Chapter 5

I walked through the corridors of the hospital. As I approached, I could tell something was wrong. Nurse Marie came to meet me. She told me the other nurses had heard raised voices coming from Will’s room. She insisted that it was important for Will to be calm but none of the nurses spoke enough English to intervene. I thanked them and continued to Will’s Room.

‘Well, have you boys been having a party while I’ve been gone?’

They both looked at me in surprise.

‘Just clearing the air a bit,’ said Tom. Will said nothing.

Tom got up to leave. He turned back to Will. ‘You’re wrong you know. –You think I’m ashamed of you, of what you do. I’m not. I’m proud, damned proud. I tell people that you did it all on your own, no help from anyone. I don’t like what you do, but I’m right proud of who you are.’

He looked at me. ‘I’ll see you later lass.’

He left and I looked back at Will. ‘What made you call him?’ he asked.

‘I needed a relative to give permission for any other procedures, and I couldn’t call Sam so I called him. Is it a problem?’

‘No I suppose not. It wears me out talking to him. I bet he’s been telling you what a problem child I was.’

‘No he hasn’t, he’s been telling me all about your achievements. I didn’t know you were a chess champion.’

‘Doesn’t mean much to most people. Certainly didn’t mean much to him.’

‘Well, it seems to now. He also told me about your sailing exploits. Did you know he saw you win at Cowes.’

‘He saw me racing Blow Job? Why didn’t he say something?’

‘He thought you might shun him in front of his friends. You won’t want to hear it but you and he have a lot in common.’

‘You’re right, I don’t want to hear it. Just talking about him wears me out’

‘Well at least here you can go to sleep.’

‘The way I feel I just might do that if you don’t mind.’

‘Feel free.’ I said and settled down in the chair.

I sat and watched as his eyes closed. In minutes, his breathing changed and I could tell he was asleep. I sat and read from some of the books Tom had bought. By the time Tom came back, I was checking out the business news on my laptop.

‘Any news on the boat?’ he asked.

‘She’s off the coast of Portugal, sticking to the original course.’

‘He hasn’t asked about his wife yet then?’

‘No, he’s still a bit confused. Finding you here threw him a bit. –I’m going to have to tell him something tomorrow. I just wish I knew what to tell him.’

‘Somehow lass, I get the feeling you’ll think of something.’

I gave him a kiss on the cheek and left him to it.

Samantha had come to realise that she was effectively a prisoner on the boat. Sleeping with Ryan had been fun back in Brighton, but that was before she knew he was a murderer. Now he made her skin crawl. It was all she could do, not to flinch when he touched her. She’d tried her best to keep out of his way but the boat was only so big. She’d even found herself cleaning and polishing, something she hadn’t done since she’d moved out of her parents’ home. Whenever she was alone she’d think of Will. Had she loved him? She thought so, she certainly loved being with him. She found herself talking to him even though she knew he’d never hear her.

‘Oh Will, why can’t you just be alive and save me from this? I should have followed you into the water, then we’d both be dead. Even that would be better than sharing a bed with him. If only I could find the courage to throw myself overboard.’

Ryan had kept himself busy during the days. He’d struggled to keep to Will’s schedule. The auto-helm kept them on course required, but it required constant sail adjustments to keep the speed up during the days. Of course, he didn’t have to stick to Will’s schedule but he felt it was important to make it look as if his employer was still on board. The time was approaching when he could report ‘man overboard’ Then he could relax a bit.

He was a bit worried about Samantha. He’d expected her to be pleased that they could now be together all the time, but she acted as if he’d done something wrong. She loved him she’d said as much. He made up his mind that it was actually seeing it happen that had upset her. If only she’d flown to Gibraltar, as planned, she would have run into his arms, seeking support and consolation. Once she’d got over the shock, she would see that he’d done what had to be done. She needed to be set free, so they could be together. She was a beautiful woman and she deserved more than he could give her. She was upset. He convinced himself it must be the shock. By the time they got to Gib she’d have got used to it then she’d appreciate what he’d done for her

Bee Jay had both surface and weather radar, and Ryan kept his eye on both. Surface radar showed no vessels within twenty miles, which made him smile. Weather radar showed an incoming squall, which made him even happier. This would be the night to report an accident. The power winches could raise and lower the sails, but to prevent damage they would need to be stowed. They were now carrying half sail. Bee Jay was a big boat and stow half her canvas took some time. Night was falling by the time he went below in search of Sam.

He found her down in the galley preparing food. Walking up behind her, he slipped his hands around her waist and felt her jump.

‘Sorry, you took me by surprise, sneaking up on me like that.’

She took both his hands in hers and pulled them around her so that he was hugging her.

‘There is a storm coming, it could be a rough night.’

‘Will we be alright?’

‘Oh Yeah, we’ll be fine. It might get a bit rough, but Bee Jay is a good boat she’ll keep us safe. –I think this is the night to report our loss.’

