Wreckers Island (romantic suspense)

by Harcourt, L K

  Emma ached to take him in her arms; she had still not had a proper chance all day. Her beloved Dan had survived a dreadful ordeal and she did not intend to let him out of her sight from now on.

  As they entered the lamp room, that sense of wonder at the ocean’s vastness swept over them. For a moment, they forgot the trials of the day and lost themselves in the spectacle.

  The four turned to each other and saw the same look of weariness mixed with a slow-burning exultation. They hugged each other tightly. The danger they had shared and the emotions experienced had brought them closer. Emma reserved her most affectionate hug for Dan. Slowly the horror of thinking that he had been killed was sinking in and upsetting her, even though it had mercifully proved to be untrue.

  ‘Oh Dan, it keeps going round and round my head what that monster said he’d done to you. When he said that, so calmly and matter of factly, my world just ended,’ she said to him, sobbing on his shoulder. ‘What a hero you were, what a genius, to put on Captain Felipe’s clothes and scare the living daylights out of them and rescue us. How did you manage to think of that?’

  ‘You were amazing, Dan,’ chimed in Louise, ‘they ought to make a film about you.’

  John grinned and nodded his agreement to the accolades.

  Dan said nothing, a lump was forming in his throat and he was feeling emotional too. He stroked his girlfriend’s back gently, and nuzzled her neck with his nose.

  Eventually he found his voice and he said, modestly, ‘I was also the world’s biggest clot for going back down there on a sentimental errand which I should never have risked,’ he said. ‘I undid all my good work.’

  ‘No you didn’t. Don’t think like that. You acted out of principle and decency and we admire you for that,’ said John. ‘Come on, let’s drink that tea before it gets cold and maybe we’ll have something stronger later on, I’m feeling like we have earned it.’

  After a day like that, being up there in the lighthouse lamp room, gazing out at the ocean with the knowledge that the treasure had finally been recovered and safely stowed – it was the finest, most perfect cuppa you could drink.

  John strolled over to the huge windows and looked towards the mainland. It was already nearly 6pm and the sun was heading westwards. The water was reasonably calm with a light swell on its surface.

  He noted with satisfaction the absence of enemy craft heading in their direction and he doubted there would be – not that night at least. After all, Jake had fled in terror and as for Zak . . .

  Chapter XVII

  As the girls fell into deep conversation, Dan joined him at the window.

  ‘It looks all clear, doesn’t it,’ said John. ‘Not that I’m surprised, I wasn’t expecting any trouble this evening.’

  ‘I don’t know how you can be so sure,’ replied Dan. ‘We can’t relax until the treasure is properly reported to the authorities and handed over.’

  ‘I agree, that’s our next move,’ said John, twiddling the handle of his now empty mug. ‘However, I don’t see Zak and Jake as much of a threat any more.’

  ‘Perhaps not tonight,’ said Dan, quietly. ‘But once he’s recovered from that bump, Zak will be on our trail again. He’ll find out that we’ve blocked up the shaft, so his only other option will be to seek to land on the island directly, and that’s got to be a big worry. We need to get the treasure ashore very soon, into the safe keeping of a museum, under lock and key. I would suggest we try and take it over this afternoon but everywhere will be shut by now. It’s not safe here and frankly, nor are we.

  ‘Come to think of it,’ added Dan, ‘surely there’s a danger that Zak and Jake will get their mates on to us tonight? Maybe we ought to take everything over right now.’

  ‘No,’ said John. ‘To do so could be to walk into an ambush. We might encounter Jake or any number of their accomplices as soon as we step out of the boat.’

  ‘Well if we are going to stay in the lighthouse tonight, why don’t we at least check on our jetty and see if there’s any way we can prevent boats from coming in. It might be worth a try.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s possible somehow, and more to the point I don’t think it’s necessary.’

  ‘Why don’t we go and take a look at least? Hey, why don’t you think it’s necessary? We can’t afford to be so complacent, John.’

  ‘Listen, we’re both agreed that Jake’s not much of a threat,’ said John, in a low voice. ‘My point is, Zak may not be either. Certainly not tonight and probably not tomorrow, and possibly not the day after that.’

