Nair didn't know what that meant. She knew she didn't want to be the only officer on this ship who had seen it. She pressed the bridge line on her phone and lifted it to her ear. It rang four times. "Bridge, officer of the watch.
" "It's Nair, " she said. I need the master, and I need him before anyone else reaches him. Brandt had barely gotten the purse zipped when the door opened again. Ines Duarte, the Meridian Star's security chief, was 50, civilian, in a navy blazer with the ship's crest. She carried a tablet against her hip.
She looked at the handcuffs before she looked at anyone's face. Sergeant, my incident form has your name on it. It says the suspect tried to leave the VIP section. Where did she try to go? She's been evasive since the start.
That's not a place. She tapped the screen. Camera A covers the starboard promenade. I'm pulling it. That's unnecessary.
That was the second door he closed. Duarte pulled the footage anyway. It played on her tablet, propped on the fireplace mantle. Naomi at 1:58, walking the teak rail, stopping, turning back. Naomi through the door at 2:01.
Then, at 2:04, a woman in emerald silk stepped out with a clutch swinging from a gold chain. Its side zipper gaped open. She crossed toward the lifeboat davit, and the steel arm swallowed her from the shoulders down. She reappeared at 2:09, phone at her ear. "The fall would be behind the davit, " Duarte said.
"There's a forward camera that writes to the server in engine control. Export takes time. " She looked at Brandt. "Meanwhile, this puts your suspect indoors for the relevant window we can see. " Naomi said nothing.
By the door, Devon held still at training hands he no longer needed. Duarte opened the guest list. Naomi could read it upside down. Sutherland and seating at guest's request do not announce. Duarte read it twice and looked at Naomi.
Nobody asked. Nobody answered. Victoria arrived at 3:02 with a cousin and a glass of water she wasn't drinking. A dried line of mascara ran down one cheek. Duarte laid the loss statement on the ottoman and held out a pen.
"For the record, Ms. Vandermeer, where was it last? " Victoria wrote quickly. "Necklace, last one of the VIP table, never left the room. " She signed and dated it. Duarte turned the tablet around.
Frozen at 2:04 was Victoria at the rail, clutch open at her hip. "You were on the starboard deck. I stepped out for a call. With the necklace in your clutch? " Victoria glanced at Brandt, then the door.
"I don't remember. I was upset. " "It's a blur. It's timestamped, " Duarte said. "So is your signature.