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quiet for a moment “—it’s more of a gut feeling than anything else, I guess. I don’t have any proof, but …if you had seen her when I was alone with her that first day you would …She is dangerous. Can’t you just trust me about that?”
    “Then it’s settled —” Mark shook his head dismissively “—I like her cooking, she’s a good diver, and she thinks of things that we both miss.”
    “Okay —” Stewart let out an exasperated breath “—but this is on you my friend. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    It took far longer than planned to obtain their supplies. It was dark when they headed back to the boat. Mark stopped abruptly and handed Stewart the packages he was carrying.
    With no more explanation than, “I’ll be right back, I forgot something,” Mark walked off.
    “I hate it when he does that,” Stewart said aloud to no one.
    Unsure of how long Mark’s ‘right back’ was going to be, Stewart put the things he was carrying down on a bench outside a tavern of some sort. Movement in the shadows caught his attention. It was a bit difficult to see in the dark, but he was certain it was Ashlyn talking quietly to some man.
    Stealthily, he moved close enough to see her more clearly , but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. The man handed her something, but Stewart couldn’t tell what it was— so much for her fishy fish book —he thought.
    He didn’t approach her; he would let Mark see for himself. However, by the time Mark returned, she was nowhere to be found.
    “Are you sure it was her?” Mark asked, annoyed.
    “Of course—” Stewart was offended “—I know you think I’m paranoid, but I’m not blind.”
    “Maybe she was looking for us?” Mark countered.
    “Oh, come on man—” Stewart was boiling with frustration “—if she were looking for us, she would have found us.”
    “I’m sure she has some perfectly logical reason —” Mark justified “—we’ll just ask her when she gets back to the boat.”
    As it turned out, she was on the yacht when they got back, sitting there, fish book in hand as if she had gone nowhere at all.
    “Enjoying your book?” Stewart said sarcastically.
    “Actually, it’s very interesting—” she eyed him strangely “—why?”
    “So you’ve been reading that boring fish book the entire time we’ve been gone ?” Stewart demanded.
    “Yes, what are you accusing me of? —” Her eyes narrowed “—is being interested in marine biology a crime now?”
    Stewart opened his mouth to reply when Mark interjected, “He just thought he saw you by one of the shops, it was dark. I told him it wasn’t you.”
    Imperceptively , Ashlyn clinched her jaw, and then she rolled her eyes at Stewart before going back to her book.
    Stewart followed Mark into the other room and said, “Her reaction was weird.”
    “I didn’t notice anything —” Mark was tired of the constant complaints about her “—if there was a change in her expression it was probably irritation, just like the look on my face, see?” He pointed to himself.
    “Wait,” Stewart tried to follow him.
    “Are you going to follow me into the can as well? Give it a rest,” Mark shook his head and shut the door between them.
    When Stewart went back to the salon, Ashlyn was gone. What was he to do, follow her to her room too? There was little hope that she had not heard every word, the walls were not thick. He paced around for a while, but when he realized that he was alone for the night, he went down to his room in the crew quarters.
    His new accommodations reminded him of the situation, and it angered him all over again. His thoughts kept him awake for a while, but eventually the exhaustion from the day’s work made him fall asleep. Neither of them noticed Ashlyn’s quiet return to the boat several hours later.
     
    ***
    “Madeira, this is OceanAire flight 705 requesting landing instructions, over —” the copilot waited for a response then repeated “—Tower, this is