The Lornea Island Detective Club

by Gregg Dunnett

  "Uh huh," Tucker says at once, and this time Vinny stops. But only for a second.

  "You ain't gonna shoot me are you? You ain't got it in you."

  "And you can't call the cops, because how would you explain all this? The bag of gold in your truck. So you gotta make a decision Tucker. Shoot me. Or don’t shoot me. And if you don’t, I'm just gonna get up and walk out of here."

  “Stay on the fucking ground.”

  But this time Tucker looks away. In the distance there's a new sound. I can't place it at first.

  "I already made a decision." Tucker says. And Vinny looks confused. He's heard the sound too, and at the same moment we both work out what it is. The sound of a car, maybe more than one car.

  "I was gonna catch the boat today," Tucker says. "Keep running, but when you turned up just now, I changed my mind."

  And then two marked police cars appear from round the bend and skid to a halt. Two police officers leap out of the first car, sheltering behind the open doors, their guns drawn and trained on Tucker. They shout out, screaming at Tucker to drop his weapon.

  He looks at Vinny, and gives a bitter laugh, then lets the gun swing down and fall to the ground.

  "You thought I couldn't call the cops. Well you got that wrong. Cos I already called them."

  Sixty-Four

  The police run forward, shouting, and before I know what's happened Vinny is leaning over the hood of Dad's truck with handcuffs on his wrists. Then they shove Tucker next to him. He keeps his eyes on Vinny all the time, and I can see him smiling. Vinny isn't smiling though, he looks super mad, like he'd have preferred it if Tucker had shot him after all.

  Then they take them away, towards the cars. As they push Tucker into one he calls out to me.

  "Tell 'em everything you know Billy. Tell 'em the truth."

  Another police officer is crouched down by Dad, talking on his radio. I want to go over there, but I'm still sitting with Steven, stroking his feathers keeping him calm. Some time later a woman police officer comes over and starts asking me questions about what happened, and whether I'm alright, and why I'm sitting holding a seagull. There’s an ambulance here by then too. The medics wheel a trolley over to where Dad's lying, and before too long they take him away. I want to go with him, and the police officer says she'll take me in her car to the hospital, but then she doesn't want me to take Steven. In the end she agrees that we can take him, but only as far as the vets in Newlea. I know the Newlea vets quite well, so that's OK. I know they'll look after him.

  Then by the time we get to the hospital Dad's awake and they let me see him. But that's a bit worrying, because he's really groggy, like he's super tired, or drunk, but the doctors say that's normal and I don't need to worry. They've done scans and they don't think there's any serious damage, he just got hit really hard and knocked out.

  Then I have to give an interview, right there in the hospital, in someone's office, and talking into a video camera. I have to explain everything that happened to me, right from the moment Vinny grabbed me from the side of the road, until the police came and arrested him. It's hard at first, because they interrupt me every now and then to ask questions about how I know Vinny, and how I knew he was looking for jewelry, and I have to remember what Tucker said, about being honest. I don't really know if it's the right thing to do or not, but once I start I don't really have any choice.

  Then, because it's late by then and I can't go home, I get taken to a hotel with a lady called Gill. She's from the Child Protection Services. I already know quite a lot about them. She gets us rooms next to each other, with a connecting door, and she starts to explain how she's going to sleep right there and how I don't have to worry, but I just want her to go away so I can order dinner from the room service and eat it on the bed watching TV.

  The next day Gill takes me back to hospital, and Dad's a lot better, he's sitting up and eating. They don't let him go home yet though, because they still want to observe him in case he gets concussion. So I spend a really long day just hanging around the hospital with Gill, answering the same questions over and over and over.

  Finally Dad gets discharged and Gill lets me go home with him. We take a taxi but we don't talk much on the drive. I don't think either of us want to say anything that the driver will overhear.

  It's strange getting home. Dad has to put boards up to cover the broken windows in the house. And while he does that I look at his truck. It has actual bullet holes in the sides. Some of them go all the way through one side and come out the other.

