Before I could answer, Valery looked at the pills. “Mr. Lucas brought those to you himself?”
I nodded. Her expression tightened.
“I cleaned this suite yesterday,” she said quietly. “You were difficult to wake. I told him I thought you needed a doctor.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me you’d taken something for seasickness and didn’t want to be disturbed.” She glanced toward the closed door. “I’ve been worried about you since.”
I told her, in a whisper, what I had heard below deck. Valery set the tray down. For a moment, she looked as frightened as I felt, but she did not tell me I was mistaken.
“We need the captain,” she said.
“I’ve sent a message to shore. I don’t know who Lucas has spoken to aboard.”
Valery thought for a moment. “There’s a camera over the lower-deck stairwell. If it recorded them talking, the captain can secure the footage before anyone knows why.”
She had barely finished speaking when footsteps stopped outside the suite. Lucas’s voice came through the door.
“Valery? Open up. I need to speak to my wife.”
Part 3: The Camera Above the Stairwell
Valery picked up the dinner tray before opening the door. Lucas glanced at her, then looked past her to the bed.
“Feeling any better?” he asked me.
“A little.” I kept one hand on the bedpost. “Valery was asking whether I needed anything.”
“I can take care of my wife.” His smile stayed in place until Valery left the suite.
Lucas crossed to the bedside table. The pills were still there. He picked one up and held it out to me with the glass of water.
“You’ll sleep better if you take it now.”
I looked at his hand. Refusing too sharply might tell him I knew something. I took the pill and brought it toward my mouth, then coughed into my other hand. When I lowered the glass, the pill was caught between my fingers.
Lucas hadn’t moved. “Did you swallow it?”
“Yes.” I set down the water. “Would you mind closing the curtains? The light’s making my head worse.”
He turned toward the windows, and I slipped the pill under my pillow. He stayed another minute, talking about the weather forecast and a quiet morning we could spend together. Then his phone rang. He checked the screen and left to answer it.
I put the pill in an empty tissue wrapper and tucked it into my bag. A few minutes later, Valery returned with the ship’s medic. She had told him I seemed confused and unsteady, which was true.
The medic checked my pulse and asked what I had taken. I told him about the pills Lucas had given me and said I did not know what they were. When he asked to see one, I handed him the wrapped pill.
“I want a medical evaluation as soon as we reach port,” I said. “For now, I don’t want my husband giving me any more medication.”
The medic agreed and asked Valery to stay while he spoke to the captain. Once he was gone, Valery told me she had also asked the security officer to preserve the stairwell footage. The camera had no sound, but it might show who had gathered below deck and whether Lucas had been near our suite while I was asleep.
My communicator vibrated inside my bag. Dad had sent a short message: Authorities notified. Your mother is with me. Stay with crew members you trust. A patrol vessel is being directed to your position.
I showed Valery. We both let out a breath, but the yacht was still at sea and Lucas was still aboard.
The captain came to the suite with the medic and security officer. I told them exactly what I had overheard, including Lucas’s plan for the aft deck and his remarks about my parents. I gave the security officer the time as closely as I could remember it and asked that the camera footage, dinner tray, and medication be preserved.
“We’re returning to port,” the captain said. “You can remain here with Valery and the medic while I secure the decks.”
His radio crackled before he could say more. The security officer answered it, listened, and looked at me.
Lucas was asking the crew to search the yacht. He claimed I was confused, had disappeared from our suite, and might hurt myself near the water.
“I’m right here,” I said.
The captain’s expression hardened. He told the officer to inform Lucas that I was with the medic and was not to be approached. Then he asked Valery to lock the suite door after they left.
Outside, rain began striking the windows. I heard hurried footsteps in the corridor and the captain giving orders over the radio. The medic remained with me, writing down my symptoms while Valery stood near the door.
Then the security officer’s voice came over his radio again. He had reached the stairwell camera system—but the recordings from the past three hours were missing.
Part 4: The Missing Three Hours
The security officer repeated his report over the radio. The stairwell camera was working now, but the recordings from the previous three hours had been deleted.
The captain asked him to preserve the system exactly as it was. He also ordered him to check who had accessed it. I watched the medic write down the time of the call. Even without the footage, someone had left a record of its disappearance.
Lucas knocked on the suite door a few minutes later. Valery stayed beside me while the medic spoke to him through it.
“She needs rest,” the medic said. “The captain has ordered us back to port.”
“Then let me in. I’m her husband.”
“I’ve asked him not to,” I said, loud enough for Lucas to hear.
The silence outside lasted several seconds. When Lucas answered, his voice had changed.
“You’re frightened because you’re confused. I’m trying to help you.”
