Wreckers Island (romantic suspense)

by Harcourt, L K

  It was too late. Louise and Emma arrived laden with trayfuls of food, including some fine-looking sausages and burgers to put on the barbecue and beers all round. John would now have to think on his feet and make things up as he went along.

  ‘Girls,’ said John, ‘I do not want us to extend our stay, in fact I would like us to go home tomorrow.’ Louise and Emma stared at him, horrified.

  John carried on, trying to sound more confident than he felt. ‘I believe that Zak and Jake may have gone their separate ways and that we remain at possible risk from Zak who is the more dangerous of the two. He may not find out from Jake that we have handed the treasure over. He might think we’ve still got it here, piled on the coffee table, ready for the taking. I don’t want to wake each day fearing that he’ll suddenly turn up in a powerful motor boat.

  ‘Zak will be walking the streets as we speak feeling bruised, humiliated and tricked,’ fibbed John. ‘He’ll be like an angry bear with, quite literally, a sore head. That does not bode well for us. He can’t rob us of our treasure but he can rob us of our peace of mind. He can make us feel like we’re living under siege. We are isolated here and it will take a while for help to arrive should we need it. I think it is better that we are seen to quit Wreckers Island and disappear.

  ‘Let me finish, Louise,’ said John as she opened her mouth. ‘Here’s the good bit – why don’t we return here for a week or more in October? Dan and I would both love to. We’ve got to return to Cornwall for the inquest – what’s to stop us returning here afterwards when everything will have quietened down and resuming our holiday?’

  Louise, still feeling guilty that she was to blame over Zak and Jake, was in a weak position to argue. Dan whispered in Emma’s ear that he might be able to pitch a tent somewhere near her place in Cheshire in the coming week or so, if she’d like him to.

  ‘Ok,’ said Louise, finally. ‘I suppose it makes sense. It wouldn’t be much of a relaxing time from now on if we’re constantly looking out to sea, worrying. And it would be great to return here in autumn.’ Emma nodded.

  As the sunk sank out of sight over the Cornish mainland and shadows lengthened above a darkening sea, the four students sipped their cans of beer on what was, for now, their final evening on Wreckers Island. They were sad to be leaving the following day but content that it was the right thing to do, given the circumstances.

  Chapter XXV

  MID OCTOBER, FOUR MONTHS LATER . . .

  ‘I cannot believe the summer has passed so quickly,’ said Louise to Emma as they greeted each other on the railway station platform at St Perro with warm hugs and kisses.

  ‘Did you have a good journey all the way from Cheshire?’ asked Louise, who had driven the fairly short distance from her village in mid Cornwall.

  ‘Yes it was fine,’ said Emma. ‘A couple of twerps earlier on and an idiot who played his iPod so loud through his headphones the whole carriage could hear, but they got off at Birmingham, thank goodness. After that it was relaxing and so lovely to head through the West Country to Cornwall.

  ‘I was half reading my Kindle and half gazing out of the windows at the lovely countryside – I was almost hoping to stay on the train for another couple of stops I was enjoying it so much.’

  ‘Oh, sorry to disappoint,’ retorted Louise, giving her a playful punch on the shoulder. ‘Anyway you’ll have buckets of time to read your Kindle and enjoy the countryside now that we’re on holiday number two! Oh Emma, I can’t wait to get back to the lighthouse. I’ve been looking forward to this all summer! Shall we go and get a coffee while we wait for the boys? Trust them to arrive last!’

  The girls found themselves a nice table in the window of the station café from which they would easily see John and Dan once their trains got in.

  ‘Are you still erm, together with John,’ asked Emma, hesitantly, as they took their seats.

  ‘Yes, I think so, sort of,’ replied Louise, as if she wasn’t entirely sure. ‘I mean, we haven’t met since our holiday in June but we’ve stayed in touch, you know, emails and texts and phone calls, that sort of thing. I reckon the romance will start again once we’re in the lighthouse again. I’m surprise we didn’t topple it over with our lovemaking that final night, ooh I’ve never had a session like it!’

  Emma looked at her with a pained expression.

  ‘Sorry, there I go again. I didn’t mean to sound too blatantly crude! Anyway, how about you and Dan?’

