Page 81 of The Situation Ship
“They’re with us,” he said, and the officer backed off when Captain Hamill vouched for Isaiah. “Where’s Poppy?”
Phoebe couldn’t meet his eye, and Axel shook his head.
“We don’t know,” Phoebe said desperately. “A fan gave me a card to pass on, but she didn’t seem right after reading it. She went to the bathroom, and when I checked on her, she was already gone.”
“How long ago?” He’d been right; the killer had gone after Mina to separate them. He would never have left her alone if Mina had been with them.
“Twenty minutes? I’m so sorry – she was only gone less than five minutes before I went to check on her!”
Axel wrapped his arm around Phoebe’s shoulder to comfort her.
Hopefully, She had returned to the ship and has heard the police arrive.But she might have seen Mina coming out on the stretcher, depending on how long it took her to get from the hotel to the beach. The killer had indeed timed their scheme perfectly; she had already been off the ship to deliver the note to Poppy while he was searching for Mina.
Isaiah swallowed his rage. This game of cat and mouse was growing tiresome.
On the engineering level, the sirens outside were muted by the noisy thuds and thunders of the machinery around Poppy. Weaving her way through the maze of different machines, she saw the light in the security room was on, and she picked up a wrench to defend herself. She was willing to walk into a trap, but not without something to protect herself.
Carefully checking every corner as she made her way to the room, she was surprised that no guards had remained on board to ensure the room was protected. The surveillance screens were on, as though someone had just left. On the monitors, she caught sight of Mina on a stretcher being brought off the ship while the captain kept a hand on her abdomen. She tried to zoom in so she could see how badly Mina was injured but couldn’t figure out the controls.
Then she noticed the gun and the earbud.
Given the note she had received, they were for her.But why a gun?Picking it up, she turned off the safety like Isaiah had shown her and put the earbud in her right ear.
“Hello?” she asked calmly.
“You got my gifts. I was worried Phoebe wouldn’t give you my note. But you’ve been so easy to manipulate that I don’t know why I’m surprised,” the killer said.
Poppy glanced at the camera and saw Isaiah at the dock, standing with Captain Hamill and the police. Mina’s attack was a distraction. Her friend had been targeted to get her on board alone.
“Now that you have me, why don’t you come out, and we can end this now?” Poppy said. “I’m tired of your games, and sooner or later you’ll have to face me.”
“Why the rush? I’m still having fun,” the killer laughed. Poppy recognised the laugh and the voice, but she needed to be sure. If she was going to call her out, she couldn’t risk being wrong and looking like a fool. “Besides, you should be thanking me for all I’ve done for you. Without me, you’d probably be dead by now. Calliope, Joshua, even Patrice– they were all wrapped up in a plot to kill you.”
“You want me to thank you for what? Protecting me? Are you meant to be my twisted guardian angel?”
“Protecting you?” That condescending laugh was starting to get under Poppy’s skin. “You weren’t theirs to kill. That right belongs to me, and I wouldn’t let them get in my way.”
“And what is it that I’ve done to you?”
“Poppy? What are you doing here?” Davide asked, standing in the doorway.
She froze when her eyes fell on the bloody serrated knife in his hand. He followed her gaze to the knife and sighed.
“I could ask you the same,” Poppy said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Nice knife.”
Davide stared at her like she was the mouse and he the cat.
“Put down the gun,” he said calmly, wiping the blood from the knife on his trousers.
“You came to erase the footage. I’m guessing you don’t want anyone to see you hurting Mina.”
“Right on the money, but what are you doing here?” he said, pointing the knife in her direction.
“Now you know how it was so easy for me to get around the ship, mess with security footage, and use the ship like it was my own personal playground,” the killer commented through the earbud. “Men really are so easy to manipulate. Not that I need to tell you that – you managed to convince a detective that you, a murderer, are worthy of protecting! Tell them you love them, fuck them, and suddenly they’ll forget all their morals.”
“I was told to come by your partner,” Poppy said, trying to ignore the voice in her ear.
“Sophia sent you here? Then she must want me to finish the job,” Davide said. “I have to say, I’m relieved; I really want all this to be over.”
