"Why didn't you say something?"

"You were doing the talking."

Mitchell stared at him. "Give me a hand below. I've had enough of this shit for one day."

Below he sat on the starboard couch with his elbow on the galley counter for balance while Hank made another dive. He figured dives were probably around one-hundred dollars each. He heard Andy and Hank and Mac raise the rudder onto the dock and caught a glimpse of them through the portholes as they shuffled under the weight of the huge blade. The rudder post was bent at a right angle. Seeing it was a relief, somehow. It was clear to Mitchell why he was stuck below decks in the backwaters of Newport harbor.

Andy leaned through the companionway. "They took the rudder."

"Get out of here and look around," Mitchell said. "I’m going to sit with it for awhile."

Shadows convened slowly in the cabin. Through the companionway Mitchell watched grey-pink clouds. "I made a beginner’s mistake and now I’m going to pay for it," he said and the question haunted him. "Why didn’t I turn the boat?"

Footfalls thumped the dock. "Anyone on board?"

Mac climbed aboard and stepped into the companionway, his body filling it as he sat on the ladder top with his heels on the rungs. He clasped his hands. "How's it going?"

Mitchell knew he was there to inspect the cabin, to measure its worth. He wondered if Mac’s wife had ever seen him without those sunglasses. "I've had better days," Mitchell said. "What's the word on the rudder?"

"He'll do what he can."

"Any idea how much all of this is going to cost?"

"Not yet. We'll have to add it up."

"Listen, I live on a couple of pensions. It’s not much. I need to keep this to a minimum."

Mac looked off through a porthole. Then he looked squarely at Mitchell. "A few years ago I was delivering a new boat to the Bahamas. I hit a reef at four in the morning. The starboard side blew in and the boat went down in minutes. I never felt so bad in all my life."

"It wasn't your boat."

"It was my job, my reputation."

Mitchell didn’t care. He didn’t like Mac. He didn't like his hidden eyes and his hustler's style and the way he talked to Andy. And he didn't like being prey.