The Yacht by Sarah Goodwin

Author:Sarah Goodwin [Goodwin, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2023-12-01T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

‘You’re sure it was here?’ Harry asked, pacing past me as I sat on the bed, staring at the wall.

‘Yes,’ I said for the tenth time. We were going around in circles, neither of us able to believe what we were seeing. Harry followed my gaze, then pivoted on his heel and started to pace again.

‘And you’re sure it was blood? Not, I don’t know’ – he waved his hands in the direction of the vanity – ‘lipstick or nail polish?’

I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch him stalk around the room. It was making me feel more anxious by the minute.

‘Even if it wasn’t blood, that still wouldn’t explain why it was there earlier and now it’s gone, would it? Someone obviously cleaned it off and they wouldn’t have done that if it was just an innocent little lipstick smear, would they? I mean, there’s definitely bigger messes they could have tackled if they felt the urge to clean.’ I realised I was rambling and bit the end of my sentence off. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steady myself.

Harry came to a stop and nodded, conceding the point. He was still bobbing on his toes but at least the pacing had stopped. We both needed to hang onto this fragile calm. Going to pieces wasn’t going to solve anything, and I knew that.

I got up and went to check the wall, close up. The panelling was slightly shiny and showed no sign of being stained or cleaned. If someone had removed the mark there’d been plenty of time for it to dry. A quick check of the gold bin under the vanity revealed several soiled cotton pads and a sheet mask. Nothing that was obviously bloodstained.

There were two options. First, Mags and I had both mistaken a shadow or something for a stain on the wall. Not very likely. Second, someone had cleaned the mark up – already pretty incredible considering the kind of people on board – and, for some probably not very innocent reason, had disposed of what they’d used to clean it with elsewhere.

‘Who could’ve done it?’ I asked Harry. ‘Think. Who had a chance to, whilst we were looking for Libby? I don’t think I lost sight of Mags. We were together the whole time.’

Harry looked slightly sick. ‘Olly and I split up to do the lower and middle deck. Do you think he could’ve …’

‘He might have come in here whilst Mags and I were in the kitchen or the engine room. But we hadn’t told anyone about the blood yet so how would he know it was there?’ I chewed my lip, certain that I was missing something.

‘I don’t know, maybe he noticed it, or heard you talking about it through the wall?’ Harry rubbed a hand over his face. We were both too tired for this kind of theorising. ‘What about Leon – you said you and Maggie were together. Where was he?’

‘In his room.

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