Page 80 of The Situation Ship
Isaiah walked through the ship, unsettled by the silence. He’d called the suite, hoping Mina would pick up, but there was no response. He’d already contacted the captain and asked her to send security to the room, but they hadn’t arrived yet.
“Mina?” He knocked on her door, which swung open without any resistance.
Drawing his gun from its holster, he cautiously opened the door, scanning the room. The lights were on, and Mina’s open purse was on the bed. She hadn’t left.
He meticulously searched every corner before holstering his gun again. Was this a distraction to let the killer get to Poppy? Just as he was about to leave, he noticed a piece of fabric sticking out from the wardrobe. He approached it slowly and pulled on the handle, but he didn’t have a chance to react before someone lunged at him.
Isaiah collapsed under the dead weight and rolled the body onto the carpet. Blood stained his shirt and hands, and he looked down at Mina, forcing himself to focus and remain calm despite her shocking injuries. It looked like she’d been stabbed in the side. Checking her pulse, he couldn’t feel anything. He started CPR.
“Don’t do this, Mina! Come back to us,” he begged, pressing on her chest in a desperate attempt to keep her heart pumping. His arms ached, and he started sweating profusely. It began to feel hopeless.
Then Mina inhaled sharply, before coughing up a splatter of blood on his shirt.
“You’re okay. Breathe slowly,” Isaiah said, applying pressure to the wound in her side.
She looked up at him, panicked, and clawed at his hands.
“I know it hurts, but I’ve got to stop the bleeding. Try to stay still. You’re safe. Just try not to move,” Isaiah instructed.
She let out a strangled cry in response. The terror in her eyes shook him to his core.
“What happened? Who did this?” he asked, but before Mina could respond, she passed out. He needed to get her to the hospital quickly. Otherwise, she wouldn’t last the hour.
The door swung open and Isaiah drew his gun, fearing the killer had returned to finish the job.
“It’s me! What the hell happened?” Captain Hamill said, raising her hands to show she wasn’t armed.
“Mina’s been stabbed. I had to restart her heart, and she just passed out. She’s losing too much blood,” Isaiah explained, lowering his gun as two members of the security team joined them.
“Call the police and an ambulance. We need to get her to a hospital.”
Captain Hamill’s team sprang into action, returning moments later with a stretcher.
“We can get her off the ship to the dock and meet the ambulance to save time,” Captain Hamill said, maintaining pressure on Mina’s wound as they carefully placed her on the stretcher.
“Get her to the dock, and I’ll follow closely behind,” Isaiah said, eager to see if the killer had left any traces or clues. He searched his own room and then Poppy’s, discovering a cracked bathroom mirror with hair caught in the broken fragments, a sign of the desperate struggle between Mina and her attacker. Mina was a fighter; he’d expected nothing less. Blood smears on the floor suggested that she had been dragged away or had tried to crawl to safety.
More chilling, the phrase “I know what you did” was written in Mina’s blood across the mirror. Isaiah took a picture of it and then wiped away the evidence. He didn’t want the police to discover what the killer had left for Poppy – it would only lead to questions being asked in the wrong direction. There was nothing else in the suite to note, and he wanted to ensure that Mina was being cared for.
When he reached the dock, sirens had already drawn a crowd from down the beach. He focused on Mina as she was loaded into the ambulance. She seemed unconscious, her face concealed by an oxygen mask. The captain was already talking to the police, who were in the process of blocking off the pier to keep onlookers at a distance.
The paramedics spoke to him in Italian, which he didn’t understand.
“Is she allergic to any medications? Is there any condition we need to be aware of?” one of them asked in English.
“I don’t know, but please, just keep her alive!” Isaiah was desperate to prevent another loss and to protect Poppy from losing her friend.
“We’ll do our best,” the paramedic said, making no promises. Not that Isaiah could blame him. “She’ll need surgery. We will keep her under observation. Captain Hamill mentioned that she is in danger of further attacks, so we’ll ensure there is security outside her door, and she’ll have someone watching her around the clock.” He closed the doors.
Isaiah wanted to go with them to the hospital, but he needed to ensure Poppy was safe. He suspected the killer had used Mina’s attack to separate them. The ambulance cut through the crowd and raced off.
Captain Hamill joined him, having just finished speaking to the police. The stress of the short trip had aged her, and dark bags under her eyes betrayed the nights she had lost.
“What happens now?” Isaiah asked, observing as the police sealed off access to the ship and the dock. The remaining guests were being escorted off the vessel and directed to join the others, who were already on the other side of the police tape at the end of the dock.
“The police are searching the ship. We’ve been ordered to anchor here until the investigation is complete. Since we were docked here when Mina was stabbed, the incident falls under local jurisdiction. With the evidence we handed over this morning, they don’t want to be held responsible for any future incidents if we set sail again,” Captain Hamill explained, clearly dissatisfied with the new development. “I’m relieved to get assistance with the investigation, but I don’t like the idea of others rummaging through my ship. I want you to catch the person responsible before the police do, by any means necessary.” She scanned the chaotic scene filled with angryguests, flashing lights, and sirens. “I think someone is trying to get your attention.”
Isaiah saw Axel and Phoebe waving from behind the tape while an officer stopped them from crossing. When he didn’t see Poppy with them, his heart threatened to quit. He jogged over.
