Read the town history. Talk to Mr Brown. Don’t go in the water.
Signed, Senior Constable Ricky Carpenter
And there,down the bottom of the page, in a different coloured ink, as if he’d added it sometime later.
Salem - Be careful what you do and say in front of him
I wish I was kidding
Leave while you can
Sawyer readit and read it again, not sure what to make of any of it. Senior Constable Ricky Carpenter was the man Sawyer had replaced. Carpenter hadn’t just quit Tenebrae Cove. He’d quit the police force, and he’d quit Tasmania, and then he’d moved to the mainland, apparently.
Whatever he’d encountered here had sent him into a spiral. His comms and reports back to Hobart, which Hadeom had given Sawyer to read, had started out very proficient, succinct, and detailed. Typical police reports.
A month into his tenure, his reports started to decline. They’d gotten worse by month two and three, and by the fourth month, it was like reading the journal of a madman.
When Sawyer had asked what had happened to the last police officer posted to Tenebrae Cove, Hadeom had saidCarpenter hadn’t adjusted to the isolation, and Sawyer could see why he’d think that.
But now, after Sawyer had been here and met some of the inhabitants, he would also agree with Hadeom’s initial statement that Tenebrae Cove was “weird.”
Something in Tenebrae was off. There was an unsettling feeling, something under the surface that didn’t feel right. Something that pinged on Sawyer’s radar.
Not forgetting his encounter in Hobart with the guy who’d “shimmered” before he disappeared into the water and Hadeom’s Special Unit, Division Thirteen. That was the catalyst for Sawyer’s being here, after all.
They had to be related.
Sawyer was determined to find out, and he was going to start with the first name on the list. The man who, for reasons not yet known, couldn’t stand the sight of him. And for reasons also unknown, Sawyer liked that he rankled him. He liked that he got a reaction out of him.
Consortium leader Ciaran Brenner.
Chapter
Four
CIARAN
Five years.
He was going to be here for five years.
If Sawyer was only here for a few months, Ciaran thought he could endure it.
Whatever “it” was.
But five years?
Ciaran couldn’t do five years.
The problem was, Sawyer seemed capable of lasting that long too. He wasn’t green like Carpenter had been. Or the line of cops before him. Inexperienced, flippant, extroverted and in need of human interaction.
No, Sawyer didn’t seem that type at all.
What did Tobin say? That Sawyer was quiet, watchful. Observant.
He was older than the last cop, and, if Ciaran understood anything about fishermen, he was patient.
Sawyer had also requested the placement. He’d wanted to come here. Probably looked at a map, saw how removed from civilisation it was, and thought,Yes, that’s the place for me.
