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McKaylin shakes her head. ‘Not me. Prefer a simpler life. Got a static van at the Penny Moon, up by the old lighthouse. Own the place, I do.’
‘Busy?’
‘Peak season I live on four hours’ sleep. Quieter now. Just the passing-throughs till Christmas.’
‘You have help up there?’
‘Casuals, kids mainly. Some from the women’s shelter in Redlecker. Don’t have aman.’
The emphasis is a gauntlet tossed down. Abrahamdecides to ignore it. ‘You volunteer for the RNLI in Skentel?’
‘Fifteen-year vet.’
‘And you went on the shout in response to Daniel Locke’s distress call?’
‘Aye. If that’s what it was.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Listen,’ McKaylin says. ‘When that request from the coastguard came in, I was at the boathouse within minutes of my pager going off. We headed straight out. Direction finder pinpointed a bearing for that broadcast, but when we found theLazy Susanshe wasn’t even close. Don’t tell me that’s down to drift. After the Mayday, that boat moved away at speed before she was scuttled. Daniel Locke might’ve wanted rescuing, but he didn’t want the same for his yacht. Nor for those kids.’
‘Can you talk me through what happened when you found the yacht?’
‘By the time we got alongside, she was so low in the water I figured it was hopeless. But we lugged a salvage pump onboard and managed to fix the leaks with a couple of Sta-Plugs.’
Abraham nods. He’s seen the results first-hand. ‘You were first onboard?’
‘Nope. That was Donny – Donahue O’Hare. Old Man of the Sea, we call him. If you lived in Skentel, you’d know him well enough. Walks around town with three big Dobermanns, never one of ’em on a lead. Obedient as hell, those dogs. Not so much as a sniff or a lick unless Donny gives ’em the nod. Anyway, he went first. I followed after with the pump.’
‘Did you notice anything unusual on deck?’
‘Other than the fact no one was on it? I didn’t see nothing particular. But I’ll tell you this – and you’ll probably think I’m some kind of witch for saying it – but I felt ashadowfall over me on that boat. Never experienced nothing like it. Horrible feeling, right in the pit of my stomach. Something downright evil happened on that yacht. Something so bad the very memory of it was burned into the deck. We didn’t even know about those kids at that point, but I can’t deny what I felt.’ She pauses, scratches an armpit. ‘See? Like I said. Some kind of witch. Crazy talk.’
She doesn’t sound crazy to Abraham. He knows more than most how evil has a foothold in this world. Yesterday, he’d sensed the devil stalking the halls of Headlands Junior School. Later, on theLazy Susan, he’d felt exactly what Beth McKaylin is describing. He’d felt it last night, too, in Daniel Locke’s hospital room. And again when he visited this morning. ‘Who was first belowdecks? You or O’Hare?’
‘Muggins here investigated while Donny set up the pump.’
‘The hatch was unlocked?’
‘Unlocked and wide open. That boat was a modern-dayMary Celeste. I didn’t much fancy going down into the cabin. As I said, at the time I didn’t even know about those kids. But that feeling, it was worse down there. Sort of thing I reckon might come over you if you visited one of them Polish death camps. ’Course, it was waist-deep in water at that point. You could see it coming up through the hull.’
‘From the smashed seacocks.’
‘Aye.’
‘Did you notice anything else? Any signs of a struggle? Anything else at all that seemed … off?’
‘Right then, I was more focused on plugging those leaksthan having a good nose about. Afterwards, I took a closer look, but there was nothing – what’s the word? –tangible. Just, like I say, that sense of something lingering.’
She fills her lungs, trapping the air in her chest before releasing it. Abraham glances at the logo stretched across her undershirt, then meets her eye.
Beth McKaylin tilts her head. Examines him. Blinks slowly, like a cat.
‘Once we got the pump started and those plugs hammered in, it was pretty obvious she wouldn’t sink. A person in the water takes priority, so our Tamar redeployed. Our coxswain didn’t want to leave theLazy Susandrifting, even so. Not with what was coming. The radio was still working so I stayed aboard. A Tamar from our flanking station towed me back to harbour.’
‘So you weren’t on the Skentel boat when Daniel Locke was found?’
She shakes her head. ‘Moment I got done at the quay, I went right on up to St Peter’s. Not been inside since I was a kid, but thatshadow– I wanted it washed off me. Being in the church seemed about the best way. From there I went back to the boathouse. I saw your white-suit brigade looking over theLazy Susanlater on, but I’m guessing they came up blank. Seawater had flushed that yacht good and proper.’