Far Country (38 page)

           
“Picnic,” David replied

           
“Picnic?” Beth repeated blankly.

           
“I thought I’d surprise you. Take a picnic lunch.  Anchor by one the
islands, and swim, maybe do a little fishing. It’s a beautiful day.”

           
Beth smiled in surprised confusion. She had been braced for a confrontation
between the two men, and she was regretting slipping out with Steve to go
diving. With David standing only a few feet from Steve on the same boat, it had
seemed like a profoundly stupid decision. Yet, while David wasn’t exactly being
pleasant, he seemed calm enough…perhaps when he had come to this morning and
found her gone, he had realized she needed more than an angry drunken boyfriend
in her bed. A small glimmer of hope blossomed in her and Beth’s eyes lit up in
cautious pleasure, wanting to believe that he was coming out of his dark mood
of the past two weeks. “That sounds wonderful, David,” she said
sincerely.  “If you follow us back to the Marina so I can drop Steve off…”

           
“Not necessary, Beth,” David cut in. “Steve can take the cruiser back to the
Marina, can’t you, Steve? Or did you hit your head when you fell off your
mountain and forget how to pilot a boat?”

           
David’s sarcasm set Steve’s teeth on edge. He struggled not to respond to the
baiting.  “I can pilot the boat,” he replied evenly.

           
“You see?” David told Beth. “We can head out from here. Steve says he is
perfectly capable of piloting the boat.”

           
Beth looked at Steve uncertainly.

           
“Go ahead, if you’d like,” he reassured her, thinking it best to humor David.
He was also aware that his self control was waning rapidly. Too much longer in
this tiny boat and things were going to end badly! “I can take the
Pearl
in, no problem.  You two go enjoy the afternoon.”            

           
Beth nodded in agreement, a pleased smile on her face, but Steve got the
impression that this was not the sort of surprise that she was accustomed to
when it came to her relationship with David. Still wearing a bemused
expression, she went into David’s arms and kissed him.  Steve looked away,
studying the other boat. The Mardi Gras III.  Quite a party boat.

           
“Nice,” he acknowledged to David with a nod. “Where’d you get that?”

           
David looked at Steve with a cool smile. “Friend of my father’s let me borrow
it today.”

           
“Good friend,” Steve said.

           
David didn’t bother to reply. “Let’s go, then,” he told Beth. We’re wasting
daylight.”

           
Awkwardly Beth glanced at Steve.  “Thanks, Steve, for taking back the
cruiser. Just give the key to George when you get back, and if I don’t make it
to Bible Study tomorrow, good luck and be safe.”

           
 Steve nodded. “Thanks, Beth. You too.” 

           
Beth and David lowered themselves over the side of the cruiser and swam to the
Mardi Gras III.  Steve watched and waved as David started the motor and
took a northerly heading.  As the boat disappeared, Steve relaxed
slightly, but not entirely.  It was true they had avoided an ugly scene,
but there was something fishy about the whole picnic story, Steve thought. Why
would David have followed them all the way out here, unless he suspected them
of sneaking out behind his back…but surely the fact that they were making an
innocent diving trip was self evident?

           
Still, Steve mused, David would not be pleased to find Beth with him under any
circumstances. Therefore, his calm demeanor today was almost more
unnerving.  Steve supposed there was another possibility…Perhaps David had
decided that staying in touch with Gracie was more important than continuing
his war with Steve? 
What a relief that would be!

           
The Mardi Gras III was only a tiny spec in the distance when Steve shook
himself out of his contemplation and licked his lips, thirsty after so much
time in the salt water.  He needed a drink! Steve dropped down the hatch
to the tiny galley where Beth’s even tinier refrigerator was stocked with water
bottles. His eyes widened suddenly, taking in  the condition of the cabin
as David would have seen it when he came below earlier.

           
George’s bed was a mess of tangled sheets.  Steve hadn’t paid any
attention when he’d come down earlier to get Beth a bottle of water, but someone
like David, someone who didn’t know that George often slept on the cruiser,
would look at that bed and think…Steve walked over and picked a little black
bra up from the floor. George didn’t always sleep alone, apparently.

           
Steve felt sick. He recalled David’s offhand comment about cleaning up the
cabin…he’d been down here, but he hadn’t cleaned up anything! David had seen
all of this, and David would believe the worst.

           
Beth!
  Beth was alone with David. Water bottle forgotten, Steve
hurried topside, determined to follow them. He didn’t know what he would do
when he caught up to them, but in his gut he knew he could not leave Beth alone
with David!

           
He reached for the ignition key under the seat cushion where Beth always placed
it when they dove alone, and swore in thwarted frustration. The key was
missing! He searched under all the seat cushions and on the deck of the little
cruiser, but he did not expect to find it.  If he hadn’t thrown them
overboard, they were undoubtedly in David’s pocket, effectively stranding Steve
until somebody came along to tow him to shore.

           
Steve threw a life preserver across the deck in frustration.  There must
be something he could do..! Maybe he could raise somebody on the radio….he
dropped back down the hatch to the cabin, but he was not particularly surprised
to find that the mike chord had been ripped from the radio.  Still, he
might be able to splice the chords together…a minute later he discovered the
mike in a corner of the cabin, crushed by a determined boot heel.  The
bare wires dangled mockingly before him. It would be hours now before he could
hope to be rescued, let alone find Beth.

           
At a loss as to what to do next, Steve stared numbly at the huge blue expanse
of the Atlantic
Oce
an.  He wasn’t particularly
worried for his own safety for now.  Odds were good that he’d be
discovered by the coast guard eventually. If nothing else, George would sound
the alarm when they didn’t return his bed this evening – assuming he hadn’t
gone home with the owner of the lacy black bra.

