“All right, if you – ”
“Vice-Commodore’ll do fine.”
“Oh. Very well, Vice-Commodore.”
“And we’re neighbours you say? How’s that?”
“I’ve just moved into Woodside Cottage in the High Street.”
“Oh, right. Really? Place needs a hell of a lot of work, doesn’t it?”
“I quite like it as it is.”
“Do you?” Denis Woodville scratched his bald dome in disbelief. “Good heavens.”
“And you’re just down nearer the sea? Carole showed me. The house with the dinghy in the front garden.”
“That’s the one, yes.”
“Next door to the Chilcotts.” Jude was apparently unaware of the clouding of the Vice-Commodore’s expression as she chattered on. “I’ve only met Sandra and Bill briefly. I look forward to getting to know them better.”
“I wouldn’t get too excited about the prospect,” said Denis Woodville darkly.
“Oh? Is he a member of the club here?”
Carole couldn’t decide whether Jude had calculated the effect of her innocent inquiry, but it was certainly explosive.
“Bill Chilcott? A member of the Fethering Yacht Club? Oh, for heaven’s sake! We do have quite strict requirements for entry here, you know. The last thing we want is the kind of jumped-up little creep who talks about boats and sailing all the time and in fact doesn’t know a blind thing about any of it.”
“Ah.”
“This is a serious Yacht Club, you know.”
“Yes, of course.”
“The likes of Bill Chilcott have to moor their boats up on the public moorings. Bloody
The Vice-Commodore seemed belatedly to realize that this diatribe wasn’t the approved method of welcoming a new resident. Swallowing his spleen, he announced formally, “Anyway, I do hope you’ll be very happy in Fethering.” And then, in apparent contradiction of much he’d already said, he went on, “You’ll find people round here are very friendly…I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name when you came in…”
“Jude.”
“Ah. Jude what?”
“People just call me Jude.” Carole had a little inward seethe at another missed opportunity to get more information, and was surprised to hear Jude go on, “Did you hear about that poor boy who drowned, Vice- Commodore?”
“What? Oh yes, of course I did. Another ‘Fethering Floater’.”
“Sorry, what does that mean?”
“Bit of local folklore you could call it. Based on a peculiarity of the tides round here. Fether’s not much more than a stream really, but it’s got a nasty kick at high water. Moves pretty damn fast. Strange thing is, though, you’d have thought it’d take a body out a long way to sea. But no. Anyone who’s so unfortunate as to fall into the Fether – or so damn stupid as to jump into it – some cross-current gets them, and they usually turn up on Fethering beach within twenty-four hours. They’re your ‘Fethering Floaters’. Name goes back hundreds of years, I’ve been told. A bit ghoulish…Still, nice to have a few local traditions, eh? Something for the tourists to get their teeth into.”
The Vice-Commodore seemed unaware of any potential bad taste in his remarks, given Aaron Spalding’s recent death. He looked at his watch and said for the second time, “Anyway, ladies, I think I’d better be closing up for the afternoon. So, if you’ll excuse me…”
“Yes, of course.”
Carole and Jude stood up.
Outside the weather had, if anything, worsened. The rain had turned to stinging sleet and the day was dwindling into darkness. It was also bitterly cold. Soon the sleet would stop and a major freeze-up set in. Denis Woodville let the two women through the small gate beside the clubhouse and reached into his pocket for the key to its padlock.
“So, if you see any more Fethering Yacht Club property round the place, you let me know. And I’ll get on to the police sharpish. These little buggers have got to be caught and taught some sense of responsibility. They’ve got to learn to respect other people’s property, and if it took horse-whipping to achieve that end…well, you wouldn’t hear any complaints from me. What about you?”
Gracefully, Carole avoided answering the question by saying, “Thank you so much for your time, Vice- Commodore. If we all work together, I’m sure we can make Fethering a much more secure place to live in.”
“Absolutely certain we can. May I accompany you back up to the High Street, ladies?”
“Well, since we’re all going the same – ”
“That’s very kind,” said Jude, “but in fact we were going to have a walk along the beach before it gets completely dark.”
“Were we?”
“Yes,” Jude informed Carole firmly.
? The Body on the Beach ?
Twelve
“Are you really looking for a job as a barmaid?” Carole couldn’t help asking as they pressed on into the icy gloom.
“Good heavens, no,” Jude replied. “I just said that to keep the old boy sweet.”
“So what, do you have a job or are you retired?”
“Ah, you mean what do I live on?”
Carole wouldn’t have put it quite that crudely, but she admitted that yes, that was more or less what she meant.
Jude chuckled. “Like the rest of us, I live on money. And money comes and money goes, doesn’t it?”
This did not come within Carole’s definition of an adequate answer, but she had no time to probe further as her sleeve was snatched and Jude’s voice hissed in her ear, “It’s all right. He’s gone.”
“What?”
A gloved hand waved up towards the top of the beach. “Our Vice-Commodore. He’s out of sight.”
“So?”
“So he can’t see what we’re doing.” And, tugging on Carole’s arm, Jude pulled her round, so that they were both walking back the way they came.
“I wish you’d tell me what we are doing,” Carole complained.
“We’re going back to where you found the body on the beach. The water’s far enough out for us to see.”
“But we’re not going to see anything. The tide’s washed over the area a good few times by now.”
“That’s not the point.”
However, Jude granted her no more information until they were standing at the foot of the breakwater, where, in what seemed like another lifetime, a dead man with a missing tooth had lain. Out of sight now in the encroaching darkness, the relentless thudding of the pile driver continued, eerily echoing off the sea.
Jude looked at the water-filled indentation at the foot of one of the breakwater’s worn stanchions. “It was here?”
“Yes. Exactly here.”
Scrunching up her eyes, Jude looked across the rain-slicked sand to where the pebbles started. “And you say the tide was coming in?”
“Yes.”
“So how far was it away from the breakwater when you found the body? How far did it have to come in to reach here?”
