Chapter Five
Lee fought back the anger and grief. He hadn’t spoken about his father’s murder to anyone except Lindsay before.
“How did they do it?” Nhiari’s question moved him out of his anger. She didn’t question his assertion but wanted details. She used her police voice and the no-nonsense tone helped to calm him further.
“Made it look like suicide—an overdose.”
The note had been an excellent forgery, but the one thing they had missed was the way his father had always placed a full stop at the end of his signature.
“Mother ignored my request for a second opinion or an autopsy. Said it was shameful that my father was such a coward and I should stop looking for excuses.” Stonefish had enough connections to ensure no one examined the body.
Nhiari raised her eyebrows, the only way she questioned him.
“He didn’t take his own life. We spoke every day. Dad was determined to get back to Lindsay. He had so much Stonefish evidence on his computer.”
Nhiari squeezed his hand in sympathy and her touch soothed him. He smiled and turned his hand upwards so he could hold hers, but she pulled away.
Disappointment filled him. “Lucas told me if I continued my questioning, I would be as disappointing as my father. Mother agreed.” He could read between the lines. It was a threat.
His own uncle had threatened his life.
So he’d bowed, apologised for his father’s weakness and left.
Any remaining love for his mother had died that day. She hadn’t seemed sad or scared, or worried, but perhaps she didn’t know what Stonefish did. The women of the family weren’t expected to work.
But Lee vowed he would avenge his father.
“Did your father share his evidence with you?”
“He refused to.” No matter how much he’d wanted to help. “Said it was safer that way. Perhaps he was right and I would be dead if he had.”
“Did you ever see it afterwards?”
He tossed the stone in the air and caught it. “No. I searched for his computer the night after he died. Went through his office while Mother was at her brother’s place. It was gone, and the safe was empty. I couldn’t find any traces of the captain’s journal either, but he had given me a copy of the English translation.” His muscles tightened and the stress from that day returned.
“So what happened next?” Nhiari’s methodical questions calmed him a little.
He exhaled. “Mother and Lucas said it was time for me to take over Dad’s position at the company. Lucas sat me down and explained the other side of the business. I was still hoping to avoid being involved, so I showed him the journal translation.”
Nhiari frowned. “Why?”
“Because Lucas wants anything rare. He’s already flown into space, he bought the most expensive place in Singapore, he has so many cars he has to garage some of them on a separate property.” He swatted a fly away. “Mother’s the same. It adds to their status, gives them power and prestige to have things others don’t. I knew Lucas would view the treasure as something he was owed.” He was a hard-line businessman and a spoilt brat. Perhaps that was why Stonefish was so successful—Lucas didn’t take no for an answer.
“Why?”
Lee almost smiled at Nhiari’s digging. Trying to get to the bottom of it, trying to understand his dysfunctional family. “His identity is wrapped up in his history. He’s proud about coming from pearl divers to being the most influential dynasty in Singapore. He thought his ancestors had been robbed of the rest of the treasure.”
“So you brought this trouble to my town?” Nhiari’s tone was mild, but her stare spoke of death.
He pressed his lips together. “I’m sorry. I thought Lucas would just send me to find the treasure, but after Bill and Beth refused to sell the Ridge to him, he expanded the business to the north. Saw it as a punishment for the town. He would take what no one would give him.”
“I’m surprise Lucas trusted you.”
“He didn’t. Not at first. I was meant to be eyes and ears only. My mission was to find the treasure,” he said. “But my goal even then was to end Stonefish. I made a lot of contacts during my years in the army. Some of those contacts went on to other roles and one of them, an Australian soldier, was an expert in tech. He went through my father’s online presence looking for anywhere he might have stashed the files but found nothing.” Lee stood and went into the tunnel behind the tent, retrieving the thick envelope he’d stashed there. He passed it to Nhiari. “When I introduced myself to Lindsay, she gave me this.”
Nhiari opened the envelope and scanned the contents. Her eyes widened. “Are these your father’s notes?” She traced his father’s signature, tapping on the full stop.
“Yes. He mailed them to Lindsay with instructions not to open them, but to give them to me if I ever showed up at her door.”
“That was risky, wasn’t it?”
