Wreckers Island (romantic suspense)

by Harcourt, L K

  ‘The truth won’t come out,’ said John, calmly. ‘The police have closed the file on Zak – they clearly think he’s lowlife anyway. The officers round here, they’re pretty decent, rural folk from good backgrounds, they’re not going to bust a gut trying to work out exactly how scum like Zak met a bad end. And those sort often do meet a bad end.’

  Louise opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by Dan.

  ‘Louise, you have said enough already,’ he told her. ‘It is intolerable the pressure you are putting on Emma and I won’t stand for it any longer.’

  ‘Emma, listen to me,’ Dan said, turning to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. ‘You must do whatever you think is right. None of us should tell you what that is, including me. If what happened will torture you and eat away at you for the rest of your life, you must deal with it as you see fit. If you feel you have to go to the police, I will support you. Don’t worry about John and me, we will have to account for our wrongdoing and explain ourselves before a judge. You shouldn’t be bounced into acting against your conscience for our sakes.’

  Louise tutted and rolled her eyes angrily. She could hardly believe the day’s turn of events. If only they had left the courtroom promptly at the end of their inquest and not found themselves accidentally staying for the next. What dreadful bad luck that the one immediately after should be Zak’s!

  John was thinking the same, although logic told him that it was not so great a coincidence as it seemed, since the two matters would inevitably have been reported to the Coroner in close succession. The four of them fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. A coolish wind rustled the leaves in the great horse chestnut above and blew pleasant autumn scents into their nostrils.

  Eventually, Dan spoke. ‘Emma, we are in this together. We stand or fall together. Whatever relationships we have had amongst the four of us, fundamentally we are the best of friends. If you wish to go to the police station now and make a statement we will go with you and face it together. Won’t we?’ he said to John and Louise.

  The two of them knew that it was futile to argue any further. John nodded. Louise shrugged.

  ‘That’s what I have to do,’ said Emma, in a quiet monotone.

  ‘Shall we go,’ said Dan. They got up and walked slowly out of the park.

  ‘I think the main police station is somewhere that way,’ said Louise, pointing vaguely along the high street. Unlike the others, she knew St Perro well and they trustingly followed her lead.

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ said Dan, who was getting wise to Louise and her ways. ‘That’s the police station, the other way to our left, across the road. You can see its blue lamp outside, quite clearly.’

  ‘Sorry, I must have been mistaken,’ said Louise, wincing with annoyance. She had hoped that by heading off in completely the opposite direction, there might have been time for Emma to walk off her desire to go anywhere near the place.

  Emma’s tears had dried now, she seemed calmer and more assured, as if she knew what she had to do. She halted abruptly and turned to Louise. ‘Yet another deception!’ she said, spitting out the words as she glared at her.

  Louise replied, despairingly, ‘come on Emma, we admire you hugely for your stance on this, but please don’t go through with it.’

  ‘Leave me be, Louise. I will go to the police station and I will go by myself. I need to do this on my own,’ said Emma. ‘Why don’t you go back to the lighthouse, and if I am let out on bail later I’ll join you. If I’m locked up I’m sure they’ll allow me a phone call to explain.’

  ‘I’d rather not be at my lovely lighthouse when the police come calling for us,’ said Louise, ‘as they no doubt will. I don’t want that sort of experience imprinted on my brain. It will tarnish the place forever. Why don’t the rest of us do as originally planned, go to Gunwalloe Cove with our beach tents, light a driftwood fire and have a good barbecue – a sort of condemned man’s last meal? The police will be able to find us easily but hopefully by the time they do we’ll be well fed with a few beers inside us for Dutch courage.’

  John and Dan smiled wryly, while Emma looked troubled and upset.

  ‘I think that is a good idea,’ agreed John. ‘We’ll take some rudimentary items to keep ourselves warm and comfortable if we do get to stay the night along with plenty of beers and burgers. We’ve got our little barrel barbecue in the boot of the car, we can use that. I think there are also a couple of bags of charcoal.’

  Louise and Dan nodded.

