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“Rather,” Axel said, “did anyone talk to all three of them? Colt didn’t, at least not yet. Not that he’s mentioned, and he’s mentioned a lot of people.”
“Maybe you should go with Colt and talk to them,” Henry said. “Find out their moods. Kayli’s right. From what you’ve said, at least about Mr. Smith and Ms. Ward, we should find out if they’re still interested in Kitty Lane. Could be nothing, but just in case.”
Kevin turned pages over in a file and frowned. “Shit.”
“What?” Axel asked.
Kevin read from the file. “Raven spoke to all of them last night before he disappeared. Or at least, the few witnesses we could find that saw him said so.”
Axel crossed the room and took the pages from Kevin’s hands to read for himself. “At the time, we assumed he was looking for Kayli since she went missing.”
Kevin nodded. “We didn’t really notice he was missing until after Kayli called Corey from shore. He disappeared before we had a chance to tell him she was okay.”
Axel frowned and passed the file back to Kevin. “Look for any instances of Raven talking to anyone else before we lost track of him, and what he might have said.”
Kevin looked at the rest of us and then back at Axel. “It might be weird if we ask the crew if they talked to him. They’re going to know something is wrong.”
“We might not have much choice. Kayli’s right that something’s wrong here. Everyone’s too calm this morning. We might be wrong about why Raven is missing.”
My heart thundered. “How does this all connect? I don’t understand.”
Axel was on his way to the door, but he turned back to me, the storm building, lightning striking. “I don’t know, but I don’t believe it’s a coincidence he talked to them, and from that moment, they’re unconcerned and he’s suddenly gone.” He shook his head and frowned. “We were too wrapped up with you to see it.”
Suddenly, he seemed to change gears and snapped his fingers at Brandon. “You, go with Henry to find Fancy. We’re going to need her and her girls to talk to Mr. Smith. Kevin, find Avery, get him and Tara together. I’m going with Colt to talk to Mr. Cline.”
The whole room became a tornado of chaos with people slugging the last of their coffees, putting in earpieces, and moving out.
And then, there was silence as the door closed behind them. Marc stayed with me.
It was unsettling how they’d all disappeared so quickly, especially with what Axel had said.
We were too wrapped up with you.
Compromised
Being left in the storage room sucked.
Axel’s words still haunted me through a short nap and what felt like eons of tense silence.
Marc kept an eye on everyone via the monitors and used the audio equipment to keep people in communication.
I wanted to help, but my foggy brain demanded some downtime. I also needed time to think.
Sam and his crew might have been behind my getting tossed overboard, but something had happened to Raven, possibly something bad.
I’d assumed he was just hiding.
But Raven didn’t hide. Did he?
I was lying on the cot, forcing myself to stay still, wondering exactly how long I had to rest after a concussion. The doctor had said it was mild. Did I really have to just lie here?
After a while, Marc rolled his chair over to the cot, caught my ankle, and held it. “Can you take this headset for a bit?” he asked. “I can’t watch and listen at the same time. They should all have the earpieces in—just listen in case they need you to relay something.”
I took the headset and Marc told me how to operate it. The keypad had several buttons, and I just pressed one and could hear if one of them was talking.
“It auto-changes the channel depending on certain things our team might say, like ‘help,’ or a volume of shouting,” Marc said. “Listen carefully. It might be someone asking for help, and then give it to me if you need to.”
Marc showed me a channel to start on. It was filled with the sound of splashes and girls laughing. Doyle must have fallen asleep by the pool. I hoped he got a sunburn.
I opened up each channel to listen, but it was weird hearing what other people heard and not seeing anyone’s faces. I gathered I was listening through earpieces people were wearing. Watching the monitors was easier, but I could lie on the cot while listening.
“I’ve been all over this ship,” Colt was saying. “Either she’s with the crew somewhere or she’s…I don’t know.”
“She’s here somewhere,” Axel said, sounding anxious. “I bet you we’re just missing each other and didn’t realize it.”
“Let’s try having her name called over the announcement system. That should bring her out.”
