Chapter 5: Before the Tide Turns

Elias asked Claire to meet him the following morning without Martin.

Beth came with him. They showed Claire the download record, Adrian’s supply order, the revised guest list, and Selene’s request to name Martin as the shore contact.

Claire read everything before she spoke.

“I was going to ask whether you intended to sail.”

“I haven’t decided,” Elias said.

“You have enough reason to stay away.”

“I’ve passed the records to an investigator.”

“Good. Then let the investigation take its course.”

Beth glanced at Elias. They had argued about this twice already.

“If I stay home,” Elias said, “Selene and Adrian will know something stopped me. They still have a forged agreement in circulation, and we don’t know what Martin has given them.”

Claire closed the folder. “Those are problems we can fight while you’re alive.”

Elias did not have an answer that satisfied her. He had spoken to the investigator again that morning. The records were being examined, but no one had told him the voyage would be stopped.

“Whatever I decide,” he said, “I want Martin removed from the shore contact list.”

Claire took out her phone. “I can do more than that. He’ll have no access to East Point records while we review his conduct.”

By noon, Martin had surrendered his company laptop. He called Elias six times. Elias let each call go to voicemail.

On the seventh, Martin left a message.

“I didn’t know what Adrian planned. He told me Selene wanted proof you were making bad decisions. I gave him the dinner footage. That’s all I did.”

Elias sent the message to Beth and the investigator. It confirmed one betrayal, though Martin’s claim about its limits still had to be tested.

Daniel met Elias at the south yard that afternoon. Two rescue divers joined them inside Owen’s office. Daniel introduced them as Kate Morris and Jonah Pike. Both had worked maritime recovery jobs with him. They listened as Owen described the

Meridian

, its aft deck, and the planned course.

Kate asked Elias directly, “Why go out if you believe they may try to put you in the water?”

“I may not,” he said. “I need to know whether there’s a workable rescue plan before I decide.”

“There is no plan that makes being thrown overboard safe,” she said.

Daniel nodded. “That has to be clear.”

They discussed the boat’s layout and where a rescue team could remain nearby. Owen insisted that a deviation from the agreed course, interference with navigation, or a threat to any crew member would end the trip. Daniel would remain aboard in a security role, and Owen would keep the vessel’s normal distress equipment available. Beth would have the route and expected check-in times on shore.

“Adrian ordered the anchor,” Elias said. “If he brings it aboard, I want to know.”

“He won’t get access to the equipment unattended,” Owen replied.

Elias studied the diagram of his yacht. It had been a gift to Selene on their tenth anniversary. They had sailed it together scarcely a dozen times. Now four people were discussing how to get him back onto it if his wife tried to kill him.

He put a hand over the diagram.

“I can still call this off,” he said.

“Yes,” Kate replied. “At any point.”

At home that evening, Selene had laid out two glasses and the bottle of wine they had saved from their anniversary. She was wearing a soft blue sweater he had bought her years earlier, before either of them learned to choose clothes for photographs.

“I owe you an apology,” she said.

“For what?”

“I should have told you Adrian might join us. I thought if you heard him out somewhere away from the office, you’d both behave better.”

“Does he know you’ve apologized?”

“He knows I’m trying to fix things.”

Elias poured a small amount of wine. “Why did you contact the board?”

“I thought you needed help.”

“Did Adrian suggest it?”

Selene looked down at her glass. “He said someone besides me should know you were struggling.”

“And Martin?”

“Martin has worked with you for years. I thought you’d trust him.”

“He gave Adrian footage from my company.”

“He told me he was worried about you.”

“He recorded himself admitting it.”

Selene’s face went still. Elias had not intended to tell her that much. He had wanted to see whether she would defend Martin. Instead he had given her a warning.

“He may have been trying to help,” she said.

“By sending Adrian an edited video?”

“I don’t know what Martin did.” She pushed back her chair. “I am tired of being questioned as if every mistake another man makes is mine.”

She left the room. Elias stayed at the table until he heard their bedroom door close.

A minute later, his phone lit up with a message from Daniel.

Owen says Selene has asked whether Sunday’s trip can leave two hours earlier. Adrian says he needs the launch pickup moved.

Elias forwarded the change to Beth and the investigator. Then he called Owen.

“Don’t confirm the new time,” Elias said.

“I haven’t.”

“Tell Selene you need my approval.”

Owen hesitated. “She may come straight to you.”

“I know.”

She did. Selene appeared in the doorway while Elias was still holding the phone.

“Owen says you won’t let us leave early.”

“It’s my boat. He checked with me.”

“We’ll miss the best part of the day.”

“Then we leave at the original time.”

She stared at him. “Are you coming or aren’t you?”

Elias could see how badly she wanted an answer. Daniel, Owen, Beth, and the investigator all knew where he would be if he went. That did not make the choice easy.

“I’ll come,” he said. “At the time we agreed.”

Selene crossed the room and kissed him. Her lips were cold.

“Good,” she whispered. “I thought you might disappoint me.”

After she went upstairs, Elias called Daniel and confirmed his decision. He asked him to check the crew list again and promised he would leave if anything else changed.

On Saturday night, Owen sent a final photograph from the yacht’s aft deck. The chain and anchor were still in their delivery crate, held ashore. Nothing unexpected had been loaded.

Elias should have felt relief. Instead he enlarged the photograph.

On the deck beside the stern ladder stood a black equipment bag he did not recognize.

Owen answered at once when Elias called.

“That isn’t ours,” he said. “Adrian brought it aboard an hour ago. He told the deckhand it contained clothes.”

“Have you opened it?”

“I’ve secured it. I was calling you next.”

From upstairs, Elias heard Selene’s bedroom door open.

He lowered his voice. “Don’t let it out of your sight.”