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Authors: John D. MacDonald
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had moved too far off course. I'd put a loop over a spoke. It was okay, so I went back up the side deck on the starboard side and she had rolled over onto her face, so I got a little closer and took this one. See? The hatch is bigger. I was closer. I was thinking that I was getting real evidence. I wanted to get her face. I was thinking of yelling at her and taking it when she jumped up. It said 'eleven' through the little window, so I cranked it up to twelve, and that was the last one on the roll. As I was wondering what to do, she sat up and put the bikini top on. I backed off. When I looked again, she was standing at the rail. Right here. So I took the last picture of her. Her hair was blowing in the wind. She sensed it, I guess, because she turned and saw me before I could lower the camera. I ran from her. How about that? My boat and my camera and my marriage. And I ran."
"And you took these first nine,on the roll?"
"Sure. These are all at St. Croix, the dock area and the other boats and so on. That one was a real nice trimaran from Houston, the biggest I ever saw. I didn't know they made them that big. See? Howie is in these two. Yes, I took them all at St. Croix."
"Then what about the film?"
"I told you before that-"
"More detail this time."
"Jesus, you are a terrible person. You know that? All right, all right. I went below. Once you finish a roll, you just keep on winding and it all goes over into the other side and you see little lines through the window. Then you open it here and take it out. That's what I did. I hid it in a place nobody knows about but me."
"You sound certain."
"I am certain. In my music box. You think you are looking right through it where the little dancer turns around and around, but you're not. It's mirrors in there, at angles so you think you're looking through. It's `Lara's Theme,' and there's a certain place where I push the little nub to stop it. If anybody opened it when I wasn't there I would know because the music wouldn't start in my place, where I always stop it when I hide anything in there. Nobody got at that film, if that's what you mean. God, how I wish they had! After we were tied up at Fort-de-France, I took it out of the box and it wasn't out of my hand until I gave it to the man in the camera store."
"By then you knew the girl wasn't on the boat."
"I didn't know anything by then. I didn't know what to believe. When I got the film back and saw these three pictures and she… just wasn't in them, the whole world turned black. Black with little specks roaming around in it, and a roaring goIng on. Travis, I'm getting so tired of…"
"Let's go back to the voices you heard."
"Why? I heard voices. Everybody hears voices. All crazy people hear voices."
"Always the same girl?"
"Yes. Joy. I never could make out the words. The laugh was the same. It was Joy and Howie talking and laughing. Much more of this?"
"Quite a lot, I think."
"Then we need another drink."
She brought the drinks back to the sofa in the living room. When she touched glasses, she touched a little too hard, spilling drinks from both our glasses. She giggled and mopped it up.
She said, "To answer the question you haven't asked, Yes, the son of a bitch was trying to run right over me with the Trepid."
"And you think he could see you?"
"Why not? It wasn't black night yet. And I didn't have any trouble seeing him."
"He handled the boat in such a way, he made you fall overboard?"
"No doubt about it."
"But he threw you a life ring."
"I think he just didn't have the guts to do it. I think he knocked me overboard and then panicked and threw the ring. While he was working his way around and back, he got his courage up again and decided to run me down, and then at the last minute he veered off and threw me a line. Like the rifle."
"He didn't mention that."
"I can see why he didn't."
"He said there was something else, and you should tell me about it."
"It's the rifle my father bought for sharks. It goes
"And you took these first nine,on the roll?"
"Sure. These are all at St. Croix, the dock area and the other boats and so on. That one was a real nice trimaran from Houston, the biggest I ever saw. I didn't know they made them that big. See? Howie is in these two. Yes, I took them all at St. Croix."
"Then what about the film?"
"I told you before that-"
"More detail this time."
"Jesus, you are a terrible person. You know that? All right, all right. I went below. Once you finish a roll, you just keep on winding and it all goes over into the other side and you see little lines through the window. Then you open it here and take it out. That's what I did. I hid it in a place nobody knows about but me."
"You sound certain."
"I am certain. In my music box. You think you are looking right through it where the little dancer turns around and around, but you're not. It's mirrors in there, at angles so you think you're looking through. It's `Lara's Theme,' and there's a certain place where I push the little nub to stop it. If anybody opened it when I wasn't there I would know because the music wouldn't start in my place, where I always stop it when I hide anything in there. Nobody got at that film, if that's what you mean. God, how I wish they had! After we were tied up at Fort-de-France, I took it out of the box and it wasn't out of my hand until I gave it to the man in the camera store."
"By then you knew the girl wasn't on the boat."
"I didn't know anything by then. I didn't know what to believe. When I got the film back and saw these three pictures and she… just wasn't in them, the whole world turned black. Black with little specks roaming around in it, and a roaring goIng on. Travis, I'm getting so tired of…"
"Let's go back to the voices you heard."
"Why? I heard voices. Everybody hears voices. All crazy people hear voices."
"Always the same girl?"
"Yes. Joy. I never could make out the words. The laugh was the same. It was Joy and Howie talking and laughing. Much more of this?"
"Quite a lot, I think."
"Then we need another drink."
She brought the drinks back to the sofa in the living room. When she touched glasses, she touched a little too hard, spilling drinks from both our glasses. She giggled and mopped it up.
She said, "To answer the question you haven't asked, Yes, the son of a bitch was trying to run right over me with the Trepid."
"And you think he could see you?"
"Why not? It wasn't black night yet. And I didn't have any trouble seeing him."
"He handled the boat in such a way, he made you fall overboard?"
"No doubt about it."
"But he threw you a life ring."
"I think he just didn't have the guts to do it. I think he knocked me overboard and then panicked and threw the ring. While he was working his way around and back, he got his courage up again and decided to run me down, and then at the last minute he veered off and threw me a line. Like the rifle."
"He didn't mention that."
"I can see why he didn't."
"He said there was something else, and you should tell me about it."
"It's the rifle my father bought for sharks. It goes
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