  I wonder if Dad will want to talk, but instead he cooks us some food, and when we're finished eating he washes the dishes and tells me I should go to bed and get some rest. So I do, and I must be pretty tired, because it doesn't take me any time at all to get to sleep.

  Sixty-Five

  When I wake the next morning Dad's already up and he's set the table for breakfast. It's only cereal and toast, and a carton of long life orange juice from the back of the cupboard, but he's still put a knife and a spoon and bowls and plates on the table. The thing is, it suddenly seems weird that there's just two places. After Tucker being here for such a long time.

  "Morning Billy," Dad says. He sounds choked up too. I wonder if it's for the same reason.

  They haven't told me anything about what's happening to Tucker. I kept asking – Gill, and the police officers – I asked whether he'll go to prison and if so, for how long. But they either didn't know, or they wouldn't tell me. But I know he will. You could tell from their faces, if nothing else.

  And that makes me feel really guilty, because it's all my fault, when you think about it. If I hadn't interfered with Tucker's phone then Vinny would never have found out he was here on Lornea Island. Then Vinny wouldn't have come looking for him and then Tucker would never have had to give himself up to the police. Actually it's worse than that. If it wasn't for my interfering, Dad and Tucker would have got their loan by now and they'd be buying the Ocean Harvest already. They'd be setting up together in business just like they always wanted to ever since they were kids. Sort of like I wanted Dad to do, right at the start of all this.

  I want to say something about all this, but it's all so big. I don't know where to begin.

  "Morning," I say, in the end. And I sit down. For a moment I don't do anything, and then I pour myself a bowl of Cheerios, feeling uncomfortable because Dad's watching me. Then he gets up and makes a pot of coffee. I can hear him, pouring the water and getting a cup. Finally I can't take it anymore.

  "I'm really sorry," I say, putting the spoon down. "I'm sorry I messed everything..."

  "Stop," Dad interrupts me, his voice firm.

  "You don't have a single thing to be sorry about." He takes the seat opposite me. He's holding his mug of coffee, squeezing it tightly with both hands, but even so I can see his hands are shaking.

  "I'm the one who needs to apologize."

  I don't really understand.

  "But if I hadn't used Tucker's phone, then Vinny wouldn't have known he was here."

  Dad takes a deep breath in.

  "And you'd have got your loan. You'd be buying Ocean Harvest."

  But Dad shakes his head now.

  "You know, spending two days in a hospital bed gives you a little time to think." Dad begins, and I realize I need to stay quiet. I need to let him speak.

  "I've let you down. A lot." He pauses, like he's choosing his words carefully. "Tucker's a good guy, at heart. But when someone like him turns up, unannounced, with a bag full of pearl necklaces and gold chains, saying how he wants to use it to make a new start... You've gotta wonder. You've gotta ask, where does that come from? And I didn't ask. I didn't ask because I didn't want to know the answer.

  "But you did. You asked Billy. You asked me, and I wouldn't tell you, so you found out for yourself. Just like you always do."

  He stops talking, but for a long time he keeps looking at me. I start to feel a bit self conscious. I didn’t even know there was any gold.r />
  "But I still messed everything up. Tucker's still going to go to prison because of the way I did it."

  It takes a few moments, but in the end Dad nods.

  "Yeah. And that's what should happen too. He made the decision to rob that jeweler’s store. No one told him too. And with a guy like Vinny too. I hope he's not there too long, but he needs to spend a little time reflecting on that."

  There's a silence for a moment. It's funny, Dad's laid out this breakfast but neither of us are eating any of it.

  "And what was his alternative? Being on the run? That's no life."

  I think for a few moments, until something strikes me. "But you went on the run," I say. "How come that was right then, but isn't now?" I think it's the first time I've ever actually asked Dad about this, what happened with mom and everything when I was a baby. He watches me, his eyes level.

  "That was different. We went on the run because we didn't do it. Tucker would have been on the run because he did."

  I consider this for a few moments. I suppose I see the logic of it.

