第4章 第2節 浜辺の遺体
The Body on the Shore
The dark shape on the sand was Gabriel Vance.
He lay on his back, and his eyes were closed to the sky.
His clothes were , and cold seawater ran from his grey hair.
Nora knelt beside the man who had trusted her with the truth.
For a long moment she could not breathe or speak.
By mid-morning, the body was found by two men from the town.
They spoke quietly and did not look at Nora at all.
Within an hour, the death was called a and an .
No questions were asked, and no photographs were taken.
It was the same story that had been told about her mother.
A man who feared the sea had somehow drowned in calm water.
Nora knew that the truth was being buried in front of her.
Before they carried him away, she took his cold right hand.
On his open palm, a single number was written in blue pen.
The had almost been washed away by the rising water.
It read "37," pressed hard into the lines of his skin.
Gabriel had written it himself, in his last minutes.
It was a message that only Nora was meant to find.
She memorised the number before the men noticed her hand.
Then his body was lifted and carried up the beach.
"What does thirty-seven mean?" she whispered to the grey waves.
The number was a key, but she did not yet know the .
She stood alone, watching the men who would tell more lies.
The tape and the key felt heavier now inside her coat.
Gabriel had died to them, and she would not fail him.