An hour later...

After the bombshell or two that was dropped during yet another eventful dinner party on that yacht, the group was corralled back into the dining once more that night. After everyone had had enough time to cool off, or rather, discuss in private some things that were aired, of course. For the first time on this trip, this merry band, hoping to bag a million bucks, was no merrier. In fact, one could say the air in there was as icy as the North Pole, and cold draughts were a-coming.

Devi and Bhawani stood at opposite sides of the room, not even the opposite sides of the dining table. One nursed a headache and a neat whiskey her husband had loved, and the other nursed hatred and a tall glass of orange juice partly—guiltily—wishing for the first time, her sister had actually met her demise.

Vinay, the son, stood in solidarity with his jilted and cockled mother, though one would rarely use that word to describe a female. While Marvin, the man most hated this evening, was by the bar, half sat, half stood on a stool. He too was nursing his own emotions—coming to terms with being a father of two, by two different women—and downing, rather too thirsty, his second pint of beer since Hector gathered them again for a final showdown. For you see, Hector wasn't finished, not with this case, with this group, or even this mystery: who the hell had it in for Devi, so much so, they tried to off her on her forty-third birthday?

The rest of this ragtag, misfit group hung out by the sofas and the chaises, staring at the dysfunctional family they were witnessing the unravelling of. Baffled was the word many would use. Hooked was a word all of them would use.

As for the cause of this unravelling, the undoing, Chaya, sat on the edge of the dining table, glowering at her mother still sporting the ridiculous grey streaked hair. Her aunt, kept stealing glances at her and then Marvin. Her half-cousin-half-brother, wrinkled his nose every time she caught his eyes; and her dad, the word she hated most in that moment... They all sounded foreign in her mind. None of these people were anything to her. In fact, she hated it enough to fold her arms defensively in front of her chest, practically screaming, 'Don't come near me!'

Hector stood between the group and the door, nursing his own thoughts and theories. While some had taken the hour to discus—rather noisily—certain truths that had come to light, others gossiped about all the revelations, he had joined the Captain on the bridge in need of a sane sounding board. After all, he was still the police here, and he still needed to get answers to certain questions. Questions like who tried to kill Devi? Was it Vinay? He had a motive. Was it Chaya? She too had a motive. Or was it the innocent little Bhawani, who suddenly seemed to have the biggest motive of all?

The time he spent on the bridge had not gone to waste. Captain Parry had brought something to light, something that made Hector certain there was only one person on that whole yacht who had the motive, the means, and the opportunity when the blackout occurred.

Captain Parry had said, "That whole docile, abused housewife act she has going, is nothing but an act. Devi has refused to see it all these years, but beware, Constable Martinez, the sister isn't as innocent as she portrays, for sure. I can say this because I've known this family for nearly two decades, and I've seen things; heard things. She's a slippery little one and quite capable of doing things."

And Hector was keen to find out how slippery. If she did it, he somehow would just have to prove she knew about Devi and Marvin before tonight. And that's why he had gathered them again, at eleven o'clock at night, back in that dining room where many secrets had already been spilled.

Then there was that email from Brady. It had pinged his phone just before he sent the crew knocking on doors to gather the flock back.

"Why are we back here again, Constable?" Don Nguyen, looking rightly pissed and tired, hung his coat on the arm of a sofa and pouted most unimpressed. "You have your three suspects. You have no need of us anymore."

"On the contrary"—Hector flashed a smile. "You are all pieces in this puzzle, and for me to see which piece is missing, I need to see what I've gathered so far. This won't take long, I promise."

Ryan Pecker's new squeeze yawned. Despite it, she sounded peppy when she said, "I don't know about you guys, but this is hella interesting. I wanna know who it was. The suspense is killing me."

Vinay scoffed and shook his head.

Devi was surprised there was not even a hint, not even a shadow of jealousy when she looked at the girl with Pecker. Her eyes kept drawing to Hector, and only Hector. "Why are we back here, Heck?"

Hector considered everyone gathered even the poor barman and waitress, forced to hang back in the dining in case the guests required something. "The thing is ... Every one of you has a fairly solid alibi. Someone who can account for your whereabouts or the CCTV shows you clearly in a different part of the yacht around about the time of the incident. All except one person."

At that, the three suspects tensed ever so slightly.

"There's only one person who was at the right place, at the right time, with the means and the opportunity to strike." Hector turned to Bhawani. "Mrs Dhungel-Garcia. You were seen running into the room just prior to the blackout. You were the closest, in proximity, to the victim"—he pointed at Devi—"When the CCTV came back online, there was a moment where you simply stood looking at the sea before you started screaming for help.

"In the five minutes it took for the yacht's power to come back on and the CCTV to record again, you could have easily gotten your hands on the knife you had brought into Devi's room sometime earlier; perhaps when you joined her to get ready for dinner. You got the knife, came out, pretending to chase the maid, and when Devi was distracted, you plunged that khukuri into her back. When you realised it wasn't a fatal blow, you resorted to pushing her into the sea, hoping she would sink to the bottom and none would be wiser." Hector advanced on the woman slowly, circling around the room in a wide berth so as not to spook her. "You knew your sister's entry code to her apartment; you were the one who let me in for my story ..."

