Chapter 14 - The Woman Who Wouldn't Look Away
Mara Bennett had never liked wealthy people's emergencies.
They were usually about missing jewelry, delayed dinner service, or champagne served at the wrong temperature.
The Whitmore incident was different.
It had followed her home.
She couldn't stop remembering Junie's fingers on the metal lip.
The way the child's voice had changed when she realized she might fall.
Mara sat at her kitchen table with a cold cup of tea and her younger sister, Leah.
Leah was thirty, a public school teacher with two children and very little patience for evasive answers.
“You haven't eaten.”
“I'm not hungry.”
“You're never hungry when you're upset.”
Mara stared into her tea.
“I was supposed to be forward during that hour.”
Leah frowned.
“I thought Corinne asked you to cover the stern.”
“She did.”
“Then how's that your fault?”
“Because I knew the bow was exposed.”
“Mara.”
“I'd complained about it.”
“To who?”
“Tomas. The maintenance team. Anyone who'd listen.”
“And?”
“The loungers were placed too close to an unguarded edge during the refit. They were supposed to be moved before the charter season.”
Leah sat down.
“Were they?”
Mara shook her head.
“Apparently not.”
“Then you need to tell the investigators.”
“I did.”
“Good.”
Mara's eyes filled.
“But I keep thinking if I'd pushed harder—”
Leah reached across the table.
“You pulled a child back onto a boat.”
“Her father did most of it.”
“Then you both did.”
Mara looked away.
Leah squeezed her hand.
“Stop punishing yourself for somebody else's choices.”
The next morning, Mara met Detective Sloan at the marina.
She brought a binder containing safety reports, maintenance requests, and the yacht's refit plans.
Sloan reviewed them carefully.
“Who approved the new furniture layout?”
“The hospitality division.”
“Under whose authority?”
“Graham Vale signed the final budget.”
“Did he personally choose the position of the loungers?”
“I can't say.”
Sloan turned a page.
“There's a note here requesting a temporary barrier.”
“Mine.”
“Two months before the incident?”
“Yes.”
“Response?”
“Budget review pending.”
Sloan looked up.
“Did anyone explain why?”
Mara gave a humorless smile.
“Because putting a decorative rail on a multimillion-dollar yacht was apparently going to bankrupt us.”
Sloan almost smiled.
Then she turned another page.
“What's this?”
“A service request from the week before the party.”
“Who submitted it?”
“Someone using the executive office account. They wanted the removable safety stanchions stored below deck during the event.”
“Why?”
“Photographs. They said the equipment spoiled the view.”
Sloan tapped the document.
“Was the request completed?”
“Yes.”
“And the stanchions?”
“In the forward storage compartment.”
Sloan wrote something down.
Mara watched her.
“Detective, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do you think Corinne planned it?”
Sloan paused.
“I think we need to establish what she did and what she intended.”
Mara nodded.
“I know. It's just…”
“What?”
“She didn't look surprised when Junie went over.”
Sloan stopped writing.
Mara swallowed.
“She looked angry before. I wasn't there for the push, but when I came running, she looked like someone whose argument had gone very badly.”
“And after she saw you?”
“She looked frightened.”
“Of the child's injuries?”
Mara considered the question.
“I don't know.”
Sloan closed the binder.
“Thank you. This is helpful.”
As Mara left the office, her phone rang.
An unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
A man's voice said, “Ms. Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“You should be careful about accusing people who can destroy your career.”
Mara stopped walking.
“Who is this?”
The man ignored the question.
“Yacht crews talk. Reputations are fragile.”
Mara's heart quickened.
She looked around the empty corridor.
“Are you threatening me?”
“I'm giving you professional advice.”
The call ended.
Mara stood still.
May you like
Then she turned around and walked straight back into Detective Sloan's office.
“Actually,” she said, holding up her phone, “there's one more thing you should know.”
