The Lost Summers of Driftwood

by Vanessa McCausland

  She tried to stay calm, even though every inch of her wanted to shake him out of his delusion. ‘Do you really think Tommy would have told you if it was Karin?’

  He didn’t answer, he just stared ahead of him at the crashing waves.

  ‘Think about it, Jez, why do you think he might not have? Because Karin’s dead.’ She didn’t want to be cruel but something dark and unexpected twisted in her chest.

  His eyes flashed. ‘Phoebe, where is this coming from? Do you realise what you’re saying?’

  A sound, incredulous, and not at all like her, came out of her mouth and she pressed her palms against her forehead. ‘Of course. Of course I do. I’m not saying this lightly, Jez. Don’t you think I want to be sitting here eating our breakfast in oblivion and contemplating an amazing new life together, instead of talking about Karin and Tommy?’

  ‘Well then what? What the hell is going on?’ he asked, swivelling his body to face her, a look of pleading in his eyes.

  She had to steel herself to go on. ‘I found something.’ She took a deep breath. ‘It links Tommy to Karin.’

  ‘What?’ His voice sounded hard.

  ‘A photo on Tommy’s phone.’

  Jez’s face screwed up in disgust. ‘On his phone?’

  There was no way to soften the blow. ‘Camilla took it last night when he was over at our place for the party.’

  Jez blinked in confusion, as though she’d slapped him. ‘Camilla took Tommy’s phone because she thought he was having an affair with Karin?’

  Phoebe’s body flooded with adrenalin. She pressed her hand against the pain in her chest. She didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to fight with him, but she made herself stay there, gripping the seat with her hands. She took a breath. Tell him the truth. Just tell the truth. ‘No, Camilla didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to take the phone. It was my idea.’

  ‘What the hell? What photo?’ The wind snatched at his voice.

  She swallowed hard, biting the inside of her lip until she could taste blood. ‘When Karin died, the police found her suicide note, or they thought it was her suicide note. It was written in flowers on the kitchen table. It said, “I’m sorry”. The flowers were dead by the time they found her body.’

  ‘What does that have to do with Tommy?’ There was a hint of defiance in his voice.

  ‘He had a picture of the same flowers on his phone. The same words. “I’m sorry”. But the flowers were alive.’

  Jez stared at his hands, twisting in his lap.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Jez, but don’t you see? That means something. It means somehow he saw her, or was communicating with her right before she died. No one else has seen those flowers alive. Not the police, not even me.’

  Jez looked up now, his gaze to the horizon.

  She went on. ‘I think her note was meant for Tommy. That’s why the picture is on his phone. Karin wrote the words in flowers, took a photo of it and sent it to him. If that’s true, it wasn’t a suicide note. It was just a message to him saying she was sorry about something.’

  Jez leaned forward, elbows on his knees, face in his hands. He glanced at her sidelong, as though he didn’t know who she was anymore.

  ‘Why wouldn’t the police have found that photo on Karin’s phone if she sent it to him?’

  Phoebe shook her head. ‘If she was having an affair with a married man . . . I know what Karin was like. She would have deleted everything she sent and received from Tommy.’ She looked at him straight in the eye. ‘I know because it’s what I would do.’

  ‘You don’t know any of this for sure. There’s probably a really simple explanation.’

  She laughed. The laugh wasn’t bitter, it was pure. ‘Jez, I want that to be true more than I’ve ever wanted anything—apart from my sister to be alive again. I don’t want this to come between us. Not after everything we’ve been through.’ Her voice broke. ‘I love you.’

  His lips curled into a quick smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Well, the only thing to do is to talk to Tommy, get him to explain the photo. Where’s the phone now?’

  ‘It’s back at the house. Jez, I’ll talk to Tommy, but I’m not giving him back the phone. Not yet.’

  ‘What are you going to do with it?’ His voice was flat, dreadful.

  She shook her head. ‘You know I can’t give it to him.’

  He moved closer to her on the bench. Her food fell onto the ground, its guts spilling out. ‘You don’t know what Tommy’s been through. You can’t do this to him.’ His eyes were pleading with her. ‘Jenna can’t know about this. It will break her. What about Harry? We’ll talk to Tommy, give him back his phone, sort it out. He’ll explain the photo, I promise.’

