Wreckers Island (romantic suspense)

by Harcourt, L K

  Witnesses were called, beginning with the Curator of the Royal Cornwall Museum who spoke expansively and enthusiastically about the find and expressed his desire to purchase the collection on behalf of the museum.

  Rupert had his moment of glory, backing up the Curator’s comments and explaining how the students had reported the find promptly to him. He described how he went over to see the hoard for himself.

  Funny, no mention of the other treasures he had sought out a few minutes earlier, mused Louise.

  It was the students’ turn to address the court, starting with Louise as the offspring of the owners. A little nervous, she told the Coroner about the documents which had lain forgotten about in the lighthouse cellar including the hand-written Spanish diary which no-one had ever attempted to decipher before.

  Dan took the witness stand and told how he translated extracts from the diary which led them to suspect the existence of an undersea cave and the possibility that items salvaged from the lost ship had been stored in it. The map included as part of the sales particulars of the island appeared to indicate that a tunnel beneath the sea bed led directly to the island itself, he said.

  The court fell silent as everyone listened intently to Dan’s dramatic account of how they discovered first the tunnel, the cave and finally the treasure itself.

  ‘We transported the hoard carefully in crates from the cave along the passageway and up the shaft beneath the outbuilding on the island. We took the crates into the lighthouse and stored the contents carefully in the safe. We reported our find to Cornwall Council’s Finds Liaison Officer the following day,’ said Dan.

  He made no mention of Zak and Jake’s involvement but if what he said was economical with the truth, his account contained no lies.

  The question of ownership was addressed and Rupert piped up, saying that he was satisfied that the rightful owners of the cave and tunnels were Louise’s parents.

  The Coroner read out a letter from Mr and Mrs Locksley in which they declared that their daughter and her three friends, John, Dan and Emma, had their permission to search the tunnels and that they formally waived their rights to be considered for a claim should the four of them be declared the lawful finders.

  ‘Very well,’ said the Coroner, looking gravely at the students but with something of a twinkle in his eye, ‘that sounds like retrospective permission to me, but if it’s good enough for council planning departments, it’s good enough for me.

  ‘Now, something I must ask you is this: it is a condition of being considered for a reward that you did not break the law or the relevant code of conduct in pursuit of the treasure. Can you declare to me that you did not knowingly or wilfully do anything illegal or improper in the course of this discovery?’

  They shook their heads.

  ‘Good,’ said the Coroner. ‘Now for the exciting bit. Do I have a representative from the Treasure Valuation Committee? For the benefit of those of you who may not know, the committee provides independent advice to Government on the fair market value of declared Treasure finds from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which museums wish to acquire from the Crown.’

  A committee member duly stood and addressed the court. ‘Sir, it is our considered opinion that a fair market value of the hoard would be one million, six hundred thousand pounds. I understand that the Royal Museum in Cornwall is keen to purchase it.’

  The students gasped and clutched each other.

  ‘Very well,’ said the Coroner. He looked round at everybody. ‘It is now my task to draw some conclusions from what we have heard. Firstly, I would say that this has proved a most fascinating case. It is always a pleasure for coroners to undertake treasure inquests. As you will know, most inquests are inquiries into people’s tragic and untimely deaths. They are inevitably sad, unhappy events, so it’s nice for us to be able to ponder a wonderful, historic discovery of buried treasure like this.

  ‘Weighing up what we know about the find, the expert evidence from the Curator of the Royal Cornwall Museum and the county’s Finds Liaison Officer, and accepting also the translations, as far as they go, carried out by Daniel Delaurier of the Spanish captain’s diary, I am happy to declare this find to be Treasure under the terms of the 1996 Act and therefore the lawful property of the Crown. I am also happy to invite its purchase from the Crown by the Royal Cornwall Museum for the sum advised by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

  ‘The owners of the undersea cave in which the treasure was found having renounced any title to this reward, I therefore declare that the rightful, sole beneficiaries to be the four finders, namely Louise Locksley, John Comstock, Daniel Delaurier and Emma Hardy. Those persons are I believe, present today and have indicated that any reward payable to them should be divided into equal quarters.’

