"Man, it really sucks that we've been dead in the water this long without finding him. I heard over the radio that the coast guard couldn't find anything during their search. They're going to look for another thirty minutes and then release the ship to continue the search on their own." said the crew member with a baseball cap. They were standing near the railing with their backs turned as they looked down at the ocean below.

"I don't get why passengers wander around the deck during storms. Seems like someone always goes overboard during rough weather." The other crew member was wearing a chef's hat and kitchen uniform.

The baseball cap crew member put his hands on his hips and then shook his head. "Man, I'm hearing some crazy rumors from people on other ships. Some people are saying they saw him walk over to the bridge and his eyes flicker green before he jumped."

"Something's definitely wrong with that camera if that's what it showed. People's eyes don't change color." The chef working nearby must have noticed me because he turned and addressed me directly. "Sir, we'll resume dining service shortly, but we need all passengers to stay clear of the railings right now."

"I've discovered evidence about the overboard incident. I need to speak with the Coast Guard, and I also need a few other passengers," I said.

"Sir, they're in the middle of a search operation. We can't interrupt that for passenger theories. Tell us what you found, and we'll relay it to them."

"I'm actually an undercover detective." I said, flashing the badge that Karlo sent me through the mail.

Thank God Syd brought it from our new apartment.

"Ah, sorry, Detective Morningstar…wait, that is one creepy last name." The crew member with the baseball cap said. He then snapped back to reality.

"Yup, I get that reaction a lot," I said. After telling them which people I needed them to bring, they saluted and hurried off. I tucked the badge away and leaned over the railing to watch the search crews scanning the ocean below for any trace of Cesar.

About thirty minutes passed before I heard footsteps approaching. "Detective Morningstar, I've brought them." The crew member stood beside two Coast Guard officers, Syd, Maria, and Beatrix.

"We heard you're a detective. We'll need to see your credentials since we weren't informed of any other law enforcement on this vessel. If you're lying, we'll have to arrest you," the Coast Guard officer on the right said.

"Of course. Will this work?" I replied, showing my badge. The officer on the left's eyes widened.

"You work with Agent Karlo? I didn't realize special agents were deployed on this ship. Are we interfering with an ongoing investigation?"

"No, I'm just on vacation, so I'm here completely by coincidence." I looked at the badge, and I could almost hear Uncle Ben's dying words to Peter.

Opening my laptop, I addressed the group. "I knew the victim, Cesar, for a short time. He was funny and strange, but honestly, a total asshole." I brought up the security footage and showed them clips of Cesar kissing Anya in the hallway and Beatrix cuddling intimately with him in the hot tub while drinking wine.

Beatrix's intense gaze bore into me, her face growing increasingly hostile. Even with the distance between us, I felt a cold, threatening presence emanating from her.

I pushed through the unease and continued. "Even though he made me sick, and I thought he was scum, I believed him when he said he was going to come clean and make everything right." I displayed the video showing Cesar scaling the balcony to shimmying to the side to reach the room next to him. "If Check the guest registry and you'll find Anya and Beatrix were staying in the rooms on either side of Cesar's. On the same night that he died, Cesar told me he wanted to make things right and was planning to break things off with both of his love affairs."

I began showing the security footage of Cesar's final moments. "You can see him successfully entering the first room, spending time inside, and then climbing across to the second room. After completing his second visit, he becomes visibly upset and starts going back to the room. But someone intercepts him and pushes him to his death. The video is too blurry to identify the attacker, but there's one telling detail. The killer's bracelet." I zoomed into the killer's wrist then pointed to Beatrix. "The same one she's currently wearing."

Everyone looked at Beatrix. However, she did not take her eyes off me; she held her stare.

"I wasn't about to base my case on blurry video alone. I cross-checked both women's alibis against the security footage and confirmed which one owned the bracelet. Anya's story checked out completely, and she wasn't wearing the bracelet. That ruled her out. But when I questioned Beatrix, she claimed she was at the spa during the murder. The problem is, the spa was closed at the time of Cesar's death, and I have video footage of her with cigarettes just before and after the incident. In each clip, you can clearly see her bracelet."

Beatrix remained silent as she slowly raised her wrist, staring at it with a blank expression.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Maria looked directly at Beatrix and said, "Why did you do it?"

Beatrix closed her eyes briefly, then looked back at me. The piercing, menacing stare was gone, replaced by deep sorrow and grief. Tears began streaming down her face. "I was married before this cruise. My husband cheated on me with our neighbor. We'd spent so much time with them: weekends at their house, trips together. We even joined each other's family events. The thought of all those moments when I wasn't around and she was there with him makes me nauseous. His little slut filling my place."

Beatrix wiped her tears and continued. "I discovered what was happening when my husband said he had a work trip, and coincidentally, our neighbor was also traveling for work that same week. I asked her husband to help me with something at the house, and he mentioned his wife's business trip. The timing seemed suspicious, so we checked our spouses' locations. They were both at the same hotel in a nearby town, even though they claimed to be in completely different states. Her husband and I drove there to confront them, and that's when we caught them together in the same room."

Beatrix leaned against the wall. "Needless to say, our divorce followed shortly after. I booked this extended cruise right after my divorce was finalized. Peace and distance from everyday life became a necessity for me. Fortunately, I'm an artist who works on commission, so my schedule is flexible, and the large settlement from the divorce made this three-month cruise possible. I just wanted to forget everything and stop thinking about all the bullshit in my life."

"Then you met Cesar." I said, putting my hands in my pockets and leaning on the railing behind me.

"Yes, this vacation would've been great if I had never accepted that drink from Cesar. But he was so charming and funny and, overall, just a really wholesome guy," Beatrix said, wiping more tears from her eyes.

He was? She clearly hadn't heard his Mr. Hands story.

Beatrix's tears intensified as she slid down the wall, running her fingers through her hair. "I knew he was dating someone else. Still, I thought it was a sign that God had finally sent me my true soulmate. But when he came to me last night and said he was ending things, I couldn't believe it. Another man abandoning me for a prettier, younger woman."

"So that's why you pushed him off the balcony," I said.

"Yes, that's exactly why I did it! After he left my room, I completely fell apart. If he hadn't forgotten his phone, I would have just had my breakdown and moved on with the trip. But that stupid bastard left his phone behind. When I saw him climbing back onto my balcony to get it, I wasn't seeing Cesar anymore. I saw my ex-husband walking through that door again, and I just snapped. I pushed him off the railing. At first, I thought it was all a nightmare, that I'd just imagined pushing him off the balcony. But then I saw his stupid fucking phone sitting on the coffee table, and I knew it had really happened. I figured Maria would start up some commotion in the morning looking for him, so I got ahead of it. I quickly texted her a fake suicide note on his phone and threw it overboard before anyone could find it." Beatrix finished her story through wailing tears.

"I think we've heard enough; we'll take it from here, Detective Morningstar." The coast guard on the right said.