  ‘Yes, totally smitten,’ said Emma, brightening at the mention of his name. ‘We are so loved-up it’s enough to make you sick. We’ve seen sooo much of each other these last few weeks. Dan came and camped in Cheshire and I joined him, even though my mum and dad were a bit off about it and we had the most wonderful time. Then I went down to see him and actually got to stay with him at his family home and oh, it’s an amazing house they’ve got.’

  ‘I hope you didn’t scream with passion in the middle of the night and wake his folks up,’ said Louise frivolously.

  Emma frowned at her. Louise could be terribly flippant and vulgar at times.

  ‘No, we didn’t have sex in his parents’ house because it wouldn’t have been appropriate under their roof. I think it’s a pity everything seems to revolve around sex with you, Louise. I bet you’ve been having flings all over Cornwall while you’ve been apart from John, haven’t you?’

  ‘That’s mean of you,’ replied Louise, who couldn’t resist adding that yes, she had had a couple but they hadn’t meant anything. ‘And you’ll never guess who I also shagged,’ she went on. ‘I didn’t tell you at the time.’

  ‘No Louise, I don’t suppose I will, so enlighten me.’

  ‘Only rabbit-faced Rupert, the Finds Liaison Officer!’

  As Emma’s eyes opened wide, Louise told how she had seduced him while alone with him that day he had come over, taking him up to the lamp room.

  ‘You actually did that during our holiday, you disgust me at times, Louise. Have you no sense of loyalty to the man you are supposed to be going out with? Fancy messing around with that poor Rupert, of all people. I’ll bet he felt on top of the world sleeping with you then upset that you didn’t want anything more to do with him,’ said Emma.

  ‘He did send me a few hopeful texts but I think he knew I wasn’t interested in seeing him further,’ said Louise, ‘but he told me I had given him a new-found self confidence that he would always be grateful for.’

  ‘Let’s hope,’ said Emma, disapprovingly, ‘since he might well be at the treasure inquest tomorrow.’

  ‘Yes the treasure inquest, I can’t wait!’ said Louise. ‘Oh and I have some good news to tell you, but I’ll save it until the boys get here.’

  ~~~~~

  John and Dan, although living far apart from each other, had both ended up on the same train. Unaware, they only met when Dan grumpily moved from his carriage which reverberated with the din of boisterous teenagers, a garrulous group of women and the tinny beat of a dozen iPhones. Fortunately, few people had thought to board the carriage at the far end and Dan was about to sit down amid rows of empty seats when he spotted a face he recognised beneath a mop of blond hair, straight in front of him.

  ‘Hello stranger!’ he said to John, ‘fancy meeting you here!’

  ‘Howdy do matey,’ replied John with a wide grin. ‘Quite so, it never occurred to me. Are you set for lighthouse holiday number two, starting with our big day in the Coroner’s Court tomorrow?’

  ‘I certainly am,’ said Dan, alighting opposite his friend. ‘I kind of want to get the hearing over with. I know it will be fascinating to go to a treasure inquest and I can’t see anything going wrong but . . .’ he faltered.

  ‘I know what you mean,’ replied John, reading his thoughts. ‘I feel the same. But this time tomorrow, the four of us will be declared the main beneficiaries of our wonderful find, looking forward to some big cheques arriving in the post. The Coroner is bound to find in our favour, Rupert was certain of it.’

  ‘Oh yes, g
oofy Rupey, I’d forgotten about him,’ said Dan. He added, in a whisper, ‘you don’t think anything will emerge about Zak do you?’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ said John, firmly. ‘That Cornish newspaper which carried the reports of his death has an online edition which I’ve been following and it’s clear the police are no longer treating it as suspicious. They think it was some sort of tragic accident at sea.’

  Dan nodded. He too had been regularly checking local media reports on the internet during the summer and been relieved to note that the inquiry had not progressed.

  ‘I wonder if the girls will be at the station already,’ he said. ‘I’ll bet they are.’

  ‘They should be, their trains were due to arrive earlier – and I think I can guess where we’ll find them,’ said John.