  The Coroner paused and looked at the four students who nodded.

  ‘That being so, I further declare that the find of valuables from the Providencia, captained by a Felipe Sanchez Vargas and which foundered off the Cornish coast in 1780 to be treasure worth £1,600,000 which shall be paid to, and divided between, the aforementioned Louise Locksley, John Comstock, Daniel Delaurier and Emma Hardy in equal sums of £400,000.’

  Louise looked as if she was desperate to whoop for joy but even she managed to keep her emotions in check this time.

  ‘My congratulations and best wishes to the four of you,’ said the Coroner, beaming at them. ‘I believe you are students at Oxford University. This should help pay the bills until you find yourselves a high-flying career. Don’t spend it all on beer!’ He winked at them, rose to his feet and gave a small bow, before leaving via a door at the back.

  ‘Court rise,’ announced the usher, and they stood up. The courtroom emptied and Rupert, although he looked anxious to stay and chat, sensed that they might like a moment alone to come to terms with their amazing news. He grinned cheerily at them and left. The four of them hugged each other, tears running down their cheeks.

  ‘Isn’t this unbelievable, simply surreal,’ said Louise, ‘to think that our money worries are over. I’m so pleased especially for you Emma as you more than any of us were really in trouble.’

  Emma had a lump in her throat and was struggling to speak.

  ‘You don’t know how much this means to me, I thought I would have to give up my course, I simply didn’t see how I could carry on,’ she said, tearfully. ‘This will transform my life, it will transform all our lives. Dan, we owe so much to you for what you did, your common sense, ingenuity and bravery saved the day.’

  ‘Yes but I so nearly went and wrecked everything. In many respects, Emma, we have you to thank for saving us from Zak that day,’ said Dan, giving her a big hug, instantly regretting that remark.

  ‘Oh Zak, I wonder what happened to him,’ said Emma. ‘I hope his head wasn’t too sore in the end.’

  ‘Don’t worry about him,’ said John, ‘this is a wonderful day. This is our day, let’s not let anything spoil it.’

  ‘Court rise,’ barked the usher again.

  Suddenly the door at the rear of the court opened and the Coroner walked back in again. Through the main entrance came a different group of people, some smart in sombre suits but also a large gathering of scruffy-looking characters who were directed into the cramped seats on either side of the four students.

  The new arrivals, all of whom seemed equally overweight, were an emotional bunch, dabbing their eyes and hugging each other. So close were the attached seats to the ones in front, it was impossible for the students to squeeze past without appearing to jostle them rudely.

  ‘Please be seated,’ said the Coroner, smiling sympathetically.

  Glad to get the weight off their feet, the scruffies promptly obeyed, and several tree-trunk legs shot out gratefully under the seats in front.

  For a second, John, Dan, Emma and Louise remained standing, mentally assessing how easy it would be to intrude upon their sorrow and require them to get up again so they could squeeze past and escape. But the Coroner wa
s now in full flow, giving an earnest and kindly welcome to this very different audience.

  The students, still in something of a daze, had little choice but to take their seats again. They glanced at each other ruefully and shrugged as if to say, oh well, better stay put until it’s over.

  Louise started to fidget again. A pair of hefty buttocks and chubby elbows were now nudging into her, and a faint smell of body odour mixed with cheap after-shave made the air even more oppressive and stifling. She was desperate to get out of the court complex and go off for a celebration drink.

  ‘My name is Andrew Smithfield, and I am Her Majesty’s Coroner for the county of Cornwall,’ said the Coroner, his words having a familiar ring.

  ‘It is my sad task this morning to hold an inquest into the untimely death of a man whose body was found floating near to caverns adjacent to Gunwalloe Cove on the evening of Tuesday, June 12th by a fisherman who duly reported the matter to the police.

