Maisel followed the crewmember to the Promenade deck's port railing and saw the problem. A lifeboat was swinging precariously from its davits, half-detached from the ship, the ropes holding it in place unraveling as it teetered above the churning sea.

Crew members, voices sharp over the wind, scrambled to secure it.

"Everyone, please get back!" Captain Anders said, his voice calm but firm, carrying easily over the murmuring crowd without the need to raise it. The passengers instinctively obeyed, stepping back as crew members rushed to secure the lifeboat.

As the crowd surged backward, Maisel got a good look of the situation. She'd spent her career in theatre, in front of the curtain as well as behind. She'd seen more than her fair share of ropes while working with the stage's fly rail system and it had trained her to recognize the difference between natural wear and something more deliberate. The rope that was supposed to lash the lifeboat's bow to the davit wasn't frayed at all. It was cut.

Maisel followed the crowd and watched as the Pearl's capable crew reigned in the wayward lifeboat and secured it to a temporary home upon the deck.

Nearby, Cassandra watched the scene unfold, accompanied by two men. One of them was too well dressed for a luxury cruise. Mark Caldwell, Majestic Voyages' CFO, was not as skilled as the CEO at hiding his thoughts. He practically vibrated with tension as he watched. The other man, Jonathan Henry, was dressed much more casually--almost too casually, as if he were compensating for the CFO's attire. From what Maisel had learned, Jonathan was the CEO of Majestic Voyage's biggest competitor and at one point was Cassandra's protege. Now, he was something of a frenemy.

Richard Lockwood and his much-too-young-for-him guest strolled back to the festivities.

The young woman leaned into Richard, her voice not as low as she thought. “This won't be the one you get, will it?"

Richard smirked, eyes flicking toward Cassandra. “Don't worry. I’ll make sure I get the best one.”

Cassandra, who had clearly heard the remark, didn’t react.

The crew gave Cassandra and her two companions a wide berth. Once the lifeboat was dealt with, Captain Anders approached his boss.

"Mrs. Lockwood, I apologize for the interruption to the night's celebration."

Cassandra waved off his apology. "It's a working vessel, Captain. These things will happen. It's just bad luck that it happened on this voyage."

"Bad luck?" Mark spluttered. "Cassandra, we can't afford bad luck this weekend. All eyes are on us for the anniversary cruise, and with the stock prices as they are and the bad publicity surrounding the divorce..."

Mark trailed off under Cassandra's icy stare.

"Still... with so many investors and shareholders present, we should--"

"Not now, Mark," Cassandra interrupted, her attention already shifting to someone else. Mark stood there for a moment, his jaw tightening, before turning on his heel and stalking off in the opposite direction, leaving Jonathan Henry standing on his own. The rival CEO hid a grin behind a cocktail and strolled back into the banquet hall.

Most of the passengers had similarly returned to the festivities, except for one beautiful woman with dark brown skin with blue eyes. Violetta was a Tiktok travel influencer with quite the following. With her back to the open sea, Violetta spoke into her cell phone's camera.

"You tell me, fam. Is Majestic Voyage's 200th cruise an event of a lifetime... or will it be an homage to the Titanic?" She made kissing noises and then the small screen went black.

"The Titanic?" Maisel couldn't help but ask. "Isn't that a little dramatic for one wayward dinghy?"

The woman's megawatt smile nearly gave Maisel a sunburn. She shrugged. "Whatever gets the views, hashtag amiright?"

She didn't know what most of that meant, but theatrics was something she appreciated.

Maisel made her way toward Captain Anders and nearly bumped into an unassuming brunette.

"I'm sorry--I didn't see you there, dear."

The mousy woman's attention was on something or someone within the banquet hall, though Maisel couldn't see from her vantage point. She eventually turned and looked at Maisel with wide eyes. "It's okay. No one ever does." Before Maisel could respond, the woman turned back toward the banquet hall and disappeared into the crowd.

Shaking her head, Maisel turned to find the captain, who wore a weary look of someone who had seen his fair share of problems at sea.

"Captain," she began, but he interrupted her.

"Everything is fine, ma'am. I assure you the ship is in perfect condition."

Maisel's hackles rose at the dreaded "ma'am," but she moved past it. "Is it? Fine, I mean."

The captain turned to her and she could tell he already knew what she was about to tell him. She lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear.

"This wasn't an accident."

He studied her for a long moment before glancing at the rope still hanging from the davit. His jaw tightened. “We don't know that for sure. But please keep this to yourself,” he implored. “I'll report the incident to Frontex and they'll send someone to investigate."

Captain Anders didn't say it, but Maisel heard the unspoken "eventually" in that statement. Her eyes drifted to the loose rope swaying in the strong ocean breeze.

"Can I count on you?" the captain asked.

A thrill shot through her and she struggled to keep the grin off her face. Finally... something interesting was happening!

The captain was asking her to keep her suspicions to herself, but the question she answered was Will you help me figure out what's going on aboard my ship?

"Absolutely."

Something fishy is going on aboard the Majestic Pearl. Can you help uncover what happened? Check your inbox tomorrow to dive deeper into the mystery.

**Note: you can expect the email to show up at the same time of day tomorrow.