“I would hide too, mon capitaine, if I had been in your position. The things people were saying about you were not very nice. But did I follow you? I do not know if I would say that. One of my sirentologist friends is from Calcutta. She was returning home for a few weeks and asked if I wanted to join her. I had not been traveling since the Europe trip with my sister, so I agreed. That is where we were—Calcutta—when we heard the news that you were in Sri Lanka. It was so close, we decided to go looking for you.”

“Whatever the bloody hell for?”

“Because you were the biggest sirentologist on the planet, and we were nerdy groupies. You seem to be getting upset, Marty. Should I finish my story?”

“Please do, Pip,” he said sternly.

“We went to the Daily Mirror and spoke to Jacky, who had just written the story about you—”

“Jacky!”

“She said you lived on a big boat in Galle Port. We couldn’t find it and figured you must be out at sea. My friend went back to India, but I stayed behind to wait for you. When you returned, and I saw that the ‘boat’ you lived on was a research vessel, and I realized you were not just hiding here but searching for merfolk, I decided you might need an assistant. And look! Now we are living happy and everlasting.”

“Happily ever after?”

“That is what I said.”

Marty was staring at Pip, gobsmacked. He’d had no idea about any of this. Admittedly he hadn’t asked many questions when he’d initially hired her. She’d told him she was impressed by his ship, she was a marine biologist, and she was looking for work. Some preliminary questions confirmed she was familiar with the operation and analysis of sonar, and that had been good enough for him. After all, he’d never thought she would be anything more than a temporary assistant, sticking around for a few weeks at tops. It had been months before he’d confessed to her that he was searching for merfolk—something it was now clear she had known the entire time!

“There, on the horizon,” Pip said, pointing through the pilothouse’s inclined windshield. “You can see the island now.”

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

MARTY

Marty snagged a pair of binoculars hanging on a wall hook and pressed them to his eyes. The island was covered with verdant vegetation, an emerald dot suspended in a world of blue.

“We’ll continue this talk later, Pip,” he said. “Deploy the sonar winches and keep an eye out for the best locations to place the hydrophones. I’ll go get them ready.”