  She felt a hot surge of anger rise up through her body. ‘It’s not your promise to make, Jez. I don’t trust Tommy.’

  He took her hand and squeezed it. ‘Trust me, then.’

  Tears welled in her eyes. ‘I can’t. It’s too big. It’s bigger than you and me.’

  He gripped her hand so hard it hurt. ‘That’s not true. It is you and me. Don’t do this to my family. We’ve all been through enough.’

  She snatched her hand back. ‘What about my family and what we’ve been through?’ She was crying now. ‘My sister is dead. Tommy might have had his struggles but he’s alive. He knows things about Karin’s death that no one else knows. That’s wrong, Jez. He’s done a bad thing keeping it to himself.’

  He hushed her, pulling her close, so that she could feel his heart through the thin fabric of his T-shirt. He stroked her hair. She pulled back and looked into his eyes. She couldn’t stand seeing the uncertainty in them.

  ‘Please, Phoebe,’ he said.

  She knew what he was asking. He was asking her to keep Tommy safe, just as she would ask the same thing for Karin.

  She fought the instinct inside her to placate, to reassure and to smooth over. She shook her head and sat up, away from him. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t promise anything, Jez. This is Karin.’

  His face was pale. ‘This is Tommy. He’s all I’ve got.’

  It felt like her heart was being sliced into tiny pieces but she just nodded. ‘I need to get back,’ she said and stood.

  CHAPTER 25

  Camilla was nursing her head at the kitchen table, a mug of black coffee in front of her, untouched. ‘Where’ve you been? Argh. You could have warned me—these country folk sure know how to party. Dad’s gone into the Bay to get bacon. He’s dusty, too.’

  Phoebe didn’t respond. She sat down at the table and held out the phone.

  Camilla straightened, her voice huskier than usual. ‘No way. You got in?’ She took it carefully and studied the image, working her lower lip with her teeth. ‘Is that . . .?’

  Phoebe’s voice was a whisper. ‘It’s her note. Her flowers. But alive.’

  Camilla’s hand went to her mouth. She was silent for a long time. When she spoke her voice was thick with emotion. ‘They’re so beautiful. On his phone. Oh my God, how is this possible?’ Her face was blanched with shock. ‘You were right Phee.’

  Phoebe shook her head and took a deep breath, the river drawing her gaze. ‘I wish I wasn’t, I really do. But it all fell into place when Jez mentioned Tommy’s affair and I just knew. I knew. Karin might have told me if it was some random guy but she never would have told me about Tommy.’

  ‘Why? Because of Jez?’ asked Camilla, her eyes softening.

  Phoebe looked away. ‘Yeah, because of Jez.’

  Camilla blinked as though trying to focus. ‘Well, this is evidence, Phee. We have to take this to the chief investigator.’ She reached for her phone on the windowsill. ‘Hang on, I’ve still got his email. He’s based at the station in the Bay.’ She was already back to her organised capable self.

  Phoebe crossed her arms over her body, physically bracing for Camilla’s reaction. ‘Wait. I thought maybe we’d talk to Tommy first, get his side of the story.’

  Camilla made a snorting noise through her n
ose. ‘And give him a chance to make up an alibi? Change his story? No fucking way.’ She took a long gulp of coffee.

  Phoebe thought about Jez. Would he have already told Tommy about her suspicions? Their trip back in the car had been difficult. Neither of them had been able to be fake with each other, so they were silent. Jez’s eyes were fixed on the road, the muscles working in his jaw, a vein in his forehead pulsing. He hit the steering wheel hard with the palm of his hand and swore loudly when someone pulled out in front of him in the main street of the Bay. His anger frightened her more than it should have. He dropped her at her house with a skid of tyres. She got out and turned back to him. His face softened as though he was going to tell her she was right and that he would be there for her no matter what. But he rubbed his chin and looked away.

  ‘I’ll see you later,’ Phoebe said and closed the door on his awful silence.

  She hadn’t told Camilla about Jez; it just complicated things. Her sister would find out in the end. Phoebe knew Camilla was probably right about taking the phone straight to the police, but she was torn.

