The Survivors(8)

Kieran had scanned the water for the dark slick of a wetsuit, a head bobbing amid the waves, but the surface remained unbroken. He wasn’t really expecting to see him. The wreckage of the doomed SS Mary Minerva lay thirty-five metres deep. Sean could be gone for a while.

The memorial commissioned in tribute to the fifty-four passengers and crew who had lost their lives nearly a century ago now stood on a rocky outcrop, facing out towards the site of the sinking.

The memorial was said to be visible from both land and water in all weather. It wasn’t, though, Kieran couldn’t help but think with a sting of bitterness every time he saw it now. Not all weather. Still, people seemed to like it. And it was more recognition than most shipwrecks ever got. The Tasmanian waters were notorious for having claimed more than a thousand vessels, their rusting skeletal remains decaying slowly, turning the island’s waters into an underwater graveyard.

‘Business is good, thanks,’ Sean was saying now, raising his voice above the noise in the Surf and Turf. ‘Had a busy summer, which helps. Glad it’s over now, though.’

‘Time for the fun stuff?’ Kieran said.

‘Yeah.’ Sean smiled. ‘First booking’s in a couple of weeks. Got a group flying out from Norway.’

‘You ready for them?’

‘Getting there.’

This had always been a demanding time of year in the business, Kieran remembered, and nothing would have changed. Sean would have spent all summer taking tourists fishing and snorkelling and on easy shallow-water dives, making the money while it was there to be made. When autumn came and the algae that clouded the summer sea cleared, the serious cold-water divers would start flying in from around the world to take advantage of the few short months of peak underwater visibility, and Sean could do what he loved best – go deep.

The Mary Minerva was one of the few accessible shipwrecks in the state, but it was only for divers who knew what they were doing. And divers who knew what they were doing didn’t want to waste the experience in suboptimal conditions, so the window of opportunity was limited. By July, winter sea conditions would become so treacherous that it would be impossible to reach the wreck, and the Mary Minerva would be left in its submerged solitude for another year.

‘I was planning to be a bit further on with the safety checks by now,’ Sean was saying. ‘The Norwegians want to get into the engine room, but I dunno about it this year. I don’t like the feel of that north-facing wall. I really need to get right in and have a look but I think my good torch has gone overboard somewhere.’

‘I lent it to the girls.’ Ash didn’t look up from his phone.

‘My yellow torch? The waterproof one?’

‘Yeah. Sorry, thought I said.’

Sean blinked. ‘I’ve been looking for that for weeks, mate. I was literally about to buy another one.’

Ash saw Sean’s face and laughed. ‘Come on, don’t be like that. I thought I’d said. Anyway, they needed it. They only had a small crappy one.’

‘It’s expensive.’ Sean still seemed a bit annoyed. ‘And you’re not supposed to use it for too long on land, the bulb can overheat. Hey, Liv –’ he said as Olivia brought over the tray with their drinks. ‘– are you girls finished with my torch? The yellow one?’

‘Oh. Yeah, I think so.’ She unloaded the tray and tucked it under her arm. ‘It wasn’t me who wanted it anyway, it was Bronte.’

Sean frowned. ‘What for?’

Olivia hesitated. Bronte was stacking glasses at the bar, out of earshot. ‘She thought she heard something out the back of the house a couple of nights.’

‘Really?’ Mia raised her eyebrows. ‘What, the bit leading onto the beach?’

‘Yeah,’ Olivia said. ‘I mean, if your housemate says something like that you obviously take it seriously, but –’ She leaned against the table, absently running a thumb along the chain of her necklace. ‘Look, I’m not saying she didn’t think she heard something. But I’ve been there for two years and never had any problems. Even in the summer when you’ve got people out on the sand at all hours.’ Olivia looked at Ash. ‘I mean, you’ve never heard anything either, have you, when you’ve stayed?’

Ash shook his head. ‘I had a look around, just in case, with the tourists, you know? But nothing to see. I mean, the shed’s always unlocked, but nothing in there was gone. It was probably a dog or something.’

Mia frowned. ‘Still. It’s a bit creepy.’

‘I know,’ Olivia said. ‘It was pretty unsettling for a while. But the window in Bronte’s room faces the sea, and you know what it can sound like with the wind and water. Especially if you didn’t grow up with it.’

They all nodded at that.

‘Anyway.’ Olivia shrugged and turned to Sean. ‘She hasn’t mentioned it for a couple of weeks so I think –’ She broke off and turned as Bronte walked past. ‘Bronte, you’re finished with that yellow torch, aren’t you?’

‘Oh.’ Bronte stopped, a little awkward as she realised all eyes were on her. ‘Yeah. I am.’

‘Are you sure?’ Sean said. ‘Because if you’re having trouble with noise from the beach or whatever, I’ve got a different one you can –’