The investigation would later clear Tokikichi Matsuda and his crew of any wrong-doing. The logs of the Orchid Bloom showed very clearly that the GPS appeared to be functioning properly at the time of the incident despite being out of position. The GPS was returned to the manufacturer, and a Notice To Seamen was issued, along with a recall.

  No one ever discovered why it had malfunctioned as it had.

  The wreckage of the Mrs. Dilligaf was never recovered, nor were any bodies save for one. Tomas Escobedo washed up on the shores of Mexico two weeks later, water-logged and decayed past the point of recognition. The locals who found the body assumed–rightly–that it was a victim of Cartel violence and buried it in an unmarked grave at the edge of their village.

  The captain of the Roberta, having witnessed the entire incident from afar, returned to Mexico and made his report in person to the Jefe of the cartel. He was rewarded with a small bag of money and a somewhat larger bag of cocaine, of which he was known to partake on occasion. The cartel jefe mourned the loss of over two dozen good soldiers, but acknowledged that there was nothing that could have been done. The car carrier had run them over and buried them in the ocean just as surely as it had the Americanos. He replaced them with young toughs from the local villages under his control, chalked it up to experience, and moved on.

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  The extended family of Matthew and Alejandra Albright mourned for months the loss of their family. A joint funeral and memorial was held for them all, and empty coffins were buried in the family plot in Long Beach. The parents of Dinah came to the service, and found solace in sharing the heartbreak with the Albright family. They would become lifelong friends, bonding over shared tragedy. Dinah’s coffin would be buried next to Olivia’s. They would all return once a year to lay flowers on the graves of their family members.

  And the world continued on.

  See y'all tomorrow!