The Threat · The Cartographer's Daughter · Pulse Beat
She came back from Kolar harbour to find her boat searched. Nothing was gone. That was the horror of it. The cabin had been turned over with care: the cushions replaced, the logbook put back on the…
She came back from Kolar harbour to find her boat searched.
Nothing was gone. That was the horror of it. The cabin had been turned over with care: the cushions replaced, the logbook put back on the shelf, the chart chest relocked. But the little steel box was empty, and the true survey was gone. On the chart table, squared neatly to the edge, lay a business card: Rajiv Krish, Marlow and Krish Ltd. And, written on the back in blue ink: Let us be sensible.
She stood in the cabin, the water slapping the hull, and understood with a cold, clear fear that she had been outplayed in her own boat. She still had the photocopies in her bag. She had the memory stick. But the original survey, the thing that proved her father's work, was in their hands.
Bhaskar, the old mechanic, found her sitting on the quay an hour later with the card in her hand. He sat down heavily beside her.
"They took the chart," she said.
"Aye." He took out his tin, and then did not open it. "Your father made a copy."