  ‘Right, Louise and I will head to the car and give you and Dan a moment alone together,’ said John, considerately, to Emma, giving her shoulder a rub. ‘I do hope things go ok, you have to do what you think is best. Hopefully we’ll see you later this afternoon.’

  With that, John grabbed Louise’s arm and walked off with her towards the car park.

  ‘Emma, I’m so sorry for what’s happened,’ said Dan as he watched the others head off.

  ‘So am I. Give me a hug Dan, a big hug,’ replied Emma.

  The couple embraced passionately in the middle of the pavement, oblivious to the world around them. To passers-by they would have looked like a pair of love-struck teenagers, unable to contain their longing for each other. But here were two young people for whom the future looked bleak: career hopes set to be dashed; education at a top university ruined; romance torn apart; prospect of great wealth blown away. They had the world at their feet – but within minutes, it was primed to explode.

  Alone with Emma, Dan could have made a last-gasp appeal for her to leave things be, for all their sakes. She was vulnerable and afraid and it might have worked. He made no such attempt. They walked slowly, with increasing foreboding, towards the huge entrance doors of the main police station in St Perro.

  As they got nearer Dan turned to Emma. ‘I could come in with you, or I could wait outside.’

  ‘Go with the others my love,’ said Emma, brushing his cheek tenderly. ‘I understand Dan, my wonderful Dan, why you did what you did. You did it for the love of me and I am sure that God will forgive you.’

  ‘But you can’t forgive me,’ said Dan.

  ‘I can’t forgive myself,’ replied Emma. ‘I must do what I know to be right.’

  Dan looked at his girlfriend and noticed how lovely she looked in the autumn sunshine, enhancing the blueness of her eyes and giving her blonde hair extra lustre.

  ‘We will come through this,’ he told her. ‘I don’t care if we find ourselves penniless, with no degree, and no job prospects. So long as I have you I will never want for anything. If we both end up in prison, we will count the days until we are out and can be together again. If the right thing for you to do is to report this, I respect your decision. You are a better person than any of us for being willing to do that and I’m proud of you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she replied, fighting back tears. ‘Our love will give us the fortitude we’ll need in the days ahead, I promise you.’

  They embraced one last time. Dan gave Emma a final affectionate squeeze of the arm, turned and walked away towards the car park where John and Louise waited patiently. He stole a final glance behind him and saw Emma walk to the main doors of the police station. The sight made him shiver.

  Dan could not bear to see her actually go inside, into the place where their future dreams would shrivel and crumble into dust and he turned away. Keeping his eyes firmly fixed ahead, he walked resolutely to the others.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said, sadly, as he got inside Louise’s car. They smiled supportively at him, realising that he was hurting more than anyone.

  Chapter XXIX

  ‘If only I hadn’t been so stupid that day,’ said Dan, bitterly. ‘Not one but two fool’s errands – first when we were in the cave, returning to the lighthouse to get Captain Felipe’s diary so I could place it on his hidden shelf then later, then returning to the tunnels to retrieve it again. Whatever was I thinking of?’

  ‘Now hang on,’ said John, almost angrily, ‘thank goodness
for your first fool’s errand as you call it, because otherwise you’d have been trussed up with the rest of us and Zak and Jake would have made off with everything.’

  ‘Trouble is, John,’ said Dan, bitterly, that would in many ways have been a far better outcome than the one we’re now facing.’

  John didn’t reply and nor did Louise. Dan had a point. The three of them travelled in silence on what seemed like an endless journey to Porthlevnack. As Louise pulled up by the jetty she had known all her life, the place looked the same yet somehow different as if she could now only view its charms through a prism of fear and foreboding, rather than anticipation and hope.

  John did his best to sound brisk and cheerful as they got ready to camp on the beach at Gunwalloe Cove. Their spirits lifted despite everything as they bought meat to put on the barbecue, a few snacks and several bottles of their favourite beers. John and Dan collected a great pile of driftwood to make a warming bonfire.

  When it blazed up, after a couple of false starts due to the sea breeze blowing out their matches, they looked bordering on cheerful as they stood and watched the flames lick high into the sky. John childishly hurled a great pile of seaweed on to make it smoke and pop.

