Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

Then, the channel fell silent for several moments; Corey knew that whoever else was on the approaching ship must have been distrusting of him.

“Apologies.” Tanika eventually replied. “Excluding myself, there are seven passengers on board. Over.”

“My goodness, eight new souls!” Corey rejoiced, including Tanika in his count. “Allow me to prepare for your immediate arrival.” He threw his coffee away, causing it to splash onto the grass. “See you in five! Over and out.”

The S.S. Aquarius slowly pulled up at the dock. Corey assisted with reeling it in.

Once the ship was tightly secured, the passengers all began to disembark one by one.

Cora was the first to step off. Before she moved up the pier, she took a deep breath in and out purely to gather herself.

“Tanika!” Corey erroneously called out to her as he jogged down the pier.

“Uh… Not me, I’m afraid.” She amended.

But this didn’t change how Corey felt. He ceased jogging just ahead of her and held out his hand, “The name’s Corey. And you, little lady, are who exactly?”

She didn’t shake his hand but answered his question nevertheless, “Cora.”

“Well, what do you know? Corey and Cora!” He bantered with her, but she was not in a light-hearted mood.

Kieran was the next to step off of the boat, and instantly made his way towards Cora.

“Good evening there!” Corey tipped his hat to Kieran, who completely blanked him.

“Cora, hey,” he tapped her on the shoulder, “I’ve checked half-a-dozen times. Naomi definitely wasn’t on board. Tanika knows more than she’s letting on.”

Corey overheard this exchange. “Begging your pardon friends, but, what’s all this about a passenger of yours not being on board?”

Kieran nudged Cora, prompting the two to step out of earshot. His attention was quickly redirected upon seeing Richard and Mac disembark from the ship, carrying the unconscious Tanika by her arms and legs.

“What about Worm?” Cora asked Kieran.

He took a deep and grave breath. “That’s why I came rushing onto the deck asking for your friend; I think Worm’s dead and she killed him. There was blood on the railings.”

Cora laughed, “Are you serious?”

Kieran switched his rifle into fully automatic mode without breaking eye contact. “Deadly serious.”

She threw her hands up. “Nope. No way, no! Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t just throw around ridiculous accusations like that!”

Still, he didn’t look away from her. “If she’s innocent, then where is she?”

Cora looked over at the rest of the group; Richard and Mac were carrying Tanika still, whilst Corey pestered them, and Valorie had only just stepped off of the ship.

“Well?”

“Well… She’s still on board obviously.” Cora asserted.

“She did a pretty good job at hiding if I’m being honest. She was the one person I didn’t encounter once whilst I did the rounds. Why is that?” He tightened the grip on his rifle.

“Okay, stop.” Cora wrapped her hand around the rifle barrel and lightly pushed it back against Kieran’s side. “If you’re right, which I very much doubt, then at least let me do this my way. Aoife is my friend, and I won’t let you kill her irrespective of what she has or has not done.”

Kieran took a moment to think and then nodded. “Just remember, she’s probably not your ‘friend’.”

Cora dismissed this remark. “I’ll find her. She trusts me. You just focus on explaining our situation to… Whatever that guy’s name was.”

Again, Kieran nodded. “Don’t be a fool, Cora.” He forebodingly warned her.

With everybody else off of the ship, Cora headed back on board and loudly searched it; completely disregarding Kieran’s advice.

“Aoife?” She yelled out. “You still on board?”

The underdeck creaked as the ship lightly bobbed up and down from the waves outside.

First, she entered the nearest sports lounge, then she headed through the accommodation area which led her downstairs into the kitchen. If Kieran had really searched the entire ship, then where could Aoife possibly have been to avoid him?

She backtracked through the ship in case she had missed anything. Then, she came across an open door which led to the balcony where Aoife and Worm had previously been.

Cora remembered what Kieran had told her; “There was blood in the railings.”

Rolling her eyes, she stepped out onto the balcony and carefully examined the railings from left-to-right. “This is ridiculous.” She mumbled to herself.

But then, she saw something drip off from the underside of the railings farther right. Without thinking, she swiped the drippage with her index finger. Pulling it up to her eyes, she realised the liquid was red.

“It’s not how you think.” Aoife murmured from behind, startling Cora and prompting her to turn around. “Just hear me out.”

Cora looked at her ‘friend’ in disbelief. “Whose blood is this?”

Aoife swallowed hard, “Worm’s…”

Cora gasped, “So Kieran was right… You are the killer.”

“No!” She clenched her fists. “Worm was going to hurt me! What happened here was purely self-defence.”

But Cora was sceptical, “Why didn’t you come and get me?”

“I tried to! But you were on deck with the others! If I tried to get you away from them, people would begin to get suspicious and make the same assumption that you did.” Aoife guilt-tripped her.

Cora looked back at the railings and then pointed to them. “Where is his body?”

Aoife looked away shamefully.

“How…? How were you even physically able to lift him over the railings?”

Still, Aoife remained with her eyes to the floor.

Cora’s eyes softened, “What did you do to Naomi?”

Instantly, Aoife looked back up. “Nothing! I swear to you, Cora, whatever happened to Naomi, it had nothing to do with me!” Technically, she was both lying and being truthful at the same time. “Cora, I beg of you, don’t tell the others