A. The captain made a loudspeaker appeal for the owner to return to his vehicle, as he was blocking the drivers behind him.

B. There was nothing now that could be done until first light, so he decided to leave the ferry and wait in the bar.

C. He said he would get his assistant to call the house and find out if any of them had borrowed the car.

D. They called the terminal at Woods Hole to check if anyone had disembarked before the boat sailed or had perhaps been accidentally left behind – again: nothing.

E. But towards nine o’clock the wind eased slightly and the master decided it was safe to set off. The boat was crowded; McAra was lucky to get a space for his car.

MISSING DRIVER

McAra had caught the last ferry from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to Martha’s Vineyard two Sundays earlier. I worked out afterwards it must have been January the twelfth. It was uncertain whether the ferry would sail at all. A gale had been blowing since mid-afternoon and the last few crossings had been cancelled. 5.1. e|E() He parked below deck and then went upstairs to get some air. No one saw him alive again.

The crossing to the island usually takes forty-five minutes, but on this particular night the weather slowed the voyage considerably. It was nearly eleven when the ferry made land at Vineyard Haven and the cars started up – all except one: a brand new tan-coloured Ford Escape SUV. 5.2. a|A()When he still didn’t show up, the crew tried the doors, which turned out to be unlocked, and freewheeled the big Ford out of the ferry. Afterwards they searched the ship with care: stairwells, bar, toilets, even the lifeboats but there was no trace of the driver. 5.3. d|D() That was when an official of the Massachusetts Steamship Authority finally contacted the Coast Guard station in Falmouth to report a possible man overboard.

A police check on the Ford’s licence plate revealed it to be registered to one Martin S. Rhinehart of New York City, although Mr. Rhinehart was eventually tracked down to his ranch in California. When the police called him there, he admitted that the Ford belonged to him. He kept it at his house on Martha’s Vineyard for the use of himself and his guests in the summer. He also confirmed that, despite the time of year, a group of guests were staying there at the moment. 5.4. c|C() Half an hour later she rang back to say that someone was indeed missing, a person by the name of McAra.

adapted from The Ghost by Robert Harris