I find Nicolas at the helm.

“The rudder is not operating as it should,” he says. “We seem to be on course for that stretch of shoreline, though. It will be a rough landing, and we may need to swim, but we will not crash.”

“Good. Crashes are far more fun in fiction than reality.”

He smiles over at me. “Agreed. Now what did Andrés tell you?”

I relate the story, as best I could determine based on simple yes and no questions. When the crew was taken, Andrés was indeed in town, presumably spending his earnings from the enemy ships they had “liberated” of their fortunes on the high seas.

He was supposed to meet up with Nicolas, but he was late, and he arrived to see the crowd at the dock, the captain and some of the crew arrested. He fled and took shelter outside of town.

At the time, he presumed Nicolas had been taken with the others. When he returned, he found the hanged men, with Nicolas not among them. He snuck onto the ship to look for Nicolas. I do not tell Nicolas this part—he does not need to know that Andrés had been looking for him, relying on him.

As much as I want to set Andrés’s spirit free by naming his killer, in some ways, I think that knowing his protector did not abandon him is equally important. Nicolas’s story makes sense to Andrés. This is the man he knows—who would neither abandon him nor endanger him.

Of course, the question now is, Who told Nicolas this? I can’t ask that yet. Not as we are fighting for our lives. There will be time for that difficult discussion later.

After Andrés could not find Nicolas, the boy returned to the ship, likely hiding out there for the same reason Nicolas later made it his storage spot. No one would expect the crew to go near that ship again.

At that time, it was in dock, and Nicolas had indeed not dared get near it. The ship stayed in dock as the authorities decided what to do with it. All that time, Andrés was aboard.

One night, he overheard voices. None were any he recognized, so he quickly retreated. He was spotted and pursued, but he seemed to lose his pursuer and made it to the pantry. When he heard banging outside the pantry door, he braced for capture, but no one came.

Before he could try the door, another sound came, that of someone sawing wood. Sawing through a beam, as we know. The galley collapse was not accidental. Someone cut the beam, and the roof caved in, and Andrés huddled in the pantry and counted himself lucky that his own roof had not collapsed. Then he discovered the purpose of that hammering. He was trapped.

He tried to get free. He banged about and made what little noise he could. No one heard him. No one could get close enough to the pantry, which was intentional.