During the whole of this period I had only seen him twice. On each occasion he had been in Lerwick for a meeting of the Zetland Council and he had had little time to spare for us, coming on board for a quick look around and then leaving in a hurry as soon as I produced my list of requirements. But at Balta Sound he sat down in the wheelhouse and went through my whole list, agreeing almost everything. 'Have you had a win on the pools or what?' I asked him. 'I've been badgering you for new warps, new anchor chain-'
'Think I didn't look the boat over before I chartered her?' My sarcasm seemed to have caught him on the raw, for his voice was tense as he went on, 'You've never worked an island fishing boat before. Distant water, that's all you've known, and a wealthy company to foot the bills.' He leaned towards me, speaking very loudly the way some people speak to a foreigner. 'I grew up in the post-war years when every penny counted and everything was scarce. If you wanted something, then you looked around until you found it, or made do with something else, even though it was rusty as hell or half-rotted through with damp. That's the world I grew up in, and that's why I don't throw my money around.' And then with something near to a sneer he added, 'But I don't expect you to understand that. Your world was very different. You never had to 'scrimp and save, not in the home you grew up in.'
'Not then,' I said. 'But I've made up for it since.'
He grinned and that made me like him a little better. 'Well, nobody gets it good all the time, not even men like Villiers. They say he's bust if North Star doesn't hit it with the next hole.'
'Then you'll have two boats out of a job.'
'Oh, not me. I got other jobs lined up for them. And there's always the fishing to fall back on.' He got to his feet. 'Let's have a word with Harry Priest now.'
'He says he needs at least a week to do a complete overhaul on that clapped-out old engine of ours.'
'Well, he can have it — a week, but that's all.'
'What about spares? Or is that the owner's responsibility?'
'No, it's mine now,' he said. 'The boat's no longer under charter. I've bought her.' There was pride in the way he said it, an air of cockiness, and I laughed, seeing him in his own imagination already halfway to rivalling the big Greek ship-owners.
'Who's paying for it?' I asked. 'Your father?'
'The old man?' He shook his head. 'Borrow from the masses, that's what he says. Banks, insurance companies, pension funds. Or from the oil companies. Never risk your own capital. He's a shrewd old devil. But just not interested, not for himself, anyway.'
'Is it that easy to borrow money now?' I was thinking of all the problems we had had with the Duchess.
He grinned at me. 'It is so long as the boats earn more than my backer charges in interest.'
I asked him if his backer was a local man, but he shook his head. 'A property dealer from the south who likes playing around with boats.' There was a note of envy in his voice. 'It's just a leisure occupation, like birdwatching is to some of the visitors I used to have. Goes out periodically and tries new ways of fishing whenever he's up in Shetland on business. Owns some land on Sullom Voe, and with all the oil companies negotiating for terminal facilities — well, it helps my being on the Council.'
'Is that how you met him, through your work on the Council?'
'No, it was the old man. He put me in touch with him.' But when I asked his name, he closed up on me and got to his feet. 'None of your business,' he said sharply as though afraid I was about to steal the source of his capital. He poked his head out of the wheelhouse door, calling for Harry Priest.
He was about two hours on board and when I saw him over the side — we were anchored off at the time — he said, 'See Harry keeps at it. A week, that's all you've got. Then you'll relieve Island Girl.' I stared at him and he nodded. 'That's right. On stand-by to North Star. I've had to send the other boat down to Lerwick for repairs. Damaged herself alongside one of the supply ships and sprang a leak.' He jumped down into the row boat. 'See you in a few days' time.'
That night I lay in my bunk listening to the lap of the water against the wooden sides, conscious of the quiet on board, with all the crew, except Priest, gone to their homes, and wondering who wanted me back with North Star, and why. An accident, Ian had said. The Island Girl's relief boat damaged. And he had bought the Mary Jane. On the old man's advice? Was Ian Sandford just an unwitting pawn in a game he didn't understand, or was it all in my imagination, the feeling that I was cast in the role of scapegoat?
In the week that followed, as Priest overhauled his engine and new gear came aboard, I thought a lot about that half-brother of mine and the strange father we shared. I could have taken time off and gone to see him at Burra Firth, but I didn't. Somehow I couldn't face him again, that twisted face. The fact is I was scared of him.
We sailed on 3rd October and Ian came down to see us off with two bottles of Scotch and instructions that all R/T communications were to be handled by Jamie.
'Does Fuller know who's skippering this boat?' I asked him.
'No. And if he did he wouldn't care. He's got other things to worry about, with men leaving and difficulty with mud and other supplies. Everything is in short supply and Star-Trion has to compete with companies that carry a lot more weight.' He shrugged when I asked him why men were leaving. 'They say the rig's bad luck and the man driving them a Jonah."
'Ed Wiseberg, you mean?'
'That's right. And Villiers's name stinks.'
'You realize my name is on the ship's papers,' I said.
He laughed. 'Nobody's going to look at them. Not with the heat on and those that have agreed to stick it out on North Star hell-bent to grab the bonuses they've been promised.'
It was getting late in the season, too late, I thought, for an old rig anchored in those waters. North Star was farther north and a lot farther west than Trans-ocean III when she went down. 'They must pull out soon.'
But he shook his head. 'Not till they've drilled hole No. 3. There's even talk that they'll stay out there all winter if necessary.' He finished his whisky and pushed open the door of the wheelhouse. 'Anyway, not your worry, and not mine.' He held out his hand to me, something he had never done before. 'Have a good trip and stay off the R/T. It gives them confidence if they hear only Shetland voices.'
It was a dull grey morning with a light rain falling as we headed out round The Nev, turning north to take the tide round the top of Unst. The glass was falling, the forecast bad, and by nightfall we were bucking a heavy sea. It was dawn before we sighted North Star, the rig slowly coming up over the horizon and the waves breaking in a white smother of foam against the columns of her 'legs'. Long before we had reached the eastward anchor buoys, Island Girl met us, the skipper wishing us joy of it over the loudhailer as he steamed past. I left Jamie to talk to him, keeping out of sight until he was well past us, headed for Scalloway with the wind behind him.
We had an uncomfortable week of it, doing the round of the buoys, rolling our guts out and lying hove-to head-to-wind as a series of small fronts passed through. Rattler did not come out once during the whole week. The sea was too rough for her to lie stem-on to the rig, and anyway they were fishing for a broken bit. We heard about it over the radio, van Dam trying to explain the hold-up to Fuller. And then, late on the Monday morning, when they had started drilling again, I picked up Villiers's voice, clear and very controlled, wanting to know how long before they reached depth, and van Dam answering, 'Two weeks maybe if ve don't 'ave no more trouble.' Information like that, given over an open line to London, indicated the urgency of Villiers's situation.
Nobody had any time now for lifting and re-laying the windward anchors. I had Jamie check with the barge engineer on duty. It hadn't been done since they had spudded in on the new location, and when I did manage to get a proper fix, I found they were well to the west of the first drill position.