8   TAHITI

The chopper arrived just as Gábor and Helena finished their account of what happened, and the captain excused himself to attend to the communication on the VHF radio and then the aircraft landed on the helipad, disgorging four people, then lifted off again to join in the search for the two lost people in the water. Pale fingers of light flooded the area, dancing on the water in patterns. The cruiser had maintained its position and the rafts continued the search without any luck; hope to find the unfortunate people sank. The four newcomers were coordinating the search from the cruiser with radios and maps showing currents. The French Gendarmerie arrived at 0500h in the early morning with the rescue vessel. They dispatched a group of them to the aft deck and started the investigation of the now so declared ‘scene of an accident'.

The meeting with Sven did not shed any more light on the incident, only the name of the man who went into the sea with Leo. It was the Quartermaster, and it was Higgins who affirmed the report about him. Someone found a heavy flashlight on the lower deck and turned it in. There was some hair and a piece of skin on the edge of the flashlight and the Gendarmes took it as evidence of a possible crime. They collected samples of the blood, some hair, checked for fingerprints on the guardrail, took pictures, interrogated passengers and crew, all the usual things, but it didn't shed any light on the situation. No passenger or crew saw anything until the "man overboard" call sounded, and then everybody rushed aft to see what happened. The Gendarmes, who collected the evidence on the scene, cursed in French, and an inspector by the name of Julian came to see Gábor.

If appearance would be important to judge a character, the inspector would end up being called a ferret. His big round eyes were close together, moved restlessly from face to face, and he looked with his moustache like a leftover character from the Pink Panther movies. His pale face and tired looking eyes were scrutinizing Helena for a moment then rested on Gábor.

"Bonjour monsieur Fabien. M'appelle Inspecteur Julian Lenoir. Est-ce que vous parlez Francaise. Anglais?"

"I don't speak French very well inspector and since this is important to understand each other, we’d better converse English or Hungarian or get a translator. I'm also very tired and I hope you don't mind if you speak clearly and slowly. It will help us both to..." Julian interrupted him.

"Ah. Oui. I speak Anglais and I will keep it short. I ave the captain's report and when you rested and the ship arrive in Papeete I would like to talk to you about what appened ere. I understand your son went into the water last night, oui, and I'm terribly sorry for you, Madam and you, Monsieur. I lost my son to the sea a few years ago and know the pain of loss. We will continue to watch out for your son and the other person and let you know if we find something. Please report in two days at the gendarmerie in Papeete, oui? Au revoir."

He turned rather abruptly to Helena, scanned her body, and tipped his head. He handed a card to Gábor, turned, and left. Helena had an uneasy feeling about the Inspector. Julian was cold and unfriendly. Perhaps he thought Gábor shoved the man on purpose overboard because he attacked Leo and Leo was only "collateral damage" as hardened military personal liked to call it.

Gábor and Helena were ‘interviewed' separately about the incident and both felt like suspects in a murder case until Helena in unmistakable terms told Inspector Lenoir that she rejected the insinuation that as a mother she would have, or would permit, her child being thrown overboard to the sharks. That stopped Lenoir.

She felt very angry but contained her anger. When they arrived in Papeete, she would contact the Canadian consulate or look for a lawyer and see what they could do about the case if there were any complications. She was certain the authorities would be notified about the accident if they weren't already. Lenoir was an official she wouldn't trust to watch TV, not to mention keeping a lookout for her son. Something about him made her shiver.

At 0630h the cruise ship left the area and continued toward Tahiti. The French patrol boat had three zodiacs in the water and continued the search. The captain had instruction not to allow Gábor or his wife near the ‘Crime Scene' and to leave the area of the accident as it was. They had put a tarp over the area, and a red tape around the perimeter to keep people away until the investigation was over. Detectives' left aboard asked the crew questions and collected notes in a briefcase that was not getting thicker. Nobody saw a thing. With the exception of Mr. Higgins, no important information came up.

Higgins disclosed to detective Francois that Mr. Fabien's son was a very strange kid and his parents very secretive. They did not mingle with others, had their meals in their cabin all the time, and only came out at night when all was dark. "Like bats," he added. Detective Francois made a note of that.

Higgins and Lundy had been friends and hung out together when they went on shore leave. Both drank on those occasions and got into trouble because Lundy liked to show off his strength when he had too much of the spirit in him, and Higgins thought it was fun watching "Johnny" tossing people around, so he instigated fights. When they were sober, they were not too bad, worked hard, and caused no problems. Higgins mourned the loss of his friend.

Ten hours later the ship arrived in Papeete, police cars were on the quay and a specialized team in CI matters boarded the cruiser and did their work. Ship agents and customs checked all documents and issued some papers that permitted the tourists to go ashore. Helena and Gábor hadn't slept a second since Leo disappeared. His eyes burned and dark rings under them betrayed his anguish. Pale and with hollow cheeks, eyes sank deep in their sockets he looked a wreck. Helena held him and they rocked like round-bottomed cups on a moving boat. Each was in their pain and neither knew what to say; there was nothing to say. They came to abandon their child, make him disappear from the records of authorities and fate had done exactly that, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. A knock on the door aroused them from their daze.

