Chapter 5 - THE CREW LIST
The official Morning Star crew list contained eleven names.
Captain Elias Dunn.
Engineer Samuel Price.
Three deckhands.
Two mechanics.
Cook.
Radio operator.
Ambrose Vale.
Research assistant Clara Finch.
All missing.
Then Professor Bell noticed something.
A twelfth ration account.
Food issued for twelve people.
But only eleven listed.
Someone had been aboard unofficially.
Eliza searched the ship.
Not for treasure now.
For evidence.
Behind a false panel in the captain’s cabin, she found a damaged photograph.
Ambrose Vale.
Captain Dunn.
Clara Finch.
And a fourth man.
Young.
Dark-haired.
Familiar.
Charles Vale.
He had been on the ship.
Not according to the manifest.
But there.
Eliza took the photograph to Sheriff Beck.
Charles was questioned.
He admitted boarding before departure.
Claimed he left before the ship sailed.
Then Eliza found something else.
A torn page from the engine log.
Handwriting:
C. Vale aboard after midnight. Argument with Dr. Vale. Captain ordered him ashore.
No confirmation he left.
Charles’s story weakened.
Still, no bodies.
No murder weapon.
No proof.
Then a survivor appeared.
Clara Finch.
May you like
Alive.
Living under another name in Maine.
