Майкл Ридпат - The Predator

Megan held the throttle right back and motored slowly back to where she thought they had been when Alex had fallen in. But with the turn, and the wind, and the current, it was difficult to be sure exactly where that was. There were four of them in the water, and Chris and Megan couldn’t see a single one.

‘There!’ said Chris. ‘Over to the right!’

It was Duncan, splashing clumsily. Megan steered the boat over towards him. Chris leapt down to the cockpit and grabbed the lifebelt. Duncan had seen them and was waving. It was quite difficult to manoeuvre close to him, and it was a precious minute or so before Chris had tossed the belt to him and he had grabbed it. Chris pulled hard, dragging him through the water, and hauled him in. He left him, cold and gasping, in the bottom of the boat, and dashed up to the bridge to look for the others.

‘I think there’s someone over there,’ said Megan, and she pushed the throttle forward, accelerating towards something bobbing in the water.

It was Eric. Within five minutes, he too was in the bottom of the boat, panting and shivering.

‘Did you find him?’ he asked, between breaths.

‘No,’ said Chris. ‘Ian jumped in, too. We’ve got to find both of them.’

By this time, Lenka had got a grip on herself, and she was up with Megan on the bridge. Chris and Eric joined them. They drove the boat around in ever-increasing circles from the point where they had picked up Eric.

‘Is Ian a good swimmer?’ asked Megan.

‘I think so,’ said Chris. He remembered Ian used to go to a pool after work in London sometimes. ‘What about Alex?’

‘No idea,’ said Eric.

‘Did you see him?’ Chris asked.

Eric was still gasping for breath, but shook his head. His teeth were chattering. ‘Jesus, it’s cold in there.’

The circles became wider, until Chris wasn’t sure they were still anywhere near where Alex had fallen in.

‘The coastguard!’ exclaimed Megan. ‘Shouldn’t we call the coastguard?’

‘Haven’t you done that yet?’ asked Eric.

‘No,’ Megan stammered. ‘I didn’t think of it.’

‘Channel sixteen,’ said Eric. ‘Here, I’ll do it.’ He grabbed the mike for the radio that was just by the wheel and put out a Mayday call. He looked around him. ‘There’s nothing else near to us,’ he said.

‘How long will they be?’

‘I don’t know. Ten minutes? Half an hour? No idea.’

‘There!’ shouted Lenka, pointing ahead and slightly to the right of the boat.

Chris peered into the gloom, and could just see an arm waving. Megan steered towards it. Just as they approached, the cloud at last drifted away from the moon. It was Ian. He was moving feebly, but still floating. They tossed the belt towards him, and he barely had the strength left to swim the few yards to grab it. Chris and Lenka hauled him into the boat. He was exhausted.

‘I saw you pick up Eric,’ he mumbled. ‘And I tried to wave and shout. But you didn’t see me.’

‘We’ve got you now,’ said Chris.

They continued the search with increasing desperation. There was no sign of Alex. About ten minutes after Eric’s Mayday call, a fast police boat sped towards them. After quickly ascertaining that someone was still in the water, the police told Megan to take the boat back to shore so that she could get the others warm and dry. Megan argued that they should stay and continue the search, but the police insisted. They said an ambulance would be waiting for them at Oyster Bay.

Ian and Eric changed into their dry suits, which were still below. Duncan refused. They all huddled together on the bridge in silence, as the boat hurtled back to shore, with Megan at the helm. Now that the frantic activity had finished, the same thought bore in on all of them. Alex was gone.

Duncan was slumped in a damp crumpled heap on the floor of the bridge. Lenka had her head in her hands next to him. Ian looked exhausted, staring vacantly into space. Chris felt stunned, in shock, unable to believe what he had seen over the previous half hour. It had all been a dreadful mistake. It must be possible to get Alex back, it simply must. Now that the coastguard were there, the authorities, the adults, they’d find him. Chris couldn’t quite believe that he was an adult, that this wasn’t a children’s game, that he had witnessed one man knock another into the sea, and that that other, his friend, was probably now dead.

‘They’re going to ask us how Alex fell in,’ said Eric.

‘I’ll tell them,’ sobbed Duncan. ‘I’ll tell them I hit him.’

‘No, it was my fault,’ said Lenka. ‘I made you do it. I wanted you to get angry with me. With him.’

Duncan shook his head. ‘I killed him,’ said Duncan. ‘I killed him.’

‘They still might find him,’ said Chris, feebly. But no one believed that. Even Chris didn’t even believe that.

‘This could be very serious for Duncan,’ said Eric.

‘I know it could,’ said Duncan. ‘I deserve it.’

‘I don’t think you do,’ said Eric. ‘You were provoked. You didn’t mean to kill him.’

‘I said it was my fault!’ said Lenka. ‘And I’ll tell them that.’

Chris saw what Eric was thinking. ‘There’s no need for anyone to get into trouble. We all know it was an accident. All we need to say was that Alex was drunk and he fell in.’

‘But I punched him,’ said Duncan.

‘You know that and I know that,’ said Chris. ‘But we also know you didn’t mean to kill him. For whatever reason, you were provoked. But if we tell the police, they might arrest you for manslaughter, or murder or something.’

‘He could be charged with second degree murder, I think,’ said Eric. ‘Whatever the charge, it would be serious.’

‘I can’t believe you can talk like this,’ Duncan said. ‘Alex is dead! Don’t you understand that? Alex is dead.’

Lenka had stopped crying. She moved closer to Duncan. ‘Alex might be dead. But Chris and Eric are right. This could ruin your whole life.’ She touched his arm. ‘I don’t want to be responsible for that, too.’

They were silent, crouched together in the crowded bridge.

Eric spoke. ‘What do you say? We have to decide in the next couple of minutes. Chris?’

‘I say it was an accident. Alex was on the foredeck, he came back for another beer, he slipped and fell in.’

‘Lenka?’

‘I think so, too.’

‘Duncan? It’s your life.’

‘It was Alex’s life.’

‘Yes, but it’s yours we’re talking about now.’

He bit his lip and nodded. ‘OK.’

‘Ian?’

Ian was still in a trance. He didn’t move, just stared up at the sky.

‘Ian? If we’re going to use this story, we all need to go along with it.’

Ian’s stare snapped to Eric. Chris suddenly wondered how selfish Ian was. Would he risk lying to the police to help Duncan? It looked as though this was something Ian was trying to decide for himself. Eventually he nodded. ‘All right.’

‘We’re all agreed, then.’

‘No, we’re not.’

It was Megan.

Eric turned to her in surprise. ‘Do you have a problem?’

‘Sure, I have a problem. We should tell them the truth.’

‘But you don’t think Duncan pushed Alex in on purpose?’

‘No. But that’s not up to me to decide. That’s up to the police.’

The boat was approaching Oyster Bay. They could see the flashing lights of at least two vehicles waiting at the waterfront.

Eric spoke to Megan softly, as she cut back the throttle. ‘I know you hate to lie. I can’t force you to lie. But this is a friend of mine. Can you do this for me?’

They all watched her. It was clear in Chris’s mind that it was best to claim that Alex had fallen in by accident. He didn’t like to lie to the police, but there was nothing to be gained by telling the truth apart from throwing Duncan into the jaws of the American criminal justice system. The result would be impossible to predict. As it was, he knew Duncan would suffer for the rest of his life for what had happened. Lenka probably would, too. Chris respected Megan for taking the honest line, but he hoped she would change her mind. As Eric had said, Duncan was their friend.