  ‘That is the maritime equivalent of getting a length of bubble wrap and bursting it again and again,’ said Dan.

  ‘Erm yes, I do that too at home, actually,’ admitted John, ‘When a parcel comes I will sit there popping every single bubble until they’re all gone – infuriates my mum – I tell you, if looks could kill.’

  He faltered at that point and a grin that had temporarily crossed his face disappeared quickly. The ‘k’ word was not one they wanted to hear again that day. The pair of them fell silent at the reminder of home and families.

  John couldn’t help but compare the mild annoyance he might cause his parents by popping bubble wrap to the impact of the more sombre news he would soon have to impart – that he faced trial for attempting to pervert the cause of justice and illegally disposing of a body, and possibly even being considered an accessory to unlawful killing.

  Oxford University would be sure to expel the four of them, and that, plus a criminal record and likely gaol sentence would wreck any realistic hope of a job, certainly in any kind of profession. As for the financial reward due from the treasure, they could forget it. It would be deemed obtained through illegal means, in breach of the law and code of conduct governing the finding of treasure. That meant it would be forfeit.

  Similar thoughts were running through Dan’s mind but he was more concerned about the torment Emma must be feeling. As for Louise, she was angry and upset. Why, she mused, should she have to suffer for the actions of her friends? Emma had killed Zak and John and Dan had attempted to dispose of his body. The heads of the three of them were on the block. What had she done? If it hadn’t been for her delaying tactics, Dan would never have had the chance to get down to the caves, change into Captain Felipe’s old clothes and scare off Zak and Jake.

  Her conscience pricked her with a reminder of her boorish, loud-mouthed behaviour in the pub the previous night which had needlessly attracted attention and been the trigger for the drama the following day. Looking at it that way round, she concluded miserably, she was primarily to blame.

  ‘We’ll feel better when we’ve got some food and beer inside us,’ said John, glancing at her glum face.

  He was right. It was good to see tasty burgers, sausages, kebabs and ribs sizzling away on the barbecue, exuding a fragrant plume of smoke. When they came to eat, they were so tense they could barely taste their food. But swigging strong beers helped them to relax and feel a sense of camaraderie. They were in this mess together.

  Late afternoon came and the sun slipped noticeably towards the horizon. It was getting chillier. John and Dan threw more driftwood onto the fire and it blazed again strongly, its dancing flames more vivid and dramatic against a darkening seascape.

  ‘What do you suppose has happened to Emma?’ asked Louise as she reclined in the soft sand, allowing its grains to slowly run through her fingers.

  ‘I have no idea, I haven’t received any text or phone call from her,’ said Dan. ‘I presume she is in with the police now, making a statement. She knows where to find us and so will they by now. My guess is that they will come to the beach this evening and speak to us, possibly to arrest us, once they know what is going on. When I say us, I mean John and myself.

  ‘There’s no point dwelling on it. This might be our last night together for some while – it might even be our last night of freedom for John and me – so let’s try to enjoy it. Let’s hold on to what we’ve got: our friendship, our relationships – me with Emma and the pair of you. I’ve always believed in being grateful for what I’ve got, not resentful for what I haven’t.’

  ‘I know Dan, that’s a good way to be, but what we’ve currently also got is a university degree course at England’s most prestigious university, undreamt of wealth, and a bright future ahead of us. Only right now it is being taken away, all because Emma feels the need to do the right thing,’ said Louise.

  ‘We’ve also got plenty of beer,’ chipped in John, refusing to get too downhearted. ‘Come on, let’s have another– and he uncapped three bottles of premium German lager and handed them out. ‘Drink your medicine everybody, you’ll feel better.’

  The three of them took their beers onto the smooth rocks marking a low headland between Gunwalloe Cove and another, smaller adjacent cove. The rocks formed natural seats in which they could look out on the bay with Wreckers Island in the distance.

