We began to wonder when someone would notice that we had not returned. We had not given a precise time about coming back, only a general idea."What time will Rebekah realize something's wrong?" we asked Marquis. "When is she gonna call to report us overdue?"

Marquis said he usually called her when the boat was about five miles out from shore. Last weekend, he had called her at eight thirty or nine. He told her he would be home earlier this time. Still, he wasn't sure at what point she would become alarmed.

"There's times I told her we would be earlier and then we have good fishing and I'm later," Marquis said while kneeling on the hull. But he added, "There's no way she wouldn't call the Coast Guard by two o'clock."

We figured it would be much later than that before someone came looking for us.

The foregoing is excerpted from Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

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