PROLOGUE

Lawrence Drayton, a thirty-year-old free spirited, independent journalist. Born in Manchester England had moved to the United States in search of the story that would give him the opportunity to stand out from the crowd as a successful journalist.

The mystery of the cruise ship the Caribbean Queen captured his attention. For the last ten years, the Caribbean Queen headlined the newspapers with the mystery surrounding the sudden decision of Horizons Corporation to scrap the six-month-old multimillion dollar luxury ocean liner. And yet, ten years later the Caribbean Queen is still docked in a secluded area in Norfolk under military protection.
Mysteriously, after the ship returned, everyone on board the Caribbean Queen died or disappeared. There were only a few still alive, among them, the forty-year-old Marsha Johansen.
Marsha Johansen was always friendly and courteous, but after her honeymoon on board the Caribbean Queen, she became the subject of discussions in the village of Alpine. There were many questions about her wedding to Jacob Lorne, and why she had returned without her husband.
Some speculated that she killed him, others that he never existed, and her wedding it was just one of her dreams. Yes, there were pictures, but no one had ever seen Jacob, nor even heard of in the village of Alpine, where Marsha lived most of her life.
So, who was the mysterious Jacob? Did he ever exist, or was he just an imaginary lover? Nobody had ever seen him, and nobody reported him missing, not even his wife Marsha. However, the company which owned the Caribbean Queen, Horizons Corporation, had records of a dancer named Jacob Lorne.
Lawrence discovered that Jacob was a thirty-year-old bachelor. A wealthy and eccentric real estate owner, who was amusing himself by being a performer, and that’s how he met Marsha. On board the ship Caribbean Star, during a cruise in the Bahamas. They got married a few months later.
After their marriage, Horizons Corporation offered him a job at their newly built Caribbean Queen and as a wedding present, two weeks in the Bahamas. Jacob was scheduled to begin performing after his honeymoon. Strangely enough, Horizons Corporation did not report him missing or fired. In fact, Jacob Lorne was still on Horizon’s payroll.
Jacob’s attorneys and the management company responsible for Jacob’s rental properties were not surprised by the disappearance. They said that it wasn’t unusual for him to disappear for long periods of time. He contacts them only if there’s a problem with the monthly deposits.