Helena looked into a mirror on the wall and rearranged her clothes.

"Come in," she said, and the First Officer opened the door.

"May I come in?" She was a pretty woman of perhaps Korean descent and a nametag identified her as Grace. Both had seen her when they made their report.

 "Sorry if I am disturbing you," she lilted, "but we have arrived in Papeete and you must clear in. The authorities requested it and the agent is waiting to clear you in," and as an afterthought, she added, "and a lot of Journalists. I'm so sorry. Would you like me to assist you to book a hotel or do you want to do your own reservations? We have a list of good and economical accommodations in Papeete."

"We are meeting a friend and he will assist us," Helena assured the woman, "thank you nevertheless."

"The French Authorities demand you remain in French Polynesia until your case has been cleared and of course we will reimburse you for the rest of the trip. I'm so sorry for your son. If there is anything I can do, let me know. We will be here for today and tomorrow." She left closing the door gently behind her.

"We're better to get going," Helena said softly and took Gábor's hand to help him up from the bed. Gábor looked forlornly at her.

"I have to go back. I will get a boat and go back. I must find him. He is not gone. I feel it." As if the decision had infused him with a new energy he suddenly got active.

"Let's go find Ivan, then find a boat and we go. You can get a hotel and wait for us. I must find Leo. He is alive, he has to be."

"I'll wait only if elephants fly. Who made you the mother of my child all so sudden?" she flared.

 "Leo. And I thought…"

"What did you think?" she cut him off hotly. "That I will wait for you until you come back and pick me up? I thought I lost both of you out there last night. You want me to go through that again? Try that again and I'll finish you off myself, and never mind the sharks."

She meant it. Her eyes flashed and her face looked more determined than he had ever seen before.

"Okay, okay. You're on," he said, backing down.

"I was never off, buddy.  Let's go and find Ivan."

"One minute. We need our bags and passports." Gábor said and sprinted to the bridge. Grace was there and promised to take care of that. All would be at the customs agent's office in ten minutes. She would do it herself.

Then both, husband and wife rushed down the ramp in a hurry; journalists lifted their cameras and took pictures of the backs of Helena and Gábor, which looked out of focus like racing cars. They ripped open the door to the agency and told the man at the desk to keep the journalists out of the office. Before the man could reply, Ivan burst through the door, shut, and put his back to it.

"The easiest way to find celebrities; one just has to beat the crowd. Never fails. What the hell did you kids do this time? Where is Leo?" and with his back he held the door closed against the barging paparazzi.

The Polynesian fellow behind the desk sat stunned with open mouth looking at the three in his office. Nobody had ever rushed into this office before. He cleared his throat and asked in good English with a French accent.

"Are you the Fabien's?" Ivan turned his head toward the dark-faced man.

"What's the matter with you Franchise? Don't you recognize the Fabien's? Don't you ever watch ‘The Up and Coming Celebrity Show?’  Da, this is them. Show your respect man." Then he took a closer look at his two friends. "Did you two swallow some Frenchies? You look sick."

"We'll tell you all later, let's get this done first," said Gábor.

The agent hurried up because this old man, who looked familiar, seemed crazy and would demand for him to pay homage to the Fabien's.

The woman... well, anytime, anyhow, but with the man at her side… wouldn't do good to have him on my back, he thought. The man looked formidable, even though he seemed not to have slept much. She must be a wild one unlike his. She enjoyed only soap operas. He sighed heavily. Some guys have all the luck.

Five minutes later with the papers done, they were free to go, but with all those cameras out there, it would be a gauntlet. Ivan looked at the agent.

"We have a tradition in my country to leave through the window when the wolves are at the front door. I'm sure you won't mind. Doswidaniya." And with that he jammed a chair under the doorknob then proceeded to the window, opened it, and nimbly climbed out first, followed by Helena, then Gábor. The agent's mouth remained open until the first journalist made it into the almost completely empty office a minute later, camera ready to shoot.

"Grand Central Station." The agent muttered and closed the window. This place was getting too popular, he thought.

While waiting for a taxi, Gábor informed Ivan of what happened last night. Ivan turned several shades of pale.

"The sharks worry me, but not the man. You saw Leo bleeding, Lena?" He slipped into the intimate short form name of Helena without anybody noticing.

"I'm sure he bled. That guy hit him with a flashlight, Leo fell down, and when he stood up, there was blood on his forehead." She recalled the sight and her eyes filled with tears. Gábor put his arms around her shoulders.

"Here is the cab. I know where we look for a boat." The three of them got in and Ivan issued an order to the cabbie.

"Le port commercial, step on it." Wasn't that supposed to be; S'il vous plait?

"Oui, monsieur."

Just then, two crewmembers arrived with the family's luggage, flagged the taxi down, and put the luggage in the trunk of the taxi before it took off towards the commercial area. It was a short ride and they arrived at the Commercial Port. Plenty boats were up on the dry and men worked on them while other boats were on the water. Looking around Gábor spotted a shop called "Nautisport."

