Chapter 33 #2
This time, Trevor tapped farther east on the chart.
“That was here.” He touched where a pushpin once had left a small hole before he finally settled in front of another chart that showed a vast expanse of water.
“This part might take a while, and still involves more guesswork than I’d like,” he admitted.
“The issue is that to chart accurately, you want two clear points, a start and an end. But we’re still not entirely sure of the first point and there’s still a two-day margin of error for the second.
” He bit the end of his pencil as Louise asked a final question.
“Where did you go next?”
“Next?”
“After this photo in your album. Look.” She crossed the room to snatch one of the framed photos that once hung in their dad’s study and now mingled with Marc’s seascapes for sale.
“See? Dad had a similar photo of you and him as well.” She held the framed photo next to the one in the album.
It showed both men grinning and a touch sunburned, arms slung across each other’s shoulders.
“See how both photos have the same Buddha as the one on the last postcard Dad sent you. Where did you go after that? What was your next port when you sailed that last time together?”
Trevor set down his pencil and flipped a couple of the album pages.
“Here,” he said. Then he looked up and made a request that Jude hurried to follow.
“Could you get the postcards for me?” Once he had them spread out in date order, he nodded.
“There are a few deviations from that voyage, but if he did follow the same route—” he checked the date on the postcard “—then they actually could have made it this far, the day before the storm surge from the typhoon hit. And this would have been where he was next headed.” The spot Trevor pointed to diverged from their father’s original planned route by enough degrees to make a difference.
“Okay. Let’s see what happens when we use this as our start point.
” He measured carefully then made an indent on the chart.
“Now,” he murmured, “I’ll line up on a meridian, north to south.
” His measurements were slow and oh-so-careful.
Jude found he was holding his breath as Trevor murmured, “Then I’ll walk the ruler up.
Don’t let it slip,” he warned, talking to himself and muttering more numbers under his breath before switching to another chart that covered a quadrant of the ocean in much more detail.
“That means he’s getting closer, right?” Rob’s fingers threaded with Jude’s.
“Yeah,” Jude said as Trevor checked against the graphs on his laptop, and then replotted.
“Thanks for working so hard on this,” Louise said once Trevor finally stood back.
“If doing this means I get a chance to apologise firsthand to your mother, that at least would be a great outcome.”
He busied himself with more measurements while Jude reeled, Louise putting into words what he couldn’t.
“No, Trevor. I know Dad must have felt awful about lying about you, even though you wanted him to, but what happened to you in the first place was terrible. It shouldn’t have happened.
None of it. I’m so sorry about the way you were treated.
” She looked Jude’s way for a long second before saying, “No one should have to hide something so important.”
Trevor’s smile was small but honest. “I take a lot of comfort from knowing that they must have been ecstatic when they eventually got to have both of you kids as well as this place. I wish…” His voice shook.
“I wish they hadn’t struggled, but they probably appreciated everything a great deal more for having waited.
I know that I did.” He blinked fast a few times.
“Now, let me run these numbers again. It’s going to take me a while.
I’m sorry, but I want to get this right if I can. ”
Somehow, the time passed, Rob steering them all to seats by the window, Jude oblivious to the scenery outside as his whole worldview was shaken.
Rob watched him closely, placing one hand over Jude’s and his other over Louise’s.
“I don’t know why I ever thought you were quiet,” he admitted.
“Your face is so expressive it does all your talking for you.” He pulled a silly face at Louise and added, “Ugly as sin, of course, but still expressive.”
“You love his ugly mug,” Louise said, her smile smug as Rob nodded. “I knew it—” She broke off when Trevor stood straight.
“Okay. This is the best I can do.”
There might have only been a few feet between them but it seemed like nautical miles to Jude, wading instead of easily walking through hope and dread that felt hip-high.
Trevor pointed to a much smaller quadrant than Jude had expected, this final chart denoting rocky outcrops, spits of land, and a spatter of small islands he hadn’t come anywhere close to searching.
Jude made his way to the office much, much faster than he’d crossed those few feet in the bar.
He ran, catching his hip on the door to the hallway, clipping his shoulder on the office doorframe until he got to the phone, which rang and rang against his ear until his old skipper answered.
“Of course,” Tom said without hesitation as soon as Jude blurted his request. “Of course I will. I told you I’d change course for you anytime, didn’t I, Jude?
I’ll do it right now, and I’ll spread the word. ”
“What’s happening?” Louise asked from the office doorway. “Jude, what are you doing?”
He couldn’t answer right then, too busy typing coordinates into the marine traffic app Trevor had last used to show him the Aphrodite ’s position.
Now a view of the globe turned on the screen of Louise’s laptop, oh-so-slowly rotating before zooming in on the spot where one old photo, a packet of postcards, and Trevor’s skill had led them.
He checked the names of nearby vessels, searching in vain for the yacht Tom skippered, frustrated that he couldn’t spot her. “Shit.”
“What?” Now Lou sounded upset. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
“The Aphrodite . She’s still miles away. Days away. Fuck.”
On the screen, other ships blinked. The Mykonos , the Amethyst IV , and the Corona Sol were steered by strangers, sailing for pleasure or business, not one of them obligated to him, but when Tom did as he’d promised and sent out one last SOS for Jude’s parents, every single crew responded.
Jude watched, his last hopes rising, as one by one and in almost real time, each vessel changed direction.