Doctor Who_ Rip Tide - Louise Cooper [19]
The fact that she knew the answer to that question was an additional goad. Just look at Steve dancing attendance on Ruth; giving her a service card, finding the right page in her hymn book ... It made Nina want to puke. And Ruth had really dressed the part, or rather, overdressed it; right to that dinky little bit of black veil on her hat. Even her face was funereally white. Make-up, probably. She hadn't looked that pallid before.
Or maybe the pallor was something else ... Nina frowned, then hastily got to her feet as the organ started up for the first hymn. As the congregation began to sing Eternal Father, Strong to Save — they always had that one when there was any connection with the sea — her mind roamed again over the niggling thoughts that had been bothering her for the past few days. There was no doubt that Steve wasn't his usual self. All right, she hadn't seen much of him lately, but that made it all the more noticeable when they did meet. He seemed to be abnormally tired; the energy and sparkle that were so much a part of him just weren't there at all. She'd heard that he had missed lifeboat training yesterday. That wasn't like him. And she had noticed something else — those blisters on his hands had come back. Nina hadn't mentioned them, and neither had he. But she had seen them. And something similar had happened to Charlie's hands before he died. Nina was starting to get worried. She didn't know what was wrong with her brother. But she had an immovable gut instinct that, somehow, there was a connection with Ruth.
The organ swelled to the chorus: 'O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea.' Peril on the sea. Why did those words suddenly make her shiver? Uneasily Nina looked around her at the singing congregation, then her gaze travelled towards the door.
And froze.
At the furthest end of the rearmost pew, shadowed by a lily-filled urn, a man was sitting. His clothes were darker and more formal, and his hat was different, black and with the brim turned down over his eyes. But she couldn't mistake that Byronesque hair, and the set of the shoulders, and every instinct she possessed set up a tingling alarm. For Ruth to come to the funeral was one thing. But him?
The singing ended and everyone sat down as the vicar began his address. Hastily Nina followed suit. She didn't think the man had seen her staring; certainly she hoped he hadn't, for the last thing she wanted to do was alert him. But as the service continued, she frequently and surreptitiously glanced over her shoulder, to make sure he was still there. Something was going on; she was certain of it now. Something that involved both the jelly-baby man and Ruth. And she was going to get to the bottom of it. Whatever it took.
Steve had not noticed the stranger at the back of the church. He was trying to concentrate on the service while at the same time helping Ruth, who didn't seem to know what to do with the books and sheets of paper that had been given to her as they came in. She had looked intently at her hymn book through the singing but had not joined in, and though she was now studying the order of service card, he had the impression that she wasn't really taking in what she read. He wondered if she was ill. She was abnormally pale, she kept shivering, and once he had seen her sway slightly on her feet, as though she were about to faint. He had whispered, 'Are you all right?' and she had nodded, but Steve wasn't convinced. He kept a concerned eye on her as the service continued, occasionally (and unconsciously) rubbing his itching palms on his