Page 36 of The Sunken Truth

At Lowen’s puzzled expression, Lily expanded. “Apparently Eustace’s grandfather was the captain of the ship which has been found.”

Lowen stopped in his tracks. “Oh!” He pressed a hand to his forehead. “I don’t know why I didn’t connect the dots earlier. Eustace has told me stories about his grandfather so many times over the years. To be honest, it never felt real when he’d tell me about it… Is it really the same ship that’s been found?”

“We don’t know for definite,” Flynn said. “But there’s a ship in the exact spot where the Fortune went down.”

“Eustace will love it,” Lowen said. “It’s his favourite topic of conversation.”

“Do you know him well?” Lily asked, stopping beside the boat.

“Yeah. He’s always lived on Bryher. When I started working over here as a teenager, he used to come in the pottery studio often, or I’d bump into him in the hotel bar. That was right after his wife passed away and he was out and about more – looking for company, I suppose. A lot of peoplecan’t stand hearing his wild stories, but I’ve always loved them.”

“We’ve just been hearing about his grandfather smuggling gold,” Lily said. “It sounds like a fairy tale.”

“It really does. Gold smuggling and pirates. I could listen to him all day. I visit him from time to time. He likes the company.”

“Sadly, we didn’t get to hear about pirates,” Lily said. “Though I kept expecting there to be pirates in the story.”

“The funny thing is Eustace tells the story with the pirates as the bad guys, but it was William and his crew who’d stolen the gold. Those so-called pirates only took back what was theirs to start with.” He grinned. “I tend not to raise that point with Eustace.”

Flynn shook his head. “He told us that the ship sank with the gold on board.”

“No,” Lowen said. “They were in the Mozambique Channel when the boat was hijacked and the gold stolen.”

“That’s weirdly specific,” Flynn said.

“It’s true. Eustace got the story firsthand from his grandfather.”

Flynn’s eyes narrowed. “You actually believe it?”

Lowen shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do… but maybe that’s because I want to believe it. It’s a great story, either way.”

He switched his attention to the boat and gave them a quick lesson, and a few pointers on places to avoid, and the best places to dock.

“I assume this is official police business?” he finally asked, eyeing Flynn’s uniform.

“Yeah,” Flynn replied, confusion clear in his features. “Why?”

“Because I’m guessing neither of you have a Boatman's License.”

“You need a license to drive a boat?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. But if you’re on police business I’m sure it’s fine. Just don’t do anything crazy. Stick to the places I told you. If anyone asks, you got detailed instructions from me.”

Flynn opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

“Okay, great,” Lily said and began pushing the boat into the shallows with Lowen.

“Wait!” Flynn said. “I had no idea we needed a license. In the UK…”

“Different rules out here,” Lowen said, cutting him off.

“We’ll be careful,” Lily said, then flashed Flynn a playful smile. “If anyone asks we’ll say we have special permission from the police.”

He rolled his eyes and bent to undo his laces.

“You should get a boat license,” Lowen said to Lily.

She nodded and stepped into the boat. “I might do that.”