The Survivors(62)

‘Work going okay?’

‘It’s okay,’ Ash said, but a flat note in his tone suggested it was going no better than that.

‘I walked by Wetherby House earlier.’

Ash looked up at that. ‘Saw G.R. Barlin’s handiwork on the garden?’

‘Yeah.’

Ash took a swallow of beer, a long one this time. ‘Yeah,’ he said finally. ‘I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that.’

‘There’s not much you can do, is there? Not if he owns the place.’

Ash didn’t reply and, after a moment, shrugged. The moon had moved across the sky and Kieran was at the bottom of his second bottle when he stifled a yawn.

‘I should let you go.’ Ash made to stand up, and brushed the sand off his shorts. ‘You’ve probably got baby duties to attend to.’

‘You going home now?’ Kieran said.

‘In a while.’

Kieran looked at him. ‘Avoiding Sean?’

Ash gave a half-smile. ‘Maybe. He hasn’t been around much himself though. He’s out at the wreck all day every day, then I think he goes to Sarah and Julian’s place to see Liam. Things are weird now. The atmosphere in the house is shit. Sean’s been –’ Ash paused. ‘I don’t even know how to describe it.’

‘I suppose he’s worried about Liam.’

‘It’s a bit of that. But I think he also knows if it comes down to it, I wouldn’t defend Liam.’

Any warmth the sand had captured during the day had slipped away now and Kieran felt cold as he stood up. ‘Why not?’

‘No inside knowledge or anything.’ Ash took his time draining the last of his beer. ‘Liam just reminds me a bit too much of us.’

‘Seriously?’ Kieran thought about the sullen boy and felt almost insulted.

‘Yeah. You don’t think so?’

‘No –’ Kieran started, then stopped. Maybe.

‘It’s a few things. The footy stuff, the boozing, the girls – it’s all the same as it was then. You know what it was like. I suppose it was all good fun, but –’ Ash frowned and examined his empty bottle.

‘Right.’

Because it must have been good fun, Kieran thought, otherwise why did they do it every weekend? But it was interesting looking back how the good fun had sometimes felt a lot like hard work. Like the time Finn had congratulated Ash for successfully talking some girl into taking him back to her accommodation. On hearing this, Kieran had rolled up his sleeves, gone to a party at the caravan park that very night and determinedly cast off his virginity in such a joylessly transactional exercise that the best bit had been being able to tell Ash and Finn it had happened.

Or all the other times he’d found himself standing in the sticky kitchen of yet another crusty holiday rental, shouting over the music at a girl he was barely interested in. Hoping she didn’t wander off though, because then Ash would laugh and Kieran would have no choice but to join Sean, who was inevitably standing awkward and alone in some corner, flushing red every time any girl even looked his way.

It had all seemed so important at the time, Kieran thought as he stood on the beach now. Life and death.

‘Well,’ Kieran looked over at Ash. ‘Even if Liam is a bit of a dickhead, it doesn’t mean he did something to Bronte.’

‘No.’ Ash sighed. ‘And I’m not saying he did. But there’s always been something a bit off about him. Like the way he looks at Liv in the Surf and Turf when he thinks I’m not watching. Stuff he says to her. I dunno. Sean can’t see it. He still thinks of Liam as this messed-up little kid who’s struggling to make his way in the world, and whatever Liam is –’ Ash shook his head. ‘He’s not that.’

A thin shaft of light broke over the sand. Across the beach and the back fence, Kieran could see Mia silhouetted in the doorway. She held a hand up to shield her eyes and was scanning the darkness for them. She didn’t step out, though, Kieran noticed. Even knowing they were there somewhere, she still wasn’t willing to be on that beach at night.

‘I’ll let you go, mate.’ Ash looked down at Trish Birch’s backpack. ‘Do you want me to take that?’

‘It’s all right. I’ll do something with it. You’ll tell Liv about it?’

‘Yeah, I’ll have to. She won’t be happy though.’

Kieran picked up the bag and weighed it in his hand. He remembered swimming after it, drawing in his breath as he dove down to chase it. It had been sinking fast. If he hadn’t caught it, would it have washed up on the sand a few days later?

‘What do you reckon about all this?’ He couldn’t read the writing on the bag anymore. ‘Do you reckon there’s any chance Trish might be right?’

Ash ran a hand over his head. ‘God, who knows? I try not to get involved. Just help out Liv wherever I can. All I know is, that was a crazy day. A storm like that?’ He shrugged. ‘A lot of things happened that day that’ll never happen again.’

Their eyes met this time and something Kieran couldn’t quite put his finger on passed between them. Then Ash looked at the house, and at Mia, who was still waiting.

‘All right. I’d better be off.’ Ash turned to leave. He looked out into the night ahead of him. ‘Christ, they actually should do something about this beach. You can barely see a bloody thing out there.’