Chapter 7

After the talk with Dr Montand, I started work on getting Will back to Britain. Chartering a private plane to fly him home was the easy part. In order to get him back into the country, he needed his passport, which at that moment was sitting in the safe on board Bee Jay II. In an ideal world, a few phone calls would have done the job but that doesn’t allow for the machinations of the British Home Office. For them, nothing less than a declaration that the old passport had been lost or stolen would do. This had to be accompanied by an application for a new passport, two photographs and, of course, the fee. It took twenty minutes to charter the plane and two days to get the passport. Sometime during that two days word got out that Will was alive

Will made good progress in those two days. He still could not control his left leg but he was managing to get around on crutches. When we left the hospital with Will in a wheelchair, a hoard of reporters and cameramen confronted us, all shouting questions at Will. I stepped forward and gave them a statement which I hoped would satisfy them.

‘Mr Wainwright was involved in a serious sailing accident and sustained a severe head injury. He was lucky enough to be rescued and brought here. He would like to thank the doctors and all the staff of the hospital for the excellent work they’ve done for him. For now, he is just concentrating on getting home and starting his physiotherapy.’

If I thought that would calm things down, I was wrong. They still crowded us making it difficult to get to the taxi. Tom was trying to force a way through them. When he found a TV reporter and his cameraman standing between the taxi and us, he had a quiet word with him.

‘Look arsehole, perhaps you didn’t hear, but my boy has had a serious injury and he doesn’t need you pushing microphones and cameras in his face. Now one of two things is going to happen here. Either you gentlemen are going to step aside or your friends are going to get some excellent footage of me shoving his camera up your arse.’

I looked down to see Will smiling as his sixty-year-old father threatened two men who were twenty years his junior. When the two men stepped aside and the cameraman opened the taxi door, neither of us could believe it. Tom and I, got Will into the taxi. As we all sat down Tom looked out of the window.

‘Bloody Vultures. ‘ He said referring to the pressmen.

Will put his hand on his father’s arm. ‘I’m beginning to see you in a new light. I often wondered how you managed to build up that business. You’re a hardnosed old bastard aren’t you?’

‘I just did what had to be done, lad.’

I looked at the two of them and laughed. ‘Seems to me, that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.’

I expected Will to dispute what I’d said but he didn’t he just laughed.

Ryan had only been gone for twenty minutes when Samantha heard someone calling. She went out on deck to find Inspector Garcia of the Gibraltar constabulary asking to come aboard.

‘I’d like to talk to you about your husband’s disappearance, Mrs Wainwright.’

Sam welcomed him aboard and started to tell the story Ryan had given her. She found it difficult and frequently burst into tears. Inspector Garcia was a patient man and let her tell the story at her own speed. She’d expected the inspector to listen to her story and leave, she surprised when he started to ask her questions.

‘Did Mr Wainwright have any money worries at all?’

‘No, not that I know of. I mean look around you inspector. Does this look like the boat of a man with money worries?’

‘You never can tell Mrs Wainwright, things change very rapidly in the business world, but thank you for the invitation I would like to look around. Helps me get to know the man.--Now how about the two of you? You getting on alright are you.’

‘Yes, of course. What are you implying? It was an accident.’

‘I’m sure it was, but no one saw it happen. I have to investigate all possibilities. When an experienced sailor, like Mr Wainwright, goes overboard and disappears without a trace, we have to ask questions. –Now if I could just have a look around?’

Samantha showed him around the boat. The inspector told her he was not a nautical man himself but still seemed very interested. He asked to see where Ryan slept and she showed him the crew’s cabin.

‘How many crew do you normally need for a boat this size?

‘It’s possible to sail her single handed. Everything is computer controlled. Will doesn’t think that is safe so he likes at least two. He loves to sail her, which is why we didn’t hire a crew in Britain. I was supposed to fly on ahead and he’d sail Bee Jay here then hand her over to the crew so we could just relax and enjoy each other’s company.’

‘Why the change of plan?’

‘Will had been away for a long time, I just wanted to be with him as much as possible.’

‘What about Mr Betts, Ryan? Did he and Mr Wainwright get on?’

‘Yes, I think so. They had something in common, they both hated their father’s’

‘And why is that Mrs Wainwright?’

‘I don’t know about Will inspector, he would never talk about it. I know Ryan was a bit wild, hung around with the wrong crowd. His father more or less disowned him. His father runs the boatyard that looks after Bee Jay. Will offered him a job as the only permanent crewmember, on the condition that he kept his nose clean.’

‘Mrs Wainwright, several times you’ve talked about your husband in the present tense, do you think he is still alive?’

Samantha burst into tears again, through the sobs, she tried to answer the question.

‘I have to hope inspector. I know the odds are against it. No one has found him and the sea is so cold, but I have to hope.’

The inspector took her hand in his. ‘Of course, you do my dear. I’m sorry to have upset you.’

He got up to leave, then turned back to Samantha. ‘We are going to have to get Scene of Crime officers down here to go over the boat, just for the inquest you understand.’