  Twilight was coming as the clock ticked towards 7pm – a reminder that the long days of summer had given way to shorter, chillier ones of autumn. The fiery orange ball of the sun was sinking in the sky behind them. They lapsed into silence once more, gazing out at the sea, watching it hypnotically ebbing and flowing, rising and falling; waves breaking over rocks and gurgling and hissing through the shingle. The moon began to rise, painting a rippling line of silver across the blackening bay. With it came a few stars, shining brightly in the evening sky.

  Louise broke the spell. The danger and stress was making her horny. ‘Dan, do you mind if John and I disappear for a while into the tent?’

  ‘No, you go ahead,’ replied Dan, ‘I fancy a stroll along the beach anyway,’ he replied, a smirk crossing his face for a second. You certainly couldn’t fault her libido – poor John, hope he’s up to it, he thought to himself.

  ‘Louise, I’m not sure I’m in the mood,’ groaned John. ‘I’m too keyed up today.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ said Louise. ‘It will do you good. You’ve had your condemned man’s last meal, now for your last shag. Well, hopefully not, but you know what I mean.’

  Without delaying further, Louise tugged down John’s light canvas trousers and briefs. ‘Dan will be a while, let’s make love beneath the flames of the driftwood fire.’

  She got the rug and spread it out on the sand. She stripped, leapt onto a boulder and stared out to sea with her arm raised. ‘We will conquer!’ she cried.

  It was a surreal sight in the jumping firelight. A naked young woman with long dark hair, firm breasts and buttocks, a striking black triangle jutting out between her bronzed legs, standing defiantly like some mediaeval warrior princess.

  John looked at her in awe. She had a wild, pagan streak to her, in contrast to Emma’s more conventional Christian faith. Louise loved being outside, skyclad, surrounded by the elements of earth, fire, and water. This spectacle was not indecent, but beautiful, defiant and intimidating.

  Suddenly Louise sprang from the rocks like a gazelle and landed on top of him, pulling him to the ground. She tore off the rest of his clothes. By now, John was aroused and Louise quickly guided him inside her. He penetrated her deeply, as if all his anxiety, stress and fear were propelling his thrusts. Louise let out a bloodcurdling scream as she climaxed and John, more discreetly, moaned in ecstasy and release.

  Dan, halfway across the beach, smiled and
shook his head as he heard Louise’s cry. Most of Porthlevnack must have heard, too. That deranged yell alone might have attracted the boys in blue, fearing someone was being attacked on the seashore. Odd in a way, that the police hadn’t shown up already. Perhaps they were too busy feasting on Emma and would devour him and John for breakfast tomorrow.

  Yes, that was the most likely explanation. Dan looked ahead at the lights of the village twinkling in a long, friendly line along the shore. The moon and the stars, not to be outdone, were providing their own show high in the firmament.

  It was an entrancing sight, it should have been the best moment ever: quiet contemplation of going back to Oxford with his adorable girlfriend on his arm for another fun year of student life, on the cusp of receiving a fortune. Instead, it was a smoking ruin. In fact, not quite, he reminded himself. He retained Emma’s unswerving devotion and that was worth more than anything.

  Emma, poor Emma, he yearned to be with her and share her pain. That’s what made this so cruel, that she had felt the need to be alone and do this. He would gladly have gone with her once he knew that her mind was made up. They could have given each other strength and faced the police together.

  Dan was burning to know how she was. He toyed with the mobile phone in his pocket. Should he call her, or text her? No, that wasn’t fair, she might take it as interference. She might well have had her phone confiscated by now anyway. He must resist the temptation – Emma would contact him when she was ready.

  His phone rang! It buzzed against his hand. He pulled it out. Its amber backlight was startlingly bright – and Emma’s name was flashing up! She must still have her phone, either that or the custody sergeant had returned it to her. Had she been released on bail?

  Dan’s fingers shook as he answered. He was both delighted that she had called and utterly dreading what she would have to say.

  ‘Emma, are you ok?’ he said, in a whisper.

  ‘I’m ok,’ she replied. Her voice sounded worn and tense. ‘Can you come and meet me at the police station? I won’t be coming back tonight.’