Page 57 of The Sunken Truth

“Yeah, her. I think the young couple were further away – the guy who owns the train.”

Flynn gave a curt nod of understanding. “And Harry and Nat?”

“The last time I saw them, they were moving towards the wreck.”

“Towards Ryan?”

He tilted his head from side to side. “Maybe.”

“I spoke to Harry Wright yesterday, and he seemed to think you were pretty close to Ryan when his equipment was tampered with.”

His jaw twitched. “He would say that. Pointing the finger at me takes the attention away from him.”

“You think he did it?”

He nodded once. “Makes sense to me. A quick injection of cash would sort out his gambling debts.”

Flynn’s eyebrows drew together. “Hiswhat?”

“He plays online poker. A lot. He’s one of those people who thinks he can’t lose, and if he loses, he thinks he just needs to play a few more games to win it all back.” He lockedeyes with Flynn. “I worked for him last summer. You could always judge how his evening of gambling had been by the mood he came to work in the following morning.”

Flynn paused, trying to digest the new information. Having a gambling habit didn’t necessarily mean anything. But it corroborated the story about Harry’s financial difficulties, which gave Harry a motive to cut Ryan’s hose and steal whatever he’d found.

“Can you think of anything else?” he asked Kurt. When he shook his head, Flynn thanked him for his time.

Back out in the fresh air, it occurred to him he was going round in circles with all of his interviews.

Lily was right – if he wanted to figure out who’d cut the air hose, he needed to track down the artefact Ryan had found.

His chest constricted as he thought of Lily and the way he’d spoken to her. She’d been trying to help and he’d taken all his frustration out on her.

Before he did anything else, he needed to apologise.

His phone rang before he’d got far.

“Did you find Eustace?” the sergeant asked.

“Yes. He’s got the message now.”

“What did he have to say for himself?”

Flynn cringed before he managed to speak. “He thinks the gold is cursed and is doing everything he can to ensure it stays at the bottom of the sea. He intends to return it there if anyone brings it to him.”

The silence from the sergeant was loaded, and Flynn was glad he wasn’t relaying the information in front of the superintendent.

“All right,” Sergeant Proctor said. “As long as he stops hassling people, it doesn’t matter what his motives are. Where are you now?”

“I went to speak to Kurt about his recollections of the dive yesterday.”

“And?”

“He’s pointing the finger at Harry Wright.”

“Did he see him do it?”

“No, just saying it would make sense, given Harry’s gambling addiction. Do you know anything about that?”

“No.”