Chapter 9 - Charles Sterling’s Final Lie
Adrian carried the photograph to his suite.
For an hour nobody followed.
Then Naomi came in.
“Breaking furniture won’t improve our position.”
Adrian looked at the untouched room.
“I haven’t broken anything.”
“You have the face.”
He handed her the photograph.
Naomi read the notation.
“C.S. ordered no contact.”
“My father.”
“Likely.”
“Anna came to see him.”
“Yes.”
“And he turned her away.”
Naomi sat down.
Adrian looked at the skyline of St. Thomas.
“I spent three days beside his bed.”
“I remember.”
“He kept asking whether Walter had signed the debt refinancing.”
“Do you think he wanted to confess?”
“No.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“I think he was protecting the company until his last breath.”
Naomi said nothing.
He turned.
“Am I like him?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
“What you do when protecting the company conflicts with protecting the truth.”
The answer waited between them.
Later that night, Anna called again.
This time her voice was urgent.
“Helen.”
“She’s here,” Adrian said.
Anna paused.
“I told you not to trace me.”
“We didn’t. Dorr exposed you.”
Silence.
“You found Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“Then Walter knows I’m moving.”
“What are you moving?”
Anna took a breath.
“Martin Hale’s file.”
“The Lisbon box?”
Silence.
Helen’s eyes widened.
Adrian said, “We found the number in your locket chain.”
“I wondered if it was still there.”
“The locket is still missing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Anna, what is in Box 4117?”
“The original Meridian ledger.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“Original?”
“Yes.”
“Accounting records?”
“Payments. Beneficial owners. Fake inspection invoices. Cash withdrawals.”
“Does it connect Walter to your crash?”
“No.”
Adrian’s frustration returned.
“What does?”
“My journal.”
“Where?”
“With Marina Hale.”
The initials M.H.
Anna continued.
“Martin was my attorney. Marina kept everything after he died.”
“Why not release it years ago?”
“Because the strongest evidence implicated Charles too.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Anna said softly, “I knew what that would do to you.”
“You let me worship him.”
“I know.”
“You let me build the company around his reputation.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
Adrian stopped.
It was the first time Anna had accepted blame.
She continued.
“I told myself I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From becoming what I became.”
“And what was that?”
“Someone whose entire past turned poisonous.”
Adrian sat.
Anna said, “There’s another reason.”
He waited.
“Charles paid victims’ families through secret agreements after the Celestine fire.”
Naomi said, “Settlements?”
“Some.”
“What else?”
“He paid one engineer to disappear.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because the engineer knew the ship had failed inspection.”
“Name?”
“Mateo Ruiz.”
Lucas, standing near the door, looked up.
“I know that name.”
Everyone turned.
“He works aboard this ship.”
Adrian stood.
“What?”
Lucas checked the crew database.
Mateo Ruiz.
Sixty-eight.
Senior refrigeration technician.
Contract employee.
Twenty-nine years with various Sterling ships, with a ten-year gap after 1998.
Helen whispered, “He came back.”
Adrian looked toward the screen.
Anna said, “Find him before Walter does.”
Lucas moved.
Mateo was not in his cabin.
Not in engineering.
Not in the crew mess.
His badge last registered thirty-one minutes earlier near the forward service deck.
Security cameras showed him entering a maintenance corridor.
Then Samuel Dorr’s deputy, Peter Cross, followed him.
Peter was supposed to be in Miami.
Instead he had boarded the Aurora Crown in St. Thomas that afternoon using corporate security clearance.
Adrian’s blood went cold.
“Lock down crew exits.”
Lucas ran.
They found Peter Cross in a service elevator.
Alone.
Mateo was not with him.
Cross claimed he had come aboard to “assist with executive security.”
Nobody had requested him.
Adrian demanded to know where Mateo was.
Cross smiled.
“Who?”
Lucas detained his company access and called local authorities.
Search teams swept the ship.
Twenty minutes later, a cleaner heard pounding behind a refrigerated supply door.
Mateo Ruiz was locked inside.
Hypothermic.
Conscious.
Terrified.
At the medical center, wrapped in blankets, Mateo looked at Adrian.
“You look like your father.”
Adrian answered:
“I’m trying not to.”
Mateo laughed weakly.
“Good.”
“What happened in 1997?”
Mateo’s expression changed.
“The Celestine should never have sailed.”
“Why?”
“Cracked fuel line. Failed electrical panel. We reported both.”
“To whom?”
“Walter.”
“And Charles?”
Mateo nodded.
“They knew.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Then why did the ship leave?”
“Christmas bookings.”
Three crew members died two weeks later.
Mateo continued.
“Anna found my original inspection report.”
“What did she do?”
“She came to me.”
“And?”
“I told her everything.”
“Why did you disappear?”
Mateo looked ashamed.
“Charles paid me.”
“How much?”
“Five hundred thousand.”
Adrian stared.
“I had two children. My wife was sick.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Mateo’s eyes lowered.
“That if I talked, he would make sure I was blamed for approving the ship.”
Adrian looked away.
Another frightened employee.
Another Sterling threat.
Mateo reached for his hand.
“There’s something you need to know about the accident.”
Adrian turned back.
“Anna’s?”
Mateo nodded.
“Walter didn’t arrange it alone.”
The room became still.
May you like
Mateo whispered:
“Charles gave him permission.”
