Unknown Diners

Chapter Forty-Two

Lorne rejoined Catherine in the cockpit, and they hugged. "Well done, Ma'am. You didn't yell at me at all." He laughed.

"Your confidence is infectious. I'd never think of doing that."

"Great, don't think about doing things. Do them. Doing does things, thinking doesn't. Often prevents."

"Engine shut down?"

"Yeah, button here, then the key." Catherine quickly shut down, then in the silence, they resumed their hug.

A while later, he lifted his head from her hair, nodded toward the float and said, "We should finish mooring."

"Interesting. Only the breast line. We're stable."

"Her side is held tightly to the float. There's no way for the bow or the stern to swing out."

"Why do the others use two, three or more lines when they come in? Dad always has us bow and stern with lines."

"Possibly because that's what the books and the courses teach. Maybe it's so everyone can look busy. I honestly don't know."

He gave her a hand down to the float and showed her his line arrangements, all easily reached from ashore. He led the bow line forward to loop a bollard and then back to secure it to a staghorn at chest level on Tastevin's deck a few metres aft of the bow. "We don't need springs... Two hours, near calm in here." They walked aft and secured the stern line in a similar way, then he undid the breast, coiled it and hung it on its hooks.

"Why do you undo the breast line? I saw you do that the other day too."

"It's a temporary mooring. It holds the boat in place while we properly moor. Another thing is that it's secured to the float, so we'd have to step ashore to undo it when we leave."

"The GPS thing?"

"Let's look at the video again, confirm that's all that was done." They sat in the cockpit and watched as Lorne keyed to the first alarm. "Sea lions. Still have to find a way to keep them off without doing them harm." He keyed forward to the next alarm, and they studied the sequence. "No pauses from boarding to foredeck. Knew where he was going." Lorne paused the video.

"But he said he had no sailing experience. Maybe powerboats."

"Could be he had advice. Doesn't seem bright enough to be into this on his own." Lorne resumed the video, and they viewed the action on split screen, the pulpit camera and one of the lower spreader cameras. "It appears George planted only one item."

They followed the video sequence back to the stern and into the tender. "I see one only. You?"

"Yeah, no other stops. It seems as if he knew exactly where to put it. Little hesitation." Lorne closed the computer. "It's probably common to have the rode stowage without a lock. What's your father's like?"

"No lock. No need, only the anchor chain in it."

"Yeah, most are likely that way. Whatever, I'll go remove the thing. You search for a better place for it on the float. I'll get zip ties and duct tape and meet you there."

After they'd zip-tied the tracker to a diagonal reinforcing cable under the float, Lorne locked Tastevin and they walked along to the office to book in. Then out through the gate and up the ramp, they headed into Stanley Park for a stroll.