She put her head down and moved through the crowd to his table, where she slipped onto an uncomfortable bar stool and offered him a tight smile.

‘Babe, that was quick,’ he said, his eyes flicking back to the screen as a roar went up from the crowd.

She said nothing; instead, picked up the wine menu and pretended to read it. The bar was dark, the small, narrow windows near the ceiling the only source of natural light. The tiny strips of bright blue sky hurt her eyes and her heart. She shouldn’t be sitting in a bar; neither of them should be. They were in Norway! They should be outside in the bracing cold, exploring a foreign city together.

Swallowing hard, she slipped from the stool.

‘Get us another one, will you, babe?’ Tommy asked without even looking at her.

She walked the length of the long mahogany bar. It was brighter here, and there was a blast of cold air as someone entered. She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t stop to think. Throwing the wine menu on the bar top, she carried on walking, to the door, through it, and down the cobbled street back towards the Ruby Spirit.

Anna watched from the first deck as Paula traipsed back onto the ship. There was no sign of Tommy, and from up here, Paula seemed sad and dejected. But her hair! Anna narrowed her eyes. It looked… well, it looked great. Even better than before the bleaching incident.

She waited to see where Paula was headed, and when it became clear she was walking in the direction of the stairwell that would take her to her cabin, she nipped smartly into the corridor to wait for her. As the sound of footsteps started up, she began to walk down the hallway, reaching the door of the Expedition Suite just as Paula turned the corner.

‘Hey!’ she said, giving her best smile. ‘I was just about to knock for you, see if you wanted to grab a coffee.’

Paula offered a weak smile. Automatically her hand went to her head.

Still self-conscious, thought Anna with an internal sneer.

‘It’s looking… fine,’ she said hesitantly, fully aware that her tone was cautious, as though the hair was only a slight improvement on the mess it had previously been.

Paula’s face fell and she shrugged.

‘So, coffee?’ prompted Anna.

Paula hesitated, then nodded. ‘I’ll make us one, though, in my cabin. Is that okay?’ she asked.

Anna smiled. It was more than okay.

Inside, she took a seat by the doors that looked out over the port. This suite was almost the same as her own, a mirror image. Minus the corpse that sat behind the very spot where she was currently sitting. At least Mark was undisturbed; she’d checked on him before deciding she didn’t want to stay in the room with him.