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She could picture the look Aaron would give her when he found out she’d changed from a suite to a shared cabin. Total disbelief.
Dating him had been eye-opening: watching him slide over a Coutts Silk card to pay for their dinners out, seeing him wearing a different tailor-made Savile Row suit to every event, owning several Swiss watches and having daily shoe shines. In his business, having the right look made his clients feel like they were in a safe pair of hands. The first night she spent in his Chelsea pad made her truly understand the gulf between them: not an Ikea flatpack piece in sight, no mismatched mugs, no roommate to split the cost of rent. Aaron operated in a different stratosphere of wealth than she’d ever known. Sometimes she wasn’t sure how he afforded it all, especially before the Yennin sale. But the investment he’d made in himself and his image had paid off. He could have anything he wanted now.
Looking at the floorplan of the ship posted by the lifts, her most likely bet to find some space was the Panorama lounge on one of the upper decks. And it lived up to its name, as she arrived at a huge semicircular lounge with wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows. The ceilingwas painted to depict the aurora, swirls of bright teal, green and purple studded with tiny lights that sparkled like stars. There was comfortable booth seating in soft blue leather and a couple of fancy coffee stations, laden with a variety of espresso pods, hot chocolate, teas and an abundance of biscuits.
‘Pretty rad views from in here.’
Olivia jumped. It was the expedition leader, Liam, again – wearing a Pioneer-branded navy fleece. He was laying out stapled pieces of paper on all the tables.
‘What are those?’ she asked.
‘It’s a loose rundown of our itinerary, provided by the captain. He’s going to go over it after the muster. You can get a sneak preview.’ He handed one to her.
‘Thanks.’ She scanned the page. They weren’t due to arrive at their first anchorage – Barrientos Island – for three days. After that, it was another two days at sea until they crossed the Antarctic Circle. That meant six days until the auction. Then they had stops scheduled at Neko Harbour, Paradise Bay and Deception Island before heading back to Ushuaia. ‘There’s a lot of time at sea.’
He nodded. ‘We’ve got a lot of water to cross if we’re going to get to the Circle and back. Most cruises don’t go that far south. But it’s worth it. Are you OK? You look a little green.’
‘I’m fine,’ she replied.
‘Did you find your boyfriend?’
Olivia frowned. ‘How did you …?’
‘Not much stays a secret on board. Especially when someone that high-profile is missing. I was manning thegangway when we closed it off, so I feel extra bad that I didn’t realize he hadn’t made it back.’
Olivia blinked. ‘Wait, you were in charge of logging people in and out?’
‘Yeah, but I was focused on the passengers coming on board, not leaving. That’s very rare.’
‘We still had twenty minutes before the official all-aboard time. If his absence had been noted, we wouldn’t have left early. We would have waited.’
‘That is a bummer, I’m sorry.’
‘You’re sorry?’ Olivia’s jaw clenched. She felt like she was about to explode. At least he had the decency to look abashed. But his mistake had cost Aaron his place on the cruise ship. ‘How could you—’
Several beeps sounded over the PA, interrupting her impending rant. ‘Ahoy, passengers and crew of MSVigil. This is your captain speaking. If you could please return to your cabins to get your life jackets and make your way to the muster stations, we will aim to complete our safety drill in record time so you can get back to enjoying this wonderful – if windy – cruise out of the Beagle Channel. In a few moments you will hear five blasts of the ship’s emergency whistle. This is a practice muster so that you know what to do in the event of an emergency.
‘Since we have seventy-nine passengers aboard, we will all be mustering in the Panorama lounge, on deck five. Please take a note of the group letter on your life jacket and make sure that you stay with that group. We’ll be taking attendance, so it’s important that you are present. After the muster, I’ll do a briefing of the itinerary to come, and you can pick up schedules for the week.
‘Captain out.’
‘For what it’s worth I truly am sorry. You don’t have to go back to your cabin – I have a spare life jacket you can use for the drill.’
Olivia felt her anger deflate. She wanted to rant and rave, but she knew Liam wasn’t to blame for her problem. ‘Thanks,’ she replied.
‘I’ll check which muster group you’re in. Hang on.’ He turned around, picking up his clipboard from off one of the low tables. ‘What cabin are you in? Number sixteen?’
‘Actually I switched after Aaron didn’t make it on board. I’m in twelve now.’
‘Great! Then you’re with me. I have here Patricia, Annalise, Janine and Christa.’
‘Christa – that’s the woman I’ve swapped with.’
Liam crossed her name off his list, scrawling Olivia’s in its place. ‘All sorted. I’ll let my colleague Melissa know about the change – she would’ve been your original muster leader. You OK here?’
‘Yes, fine. I’ll wait.’
It didn’t take long. The lounge began to fill up with people, some of them wearing their life jackets already. Delilah Constance arrived, a lurid blue cocktail in hand to match her scarf. She seemed to have enlisted a younger male guest to carry her life jacket for her. Olivia kept an eye out for the honeymooners, but they were nowhere to be seen.