Page 33 of The Sunken Truth (Lily Larkin Mysteries #5)

Chapter Thirty-Three

They didn’t bother to announce themselves at the dive shop, but wandered straight through to the office and interrupted Ryan mid-sentence.

The dive instructor frowned at them. “I thought you were finished with him.”

“I was,” Flynn said, eyes firmly on Benji. “I just have one more question.” He paused and let the silence hang for a moment. “What happened to the USB stick with the photos from the wreck?”

Benji’s eyes widened, and the sheer panic in them gave Lily a buzz of anticipation.

She was fairly sure that was the right question.

Also, judging by the way Benji glanced nervously at his backpack, she’d bet that the memory stick in question wasn’t far away.

“The photos were no good,” he said, scratching at his throat. “I deleted them.”

“But you still have the USB stick?” Flynn asked.

“I… umm… why? There’s nothing on it? ”

“Could I see it?”

“I deleted the photos,” he said again.

“What’s going on with you?” Ryan asked. “Just show him the drive.”

“There’s no point,” he said, his face a fiery shade of red. “Why do you want to see it?”

“Mostly because you clearly don’t want me to see it,” Flynn told him calmly. “And because you’re acting suspiciously. If there’s nothing on it, you won’t mind showing me.”

“Okay.” His trembling hands went for his bag and he drew back the zip of a small pocket at the top. “There’s really nothing to see though,” he said as he handed it to Flynn.

After turning it over in his hand, Flynn looked at Ryan. “Do you have a computer I can look at this on?”

“Yeah.” He opened his laptop and extended his hand for the USB stick.

Flynn and Lily moved to stand on either side of Ryan.

“I definitely deleted the photos,” Benji said weakly, hovering at Lily’s shoulder.

“What’s this?” Ryan asked, pointing at the screen.

Lily squinted, confused. The only folder on the drive was labelled with a date, and it was a few years old.

“Just an old video. Nothing interesting.”

“How come you kept it, then?” Ryan asked, clicking into the file and then onto the video.

“I don’t really know.” Benji’s voice rose in pitch. “I was out on the boat with my nephew. He was only little and he was chatting a bit on the video… I thought it was cute, so I guess I was just being sentimental.”

Lily tilted her head to view the erratic video at the correct angle. Sea and land and sky whipped by. “Did your nephew also take the video?”

“Yeah. Like I said, it’s not very interesting. ”

The screen levelled out and the scenery became more discernible. A bright sunny day with beautiful turquoise water. She couldn’t pinpoint where it was, but it was unmistakably local. She’d guess somewhere on the eastern side of St Mary’s.

“Uncle Benji,” a childlike voice chimed in the video. “Someone went for a swim.”

“That’s brave,” Benji answered. “It’s chilly today.” Silence fell for a moment before Benji’s voice came again. “What are you doing with my phone? Give it me before you lose it overboard…” A hand enveloped the screen before the video ended abruptly.

“I told you it was nothing interesting.”

Lily felt as though a cloud of disappointment descended on her. She’d really thought they were on to something. A quick glance at Flynn told her he was equally disappointed.

Quietly, Ryan clicked out of the video, then stared at the screen.

“Can I have it back?” Benji asked, hand outstretched. The gleam of sweat on his forehead made Lily wonder if it was possible to hide a file on a USB stick. Because Benji was definitely hiding something.

“The video was taken in March four years ago,” Ryan murmured, eyes fixed on the screen.

“Yeah,” Benji said. “It’s really old.”

Ignoring him, Ryan clicked back into the video, then moved the frame on to bypass the uneven camera angles. He pressed play on the shot of the beautiful blue sea. Another boat was visible in the top right of the screen – a small sailing boat with a blue sail.

“Everything okay?” Flynn asked, when Ryan paused the video and merely stared.

“That’s Terry’s boat,” he said and hit play again .

The little blue boat remained in the picture until the child spoke, as though speaking made him alter his hand position. “Uncle Benji, someone went for a swim,” he said, loud and clear.

Ryan paused the video, moved it back five seconds, then played it again. And again.

“He’s talking about Terry, isn’t he?” Ryan asked, finally looking up at Benji when he hit pause after the kid’s voice sounded again.

Benji’s cheeks drained of colour when he nodded.

“What’s going on?” Flynn asked. “Who’s Terry?”

“Terry Treneary,” Ryan said, moving the cursor to go back through the video again.

This time, he leaned forwards, scrutinising the sailboat in the corner of the screen. Lily leaned in too. Just before the child’s voice sounded, the water rippled beside the boat as though something had been dropped in.

“Who’s Terry Treneary?” she asked, while Ryan moved the video back to watch it again. “I thought I’d met all the Trenearys.”

She tucked her chin as she remembered that the patriarch of the Treneary family had died in a boating accident a few years ago. If she remembered correctly, he’d been alone in his boat and no one really knew what had happened.

“Is that Kit’s dad?” she asked, a shiver of unease working its way through her.