  ~~~~~

  John was right. He and Dan slunk behind them as they drank their cappuccinos and overheard Louise mention she had ‘good news’ to impart when they arrived.

  ‘Roll the good news,’ he boomed cheerfully behind them, making them jump.

  ‘How ever did you know we’d be in here?’ said Louise, giving John an effusive hug.

  ‘Knowing your love of coffee and cafés and the fact that your trains got in before ours, it seemed a reasonable guess,’ laughed John. ‘And look who I met on the journey – we never thought we’d actually get on the same train, living miles apart.’

  Emma threw herself over Dan and hugged him tightly.

  ‘Let him go for a minute, Emma,’ said Louise, chuckling. ‘Now we’re all present I want to tell you my good news. Anyone care to guess what it is?’ she said with great gusto, attracting a couple of glances from nearby tables.

  ‘You’re pregnant!’ blurted out Emma before she could stop herself.

  ‘Oh Emma,’ said Louise, scowling. ‘No, my big news is that my parents have written to the Coroner to renounce any claim on the treasure in the event that we are formally declared finders. In other words, we won’t get a quarter each of a half, we’ll get a quarter each of the whole lot.’

  ‘But Louise,’ said Dan, looking concerned. ‘We fully expected your parents to take their share, they are entitled to as owners of the undersea cave.’

  ‘They both said that insofar as they didn’t even realise they owned an undersea cave and were never likely to visit it, let alone search it for hidden treasure, they had no wish to profit from our hard work,’ said Louise.

  ‘They think we showed great initiative and endeavour and if this money means we can get through the rest of our university education without the need to slave away in part-time jobs and rack up huge debts, good luck to us. They are thrilled for us.’

  ‘That’s amazingly generous of them,’ said Dan. ‘We will have to get them a present to say thank you.’

  ‘Hear hear,’ added John.

  ‘They’re good people, my mum and dad,’ said Louise, proudly. ‘They’re also multi-millionaires, which probably helps when it comes to renouncing your claim to long-lost treasure. So anyway, if everything goes according to plan tomorrow, I think we are due for the most enormous celebration. What say we book in to the finest hotel in St Perro, have a five-course meal, drink vintage champagne and stay the night in splendid luxury?’

  ‘What say we do no such thing,’ said Emma, quietly, feeling that Louise needed, once again, to be reined in. It was this sort of airy talk that had got themselves overheard and into trouble in the first place. They would never have ended up crossing swords with Zak and Jake if it hadn’t been for their indiscretion in the Smugglers Tavern.

  ‘Listen, Louise,’ said Emma, noting her disappointment, ‘if we are to be rich, we’re not rich yet. Right now I barely have a farthing to my name. I had to borrow money from my parents to pay my rail fare here. Yes I know we could Visa it, but let’s dine on lobster and expensive bubbly when the money is in the bank ok?’

  ‘You’re right, Emma,’ said Louise, backing down graciously. ‘I was getting carried away as usual. What would you like to do to celebrate? Why don’t you decide?’

  ‘Personally I would like to pitch a couple of beach tents in Gunwalloe Cove tomorrow evening, light a camp fire and have a barbecue. Then sit on the sand, or the rocks, gazing out to sea at our lovely lighthouse lit by the setting sun, said Emma. ‘I would like us to raise our drinks and toast each other’s good health and say a prayer for those who perished in the Providencia 230 years ago.

  ‘Perhaps if they could see us they would be content, at least, that after so long four students struggling to stay solvent should have their lives transformed thanks to them. It would be good to share the moment with them, looking out into the bay where their remains still lie. When we are too tired to stay awake any longer, we could crawl into our tents and fall asleep with the music of the sea in our ears.’

  It was an impressive speech, if a touch whimsical, and the others were moved by it. Emma could be exceptionally sensitive and profound, so different from Louise’s often brash and superficial behaviour. They thought it an admirable idea: a celebration for the reward they were due and a fitting commemoration and tribute to the Providencia’s ill-fated crew.

  ‘It’s a lovely idea and I’m glad you feel the way I do about Captain Felipe and his ship,’ said Dan, giving her a peck on the lips.