“No one knew who she was except for me.” But he’d been stunned when he’d introduced himself to Lindsay and she’d flung her arms around him, hugging him and dragging him inside for a cup of tea. Then she’d produced the envelope and had said she would help Lee however she could. She’d won his undying loyalty that day as she’d shared stories of his father, and he had told her about his childhood.
Nhiari looked up. “All of this didn’t help?”
“All the passwords had changed, and the rest, while useful, wasn’t enough actual evidence to prove Lucas was behind it all.”
“When did you become more than eyes and ears?”
He hesitated. “Clark gave me a couple of tests—pulling down the windmill at the Ridge and killing the sheep.” Nhiari scowled and he continued. “The people he was blackmailing didn’t have the skills, and he wanted me to get my hands dirty. But it was after I shot Tan Lewis that I proved myself to them.” He had no qualms about shooting Tan. He’d threatened someone who was practically the Stokes’s family, and he’d quickly realised the Stokes were decent people. They didn’t deserve what had happened to them.
Lucas had thought he showed good initiative, particularly as Tan had brought police attention to Stonefish’s more illicit dealings.
“Will you tell me everything from the beginning?” Nhiari leaned forward a little, her eyes wide and beseeching.
He was a sucker for her eyes.
“From when you arrived at Retribution Bay,” she continued.
The quiet question, not a demand, not in her police tone, surprised him, but it could also be her way of manipulating him. If only she knew he would tell her everything, if it wouldn’t put her in danger. “It’s a long story.”
She smiled. “We’ve got plenty of time.”
The whole truth would come out soon. “All right.” He shifted to a more comfortable position. “When Bill and Beth refused to sell, Lucas ordered me to set up camp at the Ridge and find out whatever I could about the Stokes. He figured there had to be something he could blackmail them with.” Lee shrugged. “It suited me. I could monitor things, and search for the treasure while pretending to be a landscape photographer. The Stokes had no problem with me exploring the property.”
Nhiari scowled. “Who told Taylor to cut the brakes of Bill and Beth’s car?”
Lee’s gut clenched. “As far as I know, no one did.” He had to clarify. “By that stage, Clark had arrived in Retribution Bay to set up the animal smuggling.”
“Clark is Lucas’s son?” Nhiari confirmed.
“Yes. When he demanded to know the information I had gathered, I mentioned Georgie had invited Bill and Beth to go swimming with the whale sharks.”
“Who ran them off the road?”
“Clark.” He closed his eyes briefly, remembering the rolled car, Bill and Beth inside it. His stomach clenched. Such a loss. “I left the Ridge not long after they did with the pretence I was going to take photos on the coast, but I was going to show Clark some areas to set up his animal traps. I came across the accident. Bill and Beth had died instantly, but Clark was at the scene making sure.” Lee had wanted to kill the man right then, particularly when he’d smiled and said how pleased his father would be that he’d got rid of them.
Nhiari’s gaze darkened with anger.
He held up a hand. “If they’d been alive, I would have done what I could to save them, I promise.” He hoped she believed that much of him. “I told Clark to follow me and we hid the car in the ranges. It’s still there. I can take you to it.”
“You let him get away with murder and set up the animal smuggling?” Her anger showed in her clenched hands.
She would hate him for that alone. “I didn’t have enough information on Stonefish by that stage. I took some photos of his car at the scene and then later after he was gone, but that was the start.”
He continued, speaking about Lara’s kidnapping. “You questioned me afterwards.” It was the first time they had met. He’d seen her at Bill and Beth’s funeral, but it had been Dot who had questioned him after their accident. He’d been enticed by Nhiari’s buxom body and then enthralled with her intelligent mind. Lee hadn’t had to act the bumbling fool, because he’d been so enamoured he’d almost forgotten his cover. He’d wanted to see her again.
“Did you orchestrate running into me in town the week after?” Nhiari asked.
He shifted on the hard rock. “Yes. I needed to find out whether you suspected me and how much you knew about Stonefish.” He sighed as her expression shuttered. “But our date was the best night I’ve ever had. That wasn’t faked.”
“You played the awkward photographer. That isn’t who you are.”
“It is,” Lee retorted. Or it least it would have been if his father had got his way. “It’s just not all of who I am, who I’ve had to become.”
