Chapter 3 Summary

The little group rides back to the town in silence. As they bump back down the hill, they know they face a hot, sleepless night ahead of them.

Elsa is staying in the Studio Apartments, an apartment hotel, which is furnished with Greek rugs and pottery, and was built by a local who went to Florida to learn the tourist trade. As she stands on the tiny wrought iron balcony surveying the stars and the dark sea, she understands for the first time why someone sad and lonely might want to end life in its murky arms. However, she realizes how foolish this would be. Drowning is not a matter of slipping gently away, but would include thrashing about and gasping for air. She decides that although she doesn't really want to die, being aboard the Olga when it burst into flames would...