Chapter 7 A Trip Down Memory Lane (Two)

• At least, I was able to form a relationship of sorts with him before he died. His death hadn’t been an ordinary one. It had been murder. Charlotte had killed him in his sick bed in his own house when she was trying to steal his will. She had also killed Sebastian’s sister-in-law, and I’m fairly certain that more deaths than those can be linked to her.
• Charlotte is a monster, and I’m relieved that she’s gone. Although we had once been close, we drifted apart over the years, especially after she threatened to kill me more than once. That was when she had been trying to recruit me to join her in doing her dirty work, and I called the police. Calling the police on her did nothing except get her pissed at me, because she always managed to get out, and the charges against her were always dropped. In fact, she had been trying to kill me when she was arrested for her crimes.
• It always terrified me to think that some traits of her personality could be in my DNA and I could one day snap like her, or even worse, produce crazy children. It is why I never intend to have kids. I don’t want to produce little monsters who delight in doing evil things. Thinking about all this is saddening me and I can feel a headache coming on. I get up and make my way to the dining area because I don’t want to be alone right now.
• “Do you know who that is, boss?” Maxwell asks when I get to the dining area.
• “Who?” I ask, not that I’m particularly interested in knowing. I want to eat and leave as fast as possible before Jessica comes down to eat. If she sees me, she would probably lose her appetite.
• “The lady you were talking to on deck earlier.”
• “Yes. That’s Jessica.”
• “Did you know…”
• “I know everything, and I will thank you not to gossip about her and let everyone know her business and my family’s. If she doesn’t come for dinner, please make sure someone takes some food to her room, and please, make sure that she’s not disturbed.” I cut in. This man is becoming something else with his lack of a mouth filter.
• “Sure, of course, boss,” Maxwell replies, flushing.
• I soon realize that I don’t have an appetite, so I leave most of my food untouched and go back to my cabin, where I go through some of my medical journals to pass the time. Sleep eludes me, even though it is quite late and I’m an early sleeper, so I give up trying to sleep and begin to watch a movie on my laptop instead. I lost track of time and by the time it is five in the morning, I’m still not sleepy, but now, I’m tired of watching stuff.
• A fairly strong wind is blowing outside, and it looks like it’s going to rain. I love watching rain fall on the water whenever I’m on a ship, so I go on deck, not minding if the rain will drench me or not. It is somewhat dark on the deck, so I don’t notice that anyone is there at first. The rain starts to fall lightly, and I raise my face to the sky, loving the feeling of the rain beating down on my upturned face.
• Within minutes, I’m drenched, but I don’t go back to my cabin. Instead, I start to walk towards the railing, not suspecting that anyone else could be on deck at this time. For some reason, I miss a step, stumble, and fall flat on my face in a move that would have been funny as hell, but I did not … cannot laugh. Instead, I scramble to my feet, my heart pounding as I rush over to the end of the railing and look overboard.
• When I slipped and landed on the floor, I heard a faint scream, and then a very loud splash that was louder than the sound of the rain. Although I have never heard that splash sound while on a cruise ship, I know exactly what it means, especially when accompanied by that scream. Someone has just fallen overboard into the water.