  ‘The scene was attended some minutes later by officers from the police station in the nearby village of Porthlevnack and subsequent further inquiries were held and, arising from those inquiries, the body was identified as being that of a local man from the village, Mr Zachariah Penhaligon, aged 45.’

  John and Dan both froze when they heard that name. Louise was lost in a world of her own, dreaming about what she would do with her £400,000. She wasn’t interested in some poor unfortunate who had been lost at sea.

  For Emma, it also didn’t register straightaway. Her head too was spinning with their news. She wasn’t too bothered that they had found themselves accidentally staying for another inquest. She was simply happy and excited and eager to get outside with the others and talk about it all.

  The case now being outlined barely registered with her, but she felt Dan stiffen slightly and glanced at him. He looked uncomfortable and flustered. So did John. She caught the dead man’s name – Zachariah Penhaligon of Porthlevnack. Why did it sound strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time? What was wrong with the boys?

  Finally it struck her – Zak! Could it possibly be? Emma did not know his surname, unlike the boys who had found that out as they kept regular tabs on the police investigation via the internet over the summer. But how many Zachariahs in their mid 40s would live in a small community like Porthlevnack?

  Could it be the same Zak they had encountered in the tunnel? The Zak who had trussed them up; the Zak who had beaten up Dan and lied about killing him . . . the Zak she had clobbered with a spade?

  Chapter XXVII

  ‘Now my task is a fairly straightforward one,’ intoned the Coroner, in the soft, compassionate voice he reserved for such occasions.

  ‘It is not my job to apportion blame. This is not a criminal court. My job is simply to seek answers to the following questions: who died, when and where the death occurred, and how the cause of death arose.

  ‘With that in mind I intend to call a number of key witnesses, and we’ll start if we may with Police Constable Raymond Trevethick.’

  The officer went to the witness stand and took the oath on the Bible before giving his evidence. Clearing his throat, he said, ‘I attended the scene on the evening of June 12th, at approximately 2130 hours and could clearly see the bloated body of a well-built man floating in the entrance to a ravine in close proximity to Gunwalloe Cove. Based on what I saw, I immediately radioed for an ambulance and the body was subsequently retrieved from the water by paramedics.’

  ‘Did you notice anything unusual about the body, anything that might have offered a clue as to what Mr Penhaligon had been doing immediately prior to his death?’ asked the Coroner.

  ‘Yes sir, Mr Penhaligon was wearing a ship’s safety harness, with a steel D ring for a safety rope to be attached. These are often worn by sailors on deck as a precaution against slipping overboard so they can be hauled up.

  ‘Beneath that, he was fully clothed. No rope was attached at the time the body was discovered but the fact he was wearing the harness would strongly suggest that Mr Penhaligon had been on board a ship or large boat of some kind and for whatever reason, lost his footing and went overboard,’ said Pc Trevethick.

  Tiny beads of sweat broke out across the foreheads of John and Dan. They both looked uneasy and nervous. The body must have been found within three or four hours of them dumping it for the police to get there by 9.30pm. They were lucky they hadn’t actually been seen doing the deed. At least the evidence seemed to be going in their favour. They shot each other reassuring glances.

  ‘May I ask you, Pc Trevethick, was any attempt made to establish what vessel Mr Penhaligon might have been crewing? Surely if a ship lost a man overboard it would be duly reported to the coastguard and police? Was any such report made and any search carried out?’ asked the Coroner.

  John and Dan held their breath and started to look uncomfortable again.

  ‘Sir, no distress calls were received by HM Coastguard or the police around that part of the coast during the period in question. Exhaustive enquiries were made but turned up nothing. However, sir, as you well know, there are still smuggling activities going on around the Cornish coast to this day. I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead but our previous dealings with Mr Penhaligon would suggest that he might have been involved in crewing a ship which, shall we say, would not seek to make itself known to the authorities or follow the usual accepted maritime procedures.’

