The Survivors(89)

Kieran could feel Pendlebury’s eyes on him. She seemed to know what he was going to ask even as he opened his mouth.

‘What were Finn and Toby doing out on their boat in the middle of the storm?’





Chapter 31


Pendlebury didn’t answer. Kieran waited but she simply gazed back, a faint hint of regret or apology or both in the air.

‘Why were Finn and Toby out on their boat?’ he tried again.

‘I don’t know that, I’m afraid.’

Kieran wasn’t sure if the dull rushing he could hear was the ocean or the blood pounding in his ears.

‘Finn knew the storm would be dangerous,’ he said. ‘He and Toby were two of the only people who realised how bad it could get. They were the ones warning us the day before to stay off the water.’

‘I understand that. But I still can’t tell you why they were out there.’ Underneath Pendlebury’s neutral tone, there was a note Kieran couldn’t place.

Mia was watching her. ‘Can’t or won’t?’

‘Can’t. I would be speculating. I’m sorry,’ she said to Kieran, who was leaning heavily against the safety rail. ‘This is obviously a lot for you to process. I hope I’ve done the right thing in telling you, but I feel in the end the truth’s usually the best –’

Pendlebury broke off and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Kieran hadn’t heard it ring, but she frowned at the lit-up screen.

‘I’m so sorry, I really have to take this.’ Pendlebury lifted the phone to her ear. ‘Just a minute, please,’ she said into it, then lowered it again. ‘Thanks for showing me around down there, Kieran. I’ll make my own way back to town. And, listen –’ Her full attention was on them and she was silent for a long moment. ‘If you have any questions, you know where the station is.’

Pendlebury raised the phone, dropped her head and turned away. Kieran didn’t move, unsure if this was her way of avoiding further discussion. He felt Mia touch his arm.

‘Let’s go,’ she said firmly and clicked the brake off the pram.

The lookout was out of sight behind them before either of them spoke again.

‘She knows why they were out there.’ Mia’s voice was low.

‘I think so too,’ Kieran said. ‘Or has an idea. There was something in the way she was talking, right? So why won’t she say?’

‘I don’t know.’

Their footsteps crunched along the trail as they passed the cemetery gates. Kieran marched on, barely registering the path in front of him. He kept trying to take a breath, but was finding it hard to fill his lungs. After a few more paces, he felt Mia slow.

‘Stop. Take a minute.’ She parked the pram. The path was deserted in both directions. From where they stood, the ocean was an unbroken flat plain.

Kieran turned to her, his chest still tight. ‘What did you make of that stuff she showed us?’

‘About the timings? I’d want to check it properly, but –’ Mia nodded. ‘What she was saying looked right to me.’

‘Me too. And also George Barlin, yeah? He spotted it on his own.’ Kieran ran his hands over his head. His heart was hammering like he’d been swimming for hours. ‘So –’ He was struggling to form his thoughts. ‘Is that it? Just like that? It’s suddenly not my fault anymore?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Mia said. ‘Yes. Maybe.’

‘So what now?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I don’t know either. Oh God, Mia. I am so tired.’ He covered his eyes. They were hot and prickling. ‘I am so tired of feeling guilty.’

‘I know.’ She put her arms around him. ‘It’s okay.’

‘But this means I don’t have to feel that anymore, right? That’s what this means?’

A pause. ‘That’s right.’

He pulled back. ‘So why don’t I feel any better about it?’

Mia looked at him, her hands still warm against his arms. She didn’t say anything, and he almost had the urge to smile.

‘I know you’re thinking the same thing as me,’ Kieran said.

‘And what’s that?’

‘You’re thinking that I don’t feel better because it’s bothering me why Finn was on the water.’

‘Okay, yes,’ she conceded. ‘That is what I was thinking.’

Kieran’s almost-smile faded. ‘And that if Pendlebury knows but wouldn’t tell me –’ He breathed out. ‘There’s a reason for it. So what’s the reason?’

‘It could be a lot of things,’ Mia said. ‘I don’t think you can draw any conclusions from that.’

‘Can’t I?’

‘No. You can’t.’ Mia fell quiet, then looked back along the path. ‘I was actually thinking something else too.’

‘What?’

‘That if Pendlebury does know why Finn was on the water, that’s some pretty impressive inside knowledge,’ she said. ‘Especially for a woman who’s not a local. She might be a good cop, I don’t know either way, but she’s definitely an outsider. She wasn’t here for the storm, she doesn’t remember it the way we all do. If Pendlebury knows something about what happened here twelve years ago – something that specific – it’s because someone’s told her. Someone who was here. It has to be.’