Page 65 of The Sunken Truth

Restless, she left the flat early and headed for the harbour, pulling out her phone and calling Seren as she went.

“Can you tell me everything you remember from the dive?” she said, dodging around a puddle.

“I just woke up,” Seren complained through a yawn.

“Is Kit with you?”

“Yes.”

“Put me on speaker. We can go over it together. I feel as though we’re missing something. I have to figure out who has thetreasure.”

With a sigh, Seren put her on speaker and she greeted Kit, who sounded way more energetic. He happily went through everything again.

“Flynn seems fairly sure it wasn’t Harry or Nat,” Lily said, reaching the harbour which was buzzing with people. Some waited to board the Scillonian to go back to Penzance while several dive teams geared up to go out to the shipwreck.

“That leaves Kurt and Benji,” Lily added, shouldering her way through the line of people waiting to board the ferry. “Are you sure you didn’t see them near to Ryan?”

“You were there too,” Seren pointed out. “What did you see?”

“Everyone was spread out around the wreck. But I was looking the other way. When I turned around, it was difficult to see anything.”

“Same,” Seren said.

“No way Benji had anything to do with it,” Kit said. “And if he says Kurt was with him the whole time, I’d believe him.”

“Can you think of a reason Ryan would have cut the hose himself?”

“No,” Seren said, yawning again.

“I need to figure it out. Flynn is really stressed.” Lily looked at one of the dive boats that was leaving the harbour, then her shoulder was knocked by a tall man striding along.

“Sorry,” he said, turning back. “Oh. We’ve met before.”

“I’ll call you back,” Lily said into the phone before addressing the curator from the British Museum. “Morris, isn’t it?”

“Yes! You’ve got a better memory than me.”

“Lily,” she reminded him. “How’s everything going?”

“The storm threw all our plans off yesterday, but I’m hoping it might be a good thing. Hopefully, things have shifted down there and we’ll have better access to the wreck.”

“Fingers crossed.”

“Maybe today will be the day we strike gold!” he said cheerfully.

“Haven’t you recoveredanything?” she asked, then heard how judgemental she sounded.

He didn’t seem to notice. “Not yet. But our equipment picked up a variety of different metals down there, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.”

“Did it pick up gold? Can it do that?”

“Yes. It showed a small amount. It’s not always reliable, though. At least we know it’s the Isles Fortune now.”

“Really? How so?”

His eyes lit up. “Eustace Tremayne called me this morning, informing me of an item retrieved from the seabed. A cigar box with his grandfather’s initials.”

“Where did he get it from?” Lily asked.