Meantime, I was on my absolute best behaviour with Dad. I knew that my only chance of getting to see Fred again anytime soon was to make Dad trust me again. I needed him to almost forget that he’d found my room empty and stop checking up on me. It took a while but as the days went by he was more willing to let me go for walks during the day and didn’t insist on timing me while I was out. I was often awake late into the night texting or talking dirty (Fred told me what we did was called that) so I was pretty sure that I’d be aware of most times Dad checked on me in the night – it seemed to be pretty much never.

I started to worry that Fred would lose interest. Texting or talking wasn’t the same as being together, like that amazing night we went out, or lying together on the blanket, undressing each other, touching each other. So when I could bear being apart from him no longer, when I was once again failing to concentrate on my lessons because I was thinking about him, when I was spending hours torturing myself with images in my head of him with other imaginary girls, I knew I’d have to risk sneaking out again.

Need 2 CU I texted. By now I had learned all the abbreviations. Can’t wait anymore

Horny? LOL

I miss u.

2nite?

What time?

Midnight? Usual place?

Y

Cu xxxxxx

44

Stuart

27 January 2022, 12:00

The Caribbean

As I predicted, most of the crew are not at all keen on the idea of a DNA test. There has been a lot of grumbling about their rights and mutterings about coercion but once I reiterate the reasons for it, reassure them that all samples will be destroyed afterwards, only compared against the samples found in the room and not used for anything else, and, most persuasively, that if they don’t agree to it they will have to resign and are unlikely to be invited back, everyone consents.

Also, as I predicted, getting the test kits sent out to us was not an easy process – ships moored off the coast of obscure Caribbean islands don’t exactly have a letter box, and we only go back to shore about once a month for bunkering. A helicopter was duly chartered, which is costing an absolute fortune, but thankfully that’s not my problem.

Now I’ve got the test kits, it’ll take a couple of days to get everyone through the surgery, swabbed, and the samples labelled, and then they’ll need to go back and off to the lab, again probably in a helicopter. I guess Nico feels he needs to be seen to be doing everything he can.