Chapter 10 - Dana’s Badge on My Pillow
I did not touch the badge.
That instinct may have saved the only useful evidence I still had.
I photographed it from three angles.
The stain was small.
Dark reddish brown.
Blood, maybe.
Rust, possibly.
I didn’t guess.
I called Tessa.
Then I called ship security.
Not Voss.
The main desk.
I requested a supervisor above him.
The response came too quickly.
“Officer Voss is assigned to your case.”
“I specifically requested someone else.”
“He is the duty supervisor.”
Of course he was.
I ended the call.
Tessa arrived six minutes later.
When she saw the badge, her hand went to her mouth.
“That woman is on board?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can check the passenger record.”
“Do it from a terminal Voss can’t see.”
She nodded.
I stayed outside my own cabin while she left.
Gregory had taken evidence.
Someone had entered the room.
My replacement keycard had been stolen.
And now Dana’s ID had appeared on my pillow.
Too convenient.
It looked less like a threat than a narrative.
A missing colleague.
A frightened veteran.
A violent altercation.
Evidence in my cabin.
Someone wanted investigators to find exactly what they were being shown.
Voss arrived.
He stopped when he saw me in the hallway.
“Why aren’t you inside?”
“Because someone broke in.”
He sighed.
“Ashlynn.”
Not Mrs. Hartman.
Not ma’am.
Ashlynn.
Familiar now.
“You need to stop escalating situations.”
“My key was stolen by Gregory.”
“He says you dropped it.”
“Of course he does.”
Voss looked past me.
“Anything missing?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
I smiled slightly.
“Why?”
His eyes hardened.
“If you want to file a report—”
“I already know when you write reports.”
He went still.
I continued quietly.
“Sometimes before things happen.”
That landed.
Voss stepped closer.
“You should be careful what you accuse crew members of.”
“That sounded almost personal.”
His jaw tightened.
Then he noticed Dana’s badge.
For one fraction of a second, genuine surprise crossed his face.
He had not placed it there.
That mattered.
“Whose is that?”
“You tell me.”
He moved toward it.
I blocked the doorway.
“Don’t touch it.”
“This is a security investigation.”
“Then photograph it first.”
He looked furious.
My phone buzzed.
Tessa.
NO PASSENGER UNDER DANA BROOKS.
Then another.
CABIN 8144 REGISTERED TO LENA WARREN.
I knew Lena Warren.
She was Dana’s older sister.
Or at least that was the name Dana had given me years ago.
I replied:
IS SHE ON BOARD?
Tessa answered.
KEY USED ONCE AT EMBARKATION.
NOT SINCE.
So Gregory’s manifest had been altered.
Or printed from a false database.
Someone wanted me to believe Dana was aboard.
Voss was still watching me.
A second message appeared.
Tessa again.
YOU NEED TO SEE THE 8144 ENTRY VIDEO.
I typed:
WHY?
Her response came immediately.
BECAUSE THE PERSON WHO USED THE KEY WAS GREGORY.
I stared at the screen.
Gregory had entered the cabin booked under Dana’s sister’s name.
He had planted the connection.
Maybe the badge too.
Before I could reply, every light in my cabin went out.
Then the hallway lights flickered.
Passengers murmured.
Emergency lighting returned.
When I looked back inside the room, Dana’s badge was gone.
Voss stood beside me.
His hands were empty.
I grabbed his wrist.
“Where is it?”
He jerked free.
“I didn’t touch anything.”
I looked down the corridor.
A housekeeping cart rolled through the service door at the far end.
Behind it, a figure disappeared.
I ran.
The service door slammed before I reached it.
Locked.
I pounded once.
Nothing.
Then my phone rang.
Dana’s number.
I answered.
This time, it was her voice.
Weak.
Breathless.
“Ash?”
“Dana, where are you?”
“I’m not on the ship.”
My eyes closed.
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
“Who has your ID?”
She started crying.
“Ashlynn, listen to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“The Hartmans didn’t choose you because of the shares.”
My body went cold.
“Then why?”
“They chose you because your mother found out what Calder was really moving through Tampa.”
A loud impact sounded on her end.
Dana gasped.
Then she whispered four words before the line died.
May you like
“It wasn’t just money.”
📖 Discover what my mother found moving through Tampa—and why Dana’s warning transformed a forged proxy scheme into something far more dangerous in CHAPTER 11. 👇
