Chapter 7 - Overboard
Victoria gripped Emily’s shoulders.
To the guests, it might have looked like concern.
Emily felt Victoria’s fingers tighten.
“You’ve been recording us,” Victoria whispered.
Richard stood close enough to block the others’ view.
“Delete it,” he said.
“The files aren’t stored on this phone.”
Richard’s face changed.
“Who are you?”
Emily looked beyond him at the approaching police boat.
“The person your audit team should have warned you about.”
Victoria tried to pull the phone from Emily’s hand.
Emily stepped sideways. Her heel caught against a raised section of the deck.
She lost her balance and fell over the low side railing.
The cold harbor water closed over her head.
For several seconds, she could hear nothing but the rush of bubbles and the distant throb of the yacht’s engines.
Emily forced herself upward.
When she reached the surface, she grabbed a rescue line hanging beside the hull.
Guests began shouting.
A crew member lowered the swimming platform and pulled her aboard.
Victoria immediately rushed forward.
“She slipped,” she announced. “I tried to save her.”
Emily knelt on the platform, coughing and catching her breath. She looked at Victoria’s carefully arranged expression.
Then she looked at Richard.
He was not concerned that she had fallen.
He was staring at the phone still locked in Emily’s hand.
Natalie’s voice came through the damaged earpiece.
“Emily, can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“We recorded everything. Stay where the officers can see you.”
Emily climbed back onto the deck.
Victoria approached and placed both hands on her wet shoulders.
The police siren grew louder.
Victoria’s voice lost its sweetness.
“Who did you call here?”
May you like
Emily’s fear vanished.
“The person who is recovering all of your assets.”
