‘You okay?’ asks Elias.
‘Just about. My shoulder hurts where I stumbled when the yacht jolted. But it’s nothing really.’ Elias rubs at my shoulder gently.
‘I’m so sorry. Nothing like this has ever happened before.’
How quickly things can go wrong when you’re on a yacht. Elias was so safety conscious, yet someone still managed to crash into us. I still can’t get over how fast things can unfold. We were left with no time to avoid it.
‘I just can’t believe it.’
I repeat the same thing most of the way to the shore of Monaco.
‘Let’s look on the bright side. It saves us from trying to find a parking spot, I suppose,’ says Elias. He tries to sound positive, but I can hear the tremor in his voice. We are both shaken up.
The coastguard is soon with us and pulls up alongside our raft to check that we’re okay and lead us into shore.
When we finally reach firm ground and are taken ashore, I am so relieved that I don’t pay much attention to the fact that everyone is staring at us in shock at the whole incident. I suppose it isn’t every day you witness such a collision. I look over to what they can see, and the black smoke from the other yacht is now camouflaging everything.
The police are waiting on the beach and ask if we need an ambulance. I notice there is one on standby and thank our lucky stars that we are both unscathed apart from what could be just a bruised shoulder.
‘I think we’re both okay, aren’t we?’ says Elias.
‘Yes, absolutely. Thank goodness. We’re not sure about the other boat, though. I think they all got out safely.’
‘Don’t worry about them. My colleague’s taken care of it. If it’s okay, I’ll just take some details from you.’ The police officer twiddles his pen in his hand and gets ready to make some notes.
‘Okay. Sir, what’s the name of the boat?’
‘Lady Jane.’
‘The owner’s name?’
Elias shifts around on his feet and then looks across to me. ‘Umm.’
‘Sir, the name of the owner of the boat?’
Elias refuses to answer.
I look at him as if to hurry him up and tell the police about his boss.
‘Elias, just tell them your boss’s name.’
‘Yes, name of owner, sir!’ says the police officer. He looks as though he is starting to get annoyed.
‘Um, it’s a bit awkward… Um…’
‘Is this boat stolen, sir?’
Elias looks at me again, and I stare at him with my mouth wide open.
‘Look, I can explain. Umm…’
Elias is hiding something; what if the police officer has hit the nail right on the head? As if the shock of a collision wasn’t bad enough, the thought that I could be on board a stolen boat had never occurred to me. Either Elias is concussed, or something is very wrong. Since he has been coherent since we abandoned ship, I can only fear the worst.
Chapter Eighteen
I watch Elias carefully as he paces about.
‘Elias Norman Badington,’ he says.
