Under the Surface

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

DOUGLAS SAWYER

“Tell me again what happened.”

Detective Douglas Sawyer didn’t even try to hide his impatience or his contempt for this suit, this man, he’d never seen before.

“Was the first time not enough for you? Or the three times I told my boss? Or what you’ve no doubt already read in my report?

Would you like me to draw you a picture?

” He held out his hand. “Gimme your crayons.”

The suit smiled at him, not even slightly perturbed. It was as if he almost expected it. “So you were at the Macquarie Wharf...”

Sawyer sighed. “Kings Pier, Macquarie Wharf,” he corrected, as if that was expected too.

“I wasn’t at the pier. At 10:15 p.m., I was on my way home when I got a code two-four from dispatch.

Dock workers at Pier Five saying there was an unauthorised person on the property, seemed distressed.

I then went to Pier Five. Found the perp, identified myself, and—”

“And how did he seem?”

Irritated at the interruption, Sawyer shot the suit a glare. “Distressed.”

“Was he talking? Rambling? What did he say?”

“Is this a test on my report writing skills? Because—”

The suit smiled. “Please answer the question.”

“He was rambling.”

“About?”

“About how someone was coming. She was coming. It was time, and nothing could stop her.” Sawyer shook his head. “He wasn’t making a great deal of sense.”

The suit nodded thoughtfully. “And then what?”

“I suggested he calm down and tell me all about it, but he ran. I pursued on foot toward Constitution Dock, where he....” Sawyer trailed off. He’d already been laughed at by his superiors and the other cops, and he didn’t fancy going through that again.

“He what, Detective Sawyer?” The suit smiled as if he had all the time in the world.

“He got to the edge of the pier, turned to face me, and shook his head. He was sweating, clearly distressed,” Sawyer said as he lifted his chin and looked the suit in the eye. “Then he shimmered, his eyes changed, and he dove into the water.”

The suit smiled at him. Not in a condescending way as his superiors had, but in a trying-to-confirm way. “He shimmered?”

Sawyer sighed. “It’s the best way I can describe it. I’m sorry, who are you?” Sawyer asked. “It’s not that I didn’t catch your name. You didn’t give it. You just came in here, flashed a badge on my captain, and pulled rank.”

He smiled again, tighter this time. “Inspector Hadeom, Specialist Unit in Division Thirteen,” he murmured as if placating a child with words that meant nothing at all.

Sawyer had never heard of that unit.

“So then the perp shimmered,” Hadeom continued, “as you said, and his eyes changed. Can you describe that?”

Sawyer looked at the mirrored glass window behind which he knew half his colleagues would be watching and more than likely laughing at him.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

“They’re not watching,” Hadeom said. “And I’ve had the cameras turned off. This conversation is not being recorded. Whatever you say is between you and me.”

Sawyer almost scoffed because he couldn’t just request the cameras not record an interview... though somehow, he didn’t doubt it.

“His eyes, Detective,” Hadeom prompted. “How did they change?”

“His pupils. They changed shape.” Sawyer could still see the moment in his mind. He hadn’t imagined it, no matter how brief it had been and how poor the lighting. “Ever seen a goat’s eyes? Where the pupil is a horizontal slit? They looked like that.”

“Like a goat?” he repeated slowly.

“Yes. As in, not human.”

Hadeom nodded and then clucked his tongue, and Sawyer dared to hope it was a signal this conversation would soon be over.

“I know what I saw,” he added flatly. “I know how it sounds. I know what this whole station thinks of me. But I’m not going to lie, and I’m certainly not about to make shit up at the end of a twelve-hour shift so I can still be sat here three hours after I should have been home. I know what I saw.”

“Are you not concerned about what you saw?”

“I’m more concerned about this conversation and you being here. What exactly is Division Thirteen?”

Sawyer could still see the shimmer on that man’s skin before he went into the water.

Hadeom flinched, and he seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking again. “You’re thirty-two, single, never married, no immediate family.”

Sawyer stared at him, his stomach tightening, hackles rising, defensive and wary. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Hadeom only smiled, and Sawyer didn’t like this dick one bit.

