Chapter 3 - Was Any of It Real
Six days earlier, Gerald had sat down beside me at dinner, complaining that cruise ships somehow served endless food and still never had exactly what he wanted. I thought it was chance. The next morning he showed up at breakfast, and I let myself believe he'd hoped to see me. When he invited me to walk the promenade, I thought he liked me. When he asked me to dance, I thought I'd been chosen.
Now I wasn't sure I'd been chosen at all.
"Was any of it real?" I asked.
His face softened. "Eleanor—"
"Answer me."
"I sat near you that first night because I was assigned to."
I stood. "Thank you. That's all I needed."
"But breakfast wasn't part of the assignment."
I stopped.
"Neither was the champagne." He looked up at me. "Dancing with you Tuesday night wasn't part of it. Telling you about Diane wasn't part of it. Asking where you'd move if you could pick anywhere in the world — none of that was in the file."
"Then what exactly were you supposed to do?"
"Observe. Report. Step in if there was a threat."
"And falling for me?"
A sad half-smile crossed his face. "That definitely wasn't in the job description."
Neither of us spoke for a moment. Then I remembered my suitcase.
"How did it end up down here?"
His expression hardened. "Wesley got into your cabin while we were at dinner."
"How?"
"Most likely a duplicated access card."
"And you followed him?"
"Security did."
I looked around the bare little room. "Why bring my suitcase here?"
"He didn't. This isn't my cabin, Eleanor." He gestured at the empty space — no clothes, no toiletries, nothing that said anyone actually lived there. "It's a security holding room."
Gerald explained he'd intercepted Wesley in the service corridor. Wesley recognized him, dropped the suitcase, and ran. My scarf had spilled out when the zipper caught.
"And the photographs?"
"Evidence."
"You took them?"
"Some. The rest came off the ship's cameras."
Suddenly the whole stack made sense. They weren't romantic keepsakes. They were a timeline — me boarding, me at breakfast, me walking the halls, me waiting by the elevators. And always, somewhere nearby, the man in the blue cap.
"He's been following me this entire trip."
"Yes."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Gerald looked ashamed. "Security was hoping he'd lead them to the rest of the group."
My anger came roaring back. "So I was bait."
"No."
"That is exactly what you're describing to me right now."
"We never intended for him to get into your cabin."
"But he did."
"Yes."
"And nobody thought maybe I deserved to know?"
He had no answer for that one.
I laughed, bitter and short. "Apparently men keeping things from women 'for their own good' doesn't stop just because a woman turns seventy-three."
Gerald flinched. "You have every right to be furious with me."
"How generous of you to notice."
"I mean it."
Him not arguing with my anger helped, more than I wanted it to.
"Did Nora know you were following me?" I asked.
"Not specifically."
"Did she know someone had marked me as a target?"
May you like
"Yes."
I closed my eyes. My own daughter.
