went as arranged, Mr. Benedict would give him more money later. To Risker this seemed an arrangement easily kept. What he couldn’t have known was that the men with briefcases would come knocking.
They had a young woman with them, Risker said (from his description the children knew it was Martina Crowe), and their inquiries about Mr. Benedict were so cheerful and polite that he mentioned the island before he realized they weren’t Mr. Benedict’s friends at all. When he did begin to suspect, he clammed up, but it was too late. They knew he knew what they wanted to know.
“Must’ve had their own boat,” Risker said. “They could have taken my yacht, easy. Instead they sabotaged it and left it sitting out there so things ain’t suspicious to the port authorities. And whenever anyone comes by the dock, that shadow down there sizes them up — I’ve seen him do it — then sends them on their way. He tells them I’m ill, which ain’t far from the truth now, I can tell you that.”
The situation was finally growing clear to Reynie. Mr. Benedict had decided he could trust Risker, but he hadn’t known he and Number Two were being followed, and so hadn’t imagined the man would come into such a terrible predicament.
“I didn’t tell them everything, though,” Risker said. “I didn’t give them the message about the wind. They didn’t ask about it, so that much, at least, I kept from them,” he said, then called the Ten Men an unpleasant name.
“One last thing,” said Reynie, who like Kate was growing extremely nervous about how long Milligan had been gone. “Why did Mr. Benedict come to you? The wharf is full of boats for hire. Why you in particular? Did he give a reason?”
Risker’s eyes narrowed. “You ain’t Benedict’s own boy, are you? You seem to have that same kind of something going on.” He tapped his forehead. “Up here, I mean.” When Reynie didn’t answer (he thought it best to remain inscrutable), Risker shrugged and said, “He chose me because we had something in common, he said. First I thought it was because we were both born here but grew up somewhere else.”
“But that wasn’t what he meant,” Reynie prompted.
“No, he said his parents were friends of my granddaddy, Han de Reizeger. That was my birth name, see — de Reizeger. I changed it to Risker years ago. Your Benedict said he felt he owed something to my granddaddy and wanted to give me some business by way of showing gratitude. Wouldn’t say more than that, and I didn’t care. I was happy for the business, is all.”
Sticky and Constance looked back and forth between Reynie and Risker, who had grown expectantly tense, his eyes fixed on the hand Reynie held over the water. Reynie nodded, satisfied, and with one last distasteful glance at the diamond, he tossed it in Risker’s direction.
Risker was caught off guard — he hadn’t expected Reynie to toss such a valuable thing. His eyes bulged, and with fumbling hands he snatched at the diamond in the air. It glanced off his fingertips and went skittering across the floorboards toward the water. “No!” he shouted, lunging after it. A moment later he had tumbled into the water. And a moment after that he was drowning.
“Help!” Risker gasped, floundering about. His thrashing arms sent up a terrific splash. “I can’t swim!”
In a smooth blur of movement, Kate took her rope from the bucket and tossed one end out to him. “Grab it, Risker! Grab the rope!” Wild-eyed, Risker snatched at the rope and clung desperately to it. Kate pulled him over to the edge, and with great effort he dragged himself up onto the floorboards, panting and cursing.
“I wondered why you didn’t just swim out of here,” Kate said as she recoiled her rope. “I guess this explains it.”
Risker stood up, water puddling at his feet. His chest heaved, his legs were shaky, and he looked terribly confused. He wanted to throttle Reynie for being so reckless with the diamond, but now he owed Kate his life, and throttling her companion wouldn’t exactly do. Still trembling, he glanced down at the water that had nearly claimed him. With a frown Risker wiped dripping water from his eyes, blinked a few times, and looked again.
There was the glittering stone, bobbing in the water like a fragment of ice.
“Why, that’s no diamond!” Risker shouted. “Diamonds don’t
“What do you know?” said Reynie, whose opinion of Captain Noland had just improved somewhat. “It’s a fake!”
“But you said it was real!” Risker growled.
“Real, yes, but I never said it was a real
Risker’s jaw dropped, and Sticky and Kate stared at Reynie, mystified.
Constance, however, was rolling her eyes. “I’m not sure which is more ridiculous,” she said. “That you didn’t know whether it was real, or that you were going to give it to him without knowing.”
“Saving Mr. Benedict and Number Two isn’t ridiculous, is it?” Reynie replied, and with a nervous glance at Risker he said quickly, “Now let’s go. We’ve already been here too long. I don’t know what’s keeping Milligan, but —”
At this, Kate’s face clouded with worry, and she spun back to the window as Reynie moved to join the others near the door. He’d taken a great chance with Risker (who was still gaping at him, dumbstruck), and he wanted to get out of that boathouse immediately, before the man could —
Too late. Risker sprang forward and seized him by the arm. “I don’t like being tricked, boy!” he snapped, his face contorted with fury. “Maybe you’d like to see how it feels to splash around while everyone watches. Maybe you won’t think you’re so clever then!”
“Before you do anything hasty, you might want to look outside,” said Kate, breaking into a grin. She’d just seen Milligan striding toward the boathouse, briefcase in hand, and as Risker peered out the window she said, “He’s with us. We
Risker’s anger and indignation seemed to drain right out of him. “Fair trade,” he said under his breath. He let go of Reynie’s arm, then turned and leaned heavily against the wall. “At least you’ve got that shadow off my back.”
“Plus Kate saved you from drowning,” Constance pointed out.
“That, too,” said Risker, and after considering a moment he said, “We’ll still call it even.”