“Yes,” Ryan said through gritted teeth. When he dragged his attention away from the screen, he glared at Benji. “What the hell!” he spat. “Why has no one seen this before?”

When Benji took a step backwards, Flynn moved to put himself between the two men, apparently concerned that the contempt in Ryan’s eyes might turn to something physical .

“I didn’t see it until weeks after,” Benji said, chin wobbling madly as he spoke. “I didn’t realise Sammy had taken a video. By the time I saw it on my phone, Terry was dead. He’d been found washed up on the beach… they’d already had the funeral and…”

“Why didn’t you show this to anyone?” Ryan growled. “You know how upset everyone was. And not knowing what happened made it all the worse.”

“Because it doesn’t make any difference,” Benji said.

“I’ve watched it hundreds of times and you can’t see what happens, only that he fell in the water.

Which is what everyone assumed. They thought he’d either had a heart attack or got hit by the boom…

and you can’t see properly in the video.

The boat was too far away. I tried different programmes to see if I could zoom in, but you still can’t see anything. ”

“You still should have shown someone,” Ryan said. “How could you keep this to yourself?”

“Because I was right there!” Benji’s voice rose to an emotional shout and he jabbed a finger at the screen. “I was right there when he went in the water. If I’d been paying more attention instead of being in a rush to get home, I might have seen him go in the water. I could’ve helped him.”

“Oh my god,” Ryan muttered, before burying his head in his hands.

Flynn’s gaze was on Benji. “What’s this got to do with Kurt?”

“He’s the only one who knew about it.” Benji moved back to the other side of the desk and sat down. “I think about it a lot, but I never told anyone. Until a few weeks ago when we were in the pub. I had too much to drink and I told Kurt about it.”

“He had the USB stick,” Flynn surmised. “That’s what he meant when he said he gave you something… it wasn’t money, it was the video.”

Benji nodded. “He was cool about the whole thing when I first told him about it. He told me not to blame myself. A few days later, he asked if he could see the video. I didn’t think much of it, but after I showed it to him, the USB stick went missing.

He swore he knew nothing about it. I was panicking because I thought I’d lost it and was worried someone would find it and look at it. ”

Flynn perched on the edge of the desk. “Kurt had it?”

“Yes. After Eustace had been around offering a reward for anything from the ship, Kurt told me he had the video and would give it back if I helped him find something at the wreck. He started talking about uploading the video to the internet and letting everyone know I could have saved Terry.”

He looked solemnly at Flynn. “Everyone loved Terry. And it wasn’t just that I was concerned about what people would think of me.

In some ways, it might be a relief if people know.

No one could say anything that I haven’t already thought of myself.

” He paused and glanced at Ryan, who continued to have his head bent.

“I’m friends with the Trenearys. I drink with them frequently.

I know how hard it was for them when Terry died.

If the video came out, it would stir everything up for them.

That’s what I was scared of. It’s why I was so desperate. ”

“So desperate that you stood by and watched Kurt cut Ryan’s air hose, then covered for him afterwards?” Lily asked plainly.

His eyes were sorrowful, but he wasn’t looking at Lily. He stared at Ryan.

“Is that what happened?” Flynn asked when Benji didn’t speak .

“I’m sorry,” Benji whispered. “I really am.”

Finally, Ryan lifted his head. “This would be a good time for you to tell us it was Kurt,” he said gruffly. “Please tell me it was Kurt who tried to kill me and not you.”

“No one was trying to kill you,” Benji said in a rush. “I was nearby the whole time. Even if Lily hadn’t been there, we weren’t so deep that you couldn’t surface in time. I knew you’d be fine, and I watched you surface to make sure.”

Flynn stood straighter and took a step towards Benji. “Who cut the hose?”

At Benji’s hesitation, Ryan swore loudly.

“I saw the object at your feet even before you noticed it,” Benji told Ryan.

“I wasn’t thinking straight. All I saw was a chance to get the video back.

I kicked up sand to limit visibility and I slipped behind you and cut the hoses.

Then I grabbed the cigar box and hung around to make sure you were okay. ”

Ryan stared at him with a look of complete disbelief. He opened his mouth but clearly couldn’t find words. Instead, he switched his attention to Flynn.

“Can you please get him out of here before I do something I regret?”

Flynn nodded and tipped his head to indicate Benji should get up. “I need the memory stick,” he told Ryan, who removed it from the laptop for him.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Benji asked.

“First, we need to go to the station and you’ll be formally interviewed. After that I’m not sure.”

“I thought I could trust you,” Ryan said, jaw tensing. “I said there was no way you’d have done it.”

“I’m sorry,” Benji said. “I just wanted to get the video back. ”

Flynn tipped his head towards the door. “Let’s go.” As he held the door for Benji, his gaze flicked to Lily.

She gave him a reassuring nod and told him she’d talk to him later. They’d figured it out together, but it was his job from here.

Hopefully, the superintendent would be impressed.