The Dark Side of the Island - Jack Higgins [35]
It was early morning, grey and overcast with a light rain falling and a cold wind blew across the harbour. Thirty or forty people stood talking in little groups on the pier, mostly fishermen with one or two women hovering on the fringe.
They moved forward curiously as the two orderlies picked up the stretcher and the guards had to push a way through.
It took them a minute or two to get the stretcher down the ladder to the waiting E-boat and the orderlies laid him on the deck beside the wheelhouse and stood beside him as the sailors quickly cast off.
As the water churned at the stern and the boat pulled away from the pier, the people crowded silently forward to the edge. Lomax looked up at the line of white, meaningless faces, his vision blurring slightly, and then Katina's seemed to jump out at him.
So she was safe? There was that much to be thankful for. She was wearing a headscarf and looked exactly as he had seen her on that first night, very young, the eyes like shadows in the white face and a lump rose in his throat that threatened to choke him.
He lay there on the deck, the cold rain falling on his face and as the island faded into the mist a seagull dipped over his head and fled through the grey morning like a departing spirit.
12
One Should Never Return to Anything
When he awakened, the coin was still firmly clutched in his right hand. He stared at it, a frown of bewilderment on his face, his first conscious thought that it should not be in his possession, and then he remembered.
The past and the present had become so inextricably mixed that it was difficult to make sense of either. He dropped the coin and chain on the small beside table, swung his legs to the floor and sat there trying to get his bearings.
Who am I, he thought. The Nightcomer or Hugh Lomax, residence California, scriptwriter and novelist of sorts? There was no answer or none that would suffice. He had become a stranger to himself and he got to his feet and moved across to the washstand.
There was a dull ache in his side where a foot had caught him and a bad graze on his right cheek. He pulled off his shirt and splashed lukewarm water over his face. As he started to dry himself, there was a knock at the door and Katina entered.
She was wearing the same silk headscarf and cream linen dress and she closed the door and smiled. "How do you feel?"
He grinned. "Too old for street brawls with men half my age."
She opened his suitcase, took out a clean shirt and unbuttoned it for him. "What have you been doing?"
"Going back into the past," he said. "Trying to make some sense out of things."
"A dangerous game. They say one should never return to anything."
"I'm beginning to think they're right. I'm not even sure who I am anymore."
"You are Hugh Lomax," she said, and with uncanny perception added, "The Nightcomer died a long time ago."
"I'm not so sure," he said. "He almost killed a man this afternoon."
To that she had no answer and he went on, "There's no logic to it, Katina. No answer. I've only one thing to hang on to in a world gone mad. The fact that I know that I didn't betray those who helped me."
"I know, Hugh," she said. "I believe you and so does Oliver. He wants to see you. He thinks he might be able to help. Will you come out to the villa with me?"
"What have I got to lose?" he said. "I'd like to meet him again in any case."
She crossed to the door and opened it. "I'll see you downstairs. I want a word with Anna before we leave."
He decided against a shave and finished dressing quickly. When he walked out into the hot sunlight of the square five minutes later, she was sitting behind the wheel of the jeep talking to Kytros.
As Lomax approached, the police sergeant turned and examined him critically. "You look in considerably better shape than Dimitri."
"How is he?" Lomax asked.
"When I last saw him he was having several stitches inserted into his face," Kytros said. "But don't underestimate him. It will take more than one beating to put him on his back. He's made of iron and his capacity for hate is frightening."