  ‘I see,’ replied the Coroner, looking grave, ‘and that might explain why health and safety practices on board were less than satisfactory.’

  The next to take the stand was the paramedic called to the scene. He confirmed that Zachariah Penhaligon was already dead upon his arrival and that no medical assistance could be attempted. He noted that the body appeared bloated and that rigor mortis was no longer present. He estimated that death had occurred within the previous 12 hours.

  ‘Numerous marks on the body were consistent with bruising and evidence of some form of severe trauma to the head,’ said the paramedic. ‘From what I saw, I could not say with any certainty whether those injuries were received before Mr Penhaligon entered the water or subsequently.’

  The Coroner nodded. ‘I now call Dr Simon Atkinson, Home Office forensic pathologist, who carried out the post mortem examination on the body. Dr Atkinson could you please tell the hearing what you found at post mortem and what, in your professional opinion, was the cause of Mr Penhaligon’s death?’

  ‘Yes sir. I examined the body at the mortuary in the Royal Cornwall Hospital here in St Perro,’ replied Dr Atkinson. ‘Some of the bruising and blemishes sustained were consistent with being in sea water for a short period and the effect of the tide repeatedly pushing the corpse against the rocks around the shore.

  ‘However the most significant finding was that the top of the skull had effectively caved in, causing severe brain trauma. This must have been achieved by collision at great force with a hard object. The injury was sufficiently severe to have caused Mr Penhaligon’s death, although I cannot rule out the possibility that drowning occurred first and this injury happened subsequently, if for instance, the body was hurled against the rocks in the bay.

  ‘This might occur during a severe storm and there was such a storm in the area some 24 hours prior to the discovery of the body but the state of the corpse would suggest that death occurred several hours after that storm had passed over. Furthermore I have to say that the injury sustained is more consistent with a single sharp blow than with the repeated, but lesser impact one would expect from contact with rocks.’

  ‘Can you shed any light on how that injury might have been inflicted?’ asked the Coroner.

  ‘It is impossible to be certain,’ continued Dr Atkinson. ‘Skull fractures like this are usually caused by a blunt, heavy object connecting hard with the head. Bearing in mind the location and the fact that Mr Penhaligon was wearing a safety harness, one must speculate that the injury was sustained on board ship.

  ‘If a ship was in difficul
ty for instance and rolling badly, any loose, hard object on board colliding at speed with the head might cause it. There is some chance, if he was on a sailing boat, that the boom swung across and struck him a glancing blow, although the angle is not quite what one would normally expect but within the realms of possibility.

  ‘My belief, sir, was that this gentleman was dealt a single, nasty blow to the head while serving on a ship either killing him outright or rendering him unconscious and that arising from this, he was lost overboard. He was either dead at this point or in no fit state to have extricated himself from the water and on that basis, would have drowned.

  ‘In terms of the fact that no rope was found attached to the harness, my guess is that, having put the harness on originally, Mr Penhaligon had simply not attached the rope or had taken it off subsequently, or possibly it had sheared off.’

  ‘Thank you Dr Atkinson. I must ask you,’ said the Coroner, ‘while being mindful of the fact that this is not a criminal court, whether you feel there is any reason to suspect foul play? Might this blow have been deliberately administered to Mr Penhaligon?’

  ‘All I can say sir, is that in my professional opinion, the blow to the head was what killed him, either directly or indirectly through causing him to fall into the sea and drown. Now whether that was by accident or design I cannot say for sure. Given the circumstances in which he was found, I think foul play is unlikely although not impossible. Carelessness and inadequate safety procedures on deck are the more probable explanations,’ added Dr Atkinson.

  John, Dan, Louise and Emma listened to the pathologist with a look of glazed shock on their faces. Dan could feel Emma trembling alongside him. He prayed that she would be able to hold it together for the duration of the hearing and they could then get her away quickly.