He was younger than she had expected from his emails, perhaps forty-five, with an expensive haircut and the kind of tan that came from a lot of weekends rather than any kind of work, and he had taken off the camel overcoat and was wearing a quarter-zip sweater with the logo of a golf club in Southampton on the chest. He held out his hand. She shook it. His grip was firm and brief, a handshake that had been trained.
"Ms. Foster. Lorcan Kemble. I represent the Haverford family office. Thank you for coming up. Can I steal you for ten minutes before you get into the weeds with the captain? Just to align."
"I've got five," she said. "I have to be in the wheelhouse at one-thirty and on with the weather router at two."
"Five is plenty." He smiled. He led her through the sliding doors into the main saloon, which was thirty feet of cream carpet and pale sycamore paneling, with a low curving sofa upholstered in something that looked like the inside of a seashell and a single enormous painting on the forward bulkhead of a horse standing in fog. Octavia stayed standing. After a second, so did he.
"I'll be direct," he said. "The family is very upset about what happened to the young man. Very upset. Mr. Haverford asked me personally to make sure that he has everything he needs. His mother's flights, her hotel, all of that is covered, I've already told the captain. Whatever he needs."
"That's good," she said. "He'll need it for a while."
"The family is also aware that there's a commercial reality here. We have a charter. We have a window. I'm told by the captain that the crane will be tested this afternoon, the tender will be secured, the vessel is otherwise fully seaworthy and the crew are ready to go. Your procedure..." He paused, the way people pause when they want you to notice they are choosing a word carefully. "Your procedure requires a sign-off. I understand that. We respect it. What I'm asking is that we be realistic about the scope of the sign-off. This was a hardware failure. A shackle failed. That's an equipment issue, and the equipment's being fixed and certified by an independent surveyor. Once that's done, I'd hope there's nothing standing in the way."
"I haven't read the report closely enough yet to tell you what's standing in the way," she said, which was not quite true.
"The captain's report is very thorough."
"I'm sure it is."