“You’ve been part of Stonefish Enterprises since you were born?” He had to be high on the ladder if his father had married into the company.
“I knew nothing about the shady parts growing up. Dad worked a lot and Mother spent most of her time socialising and shopping. I was raised by a nanny, though Dad made as much time for me as he could. We’d do things just the two of us and he always encouraged me to try new things, wanted me to do well at school.” He picked up a rock from the ground and rubbed the dust off it.
“What was your dad’s role at Stonefish?”
“He headed the shipping side of the business. Paid people to look the other way when certain containers came into the harbour.”
He might have been the person who had threatened Tess’s family.
“Dad didn’t want me to be involved. He encouraged my photography and suggested I could make a career of it.” Lee sighed. “But Mother heard and they had a massive fight. She said my only destiny was to take over the family business. She made me swear I would do it.”
How could any mother want her child to live a life of crime? “Did she know the truth?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Dad never spoke about work at home.”
“So, what did your dad do?”
“He waited until she went away for the weekend and told me the truth about Stonefish. He explained the history and said it wasn’t a life he wanted for me. He had tried to escape when he went backpacking in Australia but hadn’t been able to.”
The wistful smile on his face tugged at Nhiari’s heart. “How old were you?”
“Sixteen. It was just before I had to register for compulsory service. He knew the only way for me to escape Stonefish was to sign up for longer service. So that’s what we planned.”
A child still. “What did your mother and the other members of Stonefish do?”
“Mother was furious and wouldn’t speak to either of us for almost a year. Uncle Lucas congratulated me on my service.”
Lucas. It was the first time he’d mentioned that name. She didn’t react, just waited for him to continue.
“I managed two rotations in the army before my mother put her foot down. She demanded it was time I learnt the family business.” He sighed. “I had no excuse. I started learning the legitimate business.”
Nhiari would love to arrest his mother for her involvement in this.
“Dad wanted to get us both out before I did anything illegal. He started building a case against the company, looking over the history to find different angles so we could both walk away without gaol time.” Lee smiled. “My ancestor was a pearl diver on the Retribution when it sank in Retribution Bay.”
Nhiari’s eyes widened. Everything came back to the damned ship sinking in the 1870s. The start of settlement in this area. She tried to remember what Tess had told her about the event. She had also been related to a pearl diver on the Retribution, but not part of Stonefish. “There were three pearl divers, weren’t there?”
“Yes. Tess’s ancestor, my father’s ancestor and my mother’s ancestor.” His thumb rubbed the back of the stone. “Tess’s ancestor went her own way, but the other two pooled the money they got from their portion of the treasure they found to start a shipping business out of Singapore.”
The start of Stonefish Enterprises over a hundred and fifty years ago.
“When Dad was going through the old history, he discovered a journal written in Dutch. He had it translated and found it was from another ship that went down in Retribution Bay a hundred years before the Retribution did.”
“The ship that was recently discovered?” There was a team from the maritime museum coming to document it this week.
He nodded. “It was the captain’s journal and talked of more treasure he’d buried on the island. Dad thought if he could find it, we could both leave and start a new life somewhere else. He could come back for Lindsay, and I could do whatever I wanted.”
Didn’t they have enough money from their work with Stonefish? It all sounded a little too naïve for what she knew about the company. No way would they just let them go.
But the mention of treasure sparked a memory. Jordan had been kidnapped after allegedly taking a gold doubloon to school. She’d forgotten about it in her rush to find the boys. Chances were high the Stokes had already found the treasure. It was probably one more thing they had kept from the police. She would have words with her brother and their friends when this was all over.
“That’s when Dad returned here to search and discovered Lindsay was still here.”
All very romantic. Not at all like the cut-throat organisation she’d dealt with most of the year. “What happened?” Lindsay was very much still in Retribution Bay.
Lee stood and prowled around the space, circling the cave without saying a word.
Nhiari watched him, recognising the emotion of his movement though he was very contained, his steps measured, no arms waving.
