REPORTER: It was nearly a year ago that Jason Lambert’s Galaxy yacht sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, fifty miles off the coast of Cape Verde. Today, a report from the Caribbean island of Montserrat, some two thousand nautical miles away, claims a life raft from the Galaxy washed up on its shores.The raft itself was empty, but marine experts hired by Sextant Capital are examining it for clues as to who might have been in it, and whether it offers any information on what happened to the Galaxy that night.

Forty-four people were believed lost in that tragedy, including world leaders in politics, business, the arts, and technology. Today’s discovery has already renewed calls for a search of the waters where the Galaxy went down. Earlier attempts were blocked by Lambert’s firm, Sextant Capital, which called it “a fruitless endeavor that would only lead to more heartache.” There were also disputes over who held control of those international waters. It is unclear how today’s developments might change that.

ANCHOR: Tyler, do we know how the raft was discovered, or by whom?

REPORTER: Not at this time. Police will only say it was spotted on the north shore by someone who was on the beach.

ANCHOR: And what are the chances that a raft could make it all that way across the ocean?

REPORTER: Hard to say. One expert we spoke with said it was extremely unlikely, but that a raft’s chances were still much better than those of anyone who’d been inside it.

Sea

Death.

Two left now, Annabelle . . .

So much has happened. I wish—

Dear Annabelle . . .

Goodbye, Annabelle . . .

God is small

Land

“What do you want me to do, Lenny? I can’t make him appear out of thin air!”

LeFleur banged down the phone. Three days with no sign of Rom. I should have locked him in a damn motel. Reporters were clamoring for “the man who found the raft.” Short of that, they were swarming LeFleur. A few of them waited at his office every morning.

Sprague had been right about one thing. The interest in this story was crazy. In addition to a former American president and some big tech billionaires who were on the guest list, a rock band, a couple of famous actors, and a TV reporter had also died on the Galaxy. They’d all had fans and followers—rabid followers, LeFleur realized, based on the endless phone calls, social media posts, and shouted questions from the press, whose presence on the island increased every day.

LeFleur and his staff had spent many hours combing and recombing the other north-shore beaches for signs of anything else from the Galaxy—Sprague’s idea, strictly for show. What did they think? Because a raft miraculously made its way across the Atlantic, the rest of the boat would follow?