“Have they got all the barrels?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been diving all afternoon.”
“All right. I’ll send someone out to collect them. You’re sure Dot is stuck there?”
“That’s what she radioed to the boat.”
“Good work. Let me know if anything changes.” Lee paused. “Have you heard from your dad?”
“Yeah, I saw him yesterday before they decided we had to stay on the boat overnight.”
Nhiari perked up and Lee asked, “He’s in town?”
“Staying at a motel.”
“Do you know which one?”
“The one as you drive into town.”
Lee glanced at Nhiari, and she nodded. She knew which one he meant.
“That’s great. You all right there? Does anyone suspect you?” Lee’s genuine concern came through.
Was he worried about Andrew’s safety?
“No. They’re all too interested in the shipwreck. Can’t I go home?”
“Not yet. Just a few more days. Call me if you run into any trouble.”
After he hung up, Nhiari said, “He’ll be safe on the tour boat. Sam and Sherlock will make sure no one is hurt.”
Lee sighed. “Andrew has no experience in this kind of thing. He’s likely to say the wrong thing and get himself in trouble. He doesn’t understand the seriousness of what he’s involved in.”
“Surely as Lucas’s son, it affords him some protection.”
Lee laughed. “I killed Lucas’s oldest son and barely got a rap over the knuckles. Lucas is only concerned about the business and making money. Clark threatened that through his actions, so he was fair game. Lucas has always seen Andrew as a disappointment, so he wouldn’t be overly concerned if he was killed either, though his wife would be devastated.”
What a horrible way to live. Nhiari couldn’t imagine having no one she cared about, or being used like that. “Do you want to track Lucas down?”
Lee shook his head. “If Lucas wanted me to know he was in town, he would have said so. He’s up to something. Probably wants to get to the treasure before me. His trust doesn’t last long.”
Nhiari itched to arrest Lucas, but they had no definitive proof he was involved in all of this. They needed concrete evidence.
“I’m calling Steven,” Lee said. “I need to act as if I’m still working for Stonefish and, based on what Andrew told me, we don’t know whether Dot has got all the drugs. I’ll send him to check the remaining barrels.”
“There’s still Sam and Sherlock. They’ll try to stop him.”
He shrugged. “Steven should be stealthy. If he gets caught, it means one more person is out of the picture and Stonefish has less hold on Retribution Bay.”
Nhiari liked the sound of that.
It didn’t take long for Lee to make the phone call. “It’s late,” Steven complained. “Can’t it wait until the morning?”
“No,” Lee replied.
“But I won’t be able to pull them up by myself.”
Lee’s eyes widened. “I’ll get someone to meet you at the southern boat ramp in thirty minutes.” He hung up and dialled another number.
