“Kurt Webb.”
Dot was impressed Rodney didn’t elaborate further.
“I don’t know who that is.”
Rodney showed him the image taken from the drone.“Jog any memories?”
Steven clenched his hands together on the desk.A single drip of sweat followed his hairline down his face.“No, he doesn’t look familiar.”
“This might help.”Rodney opened his tablet and showed Steven the drone footage.
He gaped as if he couldn’t decide what to say.“Our drone was stolen.We reported it missing.”
“Thanks for reminding me.”Dot made a note.“We can add making a false claim to the list.”
“He made me do it,” Steven shouted.“He saw the drone and then needed me to show him how it worked.”
“Why don’t you tell us how you met?”Rodney asked.
Steven licked his lips.“Well, ah, we were at the beach, playing with the drone, and he approached us.Offered to pay a thousand dollars cash for it.”Steven shrugged.“It wasn’t worth that much, so I agreed.”
They both stayed silent.Steven looked between the two of them and then continued.“He wanted to be shown how to use it, but he had to be in the gulf, so I took him out one day.He chose the island and where to fly the drone.”
Who did he think he was kidding?The shot was taken rising from the hideout on the island and zooming in on the Stokes family.Steven knew far more than he was pretending.
“Did he say anything about the Stokes?”Rodney asked.
“Just wanted to know who they were.”
Steven wasn’t doing a bad job of pretending to be an innocent party, but then he’d had time to prepare a story in case he was caught.
“Did the kids have to share a room while he was staying with you?”
It was a stab in the dark, but worth it when Steven laughed.
“He didn’t stay with us.The kids never would have kept it quiet.”
“Where did he stay?”Dot asked.
Steven sobered, realising he’d admitted he knew Kurt had been in town for a while.“I don’t know.”
Rodney sighed.“Can we stop playing games?Kurt told us you two were friends from university, and you called him to Retribution Bay with promises he would make it rich.He’s not willing to take the fall for you.”
Dot only just stopped herself from glancing at Rodney in surprise, and kept her expression blank.Was it true?
“That’s bullshit,” Steven said.“He inserted himself up here as if he was in charge and fucked up our plans.”
She had to give Rodney his due.He’d got more information out of Steven than she had and Steven hadn’t even realised it yet.
“What were your plans?”The question was almost menacing when Rodney said it.
Steven paled.He dropped his head to the table and said, “I want a lawyer.”
***
Oliver groaned as he scanned the ocean and spotted a silver dinghy coming towards them.It was too early in the day to be dealing with treasure hunters.He tightened the strap on his scuba tank and headed to the top deck where Sherlock and Sam were.Sherlock already had the binoculars to his eyes.
“It’s set up for a day of fishing, and there’s only a woman on board.”
