Hostage to Fortune

Chapter Fourteen

After the talk with Dr Montand, I started work on getting Will back to Britain. Chartering a private plane to fly him home was the easy part. To get him back into the country, he needed his passport, which at that moment was sitting in the safe on board Bee Jay II. In an ideal world, a few phone calls would have done the job but that doesn't allow for the machinations of the British Home Office. For them, nothing less than a declaration that the old passport had been lost or stolen would do. This had to be accompanied by an application for a new passport, two photographs and, of course, the fee. It took twenty minutes to charter the plane and two days to get the passport. Sometime during that two days word got out that Will was alive

Will made good progress in those two days. He still could not control his left leg but he was managing to get around on crutches. When we left the hospital with Will in a wheelchair, a hoard of reporters and cameramen confronted us, all shouting questions at Will. I stepped forward and gave them a statement that I hoped would satisfy them.

'Mr Wainwright was involved in a serious sailing accident and sustained a severe head injury. He was lucky enough to be rescued and brought here. He would like to thank the doctors and all the staff of the hospital for the excellent work they've done for him. For now, he is just concentrating on getting home and starting his physiotherapy.'

If I thought that would calm things down, I was wrong. They still crowded us making it difficult to get to the taxi. Tom was trying to force a way through them. When he found a TV reporter and his cameraman standing between the taxi and us, he had a quiet word with him.

'Look arsehole, perhaps you didn't hear, but my boy has had a serious injury and he doesn't need you pushing microphones and cameras in his face. Now one of two things is going to happen here. Either you gentlemen are going to step aside or your friends are going to get some excellent footage of me shoving his camera up your arse.'

I looked down to see Will smiling as his sixty-year-old father threatened two men who were twenty years his junior. When the two men stepped aside and the cameraman opened the taxi door, neither of us could believe it. Tom and I, got Will into the taxi. As we all sat down Tom looked out of the window.

'Bloody Vultures. ' He said referring to the pressmen.

Will put his hand on his father's arm. 'I'm beginning to see you in a new light. I often wondered how you managed to build up that business. You're a hardnosed old bastard aren't you?'

'I just did what had to be done, lad.'

I looked at the two of them and laughed. 'Seems to me, that the apple didn't fall far from the tree.'

I expected Will to dispute what I'd said but he didn't he just laughed.

'What are you going to do about Sam and the lad?' Tom asked once we were aboard the plane.

'I'm not sure yet. –Where are they Steph?'

'I can't tell you right now since we don't have an internet connection on the plane. I can say they docked in Gibraltar earlier today. –Have you remembered anything about what happened.'

'I don't know whether it is a memory or a dream but I think I've remembered something. One minute I'm standing at the helm, the next I'm on the floor being dragged to the side. I think foul play was more or less certain after they reported me lost off Portugal. As soon as we get home I think I'll call New Scotland Yard.'

'Shouldn't we have reported it to the gendarmes France was the nearest country?' I asked.

'No, it's not their problem. We weren't in French territorial waters. Bee Jay is registered in Southampton, which makes her British territory. With any luck, they'll still be in Gibraltar.'

'We do have a problem, business-wise. When it was announced that you were missing Henry and Charles jumped ship. They are going to work for Geoffrey Endicott.'

'Not much of a loss there then, Endicott is welcome to them Robert, James and Rebecca still on board?'

'Yes, I asked them to be patient. They know they'd have no trouble finding something else so they decided to wait and see.'

I was worried that Will was trying to get back to work too soon so I was relieved when he accepted the fact that I had booked him into St Mary's hospital to be checked out and for physiotherapy. I was relieved when he just accepted it. Having an ambulance meet us on the tarmac at City Airport meant that we had no problems with the press. As soon as I got him settled in St Mary's I called Scotland Yard Within an hour I was sitting in an interview room telling them what I knew about what happened to Will. First, it was Sergeant Robson and then Inspector Davies. I explained to each of them what had happened, as I knew it. Of course, they wanted to know why I'd kept quiet about Will's survival but accepted that it actually led to Ryan and Sam showing that what happened to Will was no accident. When I told them of my suspicions of an affair, they asked me to give them all the evidence I had and they would check it out. As I was about to leave I asked the inspector what would happen next, he seemed in little doubt.

'Well Ms Fletcher, it looks like we've got enough to issue an arrest warrant for attempted murder and maybe conspiracy to commit murder. I will have to get a statement from Mr Wainwright, but I can come to the Hospital for that. You say the boat was docked in Gibraltar?'

'It was when I checked this morning, Inspector.'

'I'll get on to the Gibraltar police and have them picked up.'