On his way upstairs he found himself keenly aware of every step. Until now his body had moved about the ship on autopilot, but now he sensed the gleaming wood under his soles and was acutely conscious of lifting his feet. For the first time he noticed the handrail, cold and hard under his palm. The sounds that carried from above also seemed more distinct than before, though none were particularly loud or penetrating: a squeak, a low humming which, though his ears had not picked it up until now, had no doubt been there since the beginning of the voyage; the scraping of a chair. This sudden hypersensitivity must result from a primitive urge to protect his family, for he quickly realised that his taut nerves were not for himself; all that mattered now was to bring his wife and daughters safely home. The realisation gave him courage and he walked up the stairs full of a new self-confidence. The man who was not afraid for himself had a definite advantage.
He decided to check the pilot house first. There he would at least learn what progress they were making and what the weather forecast had in store. Despite hoping fervently that the crew would have found some means of repairing the telecommunications system, he knew this was unlikely. It was a safe bet that whoever had thrown the body overboard had also sabotaged the equipment. It would have been too great a coincidence otherwise. And that was a bad sign. How was the perpetrator intending to enforce their silence after they reached land? There was only one sure method that Ægir could think of.
Thráinn turned out to be alone on the bridge. He sat in the pilot’s chair, staring into space as if in a trance. Ægir had to cough to attract his attention. The older man looked round, his eyes bloodshot. There was no sign that he had gone for a rest after lunch, which meant that he must have been awake for thirty-six hours straight. ‘Hello. I’d begun to think you lot weren’t going to show your faces again.’ Thráinn stretched and rubbed his jaw as if to loosen it up for conversation.
‘Lára and the girls are a bit under the weather. Seasick again.’
‘Right.’ Thráinn was not deceived. ‘Let’s hope they feel better soon.’
Ægir saw there was no point in trying to convince him; he would believe whatever he wanted to. ‘Yes, let’s hope so. I was just fetching them some Coke and a bite to eat in case they get their appetites back, so I decided to look in and see how it’s going. Find out if there’s any good news for a change.’
Thráinn grunted. ‘Good news.’ He shook his head slowly, suppressing a yawn. ‘As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’re under way again – that should count as good news.’
‘Yes. I realised. What happened?’
‘The container sank. Presumably because you loosened the door. It must have shaken open with the movement, letting the air escape. So you fixed it. Bravo.’ From the taciturn Thráinn, this was high praise. ‘Anyway, the main thing isn’t how it happened but the fact that we’re on our way home. I’m going to push her faster than I have up to now, since it’s vital we get to port as soon as possible.’
Ægir opened his mouth to ask if he was referring to the discovery of the body and its subsequent disappearance, but the answer was glaringly obvious. ‘How far have we got left?’
Thráinn reached for the chart and showed him their most recent position. Iceland was further away than Ægir had hoped; in fact they were more or less equidistant from all the nearest landmasses, which meant they would have nothing to gain by heading anywhere but home. ‘All being well, we’re about forty-eight hours from home.’ Thráinn put down the chart. ‘All being well.’ He regarded Ægir levelly. ‘Actually, I’m glad you came up. I was thinking of looking in on you. We need to have a chat.’
‘Oh?’ The yacht plunged sickeningly and Ægir gripped the handle on the wall.
When the captain finally released Ægir’s gaze, he turned back to stare at the black expanse of glass that extended the width of the bridge. ‘As you’re aware, we’re in a serious situation. There’s something very strange going on and, as matters stand, I can’t trust Halli or Loftur.’
‘So?’ Ægir hoped Thráinn wasn’t going to propose they join forces to overpower the other men and lock them up. He had no way of determining which of the three crew members was guilty. What on earth would he do if there were only the two of them left and it turned out to be Thráinn? Tackle him with Lára’s help? Hardly.
‘I haven’t a clue who moved the body and chucked it overboard – Halli, Loftur, your wife? The girls?’ He silenced Ægir’s protests with a wave of his hand. ‘All I know for sure is that it wasn’t me and it wasn’t you. I didn’t leave the rail the entire time you were underwater, but Halli did, and so did Loftur, who had come to watch. I know nothing about your wife, though I admit it’s far less likely that she was responsible than one of the boys, if only because your daughters seem to follow her everywhere. And they can hardly have done it.’
Ægir chose not to mention that the twins had gone below at around the time the body ended up in the sea. If the captain was planning to take action, the last thing he wanted was to cast suspicion on Lára. He knew it was crazy to imagine she could be involved but his gut instinct was unlikely to satisfy Thráinn. ‘Were Halli and Loftur away long enough to have done it?’
‘Well, Loftur wasn’t around to begin with, so he would have had the opportunity then. And Halli went off for a while but I didn’t take any notice because there was no reason to. If you’d told us straight away that you’d come face to face with the dead woman in the sea, I’d have taken a different view of his absence.’
‘I’ve told you already – I thought I was seeing things.’
‘All right, I know I shouldn’t be bawling you out; I’m just tired. So tired I can’t be bothered to be polite.’ He spoke as if manners were usually his strong point. ‘Never mind that. What I’m trying to say is that I know you can’t be involved because you were diving, so you’re the only person apart from myself that I can trust. Since I can’t stay awake for the next forty-eight hours, I wanted to see if I could persuade you to help me get this ship to port. All you’d have to do is stand watch while I bunk down in here – you could give me a nudge if there were any problems.’
‘I see.’ Relieved as he was that the request had not involved tackling the other two men, Ægir was still uneasy. ‘What about Lára and the girls? Where are they supposed to be in the meantime? I’m not prepared to leave them alone while I stand here gawping out of the window.’