In the Frame - By Dick Francis Page 0,72

heck of a long way.

I stood up gingerly, feeling for my footing more carefully than on the outward flight, and took a longer look at the road.

A grey-white car. A couple beside it, standing close, the man with his arms round the girl.

A nice quiet spot for it, I thought sardonically. I hoped they would drive me somewhere dry.

They moved apart and stared out to sea.

I stared back.

For an instant it seemed impossible. Then they started waving their arms furiously and ran towards the water; and it was Sarah and Jik.

Throwing off his jacket, Jik ploughed into the waves with enthusiasm, and came to a smart halt as the realities of the situation scraped his legs. All the same, he came on after a pause towards me, taking care.

I made my slow way back. Even without haste driving like a fury, any passage through those wave-swept rocks was ruin to the epidermis. By the time we met we were both streaked with red.

We looked at each other’s blood. Jik said ‘Jesus’ and I said ‘Christ’, and it occurred to me that maybe the Almighty would think we had been calling for His help a bit too often.

Jik put his arm round my waist and I held on to his shoulders, and together we stumbled slowly to land. We fell now and then. Got up gasping. Reclutched, and went on.

He let go when we reached the road. I sat down on the edge of it with my feet pointing out to sea, and positively drooped.

‘Todd,’ Sarah said anxiously. She came nearer. ‘Todd.’ Her voice was incredulous. ‘Are you laughing?’

‘Sure.’ I looked up at her, grinning. ‘Whyever not?’

Jik’s shirt was torn, and mine was in tatters. We took them off and used them to mop up the grazes which were still persistently oozing. From the expression on Sarah’s face, we must have looked crazy.

‘What a damn silly place to bathe,’ Jik said.

‘Free back-scratchers,’ I said.

He glanced round behind me. ‘Your Alice Springs dressing has come off.’

‘How’re the stitches?’

‘Intact.’

‘Bully for them.’

‘You’ll both get pneumonia, sitting there,’ Sarah said.

I took off the remnants of sling. All in all, I thought, it had served me pretty well. The adhesive rib-supporting cummerbund was still more or less in place, but had mostly come unstuck through too much immersion. I pulled that off also. That only left the plasters on my leg, and they too, I found, had floated off in the mêtée. The trousers I’d worn over them had windows everywhere.

‘Quite a dust-up,’ Jik observed, pouring water out of his shoes and shivering.

‘We need a telephone,’ I said, doing the same.

‘Give me strength,’ Sarah said. ‘What you need is hot baths, warm clothes, and half a dozen psychiatrists.’

‘How did you get here?’ I asked.

‘How come you aren’t dead?’ Jik said.

‘You first.’

‘I came out of the shop where I’d bought the shampoo,’ Sarah said, ‘and I saw Greene drive past. I nearly died on the spot. I just stood still, hoping he wouldn’t look my way, and he didn’t… The car turned to the left just past where I was… and I could see there were two other people in the back… and I went back to our car and told Jik.’

‘We thought it damn lucky he hadn’t spotted her,’ Jik said, dabbing at persistent scarlet trickles. ‘We went back to the hotel, and you weren’t there, so we asked the girl at the desk if you’d left a message, and she said you’d gone off in a car with some friends… With a man with a droopy moustache.’

‘Friends!’ Sarah said.

‘Anyway,’ Jik continued, ‘Choking down our rage, sorrow, indignation and what not, we thought we’d better look for your body.’

‘Jik!’ Sarah protested.

He grinned. ‘And who was crying?’

‘Shut up.’

‘Sarah hadn’t seen any sign of you in Greene’s car but we thought you might be imitating a sack of potatoes in the boot or something, so we got out the road map, applied our feet to the accelerator, and set off in pursuit. Turned left where Greene had gone, and found ourselves climbing a ruddy mountain.’

I surveyed our extensive grazes and scratches. ‘I think we’d better get some disinfectant,’ I said.

‘We could bath in it.’

‘Good idea.’

I could hear his teeth chattering even above the din of my own.

‘Let’s get out of this wind,’ I said. ‘And bleed in the car.’

We crawled stiffly into the seats. Sarah said it was lucky the upholstery was plastic. Jik automatically took his place behind the wheel.

‘We drove for miles,’ he said. ‘Growing, I