Page 20 of Midnight

‘Olivia! There you are.’ Patty’s booming voice sounded over all the commotion in the lounge. ‘Is this our muster point?’

‘I think so.’ She shuffled down the sofa to allow Patty and Annalise to slide in.

‘Right, ladies, so you’re all on Team Liam!’ The expedition leader perched on the edge of the sofa, clipboard in hand.

Patty leaned over and growled, ‘If I was thirty years younger,’ waggling her eyebrows at Annalise and Olivia.

They were joined by cabin twenty – Yara and Helena, two social media stars who Annalise recognized immediately.

‘I hope you give this Pioneer cruise a good write-up,’ Patty said with a wink.

‘They do video content, Patty, not written journalism,’ muttered Annalise.

‘Oh, right, you’re inspirers!’

‘Influencers,’ corrected Yara.

Patty slapped her palm against her knee. ‘That’s the one.’

Helena smiled. ‘This is our first visit to Antarctica, so I’m sure there will be loads of interesting travel content. And Yara here has a following with the TikTok art niche, so she’s going to follow the auction. That’s how we got the invite out here. Hashtag gifted!’

Olivia turned to Yara. ‘I can give you a tour of the gallery if you want – like a showcase preview?’ She knew that if Yara had been specifically invited to create videos about the art, then Aaron must have had a hand in it.

‘That would be great! I love, love, LOVE Yennin’s work. It’s so tragic that we won’t see any more from him.’ Her brown eyes watered with tears.

‘Hang on, this is such a moment.’ Helena scrambled for her phone, and the two of them repositioned themselves so Yara was framed by the window, the roiling sea outside contrasting against her tear-stained cheeks as she narrated her emotions to camera.

Olivia scanned the rest of the crowd. She could spot about twenty navy blue fleeces in the room, but while there were a couple of people with shaved heads, none of them gave her the creeps like she’d felt on deck. She supposed there might be more crew below who wouldn’t be at the muster.

Her eye caught on one man sitting across the lounge near Cutler Hughes and his family. He looked vaguely familiar. Not threatening but just … she was sure that she’d met him before. He caught her staring and nodded back a greeting.

The name from the cabin list sprang into her mind.

Sadler. And the ‘M’ initial stood for Maxwell. She’d seen him hanging around the London gallery; she was sure of it. She hadn’t realized he would be there. Why hadn’t he been at the VIP dinner? She tried to remember what she knew about him. He was in finance – an investor of some sort.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the alarm ringing again, which also hushed the chatter in the room.

After the final beep, Captain Enzo stood at a microphone in front of a lowered projector screen. As if on cue, a map of the Antarctic Peninsula appeared on the screen behind him, a thick red line displaying their projected route. So far, everything had been very slick on board – clearly no expense had been spared in kitting it out.

‘Hello, sailors on the MSVigil! I am your captain, Enzo Giuliani. As you can probably tell from my accent, I am from Italy. Sardinia to be precise.

‘Welcome on board – a full-service adventure to one of the most magnificent places on Earth. Our first dutyis to make sure you are safe, and then we must protect the Antarctic environment. This is a bit different from the type of cruise you might have been on before, on a tour of the Caribbean perhaps. There is no rescue in the Antarctic. No hospitals or police. We’re going to territory that has still only been visited by half a million people in the course of history. Although that number is growing fast.

‘Some of you may have done a muster drill before, but this is going to be different. I need to stress how serious it is that everyone on board understands what to do in the event of an emergency. No one will leave this room without knowing how to find a lifeboat, so one by one, each group will be led outside by your crew leader. I leave you now in their capable hands.’

At his cue, Liam clapped his hands together. ‘All right, Team Liam, let’s go! The sooner we’re outside, the sooner we can get back in. Hope you’re wrapped up warm – it’s chilly out there.’

He led them downstairs and through heavy fire-proof doors to the outer deck. He was still talking and Olivia tried to concentrate, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the roiling grey sea and the clouds on the horizon.

‘OK, everyone, get those life jackets on,’ Liam shouted as he walked them out towards the lifeboats, two large orange vessels suspended from the deck.

Olivia shrugged the life jacket on over her jacket, glad for that extra bit of warmth. It was huge, orange and bulky, packed with hard foam and a long inch-wide strap that needed to be fastened around her waist. It took some fiddling for her to untangle the strap, one side of it catching on something, and she ended up laggingbehind the group. She half bent over, wrenching her arm around her back to find the missing end.

Another set of passengers pushed through the heavy double doors, following their muster leader. It was Delilah, now leading a group with cocktails still in hand, and by the volume of their conversation it seemed like they’d been at it for some time.

They barely noticed her as they jostled past, knocking her forward so she had to brace herself against the railing to avoid bashing her forehead. She was about to snap at them, when she felt a tug around her neck. The wayward strap of her life jacket tightened, pressing her windpipe.

She couldn’t breathe.

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