Bhawani's jaw tensed. "Why would I do that?"

"You could have stabbed your sister and tried to make it look like an accident, the sister who slept with your husband, not once, but again, more recently. Then there is the matter of you being named the only beneficiary should something happen to her.

"I only learned about them tonight!" Bhawani snapped, eyes following him.

"Ah!" Hector paused. "But you knew he was having an affair. In fact, in the years that you've been married to Marvin, he's had many affairs, most, you've known about. You have a history of hiring a particular private investigator several times in the past decade, all on your sister's dime."

Bhawani's mouth gaped open. "How did you—"

"It doesn't matter how I know." Hector smiled. There was no way he was going to tell them his informant was a fabulous journalist back home who was currently turning out to be the best bloody sidekick he could have asked for. Remind me to get Brady a thank-you gift, he noted before continuing. "You hired the same investigator this time out to dig up any new women in Marvin's life—for your case and take him for everything he's worth, of course."

Bhawani looked positively terrified. Her wide eyes glinting with worry.

Hector paused for effect and brought out his phone then, bringing up one of the photos Brady had attached to the email.

"For the benefit of the room, could you tell them who you see in this photo, Mr Nguyen?" He held up the screen to Don, the lawyer in the room, to witness the evidence.

Don swallowed and eyed Bhawani—something Hector was sure to notice—before he studied the photo presented. "It's Marvin and a woman ... Can't see who."

"And what are they doing?"

Again, Don glanced at Bhawani before answering, "They are sharing an intimate moment."

"And how do you know that? That they are getting intimate?"

Don flashed him a look of pure hatred before studying the image again. "Marvin's shirtless and on top of ... Devi. The woman is Devi."

Devi chewed her bottom lip and stared at the ceiling, avoiding Hector's eyes.

Marvin cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Is this really necessary, Constable?"

Hector ignored him and asked another question of Don. "And where are they, Mr Nguyen?"

Don frowned. "Her bedroom."

"How can you tell it's her bedroom?"

"The city view outside the window. She's the only one of us who lives in the city. I'll recognise that view from anywhere. I was there when Charlie bought that apartment for her because she loved that view."

"That view outside her window!" Hector was giddy and stopped short of saying, 'Aha!'

"That view outside her window. Which means Marvin either came there on his own or Devi invited him," Hector reasoned, hating the image he held. Devi and Marvin. Blegh! He would have loved to get rid of that nasty image from his phone and his mind. "Can you tell us when this photo was taken?"

Don shrugged, looking at Hector. "It's a digital photo on your phone, Constable. I couldn't tell you when the photo was taken. Not with any surety."

"Of course, just give me a moment." Hector flashed the lawyer a smile. He zoomed in on the photo, in particular, at the digital radio clock on the bedside table which the private investigator Brady bribed had been smart enough to capture as timely evidence. He held the screen in front of Don again. "Could you read the time and the date displayed on that clock on her bedside table for us?"

There was a hit of a sneer on Don's face before he glanced at Bhawani once more and then the photo.

What is going on here? Hector stole a look at his prime suspect. Bhawani looked mighty uncomfortable. Is there something going on here? Are these two in cahoots? One's the only beneficiary and the other who covets the power of attorney ...

"It's ten-thirty-five at night, July sixteen, two thousand and seventeen." Don's voice brought Hector back to the moment at hand.

"And there lies the problem, Mrs Dhungel-Garcia." He snapped his phone away and stashed it in his pocket. "You say you only learned of your sister and your husband—"

"Soon-to-be ex-husband." Bhawani corrected.

"—right, soon-to-be ex-husband," Hector stated. "You claim you only learned of their affair tonight, however, evidence suggests otherwise. The PI you hired has invoices that show he delivered this very photo, along with others, on the twenty-second of July. I could get the CCTV footage from the hotel where you met him on that day to prove it."

"Fine! I knew about them. Happy?" Bhawani snapped, eyes wide with rage. "She pretends she's a loving sister, like I can't live without her, my generous fucking big sister, all the while sleeping with my husband behind my back. So I was fucking angry, sue me!"

Perfect! Hector smiled. "So you did it. You took that opportunity during the blackout to exact your revenge."

"What?" Bhawani turned to him, genuinely surprised at his statement. "No."

"I'm sorry, Mrs Dhungel-Garcia, I'm going to have to arrest you for the attempted murder of your sister, Ms Devi Dhungel, on the night of the twenty-fifth of November." Hector stepped forward, presenting a pair of handcuffs.

"What?" Bhawani alarmed, backed up from him. "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"You're only making it worse for yourself by resisting arrest. By the time we pull into harbour tomorrow, there will be an entire squad waiting for you, anyway."

