“No, thank you, Inspector.”

“Don’t drink?”

“Not anymore.”

“How come?”

“I drank to forget things.”

“And?”

“I kept remembering them.”

LeFleur paused, then took a swig. They drove in silence the rest of the way.

Sea

Dear Annabelle—

The “Lord” has not saved us. He has worked no magic. He’s done little and said even less. He will apparently be just another mouth to feed and another body to make room for.

The wind and waves kicked back up today, so we all squeezed for shelter under the canopy. This puts us knee to knee, elbow to elbow. I sat with Mrs. Laghari on one side and the new man on another. At times I brushed against his bare skin. It felt no different than my own.

“Come on, ‘Lord,’ tell us the truth,” Lambert said, pointing at the new man. “How did you get on my boat?”

“I was never on your boat,” he replied.

“Then how did you fall into the ocean?” Geri asked.

“I did not fall.”

“What were you doing in the water?”

“Coming to you.”

We looked at one another.

“Let me get this straight,” Yannis said. “God decided to drop from the sky, swim to this raft, and start talking to us?”

“I talk to you all the time,” he said. “I came here to listen.”

“Listen to what?” I said.

“Enough!” Lambert broke in. “If you know so much, tell me what happened to my damn yacht!”

The man smiled. “Why are you angry about that?”

“I lost my boat!”

“You are in another.”

“It’s not the same!”

“True,” the man said. “This one is still afloat.”

Yannis chuckled. Lambert glared at him.

“What?” Yannis said. “It’s funny.”

Mrs. Laghari exhaled impatiently. “May we stop with this nonsense? Where are the planes? The ones that rescue us? Tell us that, and I will pray to you right now.”

We waited for a reply. But the man just sat there, shirtless and grinning. The mood shifted. Mrs. Laghari had reminded us that, despite this newcomer’s odd distraction, we remain hopelessly lost.

“Nobody’s praying to him,” Lambert grumbled.

News

REPORTER: This is Valerie Cortez, aboard the Galaxy yacht, owned by billionaire investor Jason Lambert. As you can see, it’s raining, so I’m tucked in here. But the exorbitant fun continues on this fifth and final night of the Grand Idea.

ANCHOR: What took place today, Valerie?

REPORTER: Today the attendees were treated to discussion groups led by a former US president, the designer of the world’s first electric car, and the founders of the three biggest computer search engines in the world, the first time they were ever on the same stage together.

ANCHOR: What’s that music in the background?