Serenity

THE STORY SO FAR: Former paramedic Frankie shares a flat in Fuerteventura with Rik and others who all do a variety of casual work. After cleaning sailing boat Serenity for Miles and Lois Carmichael, her employers, Frankie falls asleep in the spare cabin and wakes to find herself at sea. Lois reluctantly agrees she can stay on board if she cleans and cooks. Skipper Adam has banned mobile phones, but Lois thinks Miles has been talking to his ex-mistress and hurls his phone overboard. He claims it’s just a recording device. Lois demands to be taken back to Fuerteventura, but Miles says they’re not cancelling their trip around the islands. Frankie has been unable to contact Rik or any of her employers. She asks Lois if she can leave when she does, and Lois says she fears they are prisoners on Serenity and won’t be allowed to go.

Frankie joined Adam and Miles in the cockpit, hoping to persuade them to let her and Lois leave the boat at the first opportunity.

‘Has she come out of the cabin yet?’ Miles asked and Frankie shook her head.

‘She’s very upset.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know. I tried talking to her while you were in the shower and got a mouthful of abuse.’

Lois had given Frankie a change of clothes and she’d taken a shower, in the hope that things would have