  "Eat up. I'll run you to school. But we gotta go somewhere on the way." I look up, surprised.

  "Where?"

  "Eat up. You'll see."

  I get my bag and climb into the truck. You can see all the way through the bullet hole in my door, and there's a dent in Dad's door on the other side, so that bullet must be stuck inside the driver's door. I might try and get it out later.

  "Where are we going?" I ask again, but Dad won't answer.

  So I have to try to guess. We take the road towards Newlea, but then, instead of going all the way to school, we turn off towards the Holport where Dad works. It's also the road to where Mrs. Jacobs lives, so I start to feel a bit nervous. But when we get to the junction Dad takes the road that winds down towards the port itself. I look across at him, confused, but he keeps his eyes forward and doesn't say a word.

  We stop on the hard, parking up above the basin where all the boats are moored up. I want to ask again why we're here, but there's a man waiting for us. A young guy in a suit. He's holding a plastic folder, closed, so I can't see what's in it. He shakes Dad's hand, and then he looks at me, and hesitates for a second until I put my hand out too. Then he leads us down onto the pontoon, and I start to get an idea where we might be headed.

  But I still don't really understand it.

  Sixty-Six

  "I got to thinking," Dad says suddenly. He doesn't seem to care that the other guy can hear him. "If I can buy one boat with Tucker and get into fishing, then maybe your plan wasn't so crazy after all."

  Up ahead of us the Blue Lady sits tied up, just like the last time I saw her.

  "She's thirty nine feet long," the man starts to read from his clipboard. "Inboard diesel engine. She's not the fastest but she’ll cruise at twenty knots. And with excellent MPG as well. Feel free to step aboard folks."

  The guy holds out his hand to help Dad onto the boat, I guess he sees Dad's limp, but Dad ignores him and steps across on his own. Then he reaches out an arm for me to come over too.

  "Come on Billy. You can show me around."

  I don't know what to think, so I just listen as the salesman reels off all the specifications for Blue Lady, but I'm really impatient for him to open the door. I've seen the pictures on the inside so many times, but I've never actually been inside. I've never quite worked out how it all fits together.

  "So you looking for personal use or..?" The salesman says, as he pulls out a set of keys. They're on a piece of string with a paper tag attached, the name of the boat written on it. "Or you looking to set up some fishing charter business?"

  "Neither," Dad says, looking at me. "I was thinking about maybe running some whale watching trips. You know, run some tourists out there?"

  "I gotcha," the salesman says. I think he's going to say that's a crazy idea but he doesn't. "My sister just got back from vacation in Florida. She went on one of those boats they have down there. She can’t stop going on about it.”

  Just then another boat motors past and a small wave rocks the Blue Lady in her berth. I feel her, moving from side to side under my feet and I hardly listen to Dad or the sales guy any more.

  "Are you serious?" I ask Dad, as the salesman unlocks the cabin door. "What about the money?"

  "I definitely ain’t promising anything, we gotta do a lot of work on that business plan of yours, and I still gotta speak with the bank. But I didn’t think it could hurt to take a proper look." He hesitates and looks around.

  “And she’s a nice boat.”

  Dad climbs the ladder to the flying bridge, and the sales guy follows him up. So I go into the saloon on my own. It's light inside, since she has big windows. There's the little navigation area like I saw before, and then steps leading down into the cabin proper. I descend carefully, letting my fingers brush against the varnished woodwork. Up above I can hear Dad and the sales guy talking, but I can't hear what they say. I don't even want to though. Right away I'm lost in my own world. I'm down here while we're out at sea. I'm explaining to a group of tourists, super excited, about how we might see humpback whales, or minke, or fin whales, or sperm whales or even blue whales, or even maybe orca. I've only seen orca one time, from the top of the cliff. But that's only because I've never had a boat before. I've never had a way to get out to where they like to be, off the continental shelf.

