A Matter of Time Read Online Free PDF

was given to the crew’s activities.
    “That’s why I invited Tim and Lydia, and Stuart and Stacey to join us,” she went on, “I mean, it’s the least we can do.” She
     peered at him over the top of her sunglasses. “Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”
    “Anson needs all the support he can get, so you invited Tim and Lydia, and Stuart and Stacey to join us, because it’s the
     least we can do.”
    “I
hate
it when you do that!” Marcia exclaimed, standing up. “I might as well be talking to a tape recorder!”
    Her husband, sensing that anything he might say now would be used against him, remained silent.
    Which only irritated her more. “Well, we’ve simply got to get going! We’ve lost two days, as it is! We’ll be lucky to get
     to Bermuda before the regatta begins.”
    Her husband, dressed in a white polo shirt and white ducks like his crew (though twice their age and considerably thicker),
     at last turned his Ray-Bans in her direction. “I just don’t feel right about leaving without knowing what’s happened to Sterling’s
     boy. Sterling’s been my friend since London School of Economics.”
    Marcia tapped the teak railing with impeccably lacquered nails. She tried reasoning. “What more can we do, darling? We’ve
     told the local gendarmerie all we know. We even found a picture of Kevin for them in the ship scrapbook. And you
know
they’ve looked everywhere.”
    He nodded and stared glumly at the brass binnacle.
    Suddenly she brightened. “Darling! Why don’t you call Sterling! He may have even heard from Kevin by now!”
    Neil rubbed his chin. “I was going to wait until we had something definite to tell him.”
    His wife let her impatience creep into her voice. “But darling, we
do
have something definite! He picked up a woman. A local, older than him. He persuaded her to leave. They went to another place.
     She left. He left. Now she’s gone. And so is her car. And so is Kevin. End of story!” She shrugged and smiled. “A happy ending,
     I suspect, for both of them.”
    Holding her smile, she waited. “Oh, come on, darling!”she finally cried. “They’re probably in Paris by now—or halfway to Rome!”
    With a sigh, Neil capitulated. “I’ll call Sterling.” He disappeared through the hatch and down the ship’s ladder.
    When he emerged a few minutes later,
he
was smiling. “Well, darling, once again you were right.”
    “I was? How wonderful! How?”
    “Sterling was unfazed. Apparently Kevin is given to impulsive behavior. Has a history of suddenly dropping everything and
     just taking off.” He laughed. “Sterling wished us bon voyage.”
    “He did? Well then, I say anchors aweigh!”
    Her husband put an arm around her. “You want some more good news? When I was below, Dieter informed me that the chef has a
     cousin who’d come over from Marseilles to see him. According to the chef, the man’s had yacht experience and—just happens
     to be ‘between boats,’ as it were. His passport’s current, and he’d be most happy to sail with us, so we won’t have to go
     shorthanded. I gave my approval.”
    Marcia’s brow furrowed. “I thought we made crew decisions together.”
    “We do, darling. But as you pointed out, we’re a bit pressed for time. We can’t exactly spend a few days interviewing, now
     can we?”
    “I suppose not,” she allowed, still frowning. “Does Dieter like him?”
    “Obviously.” Neil paused. “Although I suspect he also likes the prospect of not having to work himself and the others like
     dogs. They’ll have a hard enough time as it is, making up the two days.”
    “Then I take it, it’s a
fait accompli
.”
    Her husband nodded. “The new man came aboard with that last load of supplies.”
    “Well, I trust Dieter’s judgment,” she mused, studying the crew as they moved about the schooner, making ready to depart.
     “Which one is he? These sunglasses aren’t prescription.”
    “He’s that older one, there,”