Саймон Бествик - The Devil and the Deep - Horror Stories of the Sea

“Oh, it’d just been me and Dad for years, ever since Mum died. It’s the family business, you see. That I work for. That I run , now.”

“That’s why you don’t have to delegate anymore,” I said.

“Right.”

“So it’s just you now? No brothers or sisters?”

Again his smile went funny. Again that look, as though something had turned sour in his belly. “No,” he said. “I had a brother, but… he’s gone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

And that was when I realised what had seemed familiar before. I took another swig of beer to make sure he didn’t see anything in my face. I didn’t think he would have, anyway. I’m good at that.

“So.” Ed got up and moved towards me, crouching beside my deckchair. “What next?”

I could have played hard to get, I suppose. But I wasn’t sure of him, and I might need to keep on his good side. More to the point, he was used to getting what he wanted.

So I put my beer down and I let him kiss me. Not long after that he took me belowdecks again, and I let him fuck me. I sucked him off, too. I’m good at that. No, I didn’t feel dirty. It was—necessary. To be safe. To maintain control. I’d had a lot of practice with that. You go away, step back from it. It’s just your body; it isn’t all of you. It’s a good way of coping with things you don’t want to be there for. Things you don’t want to remember afterward. The kinds of things that live in the deeps, that you have to keep at bay with pills, or by cutting yourself, or whatever other ways you can find. Dad taught me a lot, without meaning to. In the end, he wished he hadn’t.

In a distant way I registered that Ed wasn’t a bad lover. Quite sensitive, in fact. I had a good time, or would have if Robin hadn’t been hanging over me. Clive? Well, Clive was never going to know what I’d had to do. Compartmentalising again.

Afterward, while Ed was in the toilet, I slipped his wallet out of his shorts and checked inside. There was a business card for a company called Yorkguard: E. York, Managing Director and Chairman . I put the card back in the wallet and the wallet back in his shorts before he came back.

“Tide’s turning,” he said. “Best get back now.”

“Okay,” I said.

I dressed and went up on deck. Ed was in the wheelhouse, guiding us back up the estuary. He didn’t turn around, but I saw a red flush creeping up his neck.

“Will I see you again?” he said at last.

“Sure,” I said. “Tomorrow?” Clive was working nights the rest of the week.

“Okay.”

I slipped off the Emily , hoping I’d gone unnoticed, and made my way home, where I showered to get every trace of Ed York off and out of me. After that I made a strong cup of coffee, lit a cigarette, and sat by the window of my flat in a thick bathrobe, a towel around my hair, watching my laptop power up.

I checked out Yorkguard’s website first. They were a security firm, based in Kent, and the Managing Director and Chairman, Edmund York, was indeed the man I’d just slept with. A quick shufti at the Company History section of the site gave me the details of his father—Sir Richard York, no less, who’d died six months ago. No mention of another York brother, though, past or present.

I googled Sir Richard next: he’d been a big enough name to have garnered three obituaries on major newspaper sites. I scrolled through them, skipping the details of York’s career and achievements, looking for information about his family.

And then I had what I needed.

Clive woke me up in the early hours by crawling into bed with me. By the time I was awake, though, he was asleep, so I just lay there for a while, watching him. He looks about twelve when he’s sleeping.

I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and went for another walk. To clear my head, and be ready for what was coming.

I went to the Harbour for another day’s work, taking orders and wiping down tables as fast as they were vacated. Even from inside the café I could see the Emily , moored at the quay. While I was cleaning the tables out front, Ed came out on deck. He waved at me and smiled. I smiled back, but didn’t wave.

“So,” said Daniela at lunchtime, “I hear someone went on a little boat trip yesterday.”

“They don’t miss much around here,” I said. “Do they?”

“Does Clive know?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Does he?”

“Well, he won’t from me, you know that.”

I smiled. “True.”

Daniela tapped ash from her cigarette. “Emily, I know it’s not my business, but…”

“Nothing happened,” I said. “Nothing like that, anyway.” And in a funny way, it was true. Yesterday’s fuck had been no realer than any other act I put on to keep things separate.

“As long as you know what you’re doing,” said Daniela.

“I think I do,” I told her. “But in case I don’t…” I gave her an envelope. “Can you hold onto that for me? And promise not to open it?”

Daniela studied me, then nodded. “Okay,” she said. She didn’t understand everything, but she didn’t have to. She understood enough.

“Thanks,” I said. “Can I steal one of your Marlboros? I’ve run out.”

As the end of my shift approached my stomach became a knot, and it only tightened as I walked home to get changed.

Clive had left a note for me. Nothing much, just that we had to have dinner once he was off nights. He’d booked a table at the Nook. I had to smile; the Nook’s the best fish restaurant in town, and he knows I love seafood. Even though he hates it, and they only have about two meat dishes. That’s Clive. He’s not the sharpest, but he’s sweet.

Love? I don’t really know what that is, but he’s mine. So I look after him.

I went into the wardrobe and took out a small box hidden at the back. There were things in it I hadn’t used in a long time. Pieces of old lives. I took what I needed, and went down to the quay.

“Hi there.” Ed smiled up from the deck of his boat.

“Yo,” I said. “Permission to come aboard, Cap’n?”

He laughed. “Board away.”

I climbed down the ladder to the deck, knowing he’d be watching my arse. Good. Let him. He looked at my body and thought it was me, while the real me was in a control room, working levers and gears and watching everything unfold.

“So,” I said, “where to now?”

“Another trip along the estuary?” he suggested.

“Maybe,” I said, “or…”

“Or what?”

I nodded out towards the bay.

“Yeah?” he said. “We could do a trip along the coast. There and back. Weather’s supposed to be good, so we could just drop anchor and…” He ran a finger down my arm.

I kept the smile on my face and managed not to draw back. “Sure. Why not?”

“Okay, then. Let’s get underway.”

The sky was grey and dull, but the sea was flat enough. The town and the harbour shrank away from us, merging into the low dark ridge of the coast. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot where Robin had been found, but it wouldn’t have been far from here.

“Okay!” said Ed. “Left at the first star and straight on till morning.” He put his hands around my waist and pulled me against him. He was already getting hard. “Shall we go below? Or do you fancy doing it on deck?”