Page 68 of Terminal Voyage

"Don't patronize me.”

"I'm not. I'm agreeing with you. I recognize that you may have certain gifts that I don't have. That I will never have.” She paused. "So where does that leave us?”

I shrugged. "Did someone own this boat before Declan? Maybe I'm picking up on something really old."

"Declan had this boat custom-built.”

I frowned.

Then she added, "He's loaned it out to friends before. Not really a charter, but business associates, friends, inner circle. That kind of thing. Anything could have happened aboard the boat when Declan wasn’t around. Maybe a woman named Katewaskilled on the ship. Who knows?"

It was a possibility to consider.

"Either way, there's nothing we can do about it,” Vanessa continued. “You tried your best. You're not a detective. You don't have to solve everything. Like Luciano said, we should all be grateful for this moment. We have our whole lives ahead of us because of you. I think that's pretty special.”

I smiled.

"I'm so glad I invited you on this trip. I might be dead now if I hadn't."

She leaned over and gave me a hug. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for another drink. Let's get out of here before we scare ourselves to death.”

We climbed off the bed, and I blew out the candle. We left the stateroom and made our way back up to the sky lounge. The poker game still raged. We took a seat at the bar and had another drink or two.

I didn’t want to overdo it. It'd been a long day, and I was tired. I told Vanessa I was calling it a night and headed back to my stateroom.

When I stepped inside, the portlight was open again.

I moved to the window and closed it, but the latch didn't seem to be working properly.

It came open again, and I left it.

I looked around the cabin again and checked the closet for good measure.

There was nobody in there.

I stepped into the en suite and went through my nightly routine, brushing my teeth and taking off my makeup.

Afterward, I peeled out of my clothes and slipped into bed. I lay there with a gentle draft coming in through the open window. Shafts of moonlight cascaded across the room.

I wasn't scared.

I wasn't freaked out.

For some reason, I was calm and centered. Grateful. Maybe Kate was a mystery I wasn't supposed to solve.

Just as I was dozing off, I got a whiff of cigarette smoke. Fresh, like someone had just sparked up.

I climbed out of bed and moved to the window, but I didn't smell it there. Maybe someone in the hallway had passed by with a cigarette. But nobody in our group smoked. Not that I had seen.

I know this is going to sound strange, but random times throughout my life, I would smell cigarette smoke in a place where I knew no one had smoked recently. It always made me feel like there was some kind of presence.

I put on my shorts, tank top, and flip-flops and moved to the hatch. I unlatched the deadbolt and peered into the corridor.

There was nobody there.

But I still smelled the faint traces of cigarette smoke.

I stepped into the hall, pulled the door shut behind me, and locked it.