Page 10 of Bay of Plenty

The valley opened toOhopeBeach. Its shattering light and shrieking seagulls sliced through to my bones. White sand stretched for eight miles, the sky and ocean seething with a cruel blue menace only I seemed to feel.

Five miles out to sea was Motu Island, shaped like a whale and home to orcas that preyed on sharks. It was green and lush, but like other things in this town, something ominous lurked beneath the surface. It was volcanic. An electronic sign at the crossroads flashed that it was currently on Code Orange, technically one notch from blowing, but locals had heard this before.

I passed the old, run-down campground, empty now. A huge billboard trumpeted its new future as a $16 million luxury development. Each of the eight proposed homes were being auctioned for $2 million.What?I knew from Mum that no home around here sold for more than half that.

Another day in paradise.That was how the locals greeted each other when I grew up.

But it never felt like paradise to me.Had I ever fit in here?The thought clanged harshly in my ears.

I parked in front of my childhood home. It was still a Creamsicle-orange, front windows reflecting the ocean, and a garden crammed with tropical flowers.

My phone jumped with a video call. Shay. Mum wasn’t here yet, so I answered. We were thirteen hours ahead, noon here and eleven at night in London. No wonder I looked so tired.

“Hello, you.” Her smile sparkled. Teddy licked the air, which he thought was talking. I longed to melt through the screen and hug them.

“I want to hear about your dad. But first, did that Declan guy contact you again?”

My brain veered wildly between lying outright and telling her everything. I’d trusted Shay since she’d tipped me off to the pension scandal that had catapulted me onto the investigative team, and she’d helped with my stories ever since. But my parents had too much to lose. And I knew I wasn’t a great liar.

“I can’t explain. I’m sorry, but if I talk to you any more about this, I might mess up everything. I have to ask you not to tell anyone else.”

She made a pained face. “Okay, but I’m worried about you.”

“I know. But the case is being… handled.”

She was quiet for a beat, and then we talked about Dad.

“There’s something else.” Shay sounded nervous. “I’ve put it off until now—”

“Oh no. What’s happened?”

“I’m sprogged up.” She squealed. When I didn’t answer, she explained, “Bun in the oven, up the duff. Okay, technical term? I’m pregnant.”

I yelped with joy and demanded all the details. Her answers were breathless: three months, don’t know the sex yet, fingers and toes accounted for.Wait… has she delayed telling me because my life is such a mess?

“Sorry. I’m a rubbish friend.” My face felt red-hot. “I’m going to shape up, promise. I can’t wait to have a baby in the flat.”

A pause. She focused on Teddy, smoothing his little head.

“One other thing.” She fiddled with her silver earring. “We’ve started looking to buy farther out, so we can have a garden, because we want at least two kids. And pets.” She made a loved-up face at Teddy. “The dream.” She fretted. “I’m worried about giving you loads of notice on the flat.”

“Focus on the dream.” My voice sounded squeaky. I forced it into a deep and reassuring tone. “Don’t worry about the flat or me. I’ll sort it.” I didn’t have enough savings to keep it without immediately replacing the two of them with another couple, but I didn’t want to make it their problem.

We hung up. Slumped in the driver’s seat, I stared at the teen surfers lacerating the waves in the flaming midday sun. Everyone else was moving on with their lives, and I was going backward. How was I going to turn that around? I sat up straight in my seat. That wasn’t my priority now. I’d figure it out after clearing my parents’ names, making sure they wouldn’t lose their nest egg, and seeing Dad fully recovered.

Mum pulled into the shared driveway, so I had to go inside. I heaved my luggage from the car and was about to drag it up the path when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped and swung around. No one there.

Just the cliff at the end of the beach.

It slashed sheer into the sky, splattered with the bloodred pohutukawa trees that bloomed at Christmas. Below it, rocks jutted from the crashing waves like sharks’ teeth.

I miss you.

The police said my friend Janey had leaped off that cliff. It was my fourteenth birthday. I knew she hadn’t taken her own life.

No one had believed me.

Chapter Six

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