"We've got it. Here it is." They asked the taxi driver to wait for them. Then they walked into the air-conditioned store and asked for a zodiac type boat, about twenty feet, but they had nothing that big. They could possibly find one at Taina Marina. There was a dive store there and they had three, one for sale a week ago, perhaps it was still there. They took the cab to Tania Marina, found the dive shop, and arrived there just as the young man there wanted to close the store. Yes, they still had the inflatable and they were shopping for a bigger one; one was for sale. It was a beautiful catamaran type hull, designed, and built in South Africa, with two one hundred engines, 6.5m (22') long.

"How much?" Ivan asked before Gábor could say a word.

"Thirty-five-thousand US."

"That's too rich for our blood, Ivan. Let's look for a smaller boat," said Helena. Ivan looked at her over his shoulder.

"I'll get this one. If you want a toy, you're on your own."

He turned back to the young man who had his eyes on Helena.

"How much did you say? And think before you talk."

"Thirty-five. Thousand. US. Cash or credit card. No check. Thinking extra," emphasizing each word, the youth grinned. 

Cheeky bastard, Ivan though, but liked him.

"We want just one, not all of them."

"That is the price for one," mouthed the young man.

"Hey, I'm Russian, not stupid. Too much."

"How much you want to spend, Igor?" grinned the youth from ear to ear.

"Ivan", corrected Ivan patiently. "Max ten."

"That will get you a kayak, Igor," said the vendor. "Engine extra." The kid's grin widened and he scanned his eyes over Helena's feminine curves admiringly.

"It's Ivan, the Terrible," growled Ivan. "You may have heard of me. My granddad disembowelled greedy bastards alive. And in Canada, I could get one like the one you have for five thousand and they throw in a live mermaid, like the one you're ogling."

"This is Tahiti, comrade, and our mermaids are bigger. Paid by the pound. It's customary," stated the youth undaunted.

"That would explain the outrageous price. But you're right. Some are huge. How did that happen? Never expected it here."

 "Coca-Cola, hamburgers." The youngster shrugged his shoulders. "Here you are in Paradise. Where did you want to go?"

"Then Tuamotu it is. We're looking for hell and a kid in it to take out from there."

"Enough boys." interjected Helena, "We need to find Leo, and we need the boat. We pay it."

The young man looked at her and fell in love when she spoke. Just like that. This was a gorgeous, classy babe with great legs, great figure and a voice like angels and lips to dream of. He knitted his eyebrows.

"Wait. Leo… Leo. Leo Fabien? Yeah, right. I read this morning in the papers and heard on TV about a kid falling overboard from a cruiser with another guy during a fight near the Tuamotu last night. That Leo? Your kid?"

"Our child, yes. Your coconut drums are fast."

"Hey, it's News. I'll let the boat go for twenty-five with one condition. Give me the money, find him, and the boat is yours. If you don't find him, consider it as my condolences. When do you head out?"

She was a better negotiator than Ivan. For sure, her looks and her figure had something to do with it.

 "As soon as we get our gear together."

"Anything else I can help you with?"

"Life vests, diving lights, GPS, Fuel, lots of fuel."

"Anything else?"

"All else we have."

The young man looked at Ivan. "May I give her a hug? For condolences? By the way, I own this shop. Name is Derrick."

Ivan deflected the youngster's request to Gábor with a raised chin whom in turn looked at Helena and then addressed the young man.

"Ask the lady. It's up to her to say whether she agrees with it."

"Fabien, Helena Fabien. I own that man," she said pointing at Gábor, "but I think we can seal a deal with a hug," Then she nodded with a smile and hugged the tanned youth.

"He's a very lucky man," grinning at her, he turned back to Ivan.

 "Let's go into the office, comrade, get the stuff, and sign the papers."

Gábor got the luggage from the taxi and Ivan walked with the young man into the office, signed the papers and together they loaded the gear and the suitcases into the boat and left a young man to his dreams.

An hour later they were on their way back to Papeete's main harbour, fuelled up, loaded two drums of gasoline, each holding two hundred liters, and went shopping. This all went so fast that Helena was getting dizzy.

They split up, so each one was doing something different. Helena got the job of getting medical supplies, blankets, and some dry food. She made it before they closed the shops. Ivan organized some supplies from Nautisport and Gábor got the information where the MOB happened since he and Sven were kind of friends now. He also got some charts from the captain along with a warning not to run into the Search and Rescue vessels. They would not like to see him there. Sven implored Gábor to keep a lookout for Lundy as well while looking for his son and Gábor relented. If they found him, they would pick him up. It was the decent thing to do.

Two hours later, they had everything they needed. Medical first aid kit, binoculars, charts, lifejackets, some blankets, GPS, flashlights, the position of where the accidents happened and they were ready to go. They had to be back in two days to report to the Gendarmerie. They didn't waste any time and left Papeete in the dark at 2100h. Leo had now been in the water for twenty-four hours. Could he survive that long in the ocean?