Even Sandra Waters seemed impressed as she strolled, the camera following her, along the decks of the Jihan. “She measures three hundred feet from stem to stern,” Sandra said. “The price tag? Forty million dollars. Another thirty million for decorating. Put it all together and you have what may be the most luxurious private vessel the world has ever seen—a floating pleasure palace with its own movie theater and film library, a beauty salon, and a helicopter landing pad.”

File footage showed the yacht at sea. ‘‘With fifty luxury cabins and a crew of sixty, the Jihan can cruise eighty-five hundred miles—once across the Pacific and twice across the Atlantic—without refueling. Her converters produce almost ten thousand gallons of fresh water a day from seawater. Her six king-size refrigerators carry a three-month supply of food.”

The video returned to Sandra, entering a cabin. ‘‘But perhaps the most dramatic features of this vessel,” she said with the enthusiasm of a real estate agent, “are the bathrooms. This one,” she pointed out, “shaped like a scallop shell, is carved and polished from a single block of onyx. The fixtures are twenty-four-karat gold. And this one,” she continued after a jump cut, “features a huge white onyx bathtub, Chinese jade fixtures, and its own twin waterfalls.”

Waters opened the door of an even more extravagant suite. “Here we have an elmwood latticework ceiling and electronically operated secret doors. A hot tub. Eight-foot circular bed. A salon that replicates a suite at the Plaza Athenee. And more and more and more. It all belongs to this man, the owner of this humble little vessel—Malik Badir.”

“Good evening, Sandra,” Malik said a bit self-consciously, rising to greet his interviewer. “Welcome aboard the Jihan.”

Maybe it was the lighting, but to Jenna, he looked tired, dark shadows under his eyes. Yet, there was still the familiar smile, the well-remembered swagger, as he answered Waters’s questions.

“You launched the Jihan a year ago. I’ve heard that the christening party lasted a full week. True?”

“Oh, yes. In fact, I’m not sure that some of the guests aren’t still here.” “And your date for the party was—”

“Yes.” There was no need to mention the name of the recently divorced and very famous film star Malik had been seeing at the time; everyone watching knew the story.

“Are you two still …”

“Oh, we see each other often. We’re friends—maybe best friends.” “But you have other … friends.”

Malik smiled. “Thank God it’s not against the law to enjoy the company of beautiful women. Otherwise, I could be arrested for this visit with you, Sandra.”

Sandra Waters positively simpered before catching herself. “But there’s no one special person in your life?”