“You can keep the leftovers, so you have more than one decent meal this week.”
“I’m going out to the Ridge for dinner tomorrow.”She sipped her wine.“Tell me about the rumours you’ve been hearing about treasure.”
Lindsay raised her eyebrows, acknowledging the change in topic, before saying, “Everyone’stalking about it.There wasn’t a single person who came in today who didn’t ask me what I knew.”
Just perfect.Dot didn’t have to just worry about tourist treasure hunters, she’d have to be concerned about the whole town as well.“And what do you know?”
“Less than you, I’m sure.”Lindsay took a bite of her food.“Jordan showed up at school on Friday with a gold doubloon, which was then stolen from him and shown around the school.At lunch, he was kidnapped and was later found safe, but Nhiari was taken as a substitute.”
It was close enough to the truth.“Where do people think the treasure came from?”
“That shipwreck Oliver is investigating.People believe Georgie Stokes found the treasure when she found the wreck.”
Dot cursed inwardly.They had tried to keep Georgie’s involvement quiet.“Why do people think Georgie found the wreck?”
“Because Tony loaned Georgie his boat a couple of days before the discovery was announced and Georgie had been in the area.She’d told him she was doing Parks and Wildlife business, but if that had been the case, she would have taken their boat.”
Sometimes intelligent people were the bane of Dot’s existence.“Why keep searching if they think the treasure has already been found?”
“People are always looking for a get rich quick scheme.The romance and fantasy of it all is too much of a temptation.”
“You’d be doing me a huge favour if you told people to stay away.Oliver and his team don’t need people swarming the shipwreck, and I don’t have the staff to guard it day and night.”
“You don’t believe anything is there?”
“If there is, it’s government property.It’s illegal to take anything off a shipwreck in Australian waters.”She sighed at her briskness and softened her tone.“But no, I don’t think there’s anything there.”
“Where did the doubloon come from then?”Lindsay asked.
“There’s no proof there ever was a doubloon.Myra said she confiscated it, but it’s disappeared.It was probably some old bit of metal that had been painted gold.”
Lindsay looked sceptical, but she said, “I’ll advise people to stay away.”
“Thanks, Linds, I appreciate it.”
“Anything for you, you know that.”She stood and cleared the dishes.“Any news on Nhiari?”
“No.”Dot ignored the guilt of lying to Lindsay.“But she’ll be all right.She can hold her own.”
“I hope so.That Lee seemed like such a nice guy when he came into the supermarket.”
Dot murmured in agreement and then frowned.“Who mentioned Lee to you?”
Lindsay tilted her head, thinking.“Holly mentioned him when she came to get ice cream today.”
That made sense.Holly’s son, Cody, had been kidnapped and held by Lee.
“It’s been a hard few months, hasn’t it?”Lindsay said.“Who would have thought Retribution Bay to be a hot spot for animal smuggling and poaching?”
Though Dot trusted Lindsay, there were things she couldn’t tell her.Dot took her time before answering.“It’s been surprising.”Someone in town had to be involved.They’d caught one person, but he wasn’t talking about who he’d been working with.She was tempted to ask Lindsay if she’d heard rumours about that as well, but she didn’t want her friend involved.Stonefish could target Lindsay if she started asking questions.“What have you been up to?”
“Work keeps me pretty busy.There was talk about starting a swimming club and someone asked me to play bridge with them.”
Dot glanced at her.“Who?”
Lindsay busied herself washing the dishes.“Mitchell.”
“From Parks and Wildlife?”Mitchell was several years younger than Lindsay.