She waved her hand as if shooing away a pesky conversation she didn’t want to have. “What about when Tess arrived? Did you know who she was?”
“Yes. Tan sent me her photo, and I was told to keep an eye out for her. I knew she could send Tan to gaol, so I kept her whereabouts a secret, figuring they wouldn’t think to look at the Ridge for her.” He snorted. “Then Salvatore turned up and blew my cover. The man was an imbecile.” It still grated on Lee, but he’d had to deal with it.
“And you shot Tan?”
“I had to. Ed had delusions of being a hero, and I was worried Tan would shoot Tess before Brandon got into position.” He’d been trained to kill, but Ed would have agonised over taking a life.
“You mentioned it made Lucas trust you?”
“Yes. Tan was getting sloppy, hiring men like Salvatore, who couldn’t be trusted. He also failed to buy the Ridge and was bringing attention to Stonefish, so it worked well. I protected Tess, and Tan was out of the picture.”
“Where did you go?”
“Here.” Lee gestured to his camp. “I had to stay to help Clark and search for the treasure.” He shook his head. “Clark was getting ahead of himself, doing too much at once with the animal smuggling, drugs and gun smuggling.”
She tapped her knee and glared at him. “Did you bring Dot’s brother, Mark into it?”
Nhiari held her breath, waiting for Lee to answer her question. She had so many emotions swirling around and she didn’t have time to sort through them yet, but somehow involving Dot’s brother in his schemes seemed like a line in the sand.
Lee winced. “No, that was Clark. He thought it was hilarious to hire the brother of the sergeant-in-charge in Retribution Bay. I thought it was too risky.”
She exhaled, though she wouldn’t question why she felt so much relief. She shifted and bumped her ankle. The pain made her wince.
Lee stood. “Let me get another icepack and some painkillers.”
She pressed her lips together, ignoring the rush of pleasure from him taking care of her.
He handed her the tablets and a bottle of water, then wrapped an instant icepack with a tea towel before gently pressing it against her swollen and bruised ankle.
She hissed, but the coolness did feel good. It took her a moment to realise he was still cradling her foot in his hands.
Her face heated. “Thanks. It’s fine now.” She bent forward to better balance the icepack so he didn’t need to hold her foot and he shifted back giving her the space she desperately needed. She cleared her throat, not remembering what they’d been talking about.
“What kind of businessman is Lucas?”
“I never saw much of Lucas as a businessman. Growing up he was the uncle who only paid attention to me when he was telling me off or making fun of me. He liked his fancy things, and appearances were important to him, so I always had to watch what I wore and what I said in front of him.”
It couldn’t have been a great way to grow up. “And since you’ve been here?”
“Focused,” Lee answered. “He wants to know all the details, but be involved in none of it.”
That seemed strange. Surely he would give instructions to ensure things didn’t go wrong. Instead of asking, she changed tack. “So then Matt and Georgie came across the smuggling.”
Lee nodded.
“What about Declan? Who involved him?”
He stared at her. “I did. We needed people on the ground to help. It wasn’t difficult. Declan was tired of his job and wanted out.”
“How did you know?”
“I went into Parks and Wildlife to get permission to go to areas off the main trails so I could take photographs. That way if people saw me poking around, they would know who I was, and that I had permission. I invited Declan out to dinner to thank him, and he was envious of my freedom. He was an easy mark. All he had to do initially was look the other way.”
Initially. Right. “And afterwards?”
“His first paycheck was an excellent motivator. After that he started recruiting for us, getting friends to run interference if the police were getting too close.”
Nhiari went on alert. “Which friends?”
Lee hesitated. “You can’t share it with Dot. Not yet.”
“Am I allowed to contact Dot?” she countered.
Lee nodded. “She has people looking for you. We need her to call off the search.”
This was her chance to catch Lee. Nhiari and Dot had come up with a code back at the police academy, which they could use if either of them had been taken against their will. She could lead Dot to where they were.
She glanced at Lee, who was studying her.
But did she want to? Lee was filling in information they didn’t know. Nothing so far that helped the case, but it filled in the blanks. What she needed was new information. “Tell me the names.”
“Will you keep it quiet until I say you can tell others?”