  ‘Maybe we should give him a chance,’ she said, watching as Camilla scrolled through the photos on the phone. ‘I’m not saying give him the phone, just talk to him, you know? There could be a simple explanation. Or maybe he’s been feeling guilty this whole time and wants to tell the truth. Maybe he’s just covering up an affair.’ She could hear the flimsiness in her own voice.

  Camilla shook her head and drained the last of her coffee. She stood and placed the mug in the sink. ‘This totally implicates Tommy in Karin’s death. She either sent this to him in a phone message, in which case it could have a whole other meaning and it’s not a suicide note like they thought. Or he was there at the scene and took a photo on his phone, which is totally creepy and I don’t even want to think about what that might mean. Either way, he knows something about her death that we don’t . . . and the police don’t.’

  ‘Why would he keep it on his phone if it implicates him?’

  Camilla fixed her with a steely look. ‘Why would he kill our sister?’

  Phoebe’s heart leaped at this, even though it was the thought that had been burning inside her. Her voice was wobbly, unsure. ‘This isn’t saying he killed her. Maybe they were just having an affair and he doesn’t want that to get out.’

  ‘We don’t know what it’s saying. But it’s damn well saying something.’ Camilla’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re the one who started this. Why are you backing out now?’

  Phoebe shook her head, feeling her heart thump a little harder. ‘I’m not backing out.’

  ‘You totally are. We can’t steal and hack into a Federal Police officer’s phone and then go have a casual chat to him about it. I don’t know, maybe he could have us arrested or something.’

  ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

  Camilla cocked her head and raised one eyebrow.

  ‘Okay, so you’re probably right. I just feel—’

  Camilla took a step forward and gripped her by the shoulders. ‘You were right, Phoebe. I’m so sorry I doubted you. I thought you were a little crazy digging everything up . . . that it was all a bit pathetic, if I’m completely honest.’

  Phoebe scoffed and hung her head but she didn’t move from Camilla’s grip.

  ‘But something else is going on here and the police need to know about it. We’re never going to get her back, but if someone hurt her . . .’ Camilla’s voice broke then and she took a sharp breath in.

  Phoebe pulled her sister in close, smelling the sweet coconut scent of her hair and for the first time in her life, not resenting it. Camilla was right. Of course she was. She was seeing clearly, without the ulterior motive, the cloudiness of Jez. ‘Okay. It’s okay, we’ll go to the police. We can go down there today.’

  Camilla took a step back and pulled her hair off her face. ‘I want to go now. Let’s just go. Give me a minute. I’m such a mess.’ She headed for the bathroom.

  ‘Should we call first, do you think?’

  ‘I think we just go,’ she called from the bathroom.

  Camilla emerged minutes later, smoothing down her jeans, lipstick freshly applied. She was different now, softer somehow. The invisible barrier between them had come down. Phoebe picked up her handbag and was removing her phone from its charger when there was a knock on the front door.

  She looked up to see Camilla’s face crumple with alarm. ‘Who could that be? Dad’s due back from the Bay but he’s got keys, hasn’t he?’

  The knock was louder this time. Phoebe’s breathing quickened. A friendly neighbour didn’t knock with such insistence. She shoved her phone and Tommy’s into her bag. ‘Take this,’ she pressed her handbag into her sister’s arms. ‘Tommy’s phone’s in there. Go out the sliding door and climb over the fence to Ginny’s house. Start walking up the road and I’ll meet you at the top of the hill in a bit.’

  Camilla’s eyes flashed with realisation ‘You think it’s—’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Will you be okay?’

  The knock was a loud thump now, as though someone was pounding with their fist.

  ‘Just go,’ Phoebe said, squeezing her sister’s hands.

  Camilla opened the sliding door and took a step out onto the deck and then Phoebe heard him. She could hear the relief in Camilla’s voice and watched with a kind of cold dread running through her as Camilla came back inside with him. ‘It’s just Jez,’ Camilla said, a smile on her face, the bag cradled in her arms like a baby.

  Phoebe’s eyes met Jez’s and she saw that same heart-wrenching detachment was still there. She wanted to tell Camilla to run right now but no words would come.

