Page 48 of Below the Deck

Eleni let out a slow breath. And then, in the stillness that came right after the last of the air had left her lungs, she heard it: the soft, almost imperceptible whirring that lasted a second, perhaps less. Then, again, the unmistakeable, familiar feeling of eyes on her.

No. Come on – this is ridiculous. Maybe I’m losing the plot on this boat. I’m hearing things. I’m imagining things. It’s all the stress … the claustrophobia …

There was another whirr.

‘Right, I’ve hadenough!’ Eleni yelled out, to no one. She grabbed a bobble to sweep her hair out of her face into a bun, then jumped up and started moving her hands along the walls of the cabin, systematically, inch by inch. If someone had hidden something in here to watch her – a secret camera, or a spyhole somewhere disguised as something else – she was bloody well going to find it. She felt a rush of determination. Here was the old Eleni again: there was no stopping her when she’d made up her mind.

She strode to the wall opposite the bed, where the TV was mounted, running her fingers along its edges.Nothing. Then she headed to the wardrobe, ran her fingers through the immaculately organized clothes.

She sighed, then moved back to the bed, crouching to the ground and reaching underneath the bedframe to feel along its edges. Eleni realized she felt slightly ridiculous.

What the hell am I doing? This is absurd … it’s pure paranoia. Of course there isn’t a sodding spy camera …

She paused, picked up her phone from the bed and typed a quick search into Google, silently appreciating the return of the Wi-Fi. She scrolled through the first few hits forsecret cameraand saw nothing of interest. She tapped instead on images – and almost immediately something caught her eye. She inhaled sharply. Now that she’d seen that picture, it seemed obvious.Why didn’t I think of that before?

Eleni put her phone down and started dragging the chair from the desk in the corner over to the centre of the room, glancing up at the ceiling as she went. She set the chair down directly underneath the smoke detector, then rolled up the bottoms of her trousers and climbed onto it. She looked up at the round, white detector above her head, blinking out its intermittent red flash.

She reached for it, then faltered. She had no idea what she was doing – she was no electrician; she’d barely even changed a lightbulb.What am I going to do? Take the bloody thing apart?

She thought back to the picture she’d just seen. It looked practically identical to the contraption screwed into the ceiling. She had to at least try. ‘This is the last place I’m going to look,’ she said aloud.

Eleni twisted the top of the detector, and it sprung loose with aclick.

Inside was a tiny, black circular lens, and a small slot holding what looked like a SIM card. This wasn’t a real smoke detector; it was a camera made to look like one.

I fucking knew it.

Eleni stared at it, at first triumphant, before a shadow of horror dawned over her.Who the hell would do this to me?Installing cameras in her private space – it was extreme, not to mention illegal. Furious, she removed the battery from inside the camera and placed it on the bedside table.

Then she narrowed her eyes.

I’ve got a feeling I know exactly who would do this.

And he isn’t going to get away with it.

Her trousers still hitched up, random strands of her hair tumbling out of their messy bun, Eleni stormed out of her cabin into the passageway, then up the stairs to the salon. The person she was looking for wasn’t there – and as far as she could see, he wasn’t out on the main deck, either. The sky was darkening, with grey clouds now forming above theLusso’s bow – perhaps her fellow guests had headed below deck. She went up another deck to do one last check, was about to enter the sky lounge, when she heard voices above her. People were gathered on the sun deck, then.

She took the stairs two at a time and burst onto the deck. What she saw there made her stop in her tracks: sitting in the cushioned area at the bow, Lucy was talking rapidly to Mark – with tears pouring down her cheeks. She was speaking so fast, and between such racking sobs, that Eleni couldn’t make outmost of what she was saying – but she did manage to catch two names: one that she didn’t know, and one that she did.

Alfie.Rory.

‘Oh – shit,’ Eleni blurted. ‘I’m so sorry. I was just looking for—’

‘It’s okay.’ Lucy stopped talking and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She gave a wobbly smile, then frowned as her eyes scanned Eleni, no doubt taking in her red-faced, dishevelled appearance. ‘Are you all right?’

Eleni knew her perfectly manufactured facade had started to drop; she was aware of how she must look right now, wide-eyed and sweating and unkempt and angry. But truth be told, she didn’t give a flying fuck.

Mark looked between the two women for a second, then wrapped Lucy in a long, firm hug. He whispered something in his girlfriend’s ear, then got to his feet.

‘I’ll leave you two to chat for a minute. I think the weather’s going to turn soon, though – Luce, come back inside soon, yeah?’

Lucy waved him off and gestured to the empty space next to her. ‘Do you want to sit down?’

Eleni was torn. She was on a mission to find the spy-cam perpetrator, there was still Rory and Talia to deal with … and she’d told Nick she’d stay in their cabin. She didn’t even know Lucy that well; she certainly wouldn’t trust her with any of her worries. But her colleague was clearly upset, and Eleni didn’t like the idea of leaving her here alone and crying when she evidently wanted to talk. So she nodded, walked across the deck and sat next to Lucy.

There was a beat of silence, then: ‘Who’s Alfie?’ Eleni asked.‘Sorry – I heard his name when you were talking to Mark just now. Is he why you’re upset?’

Lucy looked startled. ‘Ah, yes, I …’ Lucy faltered. ‘He’s my brother.’