Chapter 12 - THE CAPTAIN’S LOG
Captain Elias Ward had worked luxury charters for twenty-three years.
He remembered David.
Not fondly.
Federal agents interviewed him in Miami.
Ward turned over internal communications from Celestia.
One message came from David on the second day.
BLOCK PERSONAL CALLS FROM MAYA VANCE.
EMERGENCY CONTACTS ONLY THROUGH ME.
Another came from the communications officer.
CONFIRMING MAYA VANCE NUMBER TO REJECT?
David replied.
YES.
NO DISTURBANCES.
Then came the message that changed everything.
The communications officer wrote on the fourth night.
MULTIPLE CALLS FROM CHICAGO HOSPITAL NUMBER.
POSSIBLE FAMILY EMERGENCY.
David replied.
SEND TO VOICEMAIL.
I stared at the printout.
Time.
8:02 P.M.
Three hours and forty minutes before Lily died.
Agent Reed spoke gently.
“He may still claim he did not understand the nature of the emergency.”
“He saw my ICU text.”
“Yes.”
“He knew the hospital was calling.”
“Yes.”
“And he told them to send it away.”
“Yes.”
My hands began shaking.
I stood.
“I need a minute.”
Reed nodded.
At the window, Chicago moved beneath gray winter clouds.
Somewhere out there, people were answering phones.
People were missing calls.
People were making choices they did not know would become permanent.
When I turned back, Reed had another document.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
The yacht kept video archives in certain common areas for security.
One clip had no audio.
David sat at the bar.
His phone lit repeatedly.
Julianne sat beside him.
He glanced at the screen.
Turned it face down.
Raised his champagne glass.
At 9:19 P.M., the timestamp matched the exact minute after he sent his digital detox message.
He toasted Julianne.
I watched once.
Then pushed the laptop away.
“I don’t need any more.”
Reed closed it.
“The prosecutors may.”
“I understand.”
That night, David’s attorneys received copies through discovery.
The next morning, David changed his plea on several financial counts.
Guilty.
But he refused to plead guilty to obstruction related to the phone records.
Why?
His attorney argued that ignoring calls was immoral but not criminal.
Legally, he was probably right.
Emotionally, I no longer cared.
I did not need a judge to punish David for missing Lily’s death.
May you like
Life had already done that.
What I needed the court to decide was everything he had chosen to steal while she was alive.
