"Why are you telling me? " "Because she asked me to log the cuff checks, and I did, and every time I did it, I knew it was my handwriting. " He breathed out. "If I stay quiet, my signature's under his. " Duarte studied him for a moment, then she slid the notebook toward the scanner.
Footsteps came fast down the corridor. A man in his 30s, in a creased jacket, appeared in the doorway with sweat on his upper lip. Brandt Pruitt, Victoria's assistant. "I've been holding this since 2:37, " he said. He laid his phone on the desk.
Duarte read it aloud, slowly, so Kessler could hear. "Ms. Vandermeer found me in the corridor at 2:20, " Pruitt said. "She said she'd stepped onto the starboard deck for a call. Her clutch had been open. She thought it might have fallen out there.
Then she looked at the crowd and told me not to say anything in front of them. " He swallowed. "Two minutes later she texted me. 2:22 p. M.
Victoria, check the starboard deck. " Quietly. "2:36 p. M. Brandt, second officer already has it.
Photographing. " "What do I tell people? " "2:37 p. M. Victoria, nothing.
Not yet. " Duarte read the last line twice, the way she had read the guest list. "She suspected at 2:22, " Pruitt said. "She knew at 2:37. " "She let that woman stay in handcuffs, and then she signed that it never left the room.
" "I stood there and watched her do it. " His jaw shook. "I've worked for her 6 years. " Duarte opened the incident form on her tablet and pulled up its audit history. Brandt's entry, created 2:31.
Edited 2:47. The line 'attempted to leave the VIP section' had been added 16 minutes after Naomi was already in handcuffs, once a guest told him she had walked the promenade. "Every line about her, " Duarte said, "is contradicted by something in this room. " She lifted the bridge handset. "Captain, Duarte, I have the camera, the steward's video, the dispatch log, the assistant's texts, and the edit history on Brandt's form.
You need to see it before we dock. " Silence on the line. "Then, where is she now? " Duarte looked at Kessler. "The sergeant took her out of the lounge, " Kessler said.
"He wanted her at the gangway before the crowd. " "County's on the pier. Bring the file, " Holm said. At 5:52, the Meridian Star slid alongside the pier. Through the atrium glass two county cruisers idled with their lights off.
Brandt walked Naomi across the wooden deck with one hand on her elbow and the evidence bag in the other. He kept the cleared lane wide moving slowly enough for the guests along the rail to watch. Behind them the atrium's double doors opened. Not fast. Five sets of polished shoes struck the wooden deck evenly in step.