           
His real concern was for Beth. What would David do, if he truly thought that he
and Beth were lovers? Steve remembered how roughly David had manhandled Deborah
in the presence of three fellow rangers – who would be there to protect Beth?

           
Steve ground his teeth in frustration, a habit he had given up months
before.  David knew perfectly well that Steve would be sitting on the dead
boat worrying about Beth.  Steve knew it was all part of David’s revenge
for a perceived wrong, but that did not make the helplessness of his situation
any easier to take. Would David control his temper? Or would he strike out at
Beth in a cold rage, as he had at Steve at Hanging Rock?

           
Defeated, Steve slumped onto the deck.  He leaned his head against the
cabin door and squinted at the sky. The sun was directly overhead.  Steve
groaned.  It was only noon, This was going to be an endless day.

           
“Steve! Steve, wake up!”

           
Someone was shaking him.  Steve squinted up at his rescuer with some
surprise. “George?” He asked dubiously, unable to understand how the kid had
gotten on board the
Pearl
.  Steve shook himself to clear away the
cobwebs, and then he blinked a couple of times at his surroundings. It hadn’t
been a dream. He was still in the middle of the vast empty sea.

           
Steve accepted George’s hand, and got stiffly to his feet, flexing his
muscles.  He must have been asleep for
sometime
.
“How’d you get here?” he asked, rubbing his sore neck, and wincing in pain as
he realized he was sunburned on most of the exposed parts of his body.

           
George jerked his head toward the lea ward side of the cruiser. “Borrowed a
skiff from one of the weekenders, figured they wouldn’t miss it until
Friday."

           
Steve grinned tiredly.  “You don’t know how glad I am to see you. How’d
you know to come?”

           
“Well, you weren’t back by two, so I started to get worried.  I couldn’t
raise anybody on the radio, and I didn’t like how that boyfriend of hers was
acting when I told him you two were out on a dive. He kind of worries me.”

           
George peered around. “Where’s Beth? Is she sleeping in the cabin?”

           
Steve’s temporary smile of relief faded abruptly. He sighed gloomily.  “I
don’t know where she is,” he told George.  “David showed up out here just
as we were finishing up the dive, and told her he’d packed a picnic lunch and
wanted to spend the afternoon swimming and hanging out.  I was supposed to
bring the cruiser back to the marina. They took off on a fancy party boat,
heading north.”

           
“So why are you still here? Engine trouble?” George asked with a frown that had
gotten blacker as Steve told his tale.

           
Steve shrugged and held out his hands.  “No keys. I think David took them,
or maybe threw them overboard so I wouldn’t follow them. He tore up the radio
too.”

           
George’s frown deepened even further. “Why would he do that, though? Beth is
gonna
be furious when she finds out what he did!”

           
Steve cocked his head at George.  “Did David know that you sleep on the
Pearl
?”

           
George shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not unless Beth told him. I’ve been
keeping my distance since he’s been staying at the house.”

           
Steve raised an eyebrow at this new piece of information. If it was true, then
David would be even more incensed by what he
ad
seen
in the cabin. He nodded gloomily.  “I think while he was waiting for us to
surface, he saw your bed, and some rather racy underwear tossed on the
floor.  I’m pretty sure he thinks Beth and I were exploring more than old
wrecks today. I’m kind of worried for her, George.”

           
George’s face paled. “Got any idea where he took her?”

           
Steve shook his head.  “They headed north, that’s all I know.”

           
George nodded. “Okay then.”  He dropped through the hatch and reappeared a
couple minutes later. He tossed Steven a jar of aloe gel and a couple of bottles
of water. “Drink ‘
em
both,” he instructed Steve.
“You’ve got a pretty good sunburn from sleeping out here, and you’re
dehydrated.” 

           
George had a third bottle for himself, and something else in his hand. 

           
“What’s that?” Steve asked frowning.

           
George held up his hand.  “Spare key.”  George grinned at Steve’s
dumbfounded expression. “Don’t worry, you could have looked for two hours and
never have found it. I keep it down in the bilge.”  He inserted the key in
the ignition.  “Let’s hope that David’s mischief making didn’t extend to
messing with the engine, too,” George
muttered.            He
turned the key and the motor rumbled to life.  George’s face relaxed. 

           
"Can you secure the skiff to the
Pearl
for me?" He asked
Steve.

Steve  found a tow rope
and attached it to both boats. He pulled up the anchor, and jumped back aboard
the
Pearl
.

           
 "All set," he confirmed to George, who gently pushed up the
throttle and took the boat in a slow arc, the skiff bobbing behind.

           
As they set off, Steve rubbed handfuls of the cooling gel onto his arms and
face, but he paused  suddenly and frowned as he saw their new heading.
“Where are you going?” He asked.

           
“Back to the marina,” George replied shortly.

           
“But we need to go after them!” Steve protested.

           
George gave him an incredulous stare.  “We don’t have any idea where to
start, Steve. ‘North’ is a pretty huge hunk of ocean! We don’t even have a
radio. Best thing that we can do is to head back and alert the
authorities.  Did you catch the name of the craft they were in?”

           
Steve felt the helpless frustration flood through him again. He wanted to argue
with George, but he knew the young man was right. “
Mardi Gras III
,” he
replied glumly.

“He said he borrowed it from
a friend of his father’s.”

           
“Mardi Gras III
?” George’s eyebrow lifted in rye amusement. “Stole it,
more likely. The owner is on his annual ‘Paris in the fall’ European tour.” He
gave Steve a grim half smile. “At least he cared enough to steal the very
best,” he quipped.