The Darkness and the Deep Read Online Free

iron rungs of the ladder up to the pier. Overweight and clumsy, she had almost to be hoisted up, and Elder went forward to crouch at the top, holding out his hand for her to grasp as she negotiated the awkward gap between the ladder and the pier.
    ‘There you are, safe now,’ he said, putting a comforting arm round her shoulders to steady her as she tried to find her land legs again.
    Baleful eyes glared up at him. ‘No thanks to him if I am,’ she said, directing a smouldering glance over her shoulder at the sheepish-looking man who had followed her up the ladder, rather unfortunately still sporting a yachting cap with ‘Skipper’ on the front in large letters.
    Stifling a grin, Elder escorted her to the shed where she could get a cup of tea and the chance to pursue her quarrel in comfort, then went back to the boat. ‘How did it go?’ he called down.
    Ashley Randall had taken off her helmet and her hair was curling wildly in the damp. With her cheeks pink from the fresh wind, she looked up smiling from her task of coiling ropes. In the harsh illumination he could see her eyes sparkling, with excitement, probably. Retrospective or in anticipation?
    ‘Piece of cake,’ she said. ‘Believe it or not, he ran out of petrol, then they drifted and the fog came down and he’d no charts or anything, so she decided they were going to drift on to rocks and be wrecked. She’d been announcing this at the top of her voice for about an hour before we arrived, as far as I could gather.’
    ‘Can’t say she looked the sort of girl I’d choose to run out of petrol with myself, but there’s no accounting for tastes. OK, Willie? Shall I get them into position to winch her up?’
    Duncan had started the engines again. ‘Fine,’ he said over his shoulder, and Ashley climbed neatly up the ladder to stand beside Elder on the pier, her yellow oilskin open under the orange Crewsaver life-jacket. Rob Anderson, who had jumped aboard the little speedboat to tie it up, appeared from a ladder further along and came towards them, unfastening his.
    ‘I’ll just get off now if you don’t mind, sir. Katy’s single-handed in the bar tonight and I’ll get Brownie points if I’m back before the evening rush starts. You’ll get the full report from Willie.’
    ‘Now there’s a thought,’ Elder said dryly and the other man laughed.
    ‘Well, from Ashley, then. Not that there’s much to tell, really – just the standard incompetent stuff. Shouldn’t be let out without a keeper, some folk.’
    He disappeared into the shed to take off the rest of his kit. People were gathering by the slipway now to watch Willie perform the skilled operation of lining up the keel so that the winching cable could be attached, leaving Elder and Ashley alone together. Instinctively they moved out from the pool of light where they had been standing but took up positions an ostentatious two feet apart. That was close enough, though, for her to hear him murmur, ‘Tonight?’
    Her eyes danced up at him. ‘I’ll need to phone my husband to tell him I’m back.’ She spoke loudly enough to be heard by anyone interested enough to be listening. ‘He always worries, bless him.’
    This time, instead of his mobile, she dialled their home number and after a moment switched off. ‘Oh dear,’ she said carefully, ‘he must have gone round to his mother’s for supper. I’d better not disturb them, in case they’re eating.’
    Her eyes met his in perfect understanding, then they both went over to watch as the cable tightened and the Maud’n’Milly was winched gradually out of the water.
    ‘How was Willie?’ There was a shade of anxiety in his voice. She had shared her concerns with him some time ago.
    ‘No problem tonight,’ she assured him. ‘And look at the way he brought her in there – Rob’s all right for a second cox, but he’d make a meal of doing that. Willie knows the coast like the back of his hand too – you can’t have the same knowledge