“I’m worried about drawing unwanted attention to her,” Axel said. “You saw Mr. Smith last night. It could be she’s hiding from him.”
“Why would she hide?” Colt asked.
“He was drunk and saying crazy things. I bet she’s avoiding people. Did we check the library?”
They continued, their voices changing as they moved down the hallway. I was tempted to talk to Axel, just to say hello, but I didn’t want to distract him.
I pushed each button and could hear just about everything from anyone who was connected. Kevin was going over what to say to Tara Ward. He wanted to wait until she got up from the pool. Approaching her now would seem really odd.
Marc stood up and stretched. “All is quiet for the moment,” he said. “Mr. Smith is having his massage. Tara’s reading her book. Mr. Cline is about to go for a swim in the pool. Everyone else seems to be doing their job or enjoying this cruise. It’s going to take a while to find out what’s up.”
I sighed and pushed the mute button so I wouldn’t spook Kevin. “I don’t suppose we could just hold a gun to them and make people talk.”
He chuckled. “Last time we tried that, you ended up shooting people, remember? Let’s try the subtler approach this time.”
I had my eyes closed, but I sensed him when he came over and hovered above me. “What?”
He touched me once on the nose. “Are you going to fall asleep?”
“You should be watching the monitors.”
“Watch them for a minute?” he asked. “This is why I liked our cabin better. I didn’t have to go far for a toilet.”
I’d have to go soon, too. I nodded to him. “Surveillance is boring. No wonder Doyle quit.”
“I agree,” he said.
I slowly got up as Marc was leaving. I wondered if he needed an earpiece, but then, no one was looking for Marc. There was a bathroom at the start of this hallway, so he wouldn’t be long.
I crawled out of the cot, pulling my hair back so it was out of my face. I sat in his seat, watching the monitors with bleary eyes. I wanted to find Raven, but I was having a hard time staying awake.
I spotted Corey walking by shops on the mall-like deck. He looked inside windows but didn’t go in.
Who was with him? Was he alone?
If anyone else was near Corey, the cameras weren’t showing me who. I didn’t know how to get the video to show me different angles of the same floor. It just switched around at random to show different cameras at different times.
Did Corey have an earpiece? I imagined he did.
I wanted to say hello. I used the keypad for the audio, and I clicked on each button. It didn’t tell me who I got, so I had to listen for surroundings and try to figure out whose feed it was. I wished they were marked so I could tell who was who.
I got Axel again, switched, and found who I thought was Corey but quickly realized it was Brandon talking. I switched again: Kevin.
I switched again and heard voices. As I listened, I realized there was a piano playing and live singing in my ear. I expanded Corey’s video, and sure enough, there was a piano player in the center of the shopping area.
“Can you hear me?” I asked in
to the mic.
Corey didn’t seem to react in the camera. He’d been looking inside a shop and continued to do so.
Maybe he couldn’t talk. It would be weird to others around him if he seemed to be talking to himself.
“Just saying hello,” I said quietly, wondering if people nearby would hear him talking to me.
“Where are you?” a whisper came through. I thought it was him.
“Watching the monitors,” I said.
Silence. Corey still didn’t move, but he looked up. Checking the reflection in the shop window?
His head turned curiously, right, left, over his shoulder. Then he turned around, heading slowly toward the piano.
“Is something going on?” I asked. I hoped he could hear me over the piano.
Corey darted his head back and forth, but said nothing.
Maybe I was distracting him. I hoped he didn’t lose whoever he was watching.
Corey remained by the piano for a long while. A woman—a crew member—walked up to him, offering him water and a piece of paper. Corey waved her off, but she continued to talk to him with a smile, offering the paper and laughing. By her body language, I could tell she was flirting with him.
His head turned, slowly, surveying the area, on alert.
I focused on Corey, wondering what bothered me about the scene in front of me, when I realized I had only seen the woman talking to him. I hadn’t heard her. I heard the piano. I should have been able to hear her and Corey talking.
I wondered if there was a problem, but I was still hearing something through the headset: Music? Voices?
I wasn’t listening through Corey’s earpiece.