  It's warm down here, and there's a smell. It's a bit musty I suppose, but it's probably only because no one's had the Blue Lady open for a while. I hear a sudden sound below me, and I'm confused for a second, but then I realize it must be Dad and the sales guy turning on the engine to check it runs. There's a faint smell of diesel too, but overall I like it. It's nice. I sit down on the bed, right at the front of the boat, and I imagine what it must be like to sleep here, while the engine powers the boat along, cutting through the water, miles away from the land.

  Sixty-Seven

  "What happened this time Billy?"

  That's Amber. I'm back at school now, and she's just grabbed me in the corridor. She doesn't seem to be in a very good mood.

  "You go out to find out whether Principal Sharpe's had a brother or sister, then I don't hear for you for three whole days?"

  "I got kidnapped," I say, quietly, because I don't want the whole school to know.

  “Yeah right. By aliens I bet.”

  “No, it was Vinny, Tucker’s friend.”

  She stares at me, her head tipped right over on one side.

  "You got what?"

  She says that really loudly, and she's blocking the whole corridor now, her hands on her hips.

  "Come with me," I say, walking towards the canteen.

  "Why?"

  "Because it's a long story, that's why."

  I lead her to a table where no one can overhear, and I explain everything that happened. From when I was taken, on the way back from the records office, right up to when the police came and arrested Vinny and Tucker. Amber listens, only interrupting a few times where there are parts she doesn't understand. I don't know what I'm expecting when I'm finished, but it's not the reaction I get.

  "I don't believe it," she says.

  "You don't believe me?"

  "Oh no, I believe it alright. I just don't believe how all the exciting stuff happens to you, again."

  I can see she's joking, at least a bit, but it still annoys me. I guess I'm tired of the way Amber always thinks it's just a game.

  "It wasn't fun Amber. I got kidnapped. I got shot at, I nearly got killed. I thought I was going to die."

  "Yeah you said. Several times."

  She turns away from me, her arms crossed over her chest.

  "So what did you find out anyway?"

  I don't follow this.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Did you even find anything out? In this records office of yours."

  "Oh that. It isn't my records office."

  "Oh, whatever Billy. I only asked if you found anything there?"<
br />
  I feel my forehead start to wrinkle like it does when I get a bit annoyed.

  "Yes," I say. "I found out that Principal Sharpe had a younger brother. He was born three years after she was, and his name was Eric."

  From the look on her face, I'd say Amber would have preferred it if I'd not found anything out.

  "And I suppose you've already talked with him have you?"

  I look at Amber, feeling my forehead scrunch up even more. "Haven't you been listening? I was kidnapped, driven around at gunpoint and then stuck in hospital telling everything to the police over and over again. When exactly would I have had time to do any work on the case?"

  "Oh here we go again."

  I look away in frustration. I'm really not sure what her problem is.

  "And anyway," I tell her. "I can't because he's dead."

  "He's what?"

  "He's dead. Principal Sharpe's brother drowned."

  "Drowned? Fucking hell Billy. I cannot believe you didn't tell me this!"

  I sigh, really loudly. "Amber I got kidnap..."

  "How did he drown?"

  I stare at her. "Give me your phone." I say in the end. She looks at me, openly suspicious.

  "Why?"

  "Because I need to search the internet, and I lost my phone when I was kidnapped at gunpoint." I reach across and grab her phone from the table in front of her. And then I open up her web browser, peer down at the little screen, and retype the google search I made for Eric Jacobs. It doesn't take long before I pull up the article I found, moments before I was taken by Vinny.

  "Here you go." I angle the phone so we can both read it. "We can find out together."

  The search for missing teenager Eric Jacobs was called off today after police revealed he had been suffering from depression in the days before his disappearance. It's believed Eric swam out into Lornea Sound in the early hours of last Tuesday morning near to his family home and leaving a pile of clothes on the rocks. It's now understood that Eric spoke to his family repeatedly in the days and weeks before, and seemed very low. Speaking on behalf of Lornea Island Police Department, Lieutenant Dale Collins said: "The Coastguard and volunteers have worked day and night in this case, but with the fierce currents off the southern tip of the island, it's now highly unlikely that Eric's body will be recovered. Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.