I keep walking, opening more doors, a study that doesn’t look like it’s been used. Two storage rooms, two more locked doors, and a master bathroom that I do step into. Two large white statues of a lion are placed on either side of the entry. The room is tiled black and white, and it takes me a moment to realize the whole room is a wet room. Several shower heads hang overhead—their golden heads like large-sized plates. Walls of red brick are placed around the space with lots of plants on them. I can only imagine this room flooded in water.
“Yeah, okay.” I half turn towards Pavel’s voice. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he says and leaves the room.
I listen to his footsteps, and I’m moving to the door as he disappears around the corner, and it’s the first time no one is watching me.
I’m blinking, my mind screaming for me to run, but I calm the storm inside me. That kind of panic will get me nowhere. I need to learn and fast. I’m moving, remembering the study. Saliva pools in my mouth as I think about what I’m going to do.
I pause at the study door before entering. Pavel’s footsteps are distant as I slip into the room. There on the table is a phone; An actual phone. I close the door and listen for Pavel. But there is nothing. The floor under my feet seems to grow further away as I walk to the phone. I’m sure it’s a mirage, but as I touch the device, my heart soars.
Picking it up, I’m slow at bringing it to my ear, expecting to hear a dead tone, but it’s live.
My fingers move across the number pad, my heart filling my throat. A disconnected number has me swallowing more saliva.
No.
I dial my home number again and again until my heart truly feels like it will shatter on the floor.
No.
Eight years. It had been eight years since I disappeared from the shore of County Clare.
Eight years since I saw my home. Eight years and now, I was forgotten.
CHAPTER THREE
LUCCA
I’m met by security at the docked boat. They must have been stationed here.
They don’t ask me who I am. They already know. A gate is opened, and I walk from the platform onto the ship.
“Has anything been removed?” I ask the security who follows me in.
“No, we were told not to touch anything. That everything had to be left for you to see first.”
Good.
Another set of security is just at the entrance as I enter the ship.
“I want to see the security room.” That is my first request to see the setup.
“This way.” I’m led down a wide hallway. The inside of the ship is luxurious.
Nothing is out of place. The floor we walk down is clean. I duck my head as we enter a large security room. Seven stations circle the room, each one with several screens.
The security moves ahead of me.
“This one watches the resursy quarters.”
I sit down in the chair. “You know they are human?” I ask as I turn on the screens that had darkened.
“We must always refer to them as assets.”
I glance back at him over my shoulder. “What’s your name?”
“Sacha, sir.” He stands taller.
“Okay, Sacha. You know how to operate all this?”
He nods, and I get out of the chair.
Each camera blinks to life. Bedrooms, a large sitting room. Each room is empty.
“This stream is fed to one place.”
Sacha gets up and taps at a large black box in the center of the room. “It all goes here. Backup is in the lower decks. Both of them were wiped.”
Someone did their homework.
“Take me to the girls’ rooms.”
I follow Sacha, and it’s a maze. You would have to either have a map or be familiar with the layout.
“I want a roster of everyone who worked here in the last six months. I don’t care if they scrubbed a toilet or steered the boat.”
Sacha nods. “That’s already in the process of being prepared for you.”
The room we enter is large, and it’s one I’ve seen on the cameras.
“Which one is Evie’s?” I’m looking at all the beds, waiting for Sacha to point her space out to me.
“We didn’t know their names. So I don’t know.”
I’m looking at Sacha now. “How long have you worked on the ship?”
“Three years.” His answer is swift.
“And you never saw which bed the girls got into.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever stood in this room. Only women were allowed.”
They really didn’t want anyone to defile these women. I move around the room, but there are no trinkets. Every girl seems to have the same space, the same items. There is nothing to suggest any individual qualities.
I go through all the girls’ rooms but find nothing.
“One of the girls was sick. Do you know which one?” I ask.
“I can find out,” Sacha says as we re-enter the hall.
“Take me to the loading dock.”
