Page 29 of The Situation Ship
“It’s not that you’ve offended me, Mr Rivers. I hadn’t known you for more than forty-eight hours, and a body has dropped. Forgive me for not trusting you implicitly.” She didn’t like it when he called her Ms Roe.
“I could say the same about you– or is it that you’re embarrassed that I rebuffed your advances while you were drunk?”
She flushed, remembering her embarrassing attempt to kiss him before she’d run to the bathroom. “Don’t think too highly of yourself. That was a test. I’m never wrong about people; I sense you want something from me. If it’s not my body, you’re here for some other purpose, and I’ll find out what it is. No detective drops everything to board a ship as a bodyguard. Everyone wants something, and I know you aren’t any different,” she told him.
“If I continue to pass your tests, then I’m sure you’ll start to trust me,” Isaiah said, skipping the sushi section.Poppy made a mental note to come back at lunchtime. The octopus ice sculpture was a little off-putting first thing in the morning.
“If protecting me was your top priority, why not insist the captain turn the ship around? Why go along with the cover-up? You’re a detective. Surely ignoring justice for the victim should be killing you.”
Isaiah sighed, walking away. “This isn’t the time or place to discuss this.”
“This is the perfect time and place. It’s not like we can go anywhere else for the next fortnight.” She followed him. “If youdon’t tell me why you’re so happy to overlook the murder, I might have to tell the captain that you can’t be trusted. I could tell her that I woke up and you were gone. Then I can’t give you an alibi for the other night, and you’ll spend the rest of our voyage in the brig.”
That got his attention. Isaiah glared at her. “You wouldn’t. You’d leave yourself and Mina unprotected to soothe your curiosity?”
“It’s not curiosity; it’s self-preservation.”
He clenched his jaw, and she could hear him thinking it through.
“You don’t want to try me!” She refused to be the first to break eye contact.
“Would you like a custom omelette?” a chef asked, interrupting them.
“No,” they snapped in unison. The startled chef, along with the other guests in the queue, stared at them.
“Come with me!” Isaiah took her plate.
“Where are you going?” Poppy trailed after him. He put their plates down on a table filled with other guests, who stared at them in confusion.“Excuse us,” said Poppy over her shoulder as he took her wrist and led her out of the breakfast room and into the kitchen.
There was no way they were supposed to be back here, but she wouldn’t argue with him when he was on the verge of cracking.I knew there had to be some secret motive beneath his calm exterior.
“We need somewhere to talk privately,” Isaiah barked at the busy kitchen, filled with wait staff and cooks.
“Take the fridge,” the kitchen porter said, pointing away from the chaos of the cooks preparing a constant carousel of fresh food. Isaiah pulled her in that direction. Poppy wassurprised they hadn’t been told to leave, but this wasn’t the type of ship to refuse a guest’s request.
“What are we doing in here?” she asked, looking at all the vegetables surrounding them and shaking his hand from her wrist, not wanting a bruise. She caught a flash of guilt in his eyes as she rubbed the tender skin.
“You wanted us to have a frank and honest discussion. No one can hear us here, and it’s obvious we won’t be able to enjoy our meal until you learn to be civil.”
“I’mbeingcivil,”Poppy countered. “I want to know what you want and why you came on board. It’s a simple request.”
“I’m the only one with secrets, right? You aren’t hiding anything?” He stepped closer to her, and she swallowed. He didn’t know about her previous plans for boarding theMidas.
He shook his head, and his expression made her feel as though he was looking into her soul and reading her darkest thoughts.
“Were you shocked to find a body in the tub, or was it Patrice that surprised you? Were you expecting to find someone else?” he asked calmly.
Poppy suddenly wished she hadn’t antagonised him. “I don’t have to listen to this. You’re just trying to deflect from your own motives.” She pushed past him to the fridge door.
“My motives are solely a consequence of your own actions. I know what you were planning with Mina, and I took the job to see if you could really commit murder.”
She stopped at the door, a cold sweat breaking out.
“If you don’t know what I’m talking about, walk out.”
She weighed her options: walk out and still be left in the dark about whether he was on her side, or confess and see what he would admit.
“It’s not murder if it’s self-defence, and Joshua never boarded the ship, so I had no way or reason to act against him.”She let go of the door handle, fear creeping up her spine. “Did my manager hire you to protect Joshua? To carry out their plot if Joshua couldn’t take care of me himself?” She doubted if anyone would hear her if she screamed. She backed away from him, only to hit a shelf full of produce. Carrots cascaded down around her. She was sure the chef would be pissed to have guests making a mess in their fridge.
