Page 71 of Below the Deck

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.’

GENDARMERIE MARITIME DE POLYNÉSIE FRANÇAISE

CASE NUMBER: 247849

POLICE EXHIBIT TWELVE

Transcript of call from Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre to Chief of Police Henri Robert

10/06/2026 18:38

M Robert: This is Chief Robert.

Operator: Monsieur Robert, this is [NAME REDACTED], on the maritime distress emergency call response team.

M Robert: Go ahead, but be brief, please – we have a major incident unfolding here.

Operator: Copy that. This concerns the distress call made from theLusso di Marea few moments ago reporting a male passenger deceased on board.

M Robert: Do you have information relating to the case?

Operator: Well, I’m not sure – maybe. But CROSS Papeete called into us about two hours ago reporting an injury to a male passenger on the same vessel.

M Robert: On the same … I see. And what were the circumstances?