  Instead Jez spoke. ‘We didn’t think you were home.’

  ‘It’s Tommy at the front door,’ Phoebe said, her voice strangely emotionless. The dread was thickening along her limbs. Her body was glued to the spot, like a bad dream where you try to move, to run, but nothing happens.

  Camilla flashed her a questioning look and Phoebe swallowed, trying to work out what to do. She was too consumed by the emotion of seeing Jez, the knowledge that he must have told Tommy. And then suddenly Tommy was in the room with them. He was so tall. She’d never noticed how big he was. His face was flushed, from sun or emotion, she couldn’t tell. His brown eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. He pushed them up onto his head and smiled.

  ‘Ah, you guys are here. We thought we’d missed you. Jez said you found my phone.’ He ran a hand casually through his hair. ‘Thank God. Where was it?’ His voice sounded normal, confident, only very slightly out of breath. But Phoebe could read Jez, and Jez was edgy. He was waiting.

  Camilla’s eyes darted from Tommy’s to hers, unsure and wary. Phoebe felt protective of her sister suddenly, aware of how physically tiny she was for all her bluster. She’d always been the smallest person in the family and now standing next to Tommy, holding the bag containing the phone, Phoebe felt fear buzz along her skin. She tried to steady her voice, stay calm, play Tommy’s game. The problem was, Jez knew her, too. He knew that her legs were trembling and her mind was reeling. Tommy knows we’ve seen the picture. It was that same ancient, subconscious part of her that had led her here and so she listened to it, she begged it to guide her.

  ‘You nearly missed us. We were just going into the Bay, actually,’ Phoebe said, trying to sound casual.

  ‘We’re just headed in. We can give you a lift if you want,’ said Tommy, thumbing over his shoulder. Phoebe waited for him to mention the phone again but he didn’t. She felt sick rather than relieved. Tommy was a Federal Police officer. He talked down hostage situations and strategised security for visiting heads of state. It wasn’t the end of things, it was only the beginning.

  ‘Thanks, but we’re good,’ Camilla said, her voice steady but her wringing hands betraying her. ‘Got to get some petrol on the way in anyway.’ She laughed, for no apparent reason.

  We have to get out of here, now, Phoebe thought. She strode into the kitchen a
nd located Camilla’s keys on the kitchen table. It would be better to be in an Audi than her ageing Golf.

  ‘Do you want to drive or shall I?’ she asked without looking at any of them, bypassing the lounge and heading down the hall towards the front door, her strides unnaturally long. Follow me, she urged Camilla silently. Tommy would have to physically restrain them to stop them leaving the house. Was he capable of that? It really depended on what the picture on his phone meant. The front door was close. She heard the thud of footfalls behind her and she turned.

  ‘Hey, hey, hey.’ He loped towards her, his body loose as though he were kicking a ball on a Sunday afternoon instead of cornering someone in a narrow hall. Phoebe froze, her hand finding the cool metal of the doorknob. Tommy held his splayed palms up in a mock surrender. ‘I just want to talk. No need to go running away. Can we talk?’

  She saw Camilla standing behind Tommy, her face white and eyes wide. Phoebe hadn’t been there for Karin and now she’d put Camilla in danger. It was up to her to finish this. She stood to her full height and looked Tommy in the eye. ‘What do you want to talk about, Tommy?’

  He laughed and rubbed his chin with his thumb. She noticed he hadn’t shaved. ‘Why don’t we all just sit down and have a proper adult conversation about this?’

  ‘About what? About your phone?’

  ‘Look, Phoebe.’ His voice was soft now. I bet he’s been trained to talk this way, she thought. ‘Let’s just be upfront. I’m an upfront kind of person and I think you are, too.’

  Phoebe laughed then, she couldn’t help it. It sprang out of her, high and incredulous. ‘You’re an upfront kind of guy are you, Tommy? Is that why you’re standing over me, not wanting me to leave my home because of a picture on your phone that you’ve kept hidden for a year?’ Phoebe knew she probably wasn’t playing her cards right but she couldn’t stand his sanctimonious shit anymore. She could see him clearly now—the entitlement, the arrogance, the sense of control he exerted in all situations.