  Their coffees drunk, the four lugged their suitcases round to the car park where Louise’s clapped-out Ford Focus awaited. It grumbled and juddered under their combined weight as she took them back to Porthlevnack.

  Louise’s boat had been stored at the boatyard pending her return and they went there first to reclaim it. It looked the same as ever. They sat in the back as the men at the yard towed it into the sea on a tractor.

  ‘Isn’t this great,’ said Louise as the engine roared and the boat bounced over the waves. ‘It is as if we had never been away.’

  The others felt the same. It was great to be reunited and on holiday again bound for Wreckers Island. Even the weather was as good as it had been in June, although the temperature was now closer to 65 degrees than 75.

  The lighthouse was as they had left it; so was the outbuilding. The locks were secure on both and had not been tampered with. That was a great relief. When they got inside their first move was to put the kettle on for a round of tea. Dan promised to do his curry special again for an evening meal, as he had on their second night in June.

  ‘Remember not to cut yourself this time,’ scolded Emma, wagging her finger. ‘Mind you, I think you only did it to make me to feel sorry for you so you had a chance to chat me up.’

  ‘It worked, didn’t it,’ said Dan with a grin.

  They decided against any alcoholic refreshment that night – tempting though it was. It was better to keep a clear head for the following day’s proceedings and they turned in early, Emma cosying up to Dan and Louise, once again, in the arms of John.

  Chapter XXVI

  The following day, they drove to St Perro in good time for the inquest. They were dressed smartly, aware they should look their best for a formal occasion.

  The Coroner’s Court was held in the same block as the local magistrates’ sessions and the students passed a good few disreputable-looking sorts on their way through the building.

  I bet they’d pinch a few of our gold coins given the chance, thought Dan nervously.

  The usher pointed them towards cramped, linked plastic seating at the rear. The plusher, comfy chairs at the front were no doubt reserved for lawyers and key witnesses. The inquest into their find was the first of the day and the courtroom was empty when they arrived. Before long, two familiar faces turned up – the goofy features of Finds Liaison Officer Rupert Spencer and the kindly museum curator. Sure enough, they were offered the better seats.

  In came the court clerk wearing her black gown. She was a bored-looking young woman in her mid 30s who had an air about her that when you’d attended one inquest, you’d attended them all. That wasn’t how the students felt. For them there was pent-up excitement, which gr
ew more pronounced when a shabby-looking young man with a rat-like face and goatee beard sat on the side bench. He placed a notepad and pen in front of him, then appeared to scrabble around in his pockets.

  It could only be a reporter from the local paper suddenly remembering to switch his mobile phone off, surmised Louise. He caught her glance and gave her a wink.

  ‘Court rise,’ commanded the usher in a stern voice. They dutifully stood and in walked the Coroner. He wasn’t resplendent in a flowing gown and wig as they had hoped, or anything like the munchkin version in the Wizard of Oz pronouncing the death of the Wicked Witch. Instead he was a smallish, rather unimpressive figure in a lounge suit.

  ‘Good morning everybody,’ said the Coroner. ‘My name is Andrew Smithfield, and I am Her Majesty’s Coroner for the county of Cornwall. Please be seated. It is my task this morning to hold an inquest into a substantial historic hoard discovered on June 11 of this year in a cave beneath the seabed off the Cornish coast and reported to myself on June 13.

  ‘My job, fundamentally, is to decide whether this find constitutes, for the purposes of the law, treasure. Now that is treasure with a capital T if you will. Certainly this remarkable find would constitute treasure to the ordinary man or woman in the street. But does it satisfy the strict definition under the Treasure Act 1996 which also embraces what used to be known as Treasure Trove?

  ‘There are a number of criteria which apply, the most important being that it was deliberately concealed with the intention of being recovered and that those who buried it have no obvious heirs or descendants. This being the case it will fall upon me to ascertain who, in the eyes of the law, are the legal finders and what should be their entitlement.’

  The Coroner droned on for a couple more minutes and Louise, in the middle of the tightly-placed seats was getting restless as she fought a sudden urge to fall asleep. She tried to straighten her legs as best she could under the seating in front which was uncomfortably close. It was warm and stuffy in the courtroom and she wished someone would turn the air conditioning on – assuming there was any.