Chapter Twelve
Nhiari’s heart clenched as the ambulance drove back to the boat ramp. What the hell had happened? Was Dot safe? Her finger itched over the radio, desperately wanting to use it to check in, to make sure her best friend was still alive. But she couldn’t. Not without risking Lee.
“I’ll call Martin.” Lee made the call. He sighed. “Straight to voice mail.”
So they had to wait and hope something came over the radio, which would tell them what was going on.
It was interminable. The ambulance moved out of view and about twenty minutes later, it returned and headed back to town.
“We should go. Dot needs my help.” Her muscles ached with tension.
Lee placed a hand on her arm. “We can’t. If Martin is there, it will break my cover.”
“What about if I took your car and said I escaped?” It was difficult to breathe, not knowing the outcome of the incident at the boat ramp.
His expression, though sympathetic, was firm. “Call your brother. He can find out what happened.”
Good idea. Dot would expect him to make a nuisance of himself. She braced herself, ready for the anger Matt would direct at her for not contacting him for so long and pulled out her phone.
“Wait.” Lee pointed to the road. Dot’s police car was driving back to the main road.
Nhiari’s heart thumped as she bent down and peered through the telescope. It was difficult to see through the windscreen with the sun glare, but as the car turned, she glimpsed the woman behind the wheel. She exhaled. “It’s Dot.”
“Anyone else with her?”
“No.” She straightened and glanced at Lee. “Martin wasn’t in either car.” Which meant he had either been arrested or was dead. What the hell had happened? Nhiari waited until the police car reached the part of the road where mobile reception kicked in and dialled Dot, putting it on speaker.
“Sergeant Dot Campbell.” Her terse voice was a welcome sound.
“It’s Nhiari. What the hell happened? Is Oliver all right? Where’s Martin?”
A loud exhalation. “Where are you?”
“Top of the ranges. We saw cars but couldn’t see the boat ramp.”
“Kristy and Andrew kidnapped Oliver, and Kristy accidentally shot Oliver through the chest with a spear gun,” Dot said. “Oliver was in the first ambulance. I don’t know how he is.” Genuine fear in her tone now. “Before the ambulance arrived, Andrew started telling me everything about his father, said he’d copied files onto his laptop, but then Martin shot him.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yeah. Martin then wanted to shoot Oliver, but Rodney killed him.”
“So Martin was working for Stonefish.” Nhiari glanced at Lee. His eyes were closed, and both hands were behind his head. Upset about Andrew’s death. She stepped closer and slid an arm around his waist. “Are you all right?” She directed the question at Dot, but Lee opened his eyes and shook his head.
“I’m fucking tired. Tell me you’ve got something to end this.”
She glanced at Lee and he nodded.
“Lucas is in town, at the resort as you drive in. He doesn’t know we know though. He’s playing his cards close to his chest.”
“We need Andrew’s laptop,” Lee said.
“I’ll get Sam to find it.” Dot sighed. “Can you call him? Tell him Oliver has been found and to return to town.”
“Yeah. Take care of yourself and let me know how Oliver is. We’ll be in touch.” Nhiari hung up.
“We can’t risk that laptop,” Lee said. “If Rodney is working for Stonefish, we’ll never get the information on it.”
“They’ll all be busy at the station for the next hour or so interviewing Kristy. Can we get to town without anyone seeing us?”
He nodded. “Call Sam. Get him to procure the laptop. We can arrange somewhere to meet.”
Nhiari found Sam’s satellite phone number and dialled.
“Nhiari, are you all right?”
“Yeah. Dot asked me to call, but don’t tell anyone it was me. Oliver’s been found. You need to bring the students back to town.”
“Is he all right?”
“He was shot with a spear gun. He’s been taken to the hospital. That’s all I know.”
Sam swore. “OK. We’ll head back soon. Are you going to meet us?”
“We’re still in hiding,” she said. “But I need you to find Andrew’s laptop for me. I’ll be in touch when you get back to the marina. Don’t tell anyone you have it.”
“Done,” Sam said. “I’ll see you soon.”
Nhiari hung up. “Do you want to call Lucas?”
Lee ran a hand through his hair. “I really thought Andrew would be OK. He shouldn’t have blabbed. He knew at least one cop was crooked.” Lee sighed, unable to hide the grief in his tone.
She hugged him. “You aren’t responsible for other people’s actions. You couldn’t have known what either of them was going to do.”
“Doesn’t hurt any less. The kid was lazy, but he was sweet when he was younger.”
She felt for him, but right now they needed to focus on the job. “How are we getting into town without Lucas seeing us?” Nhiari asked.
