“You showed her Hannah’s video.”
“I sent it to her, yeah,” he says, unconcerned. “Called up that Kmart where she worked, got her number. Bought a cheap burner phone. Sent her a little warning along with the video.”
“This is what happens to rule breakers.”
He grins. “Yes, I know you went to see Rachel’s mum, Min. You’re not gonna last long in a town like this if you don’t stop looking into shit. You should know that.”
I ignore this. “What rule did Hannah break?”
He frowns. “Hannah was a greedy bitch. She and Donny both.”
“You knew Donny Granger?”
“Hannah was Dad’s courier. Donny couriered for your dad. I used to help them load the abalone into the coolers. Packed ’em into their Camry for transport. Then our dads found out they were overcharging. Pocketing the difference.”
“Then what happened?”
“We wanted to teach ’em a lesson. We took Hannah on theEasy,told her we were going poaching.” He pauses, remembering. “I threw her in. Dad was gonna let her swim back. Except…”
“You chummed.”
He grins. “They were around anyway. I mean, God knows we’d been hunting the great whites for years. Chumming to bring ’em in. I swear, when they heard the engines, they’d come roarin’ in, looking for a feed.”
“And they found one.”
“Sure did!” He grins. “Hell of a show. My dad wasn’t that upset about it.”
“And Donny?”
“Your dad took him to the woods. I honestly didn’t think he’d kill ’im, but…” He shakes his head admiringly. “Your dad was a fucking nutter by then. And paranoid as all hell.”
I see my father, hunched over his fishing knife, dragging it across the whetstone again and again. “We’re all nutters, I s’pose,” Luke admits. “Lots of sick shit went down in those woods.”
I know he’s thinking of the cabin. Amy.
“I can’t explain it,” he continues. “I’m like the sharks when they smell blood. It changes ’em. Changesme,too.”
“You’re either the shark or the food.”
He points his finger at me in satisfaction. “Your dad was right about that, Min. Everyone needs a bit of shark in ’em.”
Can you hear it, Min? The ocean? Calling and calling?
“That’s what Dad meant,” I mumble. “He used to hear the ocean calling. It drove him mad.”
“Doyouhear it?”
“…Sometimes.”
“There’s an ugliness in you, too, you know. I’ve seen it. You used to rip fish guts out with your bare hands,” he says, laughing. “You were a feral little thing. We all were. And Amy…” He smiles at me, admiration shining in his eyes. “We all know what you did to her, Min. What youtriedto do. When I heard ’bout what you did on TV, I thought,That’s her. That’s our Minnow.” He laughs. “To be honest, I thought you’d come back to join the family biz.”
“I didn’t know what the family bizwas.”
“Now you do,” he says flatly. “It’s not too late.”
“Right,” I say, motioning to the boat, to me.
“I’m not gonna kill you, Min. Your brother would hunt me down.” He crouches, rubbing his chin. “But Iamgonna teach you a lesson.”
