The Woman in Cabin 10 (31 page)

But it wasn’t. Because I just didn’t believe what had happened.

It wasn’t just Carrie’s death that I couldn’t accept—it was Bullmer’s. Not because I thought he should have lived, but because his death, out of all of it, just didn’t make
sense
. Carrie’s suicide I could have believed, but not his. Try as I might, I couldn’t imagine that man, with his cold, fierce determination, giving up. He had fought so hard, played his cards with such cold daring. Would he really throw in his hand, just like that? It didn’t seem possible.

But it was. And I had to accept that. He was gone.

I shut my eyes again, pushing his specter away from me, and I curled my body around Judah’s, and I thought, very deliberately, about the future, about New York, and about the leap of faith I was about to make.

For a moment I saw a sharp, flashing image imprinted on the darkness of my closed lids: myself poised on the very edge of a high, high place, balancing on a rail, the dark waves below.

But I had no fear. I had fallen before, and I’d survived.

STANDARD

Thursday, 26 November

MYSTERY WOMAN IN AURORA DROWNING IDENTIFIED

Almost two months after the shocking discovery of two bodies at sea, one of them British businessman and peer Richard Bullmer, Norwegian police have today released a statement announcing the identity of the body dredged up by fishermen in the North Sea to be that of his wife, Anne Bullmer, heiress to the billion-pound Lyngstad fortune.

The body of Lord Bullmer was found several hundred miles away by police divers searching the coastal waters near Bergen, in Norway, after the peer was reported missing from his boat, the exclusive boutique cruise liner the
Aurora.

NOT SUICIDE

The English-language statement confirms the previous announcement by Norwegian police that the cause of Lady Bullmer’s death was drowning, while Lord Bullmer’s death was due to a gunshot wound to the temple. However, the document contradicts earlier reports of Lord Bullmer’s suicide, stating simply that the injury was “not self-inflicted,” according to the findings of the local pathologist.

The discovery of a gun, recovered alongside Lord Bullmer’s body and wrapped in clothing belonging to missing British journalist Laura Blacklock, led to initial allegations that his death was connected to her disappearance some days before.

Miss Blacklock was later found alive and well in Norway, but her parents have called for a police inquiry after they were left for several days believing that the body had been identified as that of their missing daughter. Scotland Yard stressed that the body had never at any stage been identified as Miss Blacklock, but admitted that the finding of Miss Blacklock’s clothes had been “poorly communicated” to the family. They blamed the failings on “cross-force communication issues” with the Norwegian police handling the case, and have said that they are in private contact with the Blacklock family over the incident.

In answer to the
Standard
’s inquiry, a Norwegian police spokesperson stated that although they have interviewed Miss Blacklock in connection with the case, they are not considering the Briton as a suspect in either death, and that their investigations are continuing.

BANKING LIVE CHAT

6 DECEMBER, 4:15

Hi, welcome to our online customer services live chat.

You are speaking with Ajesh from online personal banking.

How can I help you today, Miss Blacklock?

Hi, I’m e-mailing because I’ve received an odd credit to my account.

I wanted to check if you had any info on the sender. Thanks. Lo.

Hi, Miss Blacklock, sure, I can look into that.

Is it okay if I call you Laura?

Yep, that’s fine.

What is the transaction you are concerned about, Laura?

It’s the one two days ago, dated 4 Dec., for 40,000 Swiss francs.

Let me check that for you.

I have your details here—is it the transaction with the reference “Tiggers bounce”?

Yes, that’s correct.

I have checked the sort code, it’s a Swiss bank account based in Bern. I’m sorry to say I do not have any information on the identity of the bank account holder. It is a numbered account.

Does the reference convey anything?

It’s fine, thanks. No worries. I’m pretty sure it’s from a friend, I just wanted to check.

Thanks for looking into it.

You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with today, Laura?

No, that’s fine. Thanks. And good-bye.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to all the people who have helped me along the road with
The Woman in Cabin 10
. Writing is an odd, solitary pursuit, but publishing is most definitely a team sport, and I am very grateful to have such dedicated, funny, and downright nice people involved with my book at Scout in the United States and Harvill in the United Kingdom.

First thanks must go to the two Alisons, Alison Hennessey and Alison Callahan, for being tactful, insightful, and fearless editors, and generally proving that three brains are most definitely better than one.

Also at Scout Press, I must thank Nina Cordes, Meagan Harris, Jen Bergstrom, Liz Psaltis, Melanie Mitzman, Carolyn Reidy, Louise Burke, Wendy Sheanin, Erica Nelson, Jennifer Robinson, and everyone else at Simon & Schuster who has helped to bring
The Woman in Cabin 10
to the public—you make me very proud to be a Scout author.

My agent, Eve White, and her team always have my back, and I am always astounded by and grateful for the generosity of the brilliant community of crime writers, online and off.

My friends and family know how much I love them, so I won’t repeat it here—but I do!

RUTH WARE grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before returning to the UK. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer. She now lives in London with her husband and two small children.

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Scout Press

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Ware

Originally published in Great Britain in 2016 by Harvill Secker

Published by arrangement with The Random House Group Ltd.

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First Scout Press hardcover edition July 2016

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Interior design by Jaime Putorti

Jacket design by Alan Dingman

Jacket photographs by Alamy and Arcangel

Author photograph by Nick Tucker

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ware, Ruth, author.

Title: The woman in cabin 10 / Ruth Ware.

Description: First Scout Press hardcover edition. | New York : Scout Press, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016007713| ISBN 9781501132933 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501132957 (softcover) | ISBN 9781501132940 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Women journalists—Fiction. | Cruise ships—Fiction. | Psychological fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Suspense. | FICTION / Literary. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction.

Classification: LCC PR6123.A745 W66 2016 | DDC 823/.92—dc23

LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016007713

ISBN 978-1-5011-3293-3

ISBN 978-1-5011-3294-0 (ebook)