Nicholas Lush returned to his office to find the master key. The message light on his telephone was blinking. He rather hoped it was his idiot brother telling him that she’d been located and all was well. They’d come too far to lose her now. Alas, it was Admiral Harding, and irate wouldn’t have gone part-way to describing the manner in which he delivered his message. Apparently the admiral had received more than twenty calls for assistance with seasickness as a result of the storm and as Lush was nowhere to be found, he had despatched Whitley Prendergast to begin delivering medication around the ship. Nicholas was under strict instructions to call the admiral the moment he arrived back in his office.

With some trepidation he picked up the handset and dialled the bridge.

‘Lush, where on earth have you been? There are people on this ship suffering and you go and disappear. I suspect you were out schmoozing women in the bar – don’t think I didn’t notice your over-attentiveness with so many of our female guests last night. You will need to find Prendergast and see who he has already attended to,’ Admiral Harding barked. ‘Thank goodness he offered to do the rounds.’

‘But, sir,’ Lush began.

‘What is it?’ snapped the admiral.

‘I think I might have uncovered a stowaway,’ Lush replied.

If Lush thought this news would distract the admiral from his irritation, he was mistaken.

‘A stowaway? A stowaway? What a lot of nonsense,’ said Admiral Harding dismissively.

‘But, Admiral, this morning I attended to a young boy in one of the suites and I’m sure his name wasn’t on the register when I came to write up his report.’

‘Was there anyone with him?’ the admiral demanded.

‘Yes, a steward,’ Lush answered.

‘Well, don’t you think that my stewards would know if they were attending to the right person or not?’ The admiral was sick of Lush and his histrionics. ‘I am sure there are no stowaways on this ship, and if there were, I’d be the first to know. Now, you need to find Prendergast and get this seasickness under control. I will not have guests of Her Majesty losing their lunch because my doctor is on some wild goose chase looking for stowaways.’ With that, Admiral Harding slammed the phone down.

Teddy Harding fingered the note which had just been delivered to the bridge. He had far more important things on his mind than looking for alleged stowaways. The fates of more than five hundred people rested in his hands.