Page 42 of The Sunken Truth
“Yes. You look pretty excited about that.”
“I am. Make sure you call after and tell me about it. He’ll be able to shed some light on which parts of Eustace’s stories are true. I’ll bet it’s fascinating.”
“Come with me if you want.”
“Won’t Sergeant Proctor mind?”
“I doubt it.”
She glanced at her watch, then checked her phone. “I suppose Jessica would have messaged if there were anyproblems. And my conversation with Maria can wait another hour.”
A couple of minutes later, they approached the station to find the sergeant standing in the open doorway.
“This is a surprise,” he said to Lily, voice dripping with sarcasm.
She rolled her eyes but smiled warmly at him.
“Have a quick chat with the guy from the museum before he goes to check into his hotel,” Sergeant Proctor said to Flynn. “You can fill me in on everything else later.”
“You don’t mind if Lily sits in with us, do you? She’s taken a sudden interest in local history.”
“Fine by me,” he said, stepping aside. “He’s in my office.”
The office door was wide open and the tall, wiry-haired man was talking loudly on the phone while he paced the room. At the sight of Flynn, he finished his call and extended his hand.
“Morris Hunter,” he said, pumping Flynn’s hand. “Curator from the British Museum.”
“Good to meet you,” Flynn said, introducing himself and then Lily – saying she was a resident with an interest in the recent finding. Not that the guy seemed to care about the extra person.
“I believe you’ve been chatting to the descendant of the Isles Fortune’s captain?” he said eagerly.
“We were chatting to him this morning,” Flynn said, gesturing to the chairs and taking a seat.
“He’s an elderly man, I believe?” Morris said. “Is he compos mentis?”
“He’s ninety-seven,” Flynn said. “But he seems very fit for his age.” Whether he was mentally competent, he wouldn’t like to say.
“And do I have it right that he’s the grandson of Captain William Tremayne?”
“That’s what he told me,” Flynn said, again not wanting to claim anything as a definite.
Morris pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I have to say if it really is the Fortune which has been found, then things might be about to get very exciting. Finally, we might get some answers.”
“Answers to what?” Lily asked, leaning forward and resting with her elbows on her knees.
“I suppose, first and foremost, we’d like to know about the ship’s cargo.”
“Whether it was carrying gold?” Lily asked.
“Precisely. Then there’s the question of whether the sinking was an accident.”
Flynn’s eyebrows shot up. “Why would anyone think otherwise?”
“There’s been suggestions it was insurance fraud,” he said excitedly. “The underwriters suspected so at the time, but there was no evidence.”
“And you think there’s evidence at the bottom of the sea?” Lily asked.
“If the ship was carrying gold when it sank, that would be a fantastic find, but I’d be almost as interested to find any log books uncovered.”
