“She knows about the treasure. I told her before Dad said I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“I can keep a secret.” Mischa mimed locking her lips and throwing away a key.
Be that as it may, the fewer people who knew, the better. “I’m not certain it’s anything. I need to check my notes.”
Lara danced from foot to foot as if the sand were hot. “Can you check them now?”
“They’re at Sam’s.”
Jordan and Cody were walking towards them, and the others watched. If Stonefish had people tracking the Stokes’s activity, he didn’t want to stay in front of the plaque for too long. “Come on. Let’s get back to the others.” He scanned the surroundings, checking the sky for drones and the island for movement. Nothing he could see, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something there.
He moved across the sand, noting Gretchen was stripping down to her bathers. What a body. Lean from all the swimming she did, but with only a partial tan because of the long- sleeved rashie she wore for work. Brandon went across to speak with her while the others headed for the water.
If he stayed in Retribution Bay, he had to get a waterproof prosthesis, or figure out how to get from the sand to the water on one leg. Hopping wasn’t graceful, and neither was crawling, but relying on someone to be his crutch also wasn’t ideal.
Lara and Mischa ran back to the boys, and they headed to the water to play Marco Polo. Arthur smiled. Some things never changed. He remembered playing the same game with his friends when they were kids.
Brandon turned to him. “Find anything?”
“Maybe.”
Gretchen spoke. “Do you need a hand getting into the water?”
The gut clench was automatic. He didn’t want to be the person people had to help, nor did he want her to view him as a charity case. “Brandon can help.”
She nodded and moved towards the ocean.
Here was someone else he needed to make amends with. Brandon was the only one he’d told about Amy. Funny he should be the one to find her.
“You spoke with Amy.”
Arthur nodded, unsurprised that Brandon should bring it up. He probably knew exactly what they spoke about.
“Thank you.”
“It was past time.”
Brandon nodded. “We all knew the major was a bastard, but I guess we didn’t realise how bad he was.”
Arthur shrugged. “He was my father.”
“We can all do stupid things because of family.”
Arthur didn’t take offence at Brandon calling him stupid because he was including himself in that statement.
Brandon shifted his feet. “You seem to be less… more…” He waved his hand up and down. “Normal.”
Arthur laughed. “Thanks, mate. You never thought I was normal.”
His friend winced. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m not wallowing in self-pity anymore,” Arthur said. “Getting back into the world has been good for me.”
“Took your time about it. You should have told us sooner.”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t. It was all too much.”
Silence for a moment before Brandon asked, “What happened?”
