Barrington Passage. Luke and Ed, he said, had been released from hospital already and Terry had been admitted with a broken shoulder and left forearm.
“You want some company out there, son? I’d be glad to come and stay with you.”
“Thanks Dad. I appreciate that. I’d really rather you stayed close to Allie and keep me posted on how she’s doing. Her mother is going to be needing help and I don’t know how much her sister can or will do.”
Toby didn’t sleep much that night, his first night away from Allison since their marriage. The picture of the helicopter crashing into the cold water and the frightening moments before Allison was safely in the Zodiac kept replaying through his mind. He also thought about her father and the other fishermen and wondered about their ordeal before they died. All together, he was glad when dawn finally came and he could get up and do something useful. He was neither sleepy nor tired at the moment, still too pumped with adrenaline.
Allison phoned from her mother’s home about suppertime later in the day. “Hi Toby darling. I’m glad you didn’t come. This place would drive you crazy. Mom and Marie are impossible. There won’t be a funeral because the bodies are still in the helicopter, and after they are removed, there will have to be an autopsy. We’ll have a memorial service Thursday and I’ll be coming back on Friday.”
“I’m glad. I miss you. What’s the problem with your mother and Marie—as if I couldn’t guess?”
“I can’t really talk about it from here. But confusion reigns. ’Nuff said?”
“Yeah, I get the picture. They can’t make up their minds and you are trying to bring order out of chaos. How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay, physically, at least. Mentally, I’m having some difficulty with the circumstances of Dad’s death. Did you know he and Bruce Nickerson—that was the other victim—had been shot?”
“No! You’re kidding! Shot? And Bruce, too?”
“True. A policeman was here this morning to talk about it and that really threw Mom and Marie into spasms.”
“I can believe that. Who found that out?”
“Luke and Ed knew. They discovered it when they picked Dad and Bruce out of the water, but they didn’t want to talk about it to us until the police were notified.”
“What a mess for you to have to walk into after your ordeal in the crash.”
“I’m okay, really, dear. Don’t worry about me. But there’s something else. There was a third man on The Smitty II . Harvard Meadowcroft had sailed with them and he’s listed officially as missing, presumed drowned.”
There was a short pause. Toby couldn’t decide what to say and Allison had obviously told all she knew. She broke the silence. “I miss you more than I can tell, Toby dear one. Thank you so much for your knowing what to do for me after the crash. You are wonderful. See you Friday. Love you dearly. Bye for now.”
“Love you too, Allie. Take good care of you.”
The Navy diving boat had arrived late the next afternoon and would begin work first thing in the morning. Because of the reefs surrounding Rocky Island, the ship anchored about a quarter mile off shore. Toby had gone out in the Zodiac to see what he could do to help. The Captain of the vessel, a three-striper, had welcomed him on board, thanking him for his offer. He told Toby that they didn’t believe they would need him; but he asked if he would stay close to home so they could call on him if they found later that they did indeed need him.
Next morning, when Toby had completed his tour of the island, the Navy Zodiac was just delivering two divers to the site. During the day, in various dives, they attached flotation bags to the downed helicopter and the craft partly floated to the surface, still on its side and filled with water. The divers managed to get the two bodies, still in body bags, out of the helicopter and transferred to the navy ship. Next day they planned to tow the chopper to the