Page 80 of The Rising Tide

Nor can he refute the upward financial trajectory of her chosen partners. From commune vagrant, to bar owner, to lifeboat coxswain, to marine entrepreneur. Is there another rung on that ladder he hasn’t discovered?

Abraham’s still mulling it when, post-midnight, Patrick Beckett from the Criminal Finance team appears at his desk.

4

They grab more coffee and Beckett lays it out. The Locke family’s finances are a mess. The last three years’ taxreturns filed for Locke-Povey Marine show a decent profit, but that was before Daniel’s business partner sold his stake. Speculation in the industry press is of a predatory buy-out intended to leave a husk. Many of Locke-Povey Marine’s customers have already jumped ship. Most of the staff have been laid off.

That’s calamitous for the Lockes. The house on Mortis Point isn’t mortgaged, but there’s a sizeable business loan secured against it, on which Daniel just defaulted. The couple are also paying off another large loan raised to develop the Drift Net.

But it’s what Beckett’s dug up on insurance that really stirs Abraham’s interest. Daniel has a long-running life-insurance policy naming Lucy as the £500,000 beneficiary. More recently, Lucy took out a gold-plated family accident plan that pays out not just on the death or serious injury of Daniel or herself, but smaller amounts on the deaths of Billie and Fin. If Daniel had drowned with both children in that storm, Lucy would have gained an additional £120,000 on top of the half a million from Daniel’s personal plan. Even more interesting – two months agoBillieLocke took out life insurance. The cover is for £200,000, with Lucy as sole beneficiary. There’s no law against eighteen-year-old students owning life-insurance policies, but it’s odd. Billie has no dependents, not even a declared income. In addition to the personal plans, the family yacht is insured for far more than it’s worth.

‘What do you make of it?’ Abraham asks.

‘Put it this way,’ Beckett says. ‘If the boat sank and all those on it never returned, Lucy Locke stood to gain over a million. Daniel Locke’s survival – and the boat’s recovery by the lifeboat crew – knocks that figure down substantially,but if we assume a coroner rules that Fin Locke died with his sister, the pay-out is still two hundred thousand from Billie’s policy, plus a further twenty from the accident plan.’

‘Both of which were arranged in the last few months.’

‘Correct.’

‘Fortunate timing,’ Abraham says.

‘Very.’

‘Unless Daniel and Lucy arebothconvicted – at which point nothing pays out?’

‘Also correct.’

‘Keep digging,’ Abraham tells him.

This is starting to feel like a ruthless game being played between husband and wife, the children used as collateral. He recalls Jesse Arnold, the assigned FLO, describing how Lucy Locke smashed her computer.

Blind rage? Or a deliberate ploy to destroy evidence?

TWENTY-EIGHT

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Bee and Tommo drop Lucy home. She declines their offer to come inside; it’s a relief to say goodnight and shut her front door. In the kitchen, she makes coffee and carries it outside. From the back lawn, she has a clear view of the ocean. Down on Penleith Beach, her children’s names still flicker on the sand.

Shehasto get her head straight.

At the police station this morning, she’d noticed how differently Abraham Rose looked at her. Tonight, when she caught his eye at the vigil, the change was even more stark. Was that because of Daniel’s confession? Or because of Beth McKaylin? It can’t be much longer before someone decides to investigate Lucy. What will she do then? She needs the detective to take her message about the dinghy at face value. But its success – and her credibility – hinges on what he learns first.

You thought I didn’t know but I do. And you might think you know me but you don’t. You don’t have the first clue. Nor does Nick.

She knows her husband’s confession was a lie. Daniel didn’t kill their children on that boat, nor anywhere else. Not just because he loves them and loves her, but because Billie and Fin arealive; she won’t accept any alternative.

Do you have the slightest understanding of how it feels to be betrayed by both your wife and your best friend?

In the hours since reading those words, she’s visited the hospital and the police station, talked to Sergeant Arnold and Abraham Rose, searched the house and the garage, attended the vigil and addressed the crowd. And through it all she’s been thinking, watching, analysing; steadily formulating a plan.

Daniel overcame his poor start in life, teaching himself all the skills necessary to achieve his dream. But he didn’t escape unscathed. His need for control, in every aspect of his life, is just one consequence of his trauma.

Another is a legacy of his inability, aged ten, to read or write.

Even now, Daniel has difficulty with spelling and grammar. Lucy’s lost count of the times she’s had to look over one of his business documents or proofread some of his marketing copy. Unlike every other email her husband ever sent her, the one she read a few hours ago contained not a single punctuation error or misspelled word.

Which means the possibility that Daniel wrote it is precisely zero.

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