  ‘What on earth do you mean?’

  ‘Hey you pair, what are you whispering about?’ called Louise as John was about to answer.

  ‘Erm, Dan and I were saying we wanted to go to the jetty to check the boat is ok and the outbuilding is locked properly and everything is in order,’ said John.

  ‘Oh leave Dan with me,’ purred Emma, coming over and running her hands along Dan’s bruised arms. ‘It doesn’t take two of you.’

  ‘It does take two,’ insisted John. ‘You womenfolk choose to go to the loos in pairs, we men do this sort of thing together. Come on Dan.’

  Dan realised that John needed a chat without the girls hearing. They clambered over the rocks to the small wooden jetty. The boat was there, no different from how they had left it. Mercifully, it didn’t have company.

  ‘That’s good,’ said John, turning to Dan. ‘Pick yourself a flat rock and let’s have a boys’ chat about what has happened and what we’re going to do. The girls are chilling out now, thinking that everything’s all right, let’s keep it that way. We don’t want to worry them but you and me need to decide how we tie up a few loose ends, so to speak.’

  ‘Is there any way we can secure this jetty to prevent another boat landing? My guess is that Zak is now nursing a very sore head and plotting his next move,’ said Dan, choosing himself a comfortable rock.

  ‘I disagree,’ said John, his blue eyes filled with worry rather than their usual sparkle. ‘What I was about to say in the lamp room was that I fear Zak may not be getting up off that tunnel floor any time soon – possibly not ever.’

  ‘Don’t be crazy, John,’ said Dan, finally understanding what John was hinting at. ‘Whatever makes you say that? If I can fall down that shaft with no more than a few bruises, so can he. Mind you, I did land on top of his fat belly, which helped.’

  ‘Look, I think we need to face facts,’ replied John. ‘Zak may well be dead. I’ve never seen a dead person before, but I’d guess they look like Zak. His eyes had gone. They were wide open but his pupils had rolled leaving only the whites showing. His tongue was hanging out and blood trickling from his head. It was a horrible sight. I shone the torch on him and took a good look.’

  Dan admitted he had done no more than glance at Zak. He fell silent for some while, watching the hypnotic rise and fall of the sea swishing against the rocks.

  ‘Come on, I can’t believe he’s dead. Even in the unlikely event that he is, it’s not our fault,’ he eventually replied, staring, as if in a daydream, at a cormorant preening its long black feathers. ‘If he lost his footing on those rungs and crashed to the ground and fell badly, that’s a genuine accident. We are blameless.’

  ‘I agree we could be considered blameless for what happened,’ said John, trying to find a tactful way of telling Dan something he would not want to hear. ‘That man threatened not only what was legitimately our property but our lives by attacking you then climbing the shaft, waving that cutlass above his head and wearing your hat – well, Felipe’s hat.

  ‘Before frightening the hell out of you all by claiming he’d killed me,’ said Dan. ‘Serve him right if he fell and hurt himself. He’s such a big, ungainly bloke, I’m not surprised he lost his footing on those old rungs, to be honest.

  ‘Listen John, we’ve done nothing wrong,’ continued Dan. ‘We found that treasure thanks to an antique diary sold as part of the chattels pertaining to this lighthouse belonging to Louise’s fami
ly in a tunnel leading directly to this island which they also own. We have the right, as finders of that treasure, to be considered its legitimate owners, or at least, co-owners with Louise’s parents. Two totally disreputable local crooks get wind of it, assault us, kidnap us, threaten rape, and do their best to steal the treasure from us. In the process, one of them hurts himself entirely through his own clumsiness. We have nothing to hide.’

  ‘Apart from a body,’ retorted John. ‘That’s rather embarrassing Dan, don’t you think? A corpse is possibly lying in the tunnel leading to the spot where we have found treasure and when we contact Cornwall Council and the Coroner to report the find, it’s not going to be a pretty sight when they send their history people down there, is it?’

  ‘Firstly,’ said Dan, ‘I don’t believe that Zak’s dead, just badly concussed, and secondly, whatever happened to him he entirely brought upon himself.’

