Page 75 of Below the Deck

She pushed her way into the bathroom, then dropped to the floor beside her husband. She reached over and touched his face, just as Brett yelled: ‘Are you trained in first aid? Is he breathing? We need to start CPR—’

Brett and the captain rushed into the en-suite, elbowing Eleni to the side as they grabbed Nick’s wrist to check for a pulse they wouldn’t find, barking instructions at each other.

‘Can we do anything to stem the bleeding?’

‘Yeah, but I can’t find a pulse … Captain – I think he’s—’

‘We need to at least try … We need to activate the radio distress signal. Get the defibrillator, quick – and Brett, radio for Kai and Noah to come up here immediately in case we need to stop anyone from leaving.’

‘You mean me?’ cried Sam. Lucy stood still, watching as he waved his hands in bewildered protest. ‘But I just found him like this,’ he said, his voice full of horror. ‘Lucy told me to come in here – she closed the door – I didn’t touch him. You have to believe me!’

No one was listening. Brett was now shouting into his radio for Kai and Noah to come to the master stateroom urgently. The captain was holding down a red button on hers, yellingmayday, maydayand a series of panicked updates to the coastguard’s emergency operator. One phrase was clearly audible: ‘It’s too late – the passenger is deceased.’

Eleni’s cries grew louder, while Talia took a step back, trembling, murmuring ‘oh God’ over and over again.

‘She set me up!’ Sam was yelling, pointing at Lucy. ‘She made me come down here – just now, she came and got me from the sky lounge – she said I had to help Talia! She gave me that ornament – she put in in my hand!’

‘What? No, I didn’t,’ Lucy piped up, her explanation ready. ‘I’ve been with Eleni and Talia in Eleni’s cabin for the past fifteen minutes at least – we were talking about Sam, and how oddly he’s been behaving all week!’

‘That’s right,’ said Talia. ‘We’ve all been worried about Sam spying on us – and taking a very close interest in me, especially.’

‘It’s true,’ Michaela piped up, already back from her swift trip to the galley and the waste chute. ‘I went in to check on them only about five minutes ago, to see if anyone needed anything – right before I came to see how things were going in the engine room.’

Lucy exhaled in relief.Well done, both of you.

‘And Nick wouldn’t have beenattackinganyone,’ addedEleni tearfully. ‘Why would he do that? We’ve been so happy, especially since we’ve been here – we were doing so well! I loved him so much—’

‘That’s bullshit!’ said Sam. ‘He’s been sleeping with Talia, here on the yacht – right under your nose, for fuck’s sake.’

Eleni blinked, then looked in hurt confusion at Talia.God, she’s good.‘Nick would never do that to me,’ she sobbed. ‘How dare you – how could you evensaysomething like that?’

‘And more to the point, why are we evenhavingthis conversation?’ shouted Talia furiously. ‘We’ve just walked in and found Sam shut in here with a murder weapon, next to Nick’s dead body!’

‘Thenwhy?’ spluttered Sam. ‘Why would I kill him? You’ve got this all figured out, I see, so fucking tell me that?’

‘Well, that’s obvious,’ spat Lucy. ‘You’ve just admitted that you have some crazy theory that Nick and Talia were having an affair. And you’ve been practicallystalkingTalia – we’ve all seen it! The way you’ve been hovering around her all week, telling her she’s too good for her husband. You were jealous and obsessed – plain and simple.’

‘And she’s not the only one you’ve been stalking,’ added Eleni. She turned to the captain. ‘He even got into my room somehow and put a hidden camera in there.’

‘But I didn’t!’ Sam was apoplectic with rage.

‘Youdid, Sam. Captain Taylor, it’s in my cabin, sitting on the bedside table. I can show you, if you like.’

The captain looked up from Nick’s body and gave Eleni the briefest nod.

‘Sam’s been creeping around you all week – the crew noticed it too.’ It was Michaela, now with Johanna at her side. Kaiand Noah stood in the doorway, like two bodyguards, ready to restrain Sam if he tried to make a run for it. Michaela looked at Sam. ‘You’re always wherever thewomenare.’

‘That’s so true,’ murmured Johanna.

The captain put down her radio. ‘The authorities have instructed me to keep Sam safely confined, away from Nick’s body.’ She waved the deckhands over, then turned to Sam. ‘Will you come with Noah and Kai to my quarters willingly, or do we need to restrain you?’

Sam’s shoulders dropped; he seemed to wilt under her gaze.He knows there’s no way out of this.‘Fine. I’ll come,’ he said.

Then, watched by his audience of crew and guests, Sam was led out of the cabin and away above deck.

‘I can’t believe this … what the fuck just happened? I was only asleep for half an hour, wasn’t I?’ Mark was rambling, pale with shock. They’d grabbed a brief moment of refuge in their cabin; the captain had instructed everyone to wait under the awning on the main deck for the police to arrive, and any minute they’d have to join the others.

He looked at Lucy, dazed. ‘Sam … killing Nick? I just … I can’t get my head around it.’