“Colin’s fingerprints were on the blue drug barrel we found.”
He rolled his eyes.“The kid messed up again?”
Dot shook her head.“I took those fingerprints on site.Before the barrel came in, before any of you touched it.”
His eyes widened.“Shit.”
“We need to question him.The lab called and left me a message, but Colin didn’t pass it on, so it appears as if he knows what they’ll find.I’m not sure why he hasn’t run.”
“Nowhere for him to go, I guess,” Martin said.“Stonefish get rid of people who know too much.”
Dot exhaled.“Let’s get this over with.”She opened her door and Colin looked up from his desk.His face fell.Yeah, he knew what was coming.“Colin, come into the interview room, please.”
His shoulders slumped as he glanced behind her at Martin and then stood.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
Chapter 13
Oliver couldn’t focus on work.The idea of Dot in danger niggled at him like an itch he couldn’t scratch, making it difficult to concentrate.She was in town where he couldn’t see her, where he couldn’t protect her.Not that she needed his protection.Not anymore.Back at university he’d been the one introducing Dot to Perth, and he’d felt important teaching her the ways of the big city.She’d needed him.Now, if anything, she’d be protecting him, but that was beside the point.He wasn’t with her like he should be.
Like he should have been all of these years.
He wanted to say to hell with the shipwreck, let people take whatever they wanted, if it meant he could be with Dot.
Stupid.
She didn’t even want to be near him.Sure, they’d had a moment before Rodney had arrived, a slight thawing in the frost, but it didn’t mean Dot had forgiven him.
“Oliver?”
He blinked and glanced at Sherlock, who was obviously waiting for an answer.“Sorry, I’m off with the fairies.What did you say?”
“Are you going on the next dive?”
His students were waiting for him, already suited up and ready to go, except Andrew, who was floating in the water because of his seasickness.“Of course.”Quickly he zipped his wetsuit and put on his scuba gear, running through his checks with Sam.
“She can take care of herself,” Sam murmured.
Oliver didn’t bother denying his concern.“I don’t like this.”
“None of us do.The quicker we can catch them, the better.You’re doing your bit here.It might be Stonefish representatives who are taking from the wreck.”
That didn’t make him feel any better.He turned to his students.“You continue to take recordings of everything.I’m going to search for more cannons.”They nodded and jumped in.
Oliver stepped into the tender and put on his fins as Sherlock motored him to the spot they’d identified as a point of interest.Sherlock had sent up a drone earlier in the day to look for other parts of the ship.After three hundred years submerged, there wasn’t any of the wooden structure left of the ship, but they’d found manmade items, things of metal and glass in particular.And there weren’t enough cannons for this type of ship, particularly when it had been carrying such precious cargo.The journal had mentioned they had been jettisoned in the storm to stop it running aground.
Sherlock slowed a few hundred metres from the main wreck site and pointed.“Down there.”
From here it was a dark lump, but there were definite lines on the edges.Oliver smiled as his heartbeat increased in anticipation.This was what he loved about the job.The thrill of discovering something which had been lost for centuries.
Sherlock put the boat into neutral and then Oliver went over into the cool, clear water.From this distance, it was clear the objects beneath him were manmade.There were too many straight lines for it to be natural.He descended slowly, scanning the lines, noting the weed and coral growth and the fish schooling around.A few metres away was another line, and beyond that, another.
Oliver took photos, falling into a rhythm with only the sound of his breathing disturbing the peace.He reached out and touched the first cannon, rubbing some of the growth from it and seeing the tarnish underneath.He counted those in the clump and then followed the path of lines until he couldn’t find any more.Eight cannons.It never ceased to surprise him that the ships were so well armed, but piracy had been alive and well in those days.He took measurements, recording them on his underwater notepad, and then checked his tank.Enough air to explore a little further.The main wreck was in front of him, and they may have jettisoned other heavy items in an attempt to save the ship.
Plus, he’d never explored the area where he suspected there could be more drug barrels.This was how he could help Dot.
He swam slowly, scanning left and right to find any other artefacts.Something to the left caught his attention, a movement which didn’t seem right.He turned and spotted the culprit.At first he thought it was more weed floating in the water, but then he noted what it was attached to.A large, navy-blue barrel.
