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“Thank you so much,” Blake says, patting the man on the shoulder as he turns away right when I reach them.
I lean over my knees, trying to catch my breath. “What was… that about?” I follow the man with my eyes. “Has he seen her?”
“No,” Blake says. “But he gave me directions to the police station in case we need to go there.”
My shoulders slump. “Is that what we should do? I mean, Diego said they’re already coordinating with the police, but do we trust him?”
“I don’t think we have a choice. How are we going to explain the situation? Most likely, the police will just tell us we need to talk to the ship’s security team. As far as we can tell, she went missing while we were on the ship. I’m just not sure what anyone here will be able to do.”
“Well, someone has to do something! She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.” I check the time on my phone. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to talk to everyone here before it’s time to get back on. More cruise ships keep arriving and others are leaving. This is a nightmare.”
“Maybe we don’t get back on,” he says, pulling me away from the crowd.
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe we should just keep looking here. If she got off the ship… If she’s here and we get back on the ship… If we leave her…” His eyes are haunted and glassy when they meet mine. “I can’t leave her here all alone.”
“But what if she’s not here? What if she’s not here and we don’t get back on the ship, then they find her? What if she’s still on the ship and we leave her there?”
“Where would they find her? We’ve searched everywhere there is to search except the rooms, and they’ve already made it clear they won’t be searching there. The more I think about it, the more I realize if she’s not here—” He cuts himself off, his body trembling with suppressed sobs.
The truth sits silently between us: If she’s not here, then she went overboard. Or someone took her.
If she’s not here, she’s probably dead.
If she’s not here, she’s not anywhere.
“No. No. We aren’t doing that. We aren’t giving up. We won’t. She’s out there, Blake. We’re going to find her. Wherever she is, we’re going to find her and bring her home. You know that, right?”
He looks down, kicking the sand under his feet. “I’m trying not to give up, I just feel like we’re looking for a needle in a haystack, and I wish I had more answers than questions.”
“I know,” I mutter, chewing my fingernail.Okay. It’s time. I can’t put this off any longer. Wherever Mae is, she’s not turning up. Her safety is what matters. I have to tell him everything.“Listen, I need to tell you something.”
As I say the words, the poolside restaurant turns up its music and the crowd cheers. I cover the ear closest to the chaos.
“What?” he yells, cupping his hands around his ears to hear me.
“Here, let’s move this way so we don’t have to shout.” I pull him farther away from the crowd, trying to think of what to say. How to bring this up.
“What did you say?” he asks when I can hear him better.
“Here. Come this way.” We walk to a small, unoccupied path with a bridge, and I lean against the wooden guardrail, tapping my foot nervously.
“Yeah?” He folds his arms across his chest, waiting. “What’s going on, Florence? Why are you stalling? You’re scaring me.”
“I’m notstalling.I’m…trying to put my thoughts together.”
“Your thoughts about what?” His tone is accusatory, and I don’t like it. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me.
“I need to tell you something about last night, but I don’t really want to make it a big thing if it isn’t.” I rush to add, “And it’s probably not.”
“Just spit it out! We don’t have time for this. Mae is—”
“Okay, just… Okay.” I puff out a breath. “So, like I said, it’s probably nothing. I just want to tell you so it’s out there in case… Anyway, last night, after you guys left, Mae and I went to the bar first. We ordered drinks and then headed to the lounge to listen to music. She started to get sad about her mom and I was trying to distract her, so I suggested we dance. And we did. We danced a little bit and…” I bite my lip, pretending to think.
“And?” He’s growing impatient with me.
Mae, please forgive me.“It’s just that… While we were dancing, this guy came up and started trying to dance with her. It wasn’t Mae’s fault. It wasn’t like she was into it or anything. He was just…around, you know?”