Lee nodded towards the west coast. “We go the long way around.”
She waited for him to pack away the telescope and then followed him back to the cave. It would take the boat about half an hour to return, assuming all students were on board and not diving. Another ten minutes for them to disembark and Sherlock to drive them back to the house they’d been renting. Sam could bring the laptop to them. “Let’s meet them at the lighthouse.”
Lee shook his head. “Not enough escape routes. We don’t know whether either of those men will let me go, even if you vouch for me.”
That was true. They tended to act first and ask questions later. “What then?”
“We don’t know whether Lucas has been told about Andrew. If he knows, he’s going to want that laptop. He could demand it from a student.”
Nhiari shook her head. “He wouldn’t dare get close enough to Sam and Sherlock. They would restrain him.”
“But he doesn’t know the police are on to him.”
“That’s still quite the risk to take.”
“I honestly don’t know anymore.” He sounded defeated.
Nhiari pulled him into her arms. “We’ll get him. We can use the treasure as a lure. This will all end soon.”
He looked into her eyes. “I don’t want this to end.”
Her heart thumped. He was talking about them. “I know,” she said. “Neither do I, but we’ll work something out.”
“How?”
She couldn’t tell him about Doug yet. No point in getting his hopes up as well as hers. Instead she shrugged. “I don’t know.” She looked around. “Do you want to pack all of this up?”
“No. We may have to come back.”
Lee drove them towards town, coming in from the north-west. Before they reached the intersection to turn into town, he pulled into a beach car park. “Call Sam. Get him to meet us at the northern boat ramp.”
Nhiari rang Sam’s mobile. When he answered, she said, “Are you at the marina?”
“Yeah. Just finished tying up. Sherlock’s taking the students back to the house.”
“Did you get Andrew’s laptop?”
He grunted. “Of course.”
His indignation made her smile. “Can you bring it to the northern boat ramp?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”
She hung up and Lee stepped onto the running board of the car, scanning the road to town with binoculars.
Right. They’d see Sam drive past and could tell whether any other vehicles were with him. It was about ten minutes before they spotted his car. Lee watched for another five minutes until he was satisfied and got back behind the wheel. “Keep watching.”
Nhiari scanned the road, but it was quiet. When Lee pulled into the boat ramp, only Sam was there. He leaned against his roo bar, staring out at the ocean as if he was contemplating life.
“You get out, get it and then get back in,” Lee said.
“We can trust Sam.”
“You can trust him. He’s got no reason to trust me.”
Nhiari got out and Lee did a U-turn to face the exit as she walked over to Sam. He turned and smiled at her, the wind blowing his longish strawberry-blond hair around his face. “Good to see you, Senior Constable.”
She smiled back. “Likewise Sam.”
Sam nodded behind her to where Lee waited for her, the engine still running. “You OK?”
“Yeah. You can trust him.”
Sam frowned and shifted to get the laptop from the back seat. “You not sticking around?”
“Not yet. There’s still a bit to do. Tell Dot I’ll get her the information and be in touch later. Have you heard how Oliver is?” She reached for the laptop and he reluctantly gave it to her.
“Still in surgery. We’ll go there next. Do you know what happened?”
“No.” But it was time they got together and worked through everything. She should be able to convince Lee it was for the best. “We’ll be in touch.”
Sam stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You’re really all right?”
Her heart warmed. “Yes, Sam, but thank you for your concern. I’ve got this.”
He nodded and let go of her arm. “Stay safe.”
“You too.” She went around Lee’s car and got in. Lee nodded acknowledgement at Sam, which the ex-soldier returned. Then he drove off.
“Think he’ll follow us?” Lee asked.
“No, but we might need to worry about where Sherlock is.” There wasn’t enough time for Brandon to get into town.
“Check the lighthouse as we go past.”
Nhiari used the binoculars to check the lighthouse car park, but it was empty. Then she scanned the ranges and the other car parks they drove past, but all was clear. Maybe the military men actually trusted her to know what she was doing.
They arrived back at the cave and started the laptop. The password screen stared at them. Nhiari’s spirits fell. “Any idea?”
Lee chuckled and typed in a long password. After a moment of processing, the computer opened.
Nhiari raised her eyebrows. “How?”
“I helped him come up with that password when he was about ten. He uses it on everything.”
“What is it?”
“Girls Suck Boys Rule as all one word, but the first letter of each word is a capital, the l is an exclamation mark, and the i, o and e are all numbers.”
She smiled. “So he was going through a hating girl stage?”
“He’d just had his heart broken by his first crush.” The smile faded from his face as he remembered that Andrew was dead. He sighed. “Andrew was an awkward kid and not popular in his class.”