  ‘Unfortunately that’s not quite the case,’ said John, as gently as he could. ‘When Zak taunted us that he’d killed you it rang true, since he had clearly taken the cutlass and the sailor’s hat off you. We were incredibly upset.’

  ‘You were bound to be,’ said Dan, ‘I’m a likeable, popular guy.’

  ‘Yes,’ said John, smiling at Dan’s little quip, ‘and Emma was particularly distraught, as you’d expect, because she is so madly in love with you.’

  Dan grinned. ‘I’m madly in love with her, she’s my wonderful girl.’

  ‘Quite so, and we don’t want her to get into trouble over this, Dan.’

  ‘Into trouble?’

  ‘You see, as I was saying, Emma adores you and she was desperately upset and cold with anger at Zak for saying he’d killed you,’ continued John, pausing as he tried to work out the best way to phrase things. ‘Anyway, she grabbed one of the iron spades in the outbuilding that we’d used to prise up the flagstone. They are heavy, as you know and . . . ’

  ‘Get on with it, John, what did she do with the spade?’ interrupted Dan, impatiently, dreading the answer.

  ‘She whacked him with it,’ said John. ‘She hit him with almost superhuman force, she was so outraged and grief stricken. It was sufficient not only to send him tumbling down the shaft but, I am certain, to have fractured his skull. If he’s dead, and I believe he may well be, he will have died from a catastrophic blow to the head, not from a fall and a police post mortem would be sure to reveal that.’

  ‘I thought you told me Zak slipped and fell and that he was unconscious and would take a while to come round?’ said Dan, looking at John in horror, hardly able to believe this revelation.

  ‘No Dan, you asked me if he fell and I replied “more or less”. What else was I supposed to say at that particular moment, when our priority was to get straight up the shaft to safety? At the time I assumed he was knocked out but what I’m now saying is he may be knocked out for good. I didn’t know or care in that tunnel, I just wanted us to escape.’

  ‘So if your hunch is correct, Emma could get done for murder?’ said Dan, slowly.

  ‘No, I would hope not,’ replied John. ‘But the police might well see a case for bringing a charge of manslaughter on the grounds that it was an unlawful killing. The question is the amount of force that was used. Did she use the minimum necessary in self defence or grossly excessive force out of fury at what she thought he’d done to you?’

  ‘Any jury, when acquainted with all the facts, would side with her, and would understand why she did it,’ reasoned Dan, ‘and that she was in fear of her life, and for the lives of you and Louise, not least because she thought I was dead. Wouldn’t they acquit in those circumstances?

  ‘I can’t believe we’re holding this conversation,’ he added, before John had a chance to reply. The full enormity of what John was telling him was beginning to sink in. ‘Emma would never hurt anyone like that, she’s not capable. I don’t believe Zak’s dead either. This whole situation is like a nice dream turning into a total nightmare. Please tell me we’re not seriously suggesting that my lovely, gentle girlfriend has actually killed someone.’

  ‘No, not on purpose anyway. If Zak is dead, we have to appraise where that leaves us all,’ said John. ‘I certainly don’t see it as murder, and nor would any jury in their right mind. There must be a possibility that they would convict on manslaughter. Who knows? Maybe the Crown Prosecution Service wouldn’t even bring the case to trial but we have to remember that the treasure is tied up in this. It may be seen as in the public interest to put the case before a jury to decide.

  ‘We may, in the eyes of the authorities, and indeed a jury, seem less innocent somehow when they know that, prior to the death of Zak, we had got our hands on long-lost treasure and wished to guard it at all costs. If any criminal action arises, we could lose our title to its value. We almost certainly would if either Emma or any of us for that matter were convicted of a criminal offence relating to it.’

  ‘That would be so utterly unfair,’ said Dan, miserably. ‘Above all, on poor Emma when she’s the sort of person who wouldn’t harm a hair on someone’s head.’

  ‘Precisely,’ said John seeking to quickly move the conversation on from that unfortunate turn of phrase. ‘Your Emma isn’t the villain in this, she’s been a hero today, Dan, as much as you have. Without her prompt, decisive action, Zak would have climbed out of that hole and we would have been at his mercy.

