Ston
They paused at the humpback footbridge, leaning on its curved chrome rails while Obi sniffed around, the wide inlet in front of them a grey-blue mirror.
Just visible between the folds of the hills, the road to Dubrovnik spanned the inlet on spindly, concrete legs.
Lloyd had been more than pleased to see it last night as they’d sailed the last few kilometres in almost complete darkness.
Although Natali had skippered well, it had worried them both that Ana was sick in her cabin, and he’d been relieved this morning when she’d disappeared early to spend the weekend with her parents to recuperate.
“I wonder how Ana’s feeling now?” he mused.
“Hopefully the bug will go as quickly as it came. I mean, she didn’t even get to the loo; when I came back she was throwing up in the sink, poor thing.
And I think she had a fever too, because when I took her some water before I went to bed she insisted I lock my cabin. Something about thieves being around.”
“At least she was well enough to drive this morning. Some rest in a proper bed will do her good.” They walked on, past the shack that served as both harbour office and bar, the flat expanse of the salt pans to their right glistening in the pale evening sunlight.
“Anyway, Natali, I’ve got a surprise for you.
I found your Fisherman Plunk story on the internet.
I’ll lend you my iPad so you can read it while I phone Ruth. ”
She looked up at him and grinned. “Thanks, Lloyd, that’s great. If I see the lady again on Monday it will be wonderful to tell her I know the ending. And I think by later this week you will need to help me to choose a new book. The dragon one is ace.”
“I was flicking through the fantasy stories when we were on Mljet, so I do have a few ideas.”
“Fantasy is a good name for them. You do escape to a make-believe world. Not that I have anything I need to escape from for the moment, but it’s still fun to imagine.” Which made Lloyd wonder just how tough Natali’s life could be.
They drew level with Dida Krila, Lloyd fishing in his pocket for the keys. Natali grabbed his arm.
“The door … it’s open – just a little b-bit. I know we locked it.”
“We did.” Sweat prickled his palms. They had definitely left the boat secure.
“D-do you think Ana was right about the thieves? Maybe her f-friend at the harbour office messaged her or something.”
OK, however nervy he felt, this was up to him. If nothing else, he needed to keep Natali safe.
“You wait here,” he told her, “just in case they’re still on board. If you hear me yelling or anything, run to the bar for help.”
“Should we g-get someone first?”
He shook his head. “It’s probably fine. If they were watching us leave then they’re long gone by now.” He sounded so convincing he almost believed it himself.
Lloyd slipped off his deck shoes and stepped gingerly onto the very centre of the transom, trying to balance his weight so he rocked the boat as little as possible.
If someone was here who shouldn’t be, he didn’t want to alert them to his presence.
He needed to surprise them; at least that way they wouldn’t be lying in wait to surprise him.
Outside the galley he stopped and listened.
Shit. Movement. Something like rustling, and it was coming from his hull.
Should he go on? Or go back for help? But he couldn’t risk them getting away, not with any of his stuff.
He had so many pictures of Jenny on his iPad he couldn’t bear to think of it in a stranger’s hands.
They were precious and they were his. He balled his hands into fists, then released them, massaging his fingers.
He crept down the steps, alert for every sound. His cabin door was shut and he knew he’d left it open for the air to circulate. Someone was in there. He looked around the cramped passageway. Nothing he could use as a weapon. He was on his own.
Inside the cabin, he heard a cupboard door close and his holdall scraping across the floor. It galvanised him into action. No thieving little shit was going to take his things, his personal things. No frigging way. In a single movement he flew down the hallway and flung the door wide.
“Ana!” The word choked from him as he clung to the handle.
She was kneeling on the floor, rummaging through the fleeces and wet weather gear he’d left in his bag. He blinked. Surely this couldn’t be happening? It was so surreal he almost wanted to laugh, but it wasn’t funny in the least. If he’d had more to drink, he might even think he was imagining it.
“Ana?” She stood slowly, her eyes meeting his. Eyes that were steely and cold. “What are you doing?”
“Searching your cabin. As skipper, I have the right—”
“You have no such right! Not without asking me first. What the hell are you playing at?” Disbelief was turning to anger.
