Eyot continued

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Sam was gone. There was no trace of him. He’d taken his warmth and his smile. He’d just gone. The thin cotton blouse was now offering less than any protection at all and Emily was starting to shiver uncontrollably; she was also starting to cry. She’d called out for Sam – there was no response. Had he swam back alone and driven his M5 back to Highgate? Was he now back in the bed of his girlfriend. Was she now being comforted by his power whilst Emily cried through the cold?

Emily finally got to her car at 7.00am. The storm had largely blown itself out and the falling tide bore none of the anger of its rising. The Tideway was calm.

As Emily started the engine and turned the heater to full, the body of Sam bobbed gently against the quiet water of Corney Reach – 300 metres west of the Eyot on the southern bank. After taking him to Kew during the night, the falling tide had finally deposited him on the stony foreshore – it didn’t want him anymore, he wasn’t fighting anymore. He’d only crept away for a pee. He wasn’t to know that the slope would end unexpectedly at a void over a rain water outlet that was dug under the Eyot in the 1890’s. The ravenous water took him as easily as it had devoured Jamie.