Page 54 of The Sunken Truth
“Nothing. I could just do without this. How ridiculous will I sound going back to the station to report what I’ve found? Should I tell the superintendent my latest lead suggests the dive incident was caused by cursed gold?”
“I probably wouldn’t mention that.”
“I need to track Kurt down and hope he admits to tampering with Ryan’s dive equipment. It seems unlikely, though.”
“Maybe that’s not your only approach to figuring this out,” Lily mused.
“If you have a better plan, I’m all ears.”
“Whoever cut the hose, did it to get their hands on whatever Ryan found, right?”
“I would guess so.”
“Okay. So you need to find whatever it was he discovered on the wreck. If you find that, you’ll find who cut the hose.”
Flynnfelt the first stirring of a headache. “How am I supposed to find it?”
“Look for it…”
“Could you be more specific?”
“Whenever I’m investigating, I snoop around and see what I can find.”
“The difference is I’m a police officer. I can’t go searching people’s property without due cause.” His tone was harsher than he’d intended, but he’d really been hoping she might be more helpful.
“Couldn’t you have a look around the dive boats? If there’s no one on them, you could just have a quick look.” Excitement had her speaking fast. “And they probably leave their houses unlocked most of the time… if you were to go inside looking for them and they weren’t there––”
“Can you be serious?” he snapped, putting an end to her chatter.
“I am serious. How well could someone hide an ancient metal chest?”
“I think it’s a small box,” Flynn said, irritated by the conversation. “And you’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“Suggesting I trespass to search for clues isn’t remotely helpful.” His jaw was clenched as he approached Kurt’s flat. “I have to go,” he said and ended the call without saying goodbye.
Shewasbeing ridiculous. He needed to figure this out and she wasn’t taking it seriously. Admittedly, it was difficult to take any of it seriously with all the talk of pirates and cursed gold, but if he had any chance of extending his posting on the Scillies, he had to show the superintendent he was useful here.
Staring at her phone, Lily cursed herself. She’d known Flynn was stressed about the superintendent’s visit, and her wittering away had been entirely unhelpful. Of course Flynn couldn’t go snooping around private property.
It was the reason she felt more confident about investigating things faster than the police – she didn’t have to worry about rules in the same way they did.
Ifshewere caught trespassing, she could just come up with an excuse for being in places she shouldn’t be.
She pondered that as she headed for the harbour. If she were, for instance, to be caught on Ryan’s dive boat, she could say she left something behind after their dive. Or that she was looking for Benji to ask if he’d had any luck with the photos.
Something would come to her.
She found the boat easily, tied up by the harbour wall and bobbing on the waves which rolled in with increasing strength. Grey clouds blocked out the sun as she stepped aboard.
Despite the boat appearing unoccupied, she called hello.
All was quiet and she moved to the wheelhouse and let her eyes trail over the navigation equipment. Beside the wheel were multiple gauges and buttons. Amid them, a photo of Ryan and a young girl was held in place with tape which curled at the edges. Presumably it was his daughter beaming into the camera while she draped herself around Ryan’s neck. She was probably ten or eleven and her eyes sparkled with the unbridled joy of youth.
With her eyes on the open trapdoor, Lily took a few steps and peered down below deck before taking the steps down into the small space. The light switch on the wall clickedwhen she pressed it, and soft yellow light illuminated the room.
Benches around the edge of the small space gave the feel of a changing room, which she guessed was what it was used for. A couple of wetsuits hung from ceiling hooks in the middle of the room and a pair of fins and a wetsuit glove were discarded near her feet. Cupboards at head height ran around the room and Lily made quick work of looking through them, only to be faced with assorted diving equipment, towels and a variety of sunscreen bottles.
