Gift from the Sea Ch. 05-06

"I was coming to that conclusion," Sebastian said. "I hope he didn't suffer."

"He went quickly. A heart attack. He was distraught, if you must know, that you were gone. He expected to see you come back in off the terrace at any moment."

"I'm sorry. The call of the sea and all that. I didn't plan it."

"It's not my concern," Penza said. "But he was so sure that you would return that he refused to make any adjustments."

"And the painter, Mateo?" Sebastian asked.

"He left--back to Italy with his collection of paintings and some of Gainsworth's silver--as soon as the funeral was over. I must say, he left resenting you and railing at Gainsworth."

"Whatever for?"

"As I told you, Gainsworth refused to make adjustments after you left. He had left nearly everything--which is a good bit--to you in his will. Mateo resented that. He had planned to inherit."

"Everything? The villa too?" Sebastian wasn't exactly pleased. He felt the walls of the villa contracting on him--possessing him as Gainsworth had done while he was here.

"The villa too. Prime property. I already have had queries on who owns it now."

"So, you won't have trouble selling it?" Sebastian asked. "And for an advance on the sale, you'd be happy to double your sales commission?"

An hour later, Sebastian was knocking on the door of the tenement the writer, Jonathan Tremble, lived in and was being admitted with the same suspicious look from the crone of a concierge. The look now was more knowing than before, as she had made sure she was listening to the two men rutting like animals when they had fucked in Tremble's flat three months earlier. Penza had assured him that Tremble was still in the city. This time there was no Jonathan hanging over the railing three flights up and beckoning Sebastian upstairs.

It took Jonathan a few minutes to come to the door of his attic flat when Sebastian knocked on it, and his expression was a mix of surprise, confusion, and bald desire when he saw that it was Sebastian.

"You're back," he said. "But Clifford is--"

"I know. I'm not back permanently. I just wanted to know if you were familiar with the Dixon 63 sailing yacht and knew how to sail one."

"The Dixon 63? Yes, it's a fine yacht. I've sailed one a time or two. But what a strange question to greet me with after... how many months since you left--two three? It seems like a lifetime. I've been wilting ever since you left. Having trouble with my writing."

"Think your muse would be kinder to you if you are at sea while writing about roving the sea?" Sebastian asked, an amused expression on his lips--but a bit of concern in his eyes, as if he knew what he wanted but wasn't at all sure it would come to him. He knew he didn't deserve it. "Because I'm about to buy a Dixon 63 and I think there are two young Turks--who are versatile--who will sign on as a crew, but I need to have a destination and I need to have someone to rove the sea with me. I need you."

"Are you speaking of the yacht down in the cove? The one that arrived earlier this afternoon? How soon would you need me? Would fifteen minutes be too long for me to be ready?"

- FINI -