“I have a proposition for you, Detective.”

“A proposition? Sorry, I don’t date other cops.”

“I think you could be an ideal candidate for a position in our unit.”

Sawyer blinked, processing the words slowly. “Your unit? What does your unit do, exactly, Inspector?”

“That man you saw? The man who shimmered, as you called it? That’s what my unit does, Detective. Those kinds of special cases.”

What the fuck...

“So you believe me? What I saw. You don’t think I’m batshit crazy?”

That smarmy smile was back. “Not at all. In fact, I like that you stand by your report and what you saw even though you knew all too well how it would be received by your colleagues.”

“Yeah, well,” Sawyer mumbled. “They’ve never—”

“They’ve never respected you, as you’ve never respected them. You don’t fit in here. That’s why I think you’d be a good fit for a position I have in mind.”

Sawyer wasn’t sure if it sounded above board. “Doing what, exactly?”

“Police work, of course. Promotion to Detective Sergeant, pay rise including location penalties and bonuses. House and vehicle included in the deal. You’ll be working alone, no shitty colleagues, no roster. You work as it suits and you report only to me.”

Sawyer turned all of that over in his head. It sounded like a dream come true, except for one part. “Location penalties?”

Hadeom gave a nod. “You’ve been to Strahan?”

“Yes.” Strahan was a small fishing town on the West Coast that fronted the massive Southwest National Park with its unexplored wild rainforests that skirted the untameable Southern Ocean.

The road down the West Coast literally ended in Strahan.

“It’s a nice part of the state. End-of-the-road kind of town, but not terrible. ”

Hadeom smiled, showing his perfect teeth. “Well, yes, end of the road, indeed. Because the town you’d be going to is further south.”

Sawyer cocked his head. “Further south? There is no town further south. It’s impassable wilderness.”

“Impassable, yes. The only access in or out is by boat or helicopter. It is, by definition, remote.”

“The only access....” What the hell? “What the hell kind of town is it?”

“A small fishing port, mostly used for refuelling and safe harbour in bad storms. Which they get a lot of. It has higher than average rainfall and winds that blow straight off Antarctica. Was an old mining town a hundred years ago or more.”

That described most of southern Tasmania, Sawyer reasoned. “Population?”

Hadeom gave a non-committal shrug. “No one really knows. Last census said twenty-two, but—”

“Twenty-two? Twenty-two hundred? Or two-two full stop?”

Jesus Christ.

It was twenty-two.

“And a town that small requires a manned station?” Sawyer asked. “Why doesn’t it fall under Strahan’s jurisdiction?”

“This town is...” Hadeom made a face as if he couldn’t quite settle on the word he was after. “Different.”

Different.

“Different, how?” Then it occurred to him.... The man who shimmered. Sawyer being good with weird shit and people who had nonhuman eyes. It took him a few seconds to find his voice. “Oh.”

Hadeom smiled at Sawyer as if it pleased him that Sawyer had clued in without him having to spell it out.

“Do you need time to think about it?” Hadeom asked.

Sawyer knew all too well that he would be missed in this precinct about as much as he’d miss it in return. He thought about his shitty little apartment, his dreary existence in a police department he had no friends in.

He had no friends in Hobart at all.

He worked all the overtime he could for an early retirement.

He had a job that he wore like a cloak of burden. He’d become a cop with dreams of helping and instead found nothing but bullying and bullshit. He dreamed of a life after his time as a cop was over. He’d find a quiet little town, far removed from this life, where he could finally be happy.

And maybe, just maybe, find a guy he could be happy with.

At least that’s what he’d told himself.

“You said a pay rise?” Sawyer asked.

Hadeom grinned. “Give me five years, and I’ll give you double what you’re earning now and a free pass to a full retirement.”

Five years.

Five years, house and vehicle included, in a town with nowhere to spend a dime that surely had some great fishing spots. A five-year retirement plan, with not a coworker in sight.

He could deal with a little bit of weird for that, right?

“When do I start?”