‘We can’t just leave that guy on the beach,’ he said with quiet urgency. ‘I think we should tell your father.’
Grace shook her head. ‘I have another idea. Nelson.’
Alex immediately grasped Grace’s scheme. Nelson was known as a loyal, efficient man who, while he worked for Robert Ashford, was not afraid to voice an opinion. ‘I’ll come.’
Outside, the air smelt damp and floral, as if it had been freshly laundered. They walked quickly down the stairs and outside, following the path around the house and past the tennis court, beyond which they could see a weathered but well-kept clapboard house.
‘Nelson lived here as caretaker before my father bought the island,’ said Grace. ‘I’ve actually always felt it was more his island than ours.’
There was a light on in the top left window, so Grace tapped on the door while Alex hovered nervously behind her. Nelson Ford looked surprised when he answered the door; no wonder, it was just after six. He rubbed his dark, lined forehead as if he were still tired.
‘Grace. What can I do for you?’
Grace glanced at Alex, then took a deep breath. ‘We thought we saw something down at the beach. I wanted you to come and take a look.’
‘What is it?’
Alex hesitated before speaking. ‘A body maybe.’
‘A body maybe?’ asked Nelson cautiously.
‘We didn’t want to get too close,’ offered Alex, not meeting Nelson’s gaze.
The older man looked at them for a long moment, then turned around and glanced back into the darkness of the house. ‘Come on then. Let’s go take a look.’
They walked down to the beach in silence, Alex and Grace going at such a brisk pace that even Nelson’s long legs struggled to keep up with them.
Getting closer to the beach, Grace felt another stab of uncertainty. Maybe Miles was right: why should we get mixed up in this when it’s nothing to do with us? The police would be only too happy to pin this on the rich Europeans; there was little love for the flash incomers buying up their own corner of paradise from the native islanders.
At least Nelson was on their side. Or was he? It was hard to get anything straight in her head. Already they had begun lying: maybe we saw a body. There was nothing maybe about it.
She stepped on to West Point Beach and immediately sensed something was wrong. In the time between leaving with Miles and Sasha and getting back here with Nelson, the tide had come in, but there was still ten yards of exposed white sand between them and the water’s edge. Her eyes scanned up and down the beach and her heart started pounding.
‘What are we looking for again, kids?’ asked Nelson, slowing his pace to a stop.
The body had gone.
‘It was here,’ she said, looking around wildly. ‘It was.’
Alex had already run further up the shore, looking to see if they had picked the right spot, but Grace was sure of it: this had been the place. She wouldn’t forget it in a hurry.
Nelson looked at her cynically. ‘Well, there’s nothing here now.’
‘Tell him, Alex,’ said Grace desperately, pointing to the spot on the path. ‘There was a dead body right here.’
‘It’s true, sir,’ said Alex, running his hand through his hair. ‘We saw him.’
‘Him?’ asked Nelson. ‘Did you see who it was?’
‘It was that boy Bradley,’ said Alex. ‘I think he’d just started as a deckhand or something.’
‘Him,’ Nelson said disapprovingly. ‘I nearly fired him last night. Someone saw him drinking.’ His brows knitted. ‘Are you sure he wasn’t just asleep or passed out? If he was drinking, that seems the most likely thing to have happened here. He woke up and walked off. You did say you didn’t get that close?’
Grace shook her head vehemently. ‘He wasn’t moving. Or breathing, I’m sure of it,’ she said, feeling tears well behind her eyes.
Alex examined the shoreline, looking for footsteps, but the rain had smoothed the sand. ‘Do you think the tide could have taken the body out?’
Nelson shrugged. ‘The sea can be unpredictable, so I guess it’s possible,’ he said in his thick Bahamian accent. ‘But it’s not quite high tide. It would have had to be one hell of a freak wave to sweep up and snatch a body.’