He felt her body shudder as he told her of his plan. They ate their meal in silence neither one able to find something to talk about. By ten that night the weather was getting wild. Ryan went on deck to use the Radio. Sam heard him calling Lisbon coast guard. He gave their position and reported an accident on board.

‘Man overboard. Repeat man overboard.’

‘Lisbon coastguard to Bee Jay II. Hold your position We will send assistance.’

‘Bee Jay II to Lisbon coastguard. Sorry, can’t do that we are under sail. I am also injured and in this weather, we are currently running on automatic navigation headed for Gibraltar. We don’t need assistance on board. Please organise a search for Mr Wainwright. Over.’

‘Lisbon coastguard to Bee Jay II. Is man overboard wearing a life jacket? Over’

‘Bee Jay II to Lisbon coastguard. Sorry, can’t answer that. We were in bed when the squall struck. I don’t know if he donned a life jacket or not. Over.’

‘Lisbon coastguard to Bee Jay II. OK Bee Jay continue on your present course, we will notify all shipping to be on the lookout and mobilise the search helicopter. Over.’

‘Thank you Lisbon coastguard. Over and out.’

Sam was in bed when he went back down. She was curled up in the foetal position and appeared to be asleep. He undressed and climbed in behind her.

Tom Wainwright sat at his son’s bedside reading the books of poetry that he’d bought to read to aloud. He’d slept a bit but Will’s sleep had been restless and that had kept him awake. He’d also been reading about the problems that might lay ahead of Will. He knew that his cognitive capabilities seemed OK, well good enough to hold an argument. He’d read about people who’d made a complete recovery, but also found others who’d ended up like stroke victims. If determination had anything to do with it, Will would recover.

There was some movement in the bed and Tom turned to see his son open his eyes.

‘Are you still here?’

‘I thought I told you yesterday, I’ll be here as long as you need me. That lass of yours can’t do everything on her own. She tried bloody hard but it was killing her. I could see it.’

‘She’s not my lass, as you call her. She works for me. She’s my PA and a damned good one. Where is Sam shouldn’t she be here?’

‘Have it your own way lad. –Yes, your wife should be here, I don’t rightly know where she is right now. Maybe young Stephanie knows more.’

Tom thought it wise to change the subject. ‘You had a bit of a restless night.’

‘Yeah, I had a few weird dreams, at least I think they were dreams. They seemed so real. I was in the ocean and Bee Jay was sailing away. I tried to call out but they couldn’t hear me. They just kept sailing away.’

‘I hope you’re not expecting me to interpret that. I’m just an engineer son.’

‘Then there was the shark. Bloody enormous it was. Just swimming around. I was bleeding and there was a shark swimming around me. I was shit scared. Really I was.’

‘Aye well, I expect most people would be.’

‘Then there was the woman. That’s the really weird bit. She was standing there wearing just a bikini. I tell you Dad, she really did fill that bikini to perfection. I felt like I knew her but I couldn’t seem to see her face.’

‘Perhaps it was Sam.’

‘No. Sam’s not built like that. Don’t get me wrong Sam looks gorgeous but this girl was bigger, you know? Not fat, shapely. Besides Sam is blonde, the mystery woman had dark hair.’

Tom smiled to himself. ‘You know son sometimes you see someone every day yet when you see them out of their normal place you don’t recognise them.’

‘Ah well, this one had a unique ability. All I have to do is check out all the brunettes I know and see which one can walk on water. – I told you it was weird.’

‘The sun was strong and glistening off the waves when she walked out of the sun towards me. That bloody shark was swimming around and I was trying to keep still when she came stepping through the waves. I tried to tell her about the shark but she just kept walking toward me. She bent down and just pulled me from the water. The next thing I know I’m lying in a bed with the same woman. She had her arms and legs wrapped around me. No sex or anything she just held me. What happened to me Dad? How did I get here.’

‘We don’t know exactly. We were hoping you might remember. All I know is that young Stephanie and her friend found you floating in the ocean with a bad head injury. They rushed you here in some rich bloke’s gin palace.’

‘Was anyone else in the water?’

‘No Son, just you. If anyone else went overboard, then I’m afraid we’ve lost them’

Two nurses came into the room. One, nurse Marie Francorchamps, Spoke English to them.

‘Now M’seiur Wainwright. We are going to sit you up so that you can wash yourself. Then we change the sheets.’ She turned to Tom. ‘Would you please leave us M’seiur. You may return in thirty minutes.’

I all but ran into Tom as he left the room.

‘Morning wash and sheet change, ‘ He said. ‘We are to come back in half an hour.’

‘That’s good we need to talk. Something has happened. Let’s go and have breakfast.’

Over croissants and coffee, we discussed the morning’s developments.

‘So lass, are they just looking for one person? Only he’s been asking about Samantha.’

‘The search is just for Will. Millionaire businessman they are calling him on the news. There was no mention of Samantha so we must assume that she is OK. The interesting thing is that the search area is off the coast of Portugal Hundreds of miles away from where he went into the water.’

‘Trying to make sure they don’t find anything, lass. It doesn’t look good, does it? –So what do you want to do then?’