“Thanks.”Oliver grabbed his waterproof camera from the table and headed for the marlin board at the back.A shimmer of excitement settled over him.The first dive on a new wreck was always special.It was the unknown—how much would be recognisable?What fascinating items might he find?He slipped on his fins.“See you in a few.”He placed the regulator in his mouth and stepped off the boat.
Cool, refreshing water.He smiled around the mouthpiece and gave Sherlock the ‘all good’ signal before descending.It wasn’t more than ten to fifteen metres deep and visibility was a little murky, with sediment from the storm yet to settle.He checked his watch and swam towards the coordinates he’d been given for the wreck.
The sand sloped upwards, getting shallower.He scanned the bottom, trying to see the lumps of coral as shapes and just after he checked his watch again, he spotted the anchor.Not much more than a T-shape on the bottom, blending into the surrounding coral.He was impressed the woman who’d found the wreck had even realised what it was.
He snapped a couple of photos and then dived closer to examine it.It was the right size for the anchors used by the Dutch East Indies company, but there was no reason for one of their ships to enter the gulf.Before coming here, Oliver had reread the report the museum had commissioned back in 2014 to help find and identify Dutch East Indies ships off the Western Australian coast.He wanted to familiarise himself with their cargo and dimensions, but of the known ships, all were suspected to have gone down further south or west of here.
He continued swimming, slowly examining sections of coral, and his heart rate increased as he spotted something long and cylindrical.A cannon.It had to be.He moved closer to examine it.Encrusted in marine life, but definitely a cannon.It might even be stamped with the name of the ship, which would make identifying it much easier.There!Definitely a clump of cannon balls which had settled on the bottom close to one another when the ship had broken apart.
Though he longed to pick things up, he held back, instead photographing what he found.When he came back with his students, he’d get one of them to video the find.Hopefully tomorrow the sediment would have settled and they would get some decent footage.
He spread out, following the wreck plume to see if he could spot any other remnants.He’d set up a grid pattern tomorrow so they could search thoroughly, but he was aware he had limited time, so he wanted to focus on identifying the ship and cataloguing as much as he could.
When he surfaced, he was close to the island.He caught Sherlock’s attention and waved as he inflated his BCD vest.Sam was still on the island, taking photos of the rubbish, with the rubber tender pulled up on the shore.It would save him from swimming back.
Oliver pried off his fins and walked over to the tender, putting his gear inside.Then he spotted what Sam was taking pictures of.Sealed plastic bags full of white powder.Drugs.
He frowned as he joined Sam.“Is that what I think it is?”
Sam nodded.“I think it came from the barrel.”He pointed to a blue plastic barrel which had been ripped apart and now lay further up the beach.“Dot’s on her way.”
Oliver stiffened at Dot’s name.He wasn’t ready to see her like this, in his wetsuit, doing the job that had come between them.
The hum of a boat engine reached him, and he turned as a police boat came up alongside theOceanid.No chance to get changed.
“Did you see any barrels down there?”Sam asked.
Oliver shook his head.“Nothing but coral and shipwreck.”
Sam smiled.“You found it all right?Any distinguishing features?”
“There might be a mark on the cannon or anchor which will give us the information we need.”
Sherlock boarded the police boat and Dot steered it towards the island.
The sun heated Oliver’s wetsuit, but he didn’t pull it off.He had the burn-in-an-instant skin of an on-the-redder-shade of strawberry blond and he hadn’t put sun cream on his torso.Better to be uncomfortably warm for an hour, than burnt to a crisp and painful for days.
Still, the sensible decision didn’t stop him from feeling foolish.He held the police boat in place as Dot cut the engine and Sherlock handed him the anchor.By the time he’d dragged the anchor up the shore, both had disembarked.Dot wore her blue uniform, including a hat, and strode across the sand towards Sam with a scowl on her face.
He hadn’t seen her smile yet.She’d never been one of those effervescent, bubbly girls who smiled at everything, but her default expression had always been more open and friendly than it was now.Oliver joined them in time to hear Dot murmur, “I don’t have time for more of this shit.”
Sam touched her shoulder.“Maybe this time they’ve made a mistake.”
Who were they talking about?
“Have you touched anything?”Dot demanded, shrugging his hand off.
“No.Just took a couple of photos.”
She nodded as if satisfied.“I’ll take it from here.You can go.”
Oliver frowned.“Shouldn’t you have a second officer with you?”Surely she wouldn’t be left alone out here.If whoever had left the drugs discovered they’d been found, they might come back for them.A single female police officer might not be a deterrent, especially when there was no one around.
Dot turned to him.“My usual partner is unavailable—” Was that a flicker of concern?“—and my other officers are busy in town.”
He shook his head.
“I can work by myself,” she snapped.