She didn’t like making promises to him. “As long as I don’t think my friends and colleagues are in danger.”
Was that approval in his gaze? “Kristy and Steven Hamilton.”
Nhiari frowned. They were as close to a power couple as you could get in the small town. Kristy volunteered on different committees and Steven worked at the council, but they’d been having marital difficulties this year. Her eyes widened. “Those fights were faked?”
Lee nodded in approval. “Whenever you were getting too close, they would fight to draw you back to town and switch your attention. They also helped with small things like supplying Kurt with a drone, taking him out to the islands and hiding people when they drew police attention.”
Nhiari had never liked Kristy’s attitude, but she hadn’t thought she would stoop so low as to put children in danger. Particularly because she loved her own so much.
It put a whole new perspective on the past month.
“Nhiari!” The call was faint, almost inaudible.
She jolted, her head whipping to the front of the cave. Lee strode to look out. “The SES are searching for you at the other end of the canyon.”
Their gazes met. Decision time. Lee wasn’t holding the gun. She hadn’t seen a weapon since they’d arrived. She could get the searchers’ attention and be home by lunch. Lee would melt away to another camp and she wouldn’t see him until he was ready to be seen.
She glanced at the envelope in front of her.
The file of information still had many pages in it. But staying meant she had to spend who knew how many days with Lee. Could she do that and keep her emotions out of it?
She gritted her teeth. Now wasn’t the time to let her feelings get in the way of stopping a crime syndicate. “Let me radio Dot.”
“People are monitoring the police radio.”
She and Dot suspected someone on their team was working for Stonefish too. “They won’t know what I’m saying.”
His stare pierced her, and she met it unblinkingly. Finally he nodded and went to his pack to get the radio. The exit was unguarded. It wouldn’t take more than four steps to be out in the open and wave to get the searchers’ attention.
Nhiari’s feet twitched, but she stayed where she was and then switched on the radio. She took a moment to figure out what to say and then pressed the button. “Dot fifteen.”
She waited for Dot’s reply. “Dot eleven.”
She switched the channel to thirteen and waited a moment for Dot to do the same before saying, “Heading to the waterhole at sunset.”
“Want me to come with you?” Dot’s concern was evident.
Lee watched her, waiting. Trusting she wasn’t feeding Dot information.
“No, I need to be alone.”
“You coming back tonight?”
Lee shook his head.
“No.”
“I’ll check the lighthouse is working.”
There wasn’t anything Nhiari could say to that, so she switched the radio off.
“You want to explain?” Lee asked.
“I told her I was safe and to stop searching. It will probably be a day before she calls off the search if we don’t want anyone to be suspicious.” But that didn’t help them if the searchers found them before that. “Any ideas on how to lead them away?”
“Yeah. Stay here.”
He moved to the back of the cave, disappearing into the tunnel.
Nhiari’s mouth dropped open. What was he doing? Did he expect she would stay here when there was help right outside? Her heart ached and though the opportunity was there, she didn’t shift.
He’d given her the Hamiltons’ names, but she still had many more questions.
She wanted to trust him.
Wanted to believe the connection they’d had was more than manipulation, but she didn’t have a great track record with men.
She clenched her hands as she remembered Rodney from the police academy. He stuck out the most in a long line of arseholes. She shook the thought away.
From a police point of view, Lee had information she needed. She glanced at the pack. Perhaps she should find her gun while he was gone. It would be good to be prepared, but would it ruin the trust he’d shown her?
Better if she asked for it back.
Another thought occurred to her. Was he running, not trusting she hadn’t given their position away to Dot?
There were no more calls from outside and while she waited, she spent the time going through the envelope. Lee returned about twenty minutes later. He blinked as if surprised to still see her here.
“What did you do?”
“Called my contact. He’ll radio and say they found traces to the west of the ranges.”
“Who’s your contact?”
He hesitated before saying, “Martin.”
The only Martin she knew was… her mouth dropped open. “Senior Constable Martin Curtis?”
An incline of his head.
Son of a bitch. No wonder they were getting nowhere. Martin was working for the enemy. But the knowledge soothed the part inside her, which was beginning to think she and Dot were being paranoid. “How long?”
