Sarah Rayne - What Lies Beneath

‘He might have.’

‘But we gave him the bromide at ten o’clock,’ said Gil. ‘If you hadn’t been sozzled last night you’d remember I told you about it. Plain tried-and-tested bromide each night to help him sleep. But,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘I’ll admit he may have developed a tolerance to it.’

‘Rot. He’s fooling the lot of us. I think he tipped the opiate away without you knowing. That’s not the appearance of a man who’s in a drugged sleep,’ said Brank, jerking an angry thumb at the cabin door. ‘I think he’s trying to fool you.’

‘Why?’ demanded Crispian.

‘Because,’ said Brank, meeting Crispian’s eyes squarely, ‘he wants you out of the way.’

‘What on earth for?’ said Jamie.

‘How should I know? Some unfathomable reason of his own.’

‘But that would be the behaviour of a madman—’ Crispian stopped.

‘I said I thought he had retained some sense,’ said Brank tersely. ‘I didn’t say he had necessarily retained any sanity. I’m sorry to say it, but I think he’s in the grip of madness and he’s got all the cunning of the genuinely insane.’

Gil said furiously, ‘He’s in the tertiary stages of syphilis, the poor wretch, and his brain is disintegrating. He had no idea what he was doing tonight. He groped his way out of his cabin for some muddled reason and, when he encountered someone, he panicked and tried to defend himself.’ He paused, thrusting his fingers angrily through his hair. ‘Haven’t you the imagination to understand how it must have been for him? He can’t see, he can’t hear, and all he knew was that something reared up out of that silent smothering darkness he’s suffering. Of course he lashed out. But then, when Crispian somehow fought him off, he managed to get out and found his own cabin again.’

‘Fortuitous if he’s really blind,’ said Brank, drily.

‘Jesus Christ, man, it’s only next door! But I’ll allow he might have a thread or two of vision left.’

‘None of this is helping,’ said Crispian. ‘I’ll see the captain in the morning and ask what we’d better do. It’s less than two weeks before we reach Athens, and if my father really has sunk into a mad confusion he’ll need watching every minute.’

‘Yes, he will,’ said Dr Brank. ‘And I’d like to say here and now that I refuse to take any further responsibility for him. If there’s a conventional medical emergency I shall, of course, treat him. But I have no experience or training whatsoever in the treatment of the insane.’

‘Surely simple common sense and kindness—’ began Jamie.

‘It’s not enough,’ said Brank. ‘To my mind Sir Julius is mad in an entirely different way from what any of you believes. I think he’s deeply dangerous and I think he should be restrained. But it’s no longer my concern.’ He pushed past the younger men, opened the door, and returned to his own quarters.

Entries From an Undated Journal

I’ve said several times in these pages that I was never mad and, truly, I never was. The thing I called the darkness brought its own strange distortions, but it was never madness in the accepted sense.

But when I look back now, I think I may have been a little mad on the night I crept into Crispian’s cabin and tried to strangle him. That was the first time I wondered if the darkness might have overtaken me without my being aware of it.

That worried me quite a lot.

‘I’m sorry,’ said the captain next morning, facing Crispian, ‘but I’m not prepared to make the journey back to Athens with a madman aboard. It’s too far. Anything could happen.’

‘You accept Brank’s diagnosis then?’

‘I have to. He’s the ship’s doctor, the official medical authority, and I have to take his judgement.’ He frowned. ‘That being so, we’ll have to put into port as soon as possible and you’ll have to disembark. Alexandroupolis is the nearest.’

‘I’ve never heard of it,’ said Crispian.

‘No, you probably wouldn’t. It’s a small port, close to the Greek/Turkish border, but just inside Greek territory. It’s mostly used for cargo ships, and it’s quite difficult to navigate. But I’ve done it in the past and I should be able to get permission.’

‘But that part of the world is a seething hotbed of unrest,’ said Crispian, horrified. ‘You can’t just throw us off the ship out here. The Balkan League is collapsing – all the newspapers agree on that. There’s even a suggestion that it’s mobilizing its armies.’

‘There’s also a strong suggestion that the Ottoman Empire is doing the same,’ said the captain. ‘I’m aware of all that. But guidelines to masters of ships in this situation are clear. Sir Julius has already had to be restrained in a straitjacket, and last night he apparently tried to strangle you. He could start on the crew next. You’ll have to leave the ship at Alexandroupolis.’

‘But we’ll guard him,’ said Crispian, a bit desperately. ‘There are three of us – we can manage it between us until we reach Athens. And if the ship’s carpenter fits a bolt on his cabin door—’

‘Mr Cadence, sailors are a deeply suspicious breed. They won’t like this business of madness – well, they don’t like it now. They know something of what’s been happening. The second officer has reported some of them are already gathering in angry huddles and talking furtively. I can’t let that go on.’

Crispian stared at him and thought: I’m on the high seas, in waters that might explode into a messy, complicated war any day. It’s not Britain’s war – not yet – but that won’t count. On top of that, I’m trying to restrain a man who’s tried to kill me, and now I’m being told there could be a mutiny brewing.

‘Alexandroupolis should be safe enough territory,’ said the captain. ‘I remember there’s a railway actually on the quayside, so if the hospital in the town isn’t able to help, you can take Sir Julius to wherever they suggest by train.’

He’s washing his hands of us, thought Crispian.

The enormity of what might be ahead was almost overwhelming, but after a moment he said, ‘Yes, I see. How long will it take to get to this Alexandroupolis place?’

‘Two days, on my reckoning. Less, if I can manage.’ In a kinder voice than he had yet used, the captain said, ‘There’s a small English community there. You should be safe enough.’

‘You don’t give me any choice,’ said Crispian coldly.

‘Believe me, Mr Cadence, I wish there was another choice. Can the three of you restrain Sir Julius for the next two days? Brank tells me he’s still very strong, despite the illness. If he were to break out and wander about the ship in his present state—’

‘We can manage while we’re on the ship fairly well,’ said Crispian. ‘It will be once we’re ashore in Alexandroupolis that the nightmare will start.’

Entries From an Undated Journal

People talk about things being a nightmare or having lived through a nightmare, but most of them have no idea what it’s like actually to live through one. I had talked like that myself, more than once. But it wasn’t until we went ashore at Alexandroupolis and travelled on to the little township of Edirne that I came to understand the real meaning of living a nightmare.

Crispian made all the decisions and dealt with all the arrangements. Of course he did. I don’t know the details of everything, but I do know he handed out money with that arrogant carelessness I found so repugnant. He always thought problems could be solved by money. It annoys me to say this, but most of them can, of course. Give someone sufficient money and he or she will do whatever you want. It was the way Crispian did it that I hated. As if he was a better, less coarse person than anyone else. Almost as if the money had somehow purified him, washed away any scummy imperfections, while the rest of us had to wallow around in the grit and grime of ordinary humanity.