"And check whether any of them had contact with Hartman companies afterward."
"I will."
Danner tapped his wrist.
One minute.
I lowered my voice.
"There is a signing token in Gregory's suitcase."
Renee swore.
"Mine."
"Ashlynn, get off that ship."
"Working on it."
"No."
Her voice shook.
"I mean now."
"We are at sea."
"Then make them turn around."
"I am trying."
"General counsel says if we can prove coercion or credential theft, the board can stop any proxy."
"Can they stop the vote?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe is not enough."
"Then give me proof."
The line crackled.
Danner raised two fingers.
Seconds.
"Renee, one more thing."
"What?"
"Who introduced me to Gregory?"
Silence.
I already knew the social answer.
We had met at a charity gala sponsored by a veterans' foundation.
A mutual acquaintance had seated us at the same table.
I had always thought it was luck.
"The seating list," I said.
Renee understood.
"I'll pull it."
"Find out who changed it."
"Ashlynn -"
The connection died.
I handed the phone back to Danner.
My hands were steady.
That scared me.
"What did you learn?"
he asked.
"Gregory accessed my audit six days after meeting me."
Lena's face went pale.
"Six days?"
"Yes."
I looked at Danner.
"This marriage did not accidentally become part of the audit."
I swallowed once.
"The marriage started because of the audit."
A voice came from the doorway.
"Finally."
Gregory stood there.
No security officer was beside him.
His jaw was bruised.
His tuxedo shirt was open at the collar.
And in his hand was a document with my signature at the bottom.
May you like
"It took you long enough to figure it out."
