Music in the Night (Logan 4)

"You found her by herself, then?"

"Yes, ma'am. I hope her brother wasn't out there with her," he said. "No one could survive that," he added.

"It wasn't her brother," she said. "She was naked when you found her?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Disgusting," she muttered.

I was still so cold I couldn't move my arms or legs. I lay curled up in a ball, breathing heavily, my body shuddering. She drew closer.

"What were you doing out there, girl?" she demanded, glaring at me with cold eyes of steel.

I couldn't talk; I couldn't even shake my head.

"Something sinful, just as I predicted," she concluded, nodding.

"I'll get a search party up after this dies down," Karl Hansen said.

The old woman spun around.

"You'll do nothing of the kind, Karl," she snapped at him. "You won't mention a word of this."

"But . . . surely, there was someone else on that boat, Mrs. Logan."

"I know there was someone else. I'm sure he was naked, too," she added disdainfully. "It's not something I want anyone else to know," she said, nodding at me. "The both of them were caught in some sinful act."

"What sinful act?" I wanted to say, but I couldn't.

She turned back to him. I saw the look of surprise and confusion on his face, but I didn't understand why. I didn't know where I was and I had forgotten how I had gotten there. All I knew was I was very cold and no one seemed to be paying much attention to that.

"You never found her, Karl," she told him. "I need your word on that."

"Pardon, Mrs. Logan?"

"You never found her," she said firmly. "Leave it all to me now,"

"But Mrs. Logan--"

"You will be handsomely rewarded for your loyalty to me, Karl. I know your wife is sick and you have been having a hard time making ends meet. You won't have to worry at all about her doctor bills anymore or anything else for that matter. As long as I can rely on your word," she added.

He gazed at me and then at the small, angry woman he called Mrs. Logan.

"Well. I suppose there's nothing more to do about this, really. You'll see to her and whoever else was out there. Well, God rest his poor soul," Karl Hansen said. "I'm sure he didn't survive. There's nothing we could do anyway except locate the body and there's no rush to do that."

"Exactly. Now remember, Karl, you never found her. You just made your own way toward shore and got washed up here. It was hard enough for you."

"Yes, it was, ma'am. That it was. There's no lying about that."

"Precisely," she said. "Raymond will see that you get home and I will have something for you in the morning. I'll also see that Ruth gets the personal nursing care she requires."

"Well, thank you, Mrs. Logan. That's very kind."

"As long as we understand each other, Karl," she added, her small eyes very cold and threatening. He nodded quickly.

"Oh, absolutely, Mrs. Logan. Absolutely."

"Good," she said and turned back to me. "Good."