“Since the beginning of the year. He was pleased at the opportunity to pull one over Dot.”
“Because she was promoted before him.” It wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway.
What was it with men with huge, fragile egos? Rodney had been the same back at the academy. Why were they so scared of the female sex? “I look forward to arresting him.”
Lee seemed somewhat amused by her statement, but he didn’t comment.
Nhiari returned to the conversation. “What about those poachers?”
Lee shook his head. “They were a side business Declan had built for himself. I didn’t find out about it until after everything that went down with Penelope and Sam. He should have known better than keeping it going with Sam involved.”
“Sam worries you?”
“I know the type of men Sam, Brandon and Sherlock are. They’re highly skilled and they’re protectors. There was no way they’d be intimidated if one of their own was threatened. The Stokes have shown that repeatedly, and thinking any of them are going to behave differently is dumb.”
At least someone from Stonefish realised that, but it appeared as if Lee was the only one who gave them any credit.
“The poachers actually worked for Clark, smuggling weapons.”
Nhiari gritted her teeth. “Couldn’t Clark just choose one thing?”
Lee chuckled. “Clark was always of the opinion to go big or go home. He took a cut from everything he did. He was an imbecile.”
Yes, he was. “Who brought Kurt up here?”
“Lucas. He has dossiers on everyone close to the Stokes, and he found out Kurt was the type of man who would do anything for money. Lucas paid him to cause trouble up here and see if he could force Gretchen to spy on the Stokes for him.”
But Gretchen had friends she could rely on.
“I’m assuming you caught Kurt,” Lee continued.
“Yes. Just before we came out here.” She shut her mouth with a snap, realising she’d offered information he hadn’t known for sure. But that led right up to this moment. “What now?”
“Lucas is getting impatient and sloppy. He sent his other son to Retribution Bay to find the treasure.”
Nhiari pulled out a notebook. “Name and description?”
Lee smiled with affection. “You don’t need to worry about him. He’s not much of a threat. He’d much rather be playing video games than spying.”
“How well do you know him?” Perhaps it was a silly question as they were cousins, but they might not have spent a lot of time together.
“I’ve known Andrew since he was born. He’s eight years younger than me, but the two of us would hang out at family gatherings, avoiding our parents as much as possible.”
That was sad, but at least Lee had someone he could talk to. “Where can I find him?”
“He’ll be on Sam’s boat for the next couple of weeks.”
Nhiari’s mind raced. How? The tour season had ended. Sam had mentioned something about being hired by the marine archaeologists who were studying the new shipwreck. “An archaeologist?”
“First-year student. Lucas made him take the course when the second ship was discovered. Andrew wasn’t happy about it. They should have arrived yesterday.” He moved over to the car and pulled out a couple of muesli bars, tossing Nhiari one. “Oliver Anderson is running the expedition.”
Nhiari’s head jerked up to stare at him. “Dot’s Oliver Anderson?”
Lee nodded.
Shit. Dot wouldn’t take that well. He’d broken her heart. Nhiari stood, wincing as she put pressure on her ankle. “I need to be there for her.”
“Dot will manage. Lindsay will make sure of it.”
He knew everything that was happening in the town. “Did you warn Lindsay?”
“Yes. Dot will be fine. Oliver was looking forward to seeing her again.”
“You’ve spoken to him?” How was that possible?
“I went down to Perth to meet with Lucas and he asked me to take photographs of the expedition launch dinner. I spoke to him then. Oliver’s a nice bloke.”
He was, right until he’d broken Dot’s heart. “He pretends to be.”
“Sometimes we can’t help the circumstances that are forced upon us, Nhiari.” His intense gaze seared her soul.
She looked away. She couldn’t let her guard down. Another thought occurred to her. “Is he working for Stonefish too?”
Lee sat across from her. “No, but Lucas knows about their history. He’ll do what he can to manipulate them both, depending on the information Andrew feeds him.”
“And you expect me to sit here, knowing all of this, and do nothing to help Dot?” Her hands clenched.
“No, I expect you to sit here, go through all the information with me to see if there’s enough for a case, and help devise a plan to draw Lucas out so we can stop him.”
She released her fisted hands. That she could get behind. “Let’s get to work.”