Page 76 of The Sunken Truth

“What about his wife?” Flynn asked. “Nat?”

Again, he seemed pained by the question. “No. She wouldn’t do it.”

“Right.” Flynn glanced at his watch. “I’ll ask you again – do you have any idea who did cut the hose?”

His eyes were fixed on the floor. “No,” he said weakly.

Flynn’s gaze met Lily’s, but she only shrugged. She was all out of questions.

“Can I go now?” Benji asked, shifting in his chair.

“I think Ryan would like to speak to you,” Flynn said. “But that’s all I need from you for now.”

Lily felt utterly useless as they stood and walked back through the building.

Outside, Flynn checked his watch and cursed under his breath.

“Sorry,” Lily said. “I wasn’t much help.”

Flynn shook his head. “Thanks for trying.”

“What now?” Lily asked quietly.

“Now I have to go and tell Kurt he’s free to leave, and then probably endure a lecture from the superintendent. There’s no way I’ll be able to talk him into letting me stay now.”

Lily’s whole body tensed. “It’s not fair. You did your job well. And I think you’re close to figuring it out.”

They set off, walking slowly along the Strand, a sea breeze blowing up from the shore to their right.

“The annoying thing is, I think I already figured it out.”

“You think it was Kurt?” Lily asked.

He nodded. “I’d put money on it. Benji was covering for him, I’m sure. It’s weird though…”

“What is?”

“The money…” He trailed off and stopped walking, staring into space. “Kurt definitely said he’d given Benji some of the money, but Benji didn’t seem very sure of that.”

“No,” Lily agreed, wishing she knew what was going on in Flynn’s mind. He looked miles away.

His eyes snapped to Lily. “Kurt didn’t actually say money,” he said in a rush. “He said he’d given him something. He never specified it was money.”

“What would he have given him?”

Flynn’s shoulders sagged. “I’ve no idea.”

He started walking again, but Lily remained rooted to the spot.

“Are you coming?” he called out.

She tilted her head. “What if it was photos?”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw Kurt give Benji a USB stick, remember? Except he didn’t really seem to give it willingly. Benji took it. They said it was photos from the wreck.”

“So?”