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Diego opens another photo of Mae’s face from the footage. I try to read her blank expression, try to understand what she must’ve been thinking. “That I can’t tell you. What I know is this: She ordered her first drink from Adanna at three fifteen this morning. Then another from Benny at three forty-five.”
“Wait. Wouldn’t there be a record of that? Did you guys not check her key card when I reported her missing this morning?” Blake demands.
“Of course we checked it,” he says. “That’s all part of the process. When someone is reported missing, most of the team searches the ship while the rest of the team checks key card records, security footage and then notifies the proper authorities based on where we were at the time of the disappearance. We also use our intercom system to alert the person that we are looking for them, in case they’re just not where they’re supposed to be, which is most often the case.”
“You seem to have a lot of experience with missing people.” Blake’s voice is bitter.
Diego remains unperturbed. “We are prepared for anything. For your safety, Mr. Barlowe. Better to be overprepared than underprepared. Anyway, there were no red flags on her card. Nothing to cause us to believe she was not in the hallway at three this morning like you told us. According to our records, she used her key card to enter your room at two forty-nine. She did not use it to order a drink afterward. After you told us to watch the video, I can now see it looks like she only ordered water with slices of lemon for both of her drinks, from what I can tell. As you know, for water there is no charge. But we did not have that knowledge prior to speaking to Adanna. We were going strictly based on what you had told us and what we could see on her card.”
“Wait,” I say, sucking in a breath, “so you’re telling us shedidgo into her room this morning? When I left her in the hallway, she made it there safely?” The guilt I’ve been carrying all day is diluted by the realization.
“All we can see is that the door was opened using her key card at two forty-nine. Whether or not she actually entered the room, I can’t say. Whatever made her turn around happened quickly. As I said, she was back in the bar at three ten.”
“She never came into the room. Someone must’ve stopped her,” Blake says, his jaw slack.
“Well, she approached the bar alone, so perhaps she was just thirsty. This information does help us get a more accurate time line of her actions this morning.”
“Why is a bar even still open at three in the morning?” Blake asks, not bothering to hide his disgust.
“We serve alcohol twenty-four hours a day, sir. All due respect, but it’s our guests’ responsibility to know their own limits.” He folds his hands on the desk. I know what he must think of her. Of us. How he must be judging her, assuming there are problems where there aren’t. Assuming she’s just avoiding us somehow. He couldn’t be further from the truth. Mae wouldn’t do this to us. She’s too kind. Too caring. And she’s certainly not irresponsible. I know she’s been struggling with her mom’s latest prognosis, but I never got any signs that she would do something so irresponsible as to go to a bar alone, even if she wasn’t drinking.
Maybe she just wanted to be away from me.
Unless she went to the room and fought with Blake…
I side-eye him. Could he be the one hiding something?
“There is something else you should know,” Diego says, interrupting my thoughts. “While Mrs. Barlowe arrived at the bar alone, she was eventually joined by another guest.” His eyes dart back and forth between us, obviously waiting for something.
I feel a sinking sensation in my stomach as he turns back to his computer and opens a third photograph. It’s another zoomed-in shot of the side of a man’s face. The photo isn’t clear, but from the looks of it, he’s hugging Mae, his mouth next to her ear.
Beside me, I feel Blake stiffen.
“Do you recognize this man?” Diego asks.
“Was this the man she was dancing with last night?” Blake gives me a hardened stare.
I nod, feeling numb. Hollow. “Yes.”
“They were dancing together?” Diego seems intrigued.
“Yes. Briefly.”
“I recognize him, too,” Blake tells him. “He was watching us from across the dining room while we were at dinner.”
“Do you think it’s possible they knew each other?” Diego asks. “In the footage I saw, they appear well acquainted.”
I don’t want to ask what that means. Suddenly, something clicks in my mind.
Blake seems to sense it. “What is it?”
“When we first got on the ship…” I whisper, remembering. “When we separated and you guys went to the casino, there was a man who asked about Mae at the bar.”
“A man?Thisguy?” He juts his finger at the screen.
“I don’t know. I never saw him. He had dark hair, I think. He came up to me while I was signing for our drinks and asked if that was Mae with me. Before I could answer or turn around, he was already gone.”
“Did you ask Mae about him?”
