I wondered if that meant anything.

“You alone?” he went on, looking down into the boat.

“Yeah,” I said.

He nodded, then spat into the sea.

“Thought maybe you’d brought your wife along.”

“Not married,” I said.

“We all can’t be.”

The big fellow climbed off the boat and came over. He was sweating plenty.

“That’s the lot,” he said, then added, “the cabin’s locked.”

“Yeah,” I said.