She glances up at him again. ‘Are you sure? I mean, what will you do all day? I’d like to keep my job at the gallery.’
‘But you like your job,’ he points out. ‘I’ll find something else to do. Maybe do work for a charity. Volunteer for some boards.’
She nods. ‘That’s a good idea.’
He picks up the remote for the TV; it’s almost time for the late local news. He keeps it muted while they wait; it will make the news, he’s sure of it. The news outlets had been there, at the marina. They’d wanted to talk to them as they were leaving. But Jill and Ted hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone. Greg’s name hadn’t been immediately released. They’d kept their heads down and made their way to their car, unmolested. They’d put their phones on silent and hadn’t taken any calls. But soon everyone will know, and they will have to talk to people.
‘There,’ Jill says, and he presses unmute.
A male reporter is standing outside the marina in the dark, the wind tossing his hair. ‘Tragic news this evening. A sailing accident is presumed to have taken the life of wealthy New York businessman Greg Westcott. The forty-two-year-old was sailing his thirty-six-foot sailboat,Fortune Seeker,in the Atlantic about ten miles offshore from Manhattan this afternoon. Two others were on board– his brother, Ted Westcott, and his brother’s wife, Jill Westcott, both of whom survived. An expert sailor, Greg Westcott was apparently not wearing a life jacket when he fell overboard in rough seas. Attempts to rescue him were unsuccessful. The Coast Guard has not yet recovered his body. The search has been suspended and will resume at dawn. A Coast Guard investigation into the accident is underway.’ The coverage returns to the news anchor at the desk.
Ted turns from the television and looks at his wife. ‘We know they have to do an accident investigation. I don’t think it will amount to much.’
‘I don’t think we have anything to worry about,’ she agrees.
But neither of them falls asleep for a long time. They have taken a big step. They lie awake, their bodies coursing with adrenaline, excited about the future.
Chapter Ten
BEN DONLEAVY’S WIFE,Lara, is sitting up in bed beside him, scrolling the news on her phone, when she says, ‘Oh my God, Ben, look at this!’
He looks over at her phone, reads the headlineWEALTHY BUSINESSMAN LOST AT SEA, PRESUMED DEAD.There’s a photograph of Greg Westcott on his sailboat,Fortune Seeker, holding up a racing trophy, smiling in triumph. ‘That’s Ted’s brother,’ he says, shocked.
‘Yes– and Ted and Jill were on the boat with him!’
‘Jesus, really?’ He looks closer. He reads the short article, then turns to her. ‘How awful,’ he says sincerely. Ben has recently turned forty and now everything that reminds him of mortality seems to bother him more than it used to.
‘Tragic,’ his wife says with feeling. ‘He was only forty-two.’
‘Why would they go out in such conditions?’ Ben asks. He’d like to think that it was the man’s own stupidity that killed him.
‘Oh, you know what a hotshot he was.’
They’d both met Greg Westcott, but only a couple of times, and only briefly. The first time was at Ted and Jill’s brownstone, at a party for Jill’s birthday. Ben remembers a man who had a certain charm, but who sucked up a lot of the attention in the room and then left early. The second time, they’d attended an event at the art gallery where Jill is employed, and Greg had dropped in and bought the most expensive painting there. He’d hardly even looked at it. He’d studied the price tags more closely than the paintings. So yes, Ben agreed with his wife that Greg Westcott was a show-off. Well, it looks like his arrogance has caught up with him. ‘He wasn’t even wearing a life jacket, for Christ’s sake,’ Ben notes.
‘That’s a bit odd, isn’t it?’
‘I don’t know, is it?’ They don’t sail. He and Lara are golfers. If you have money, it’s usually one or the other. They’re perfectly happy with their golf. It’s a great way to socialize, to meet the right people. Expensive, but you get what you pay for. The club is very nice. ‘Poor Ted and Jill,’ Ben says, still thinking uneasily of mortality and their intimate brush with it. ‘To be out in that. They must have been scared shitless.’
‘They could have died too,’ Lara says. ‘The Coast Guard rescued them.’
‘Lucky that Ted’s a good sailor.’
She nods, a concerned look on her face. Jill is her best friend. Ben watches his wife call Jill, but it goes straight to voicemail. She leaves a short, supportive message and disconnects.
‘I’ll try to see Jill tomorrow, see how she’s doing,’ she says.
‘Good idea,’ he agrees. ‘They must be really shaken up.’ He settles back against the pillows. He likes Ted and Jill, enjoystheir company; Ben and Lara also live in Brooklyn Heights. They socialize with them on occasion. The wives are closer and see each other regularly.
Ben turns out the light, imagining what must it have been like, out there alone on the Atlantic Ocean, the winds so strong, the waves so high, water crashing over the boat. To see someone go overboard and be unable to save them. To wrestle with a boat like that alone– Jill’s no sailor, he knows that. She must have been terrified. They both must have been terrified, facing death like that. He prefers golf. The only thing you have to worry about is being struck by lightning, and that doesn’t seem very likely. Especially if you don’t play in a thunderstorm.
Lara lies in the dark beside her husband. She wonders if they will have a funeral if they don’t recover the body. It’s such a shock when someone you know, even slightly, dies suddenly. And Greg Westcott was such a force of nature– that’s how she remembers him, as larger than life. A big man, with a big personality. She didn’t really know Ted’s older brother, but he was worth a fortune, she knew that much. He was a very successful businessman, very entrepreneurial. She wonders how much he was worth, and who will get that fortune now. Surely not Ted.
She considers that for a moment. Greg had no family of his own– it confirmed that in the news article, which said he was survived by his brother, Ted Westcott. No wife or children. She knows there’s an ex-wife, though. No mention of any other siblings, and she knows there aren’t any. So maybe Tedwillget it all. She lies awake and stares at the ceiling in the dark while Ben snores gently beside her. Wow. That would really be somethingif Ted and Jill inherited all that money. She thinks about how she feels about that.
To be honest, she doesn’t like it. No one ever does, do they, when a close friend or even a family member suddenly becomes much wealthier due to some stroke of luck. She’s seen it happen. It upsets things, changes the balance. Ted and Jill might start to socialize with people more wealthy than they are and forget all about her and Ben. But maybe she isn’t doing Jill and Ted justice. They’re good people. And heaven knows they’re already wealthy enough, just as she and Ben are. Maybe the extra money, if they get it, won’t change them. But she’s a bit doubtful. Money always changes everything.
Maybe it will go to the ex-wife. Or maybe Greg left it all to charity, because he never seemed to care much for his younger brother. And Greg was the kind of man who’d want to have his name on the wing of a hospital. If that happens, she will be there for Jill. Because of course she and Ted would be disappointed. Perhaps even secretly furious, although they would never let it show.