How could she do this? Why would she want to?
The hairs on the back of Lloyd’s neck stood on end, his body stiff with fury.
This was … beyond. Way beyond. The flush of anger ran up from his chest and he had the strangest sensation of growing, of filling the doorway…
No. Stop. Take control. This couldn’t happen again.
“Explain.” He spat out the word. He didn’t trust himself to say any more.
Ana put her hands on her hips. “You’re the one who has some explaining to do. Where did you put it?”
“Put what?”
“The purse.”
“What purse?”
“The one you stole from that woman on Kolo?ep.”
“The one I what?” Lloyd was literally open-mouthed.
“You don’t deny it?”
“Because it’s too frigging ridiculous to even consider. Why the hell would you think that?”
“Because you have form, that’s why. Form you didn’t tell us about.
Theft, assault… What else are you hiding, Lloyd Richards?
” Ana was yelling now, her face puffy and red.
Lloyd gripped the handle tighter, the metal digging into his fingers.
So she knew… She knew… Oh god, this would change everything.
Time stilled. Ana’s face zoned in and out of focus, the moment of silence stretching. Stretching until…
He turned and fled, barely noticing Natali at the far end of the passageway, then stumbling up the steps, through the salon. Feet shoved into shoes, then running, running, and sobbing with shame. Because it was all he could do.
* * *
Trying to contain her tangled emotions, Ana followed Lloyd into the hallway, but to her amazement Natali was blocking it, her arms gripped tightly around Obi and shaking with fury.
“What the hell have you done?”
“Me?”
“Accusing Lloyd of those things. How could you? He’s the kindest, bravest, most honest man I’ve ever met, and if you can’t see that then I don’t know where you’ve been this last month.”
Never mind where she’d been, where had this Natali? To see her like this was a revelation. Ana had to explain herself. Fast.
“Kristina came to see me on Friday afternoon. She said Lloyd had been accused of theft.”
“And you believed her? Just like that?”
A whimpering Obi still in her arms, Natali clambered up the steps into the galley, Ana trailing behind. “Will you at least let me explain?”
“You listen to me first. I heard you say something about a stolen purse on Kolo?ep. When was that? The second time we visited? It wasn’t Lloyd. It was a pickpocket. I saw it happen.”
“You saw a purse stolen from the library and you said nothing?” This was all she frigging well needed and exhaustion shot through her.
Natali faltered, her eyes momentarily downcast. “No, n-not from there. I don’t know anything about that. It was in the square. He was so clever, so quick, that at first I wasn’t sure. But he went off towards the ferry quay so he would have passed the library.”
It did sound credible, more than credible.
It wasn’t only Ana’s legs that were shaking, it felt like the whole boat.
The whole planet. Whyever had she even embarked on this stupid venture?
She’d spent all day wondering what to do, even changing her mind a dozen times about whether or not she should disturb Meri’s weekend, before finally deciding against it.
She’d worked herself up into such a state that when Lloyd and Natali had sent her a selfie from one of the bars in town she’d leapt into her jeep and put her crazy half-plan to search Lloyd’s cabin into action.
It hadn’t been only Kristina’s words, it had been Ivana’s.
The fact that Lloyd had assaulted someone…
He clearly wasn’t as honest or straightforward as Natali believed.
And he’d never told them he’d been to Kor?ula before.
But was it really for her to blurt all this out now?
Without even asking Lloyd for the truth?
Jeben ti! That’s what she should have done – talk to him.
Not creep around behind his back in the most awful way, just because she was frightened that what she needed to say would upset him.
She’d done that anyway now. And some. She’d split the whole bloody library apart.
Ruined it for everyone. All she wanted to do was put her head in her hands and howl, but with Natali glaring at her that wasn’t an option.
In fact, there was only one course of action she could possibly take.
“I need to find Lloyd,” she said.
“You most certainly do.”
But where would he have gone? There were only two choices: back towards Ston, or down the lane along the inlet towards the village of Broce.
She had a hunch it might be the latter; he’d been so steaming angry.
But would he want to walk it off on his own, or drink it off in town?
This was no time for pride, so Ana ran to the harbour shack and asked the barman if he’d seen him pass.