“I know this will sound crazy and perhaps you will think me quite mad — I think I stirred up a hornet’s nest of trouble.” He ran a hand through his sandy fair hair. “I went to see old Mr. Kelly yesterday morning. Naturally, he was astounded to see me alive.”
No more than she had been.
“I thought it best to tell him to his face that theGarrardhad been built incorrectly. At first, he listened to me, but then he seemed to think I was blaming him. I only wanted to make absolutely sure they hadn’t used a similar design on another ship and wouldn’t ever again. I told him I’d previously mentioned to the master shipwright about the design flaws, particularly the low freeboard before we ever finished building her.”
“What did he say?”
“He became red-faced, but with anger, not with shame.”
“Naturally, he’d be angry with the shipwright.”
“That’s just it, he was angry with me. Especially when I said I didn’t think Master Builder Gilbert should be designing any more ships. Kelly asked me what I wanted. I told him I was looking for work, and he said I’d never work in a Boston shipyard again.”
“What?” Rose jumped up. “That makes no sense. Why would he not want to know about the errors?”
“I don’t think anyone at his yard lost their livelihood over the sinking, did they? No one was fined or punished.”
Rose thought about the newspaper articles to which she’d devoted much time, reading and rereading to make sense of losing Finn.
“No one was held accountable. The disaster was all blamed on the weather. And everyone at the yard professed great surprise that a ship of her quality could go down.”
“Her quality!” Finn spat out, thumping the dresser’s faded wooden top with his fist. “I’ve been working with builders the past few years who would’ve laughed that ship’s design right off the paper and would never, absolutely never, have put men on board her.” He clenched his fingers onto fists.
“Actually, there was almost nothing on paper! We worked from a wooden half hull model to build theGarrard. No written plans at all.”
He jammed his hands into his pockets, looking agitated. “They call itpracticalbuilding here in the states. In England, it’s all done by engineers and draftsmen who understand how ships float and why they sink.”
She sat back down, trying to make sense of what he was saying. He looked so distraught, but the terrible tragedy was in the past, wasn’t it?
“I understand that you’re bitter, Finn, and now you’re being stopped from getting employment here, yet what has any of this to do with my telling Mr. Woodsom about you?”
“I think someone tried to silence me last night.”
“Silenceyou? What do you mean?”
He looked uncomfortable though he stopped fidgeting, yanking his hands out of his pockets and crossing his arms. “I can’t be entirely certain.”
“What do you mean?” she asked again, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I told you that I still have strange dreams. Sometimes,” he began, then stopped. Groaning, he added, “God, this is embarrassing.”
“Tell me,” she encouraged.
After a pause, he continued. “Sometimes, I think I’m still afloat on that damned piece of wood, especially when I’m dropping off to sleep or right before waking up. Other times, I imagine I’m being restrained on the fishing vessel sailing farther and farther from—” he broke off and glanced away from her to stare at the floor.
“Anyway, the dreams seem so real. And I’ve been known to drift off into one even during the daylight.”
He lifted his head, his stormy blue-gray eyes staring into hers and waited for her response.
She didn’t have to consider for long. “That seems perfectly natural given what you went through.”
He shrugged. “Some people would call me insane.”
“Obviously, that’s not the case,” she said. “You’re as sane as anyone.”
“On my way back from the shipyard after meeting with Kelly, I thought I was being followed. I saw the same man on the trolley ride home, and I believe I saw him later in the restaurant dining room. Two nights ago, I thought I heard footsteps pacing outside my door. When I checked, there was no one there, only the empty hallway.”
Rose considered a moment. “People do walk down hallways without meaning mischief, especially when the passage leads to a dining room.”
