It is a quiet morning at the Portomaso marina in St Julian’s. Shops and businesses, some aimed at the wealthy, are slowly opening their doors.

Several tourists stroll around the picturesque semi-circular marina, watching crews clean and carry out maintenance on some of the dozens of yachts moored there. Their eyes linger a little longer on a large black boat named Gio.

That’s because standing beside it, is a security guard. He eyes them suspiciously trying to figure out if they are members of the press trying to get a closer look at what he has been asked to protect.

The tourists walk on, more than likely unaware of the yacht’s significance in a murder investigation that is being watched around the world.

On Wednesday morning, the multi-million euro vessel was intercepted by the Armed Forces of Malta on its way to Italy. Onboard was millionaire businessman Yorgen Fenech. He was arrested and brought back to Malta for questioning by police in connection with the death of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was brutally assassinated in 2017 when a bomb was placed under her car.

At a café in Portomaso, I ask my Serbian waiter if he’s witnessed any of the drama that has unfolded in plain view of his workplace this week, including a search of the yacht on Thursday evening by investigators and members of Europol.

“Police blocked off the stairs leading down the marina so not a lot of people could get in,” he tells me.

How have they not been able to catch anyone who caused her death?

Was that bad for business?”

“No,” he shrugs. “I get paid either way.”

Two customers – sitting at two separate tables – overhear our conversation and ask what’s been going on. We explain the events of the past few days as simply as we can. Both are in shock and quite excitable at the idea that they suddenly have a bird’s eye view of a scene that just 24 hours before was being flashed around the world.

One of the customers, a man from Cleveland, instantly starts looking up the story on his phone. “Wow! Is it the journalist who was killed in 2017?” he asks.

The former basketball player gets up from his table and snaps a photo of the yacht.

“I was wondering why the security guard was looking at me strangely when I walked by earlier,” he tells us before joining me and the waiter.

A quiet German man in his 80s asks me a question.

“How have they not been able to catch anyone who caused her death? Malta is such a small place. Surely, they must know who’s done it. It’s not like it’s New York or a bigger country where a person can just disappear,” he says.

The men ask how Mr Fenech made his money. I understand that a complex answer explaining the inner workings of his business ties to companies like the Tumas Group might drag down the exciting narrative they were already planning to tell their friends about later.

So, I attempt to keep it short. But it doesn’t matter as they quickly move on to contemplating how much his yacht is worth, settling on a guesstimate of around €20 million.

After I pay the bill and say goodbye to my waiter and fellow coffee-drinkers, I get a text from a journalist friend in London who has been following the story for a Canadian TV station all week.

“Any update today?” he asks.

“All quiet for now,” I reply, sending him a photo of the large black yacht sitting in the marina like a naughty child.

“Hello Gio,” he says, before adding: “At least the weather is nice.”