She squeezed his hand. “Then let’s ensure he didn’t die in vain.”
She let him go through the computer, checking folders to find the information he said he had on Stonefish. Aside from a bunch of gaming folders, his university studies folder and a lot of porn, there wasn’t anything else. Lee sat back.
“He could have saved it in a cloud folder,” Nhiari said.
They went through his internet history and found a couple of links to cloud folders which automatically logged them in when they clicked on them. They hit the jackpot on the last one they opened. Almost a terabyte of data. Lee flicked through folders and whistled. “This looks like backup files of all of Stonefish’s financials.” He clicked on another folder. “How did he get this stuff?”
“I have a friend who could figure it out.” Amani had gone into tech crime after the academy because she was a whiz with computers.
“No. This can’t go further.”
Nhiari shook her head. “We need to get this to someone who can analyse it.” It was over her head.
“I can’t risk it yet.”
“Lee, this is more than just stopping Lucas. We have to end the entire company and to do that we’re going to have to bring in more people to help us.” She understood his reluctance. “Dot already spoke to Amani when she found the island hideout. We can trust her.”
“We can’t get the laptop to her yet.”
“We don’t have to. The laptop is connected to the internet. She can log in.”
He stalked away and paced back and forward. “I can’t let Lucas get away with killing my father.”
“He won’t,” Nhiari promised. “We need to come out of hiding.” But not so Lucas saw them. There was only one place. “We need to go to Retribution Ridge.”
Lee’s muscles tightened until they ached. Nhiari wanted him to go back and face the people he’d betrayed? She might have forgiven him, but the rest of them wouldn’t. He had killed their sheep, spied on them and pretended to be someone he wasn’t. Amy had become a friend while he’d camped on their property, and she would never forgive him.
He shook his head. “They want me behind bars.”
“Georgie doesn’t.”
“Georgie’s a special case.” She never thought badly of anyone.
“Matt will back her up, and so will I.”
“You’re still outnumbered.” There were four Stokes siblings, Sam and Sherlock, plus all their partners. He was way outnumbered.
“Ed and Tess will back you up too.”
He’d forgotten they were in town. He’d saved Tess’s life, so that had to count for something. Still, “You should go on your own.”
He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself for treating such kind people the way he’d treated them.
Nhiari stepped closer, ran a hand over his arm. “It’s all right. They’ll understand, particularly when they find out you weren’t involved in their parents’ death.”
There was one other thing he’d done, something he hadn’t even told Nhiari about and would be the ultimate violation. But perhaps he could make it so no one knew about it. The only way he could do that was if he returned to the Ridge.
“When?” he asked.
She smiled at him. “It’s going to take Dot at least a day to sort out today’s mess. Tomorrow should work.”
He nodded. That gave him time to plan, and perhaps he’d get to see the treasure Lucas was so obsessed with.
His phone rang. Shit. That could only be Lucas. Lee hesitated. He had to tell him Andrew was dead. He exhaled and then answered, Nhiari coming closer so she could hear. “Lucas.”
“Where’s the safe house?”
Lee blinked as his brain tried to catch up. “The safe house?”
“Yes, in Retribution Bay. Where is it?”
He smiled at the edge of panic in Lucas’s voice and told him the address. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because I have someone in need of it. Is it empty?”
“Yes.” Lucas still wasn’t admitting he was in Retribution Bay. “I have some news you won’t like.” He kept his tone cool, business-like, knowing Lucas wouldn’t go for anything emotional.
“What?”
“Martin killed Andrew.”
“I know. Stupid kid was planning to tell the police everything.”
Lee raised his eyebrows. The only way Lucas could know was if someone who had been there had told him. The only ones alive were Kristy, Dot and Rodney. With Kristy in gaol and Dot ruled out, that left Rodney. Or the one remaining police officer in Retribution Bay, Pierre. “Then you know Martin is dead as well.”
“Yes. You need to find the treasure now so we can get it and leave this town behind us.”
We. Lucas was definitely planning to be there.
“I should get eyes on it tomorrow,” Lee said. “After I know where it is, we can make arrangements.” He glanced at Nhiari who nodded.
“What about the cop with you?”
He chuckled and lowered his voice, his eyes on Nhiari’s, hoping she would understand. “She won’t be a problem for much longer.”
“Good. Call me as soon as you know where it is.”
Lee made sure he hung up the phone before he spoke. “We can set a trap for Lucas.”
Nhiari nodded. “But that won’t end Stonefish,” she pointed out. “We need enough evidence to stop the whole company, so we need to send this to Amani.”
Of course. She had a bigger picture than he did. He nodded. “Let’s finish this.”