"I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" Bhawani shook her head frantically, looking at those gathered staying put. "Don, do something! You promised me you'd get me out of this shitty life. You promised."

Hector paused. What? He turned to the lawyer. "Mr Nguyen?"

Don squirmed under Hector's scrutiny. "I'm sorry, love. It's best you do as the Constable says. Just say nothing until I find us ... uh—uh," he stammered then, "I mean you ... a criminal lawyer."

"Us?" Devi stepped forward in her clutches then, shocked. "You two?"

"Wait, what the fuck? You're cheating on me?" Marvin stepped forward, eyeing his wife as if she'd just pulled the rug from under him, never mind that he was a serial cheater himself.

Vinay gawked at his mother. "Ma? What's going on?"

Bhawani and Don exchanged a look that said it all. Yes, they were together.

"Geez!" Miles, the old assistant laughed. "This is some fucked up family!"

"Ryan, go get some popcorn," the tag-a-long girlfriend added, smacking her beau on the arms.

"So I didn't imagine it; catching you two kissing at Devi's last Christmas and you said it was because of the mistletoe ..." Unati, the old assistant gawked.

Certain memories interrupted Devi then, memories that clawed up from the abyss of darkness where they had lived the past few weeks, memories that reminded her of how Don convinced her to only have one beneficiary when she suggested redrawing her Will, removing him from power of attorney. His exact words had been, "Devi, as a friend and your long-time lawyer, I'd feel rotten if I didn't warn you. Not all these people in your life care about you or deserve anything from you, bar one person, your sister. If I were you, I'd put her in my Will and no one else."

"You convinced me to cut everyone else from my Will!" She gawked at the lawyer, feeling betrayed. "If you two are having an affair, you stand to gain from my death ... she gets everything and you get her ... is that it?"

Hector eyed the two, astonished that he'd missed that line of possibility.

In the meantime, Devi turned to her sister. "How could you? After everything I've done for you. Given up for you—"

"Please! All you've done is ruin my life. You led me to believe this man was worth my time, my life, when you knew from the very beginning the scumbag he was." Bhawani scoffed hiding her wrists from Hector and his cuffs. "If you'd only been honest with me from the beginning, I wouldn't have been roped in by Marvin and suffered years of abuse and heartbreak. Don's the only one who has ever tried to save me, who convinced me to file for divorce. We're getting married as soon as this loser is out of my life."

"You tried to kill me for money!" Devi sounded hurt and Hector inched to hold her in his arms, tell her all would be okay. He caught the bad guys and he was going to put them away for a long time.

Instead, Hector advanced on Bhawani again. "You're under arrest for the attempted murder—"

But Bhawani wasn't finished. She dashed away from him, pointing at Devi, screaming, "If you want to arrest anyone for attacking Didi that night then arrest her! She was the mastermind behind it all. She planned it all. She asked me to do it ... and I wish I could have, but no matter how badly I wanted her to suffer, she was still my sister. I wanted her to suffer but not like that ... and when I refused to stab her so she could play a victim, she grabbed the khukuri and stabbed herself."

Hector stopped in his tracks.

Others around the room gasped and muttered, "What?"

Devi stood stock still, about to say 'Unbelievable,' when the dam of memories flooded her mind. And they all pointed to the one person who indeed was responsible for all this.

'Give me that. You're being a pussy!" Devi remembered grabbing the knife from Bhawani. "It'll be a fucking great publicity, Bhav. Trust me. No one will know. I'll just say someone boarded the yacht and hid while we were near the shore. Tried to rob me, but we caught him. He attacked and jumped into the sea like a maniac ... I need this. We need this. There's no more money left ..."

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Bhawani sneered, enjoying her sister's confusion and eventual comprehension. "I told her to cancel the plan ... with the storm raging, we couldn't possibly claim someone boarded us, but she wouldn't listen. Asked me to get the khukuri, which she'd hidden in the bathroom, but the girl was there, hiding. When she ran out, I tried to tell her we'd be foolish to try something. What if the girl heard everything?"

"I didn't," Chaya volunteered, no longer sitting on the table. She joined the ring of spectators around the sisters and Hector, just as amused.

"But Di went crazy ... one minute we're drinking wine and making a toast to the wind and rain, saying, 'To a new life,' and the next, she grabs the khukuri and stabs herself."

"Then you pushed me into the sea?" That part of the night was still a little hazy, though Devi wasn't sure if it was to do with trauma or being raging drunk.

"I didn't. One minute you were standing in front of me, biting down on your hand to keep from screaming in pain, then the next, the boat rocked, I grabbed the handrails just in time but you were gone." She turned to Hector, her tone a rather I-told-you-so, "No one pushed her."

Devi knew it then, knew it in the pit of her stomach, a stomach that was suddenly as unsteady as her legs on the night in question. It was her. She had done it all, masterminded the whole disaster.

"So it is true?" Hector turned to Devi, the handcuffs in his hand, dangling in the air, purposeless.

And all she wanted to do was throw up.