Island Hideaway 36 - A walk along the sea front​

After a week of walking around the house, Mo had found enough strength to abandon her walker. ​
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"I think I'm fit enough to go outside now," she said to me one day.​
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"We have to be careful," I said. "We don't want people to see you."​
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"But nobody comes here," she said. "And the people looking for me have no idea I'm here, if they did they'd hardly wait for me to leave the house."​
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"Okay," I said. "But after dark. The Boatman's been snooping about looking for this mysterious boat."​
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We compromised. The sun was setting when we left the house. ​
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It's amazing," she said. "You've got sea all around you."​
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"What part of 'island' didn't you understand."​
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"I know, but Britain's an island, it's not quite the same. To have the sea EVERYWHERE."​
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In the end we compromised and left the house as the sun was starting to set. ​
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"Wow, fresh air. I don't think I've ever appreciated it."​
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"People don't, which is why they end up living smog-polluted cities, popping pills to treat their breathing problems."​
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Of course, Mo’s outing attracted the attention of the dodos, who followed, discreetly as they do.​
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"Why did you move here?" She said. "I mean, it must be lonely."​
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"Oh I never meant it to be permanent. I just meant to do the place up, live cheaply to work on my writing career and then rent or sell the place. It's a perfect holiday home."​
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"And a perfect place for recovering coma patients."​
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"Exactly."​
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"So why did you stay?"​
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"The dodos. I can't rent the place out or sell it in case they're discovered."​
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We sat on a rock and watched the sun set. I could tell that walking this far on uneven ground was tiring for her, even though she said nothing. We watched the sky redden, like a work of art.​
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As we sat there a dodo waddled up to us and started flapping its wings in an urgent manner.​
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"What is it?" I asked Mo, who by this time spoke fluent dodo.​
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"There's a boat," she said. "Round the south side of the island."​
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"How on earth do the dodos know that?"​
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"They recognise boats, they see the Boatman's boat every day."​
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"Ask them if it could be the Boatman."​
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She signed the question to the dodo which winged the answer back.​
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"No," Mo said. "It's a different light."​
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"All this time I've been watching webcams and all I had to do was ask the dodos."​
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"Yeah, but you didn't ask, did you."​
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We walked as quickly as we could​
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"It must be the same boat that the Boatman saw, which means it's been here at least twice, probably more."​
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"It can't be here for me though, can it?" Mo said. "The people that are after me, if they knew I was here, on an isolated island, they'd storm the place."​
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"Maybe they're checking the island out before they move."​
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"It doesn't make sense."​
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It was already dark by the time we reached the south coast. The light of a boat was clearly visible.​
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"We should be careful," I said. "They might be on the island."​
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"You think?" Mo said.​
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"There's no sense their coming here just to look at us from afar. We should probably go back to the house, we can't do a lot out here."​
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We started walking back to the house. Mo was clearly quite drained by the excursion and had slowed to a crawl. I didn't mind, walking slowly meant that I had time to stop and listen every few steps, I was convinced that someone must have come onto the island.​
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And then I heard it, a cough, a human cough, from about a hundred metres to our left.​
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"Who's there?" I said. I took out my torch and shone it at the spot where the noise had come from. Sure enough, there in the torch's light, was the clear outline of a figure dressed completely in black.​
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