Chapter 11 - THE DEAD WOMAN’S PASSPORT
I stared at Celia’s photograph.
Older.
Thinner.
Same eyes.
Same small scar beside her left eyebrow.
The issue date was impossible.
Dead women did not renew passports.
Elaine began shaking.
“She’s alive.”
Ortiz did not jump to that conclusion.
“Or someone manufactured this document.”
The passport looked real.
Too real.
It listed Celia under a different surname.
Celia Vaughn.
There were entry stamps from Portugal, Spain, Canada, and Panama.
The most recent was eight months earlier.
I looked at Elaine.
“Could she have survived the fall?”
“The coast guard searched for two days.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Elaine stared at the passport.
“No body was recovered.”
The entire story shifted.
Maybe Gregory had not killed Celia.
Maybe Celia had escaped.
Maybe someone had helped her disappear because it was the only way to survive the Hartmans.
Ortiz examined Victor’s satellite phone.
One number had been called repeatedly.
A Panamanian number.
The last call had occurred that morning.
Then the phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Ortiz answered without speaking.
A woman said.
“Victor?”
Ortiz motioned for silence.
“No.”
The caller immediately hung up.
But I had heard enough.
Elaine had too.
Tears filled her eyes.
“That was Celia.”
Ortiz ordered the communications team to preserve the number.
I looked at the dead woman’s passport again.
“Why would Victor be in contact with her?”
No one knew.
Then one possibility occurred to me.
“What if Victor isn’t working for Martin?”
Ortiz frowned.
“He disabled cameras.”
“He searched Elaine’s room.”
“He helped Gregory escape.”
“Or Gregory used whatever Victor changed in the system to escape.”
I pointed toward the backpack.
“If Victor wanted Elaine’s evidence destroyed, why leave Celia’s passport where anyone could find it?”
Ortiz considered that.
Maybe Victor had not been helping the Hartmans.
Maybe he had been trying to expose them.
Then the satellite phone received a text.
A single sentence.
ASHLYNN CANNOT GO TO THE BRIDGE.
The sender was the Panamanian number.
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
Another message arrived.
MARTIN’S MAN IS ON THE BRIDGE.
Ortiz went pale.
There were fewer than twenty people with unrestricted access to the ship’s command areas.
One of them was Captain Daniel Rowe.
Another was Staff Captain Peter Kessler.
A third was the chief communications officer.
Ortiz grabbed her radio.
Before she could speak, every screen in the security center went black.
The lights stayed on.
The cameras did not.
May you like
Then the door locked automatically.
Someone had just sealed us inside.