  ‘I like to think I would have coshed him with the spade, albeit not landing quite such a heavy blow, but I have to admit that Louise and I were sort of struck dumb by him saying he’d killed you. We wouldn’t have reacted quickly enough to prevent him from getting up into the outbuilding. But Emma exploded, she went off like a rocket. I’ve never seen her like that before. She has, effectively, saved us and the treasure.’

  ‘God, what a mess, just when things looked to be going our way.’

  ‘All is not lost, Dan. In fact, nothing is lost, save for that miserable life at the bottom of the shaft. The question is, what are we going to do about it?’

  ‘There are two issues at stake here, assuming you’re right that Zak is dead,’ said Dan, thinking it through. ‘If we tell Emma it will cripple her. She’s not emotionally strong enough to deal with this sort of thing. The sense of guilt and remorse will overwhelm her, she won’t cope. She might go and tell the police and choose to “face the music”. That could wreck her university course, even if things went her way in the end.

  ‘The other aspect is the fortune that we will potentially stand to lose. Emma’s cut of it could make the difference between her being able to keep studying at Oxford and having to give up. That kind of money would be life-changing for us all. But it’s not what happens to the treasure so much that bothers me, it’s what this is going to do to poor Emma psychologically.’

  ‘The only way to protect Emma and our claim to the treasure is not to tell her what has happened, or may have happened, to Zak,’ said John.

  ‘If Zak has died, she must not find out about it,’ agreed Dan. ‘If one life, and a useless one at that, has been destroyed, why should a good life like hers be ruined because of it? Above all, Emma did what she did for the love of me and for us all.’

  ‘My thoughts entirely,’ said John. ‘Well there’s only one way to find out for sure whether Zak’s alive or dead isn’t there? We need to take a look down the shaft.’

  Dan shivered. ‘I don’t want to be doing that.’

  ‘Listen Dan, you’ve got to get real on this. We have to find out if we have a dead body down there,’ replied John. ‘If so, we don’t want the world to know about it. You know what that means? We’ll have to move it. Otherwise, as soon as he is reported missing it isn’t going to take long before the police will be walking up that tunnel and finding him. I’m guessing he and Jake smashed open the shoreline entrance to the tunnel if it was blocked up. If the police don’t find him, the archaeology boffins certainly will when they turn up after we’ve reported the treasure.’

  ‘Couldn’t we leave t
he body where it is and claim we found the treasure somewhere else, in a different tunnel, or I don’t know, in the ground or something?’ argued Dan.

  ‘That’s nonsense and you know it,’ objected John. ‘We would have to commit fraud on an industrial scale to get that to stick – lying about the actual location of the treasure, which archaeologists with their expertise would see through straightaway, then pretending we knew nothing about a rotting body found in an undersea tunnel leading directly to the island we’re staying on. It’s bound to be discovered soon enough, especially as the shoreline entrance has so recently been unblocked. It will be immediately apparent to Emma that Zak had died from the blow she struck him.’

  ‘Ok, ok,’ said Dan, looking at John slightly helplessly. ‘That’s no good. I was clutching at straws.’

  ‘Now listen,’ replied John. ‘This is what we do. You and I go back to the outbuilding and carefully open the shaft. Assuming all is quiet, we shine our torch into the hole. Zak’s outstretched hand was visible from the tunnel where he fell. If we can’t see that hand in the torchlight, it means Zak may still be alive and has managed to crawl away. If the hand remains in the same position, that would strongly suggest he’s dead or at least, unconscious.

  ‘We must go down the shaft and find out for certain. If we do have a body to remove, my plan would be to wrap it in tarpaulin, winch it up the hole then carry it out to Louise’s boat. You and I will motor off into the bay and dump it overboard.’

  ‘It will most likely float,’ objected Dan, and be washed ashore on the tide.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said John, ‘and that’s what we want to happen. ‘His death needs to look accidental, which indeed it was. If we weigh him down with stones and send him to the sea bed, if and when his body is ever discovered, it will be treated as murder. We must not do anything which could inadvertently make it look as if we have a guilty conscience and are in some way responsible.’

  ‘I’m afraid that’s exactly what it will look like if we get caught, John,’ said Dan.