by Edna Dawes
Slowly, and very carefully, he glided along against the rock, until he reached the jutting edge which had prevented him from passing. It was going to be a tight squeeze, even now. At one point it seemed he was not going to make it, but he turned slightly, to alter the angle of his body, and he was through!
Although a small stream of bubbles coming from the fissure assured her of Rod’s presence, it was as if Nancy were alone in that vastness. After an age a pair of flippers appeared, then long legs encased in black rubber, as Rod backed carefully from the narrow opening, trying not to touch the metal in any way.
Nancy heard her heart thumping as he approached her. The nod he gave, plus the meaning in his eyes as they met hers, told her the worst. There was a body in the cockpit! Feeling slightly sick, she handed Rod the camera.
He vanished into the cockpit and Nancy waited impatiently.
Her nervousness must have increased, because it suddenly became difficult to breathe and her pulse started throbbing in her temples with a dull rhythm. Even her hearing was affected, for it was no longer possible to pick up the exaggerated sound of her own respiration, nor the bubbling of her escaping carbon dioxide.
Panic then turned into terror as she realized that the condition was not due to nerves—there was no air to breathe! The thudding in her temples increased as she fought to gasp in some oxygen from the mouthpiece which had suddenly become an empty thing between her lips, but her foolish, agitated shaking of the flexible hose leading from the cylinder on her back only increased her need for air. A pain in her chest was growing rapidly worse, and as she bent forward to ease it, she was held back by the harness round her armpits.
From the corner of her vision panel a black-suited figure was visible, but it couldn’t be Rod, because he was still inside the rock crevice. Whoever was behind her was not trying to help. Pressure on her shoulders was forcing her deeper and deeper, while hands fumbled with the apparatus on her back. Next minute, the tube connecting her mouthpiece to the cylinder floated out in front of her, the severed end waving gently like a bloated worm.
Clear thought left her at that stage. Her whole body was filled with a growing pain which throbbed and thundered through every part of her. It was useless to try to get away . . . she didn’t want to. Her only desire was for the nightmare to end in oblivion.
The hands were on her again, snatching the metal from her mouth and then pushing it back between her lips. There was something different about the hands this time, however, and her aggressor seemed to be buoying her up rather than pushing her down. It said much for her condition that she was not aware of air filling her lungs until sensible thought returned with clarity of sight.
The diver before her was Rod, this time—she would know those eyes anywhere—and he was sustaining her with his own oxygen. The thudding of her pulse decreased, bringing back full awareness and controlled movement.
There was no sign of anyone else, which puzzled her. He was here a few minutes ago, holding her down.
She got the answer almost immediately. A dark shadow descended on them, and Rod snatched his air supply before going up to meet the intruder.
Nancy didn’t panic. In her heart she knew Rod would be back before she grew desperate again. It wasn’t easy to discern which figure was which as they circled round, looking for an opportunity to attack. Each held his shark knife ready, but Nancy realized with a sinking heart that Rod was at a great disadvantage, with another person to supply with air every minute or so.
The seconds were passing. That familiar pain in her chest was returning, and the longing to breathe was becoming more urgent. But if she was suffering, then so must Rod be suffering. All the while she was taking in air, he was going without, and it was apparent that it slowed his reflex actions. He suddenly detached himself to come across to the girl, twisting round in order to keep the other diver in sight.
This was the moment his opponent was waiting for, and his legs went up in a powerful kick to propel him downward on to the pair trying to stay alive.
That kick was a mistake. The big, heavy flippers caught the wingtip of the aircraft, pushing it from its slight support on the ridge of a rock, and the whole thing began to fall outwards in a complete somersault.
The scene would remain in Nancy’s memory as one of fantasy, because she was at the limit of her time without air and focusing was difficult. By the time Rod had reached her and transferred his mouthpiece the wreck was simply a vague shadow slipping silently out of sight amid a whirlwind of broken plants, rocky debris and frightened, darting fish. Of the other diver there was no sign. He had vanished into the depths, along with the aircraft.
Rod began urging Nancy upwards. Numb of all feeling, she went, clutching his arm as if she would never let it go. It was a slow business, because they were fighting the current and sharing an air supply, although it seemed to Nancy as though Rod had the mouthpiece only half the time she did. Breaking into the translucency of water above the shelf only vaguely registered, but the quivering shadow of the boat grew larger and larger.
She found there were tears drenching her cheeks when her head broke surface. She hung on to the side of the boat, feeling the warmth of the sun-drenched wood beneath her fingers.
Hands gently pushed up her mask and cupped her head. “Are you all right?” Rod’s voice was husky and rasping from holding his breath, but the most poignant music couldn’t have had more effect on her. No words would form as she stared at his strained face.
He wasted no time in hauling himself into the boat, then pulling her from the water and sitting her down, while he took off the heavy jacket and hood, talking all the while. Nancy had no idea what he was saying. Her whole body ached, while her throat and chest felt as raw as during a heavy winter cough in an English fog, but the pain which over-rode all others was that of her debt to the man who sat beside her, removing the flippers from her feet with steady, competent hands.
When he looked up from his task and said throatily: “What you need is a stiff drink,” she sobbed.
At that point he must have realized that, to a woman, a stiff drink is not always the answer, and he took her into his arms. The warmth of his skin against her cheek and the comfort of a strength greater than her own succeeded in quietening her, until she was lying relaxed against him.
“What happened at the end?” she asked. “It was all so sudden and so frightening, I couldn’t take it in.”
Rod sighed heavily. “He went down with the wreck. There was nothing I could do. The storm yesterday had undoubtedly shifted its position, and kicking out the support provided by that wing was obviously the final act needed to send it headlong. The poor devil didn’t stand a chance, once it swung down on him. I couldn’t desert you in order to help him. He prevented his own rescue by leaving us with only one supply of air between us.” He indicated her useless equipment on the floor of the boat. “I take it he turned off the air tap first, then cut the line. You were supposed to be my lookout,” he chided gently. “Didn’t you see him coming?”
She shook her head. “I was so intent on watching for you to reappear, and the first indication I had that something was wrong was when I couldn’t inhale. He cut the tube while I was feeling too ill to realize what was happening.”
“Thank heaven I came out when I did,” said Rod. “I was extremely apprehensive about that wreckage—it was swaying alarmingly—so I took two quick pictures as best I could, and retreated. I needn’t have wasted my time! I lost the camera in the struggle,” he added bitterly.
“The elder Jamieson was in there, then?”
He tightened his lips. “Someone was in there. It will be up to a pathologist to find out who it is.”
“But that’s impossible now!”
“No, not impossible for deep-sea divers with special equipment. They’ll have to get a salvage team out here for the job now that David has enough evidence to warrant a murder investigation. He’ll want to radio his headquarters immediately. There’s no more need for secre
cy. The person who was after those opals is now on the sea-bed with them.”
Nancy shivered. “I still don’t know—I mean, who was he?”
“Or she! That’s what we have to find out when we get back. One of my staff is going to be missing!” He pulled the starter and the engine spluttered into life. “I can’t understand how David let him slip away. The arrangement seemed foolproof.”
*
The cove was quiet and deserted. At this time of the day it usually was, but there was a waiting air about the place.
The square hut was empty. The tables and chairs stood as they had been left after breakfast, apart from one which was placed by the window to give a view of the beach at all angles, but David was not sitting in it.
It was only a second before their eyes were drawn to the open door leading into the kitchen, where the policeman was stretched on the floor.
It took a bowl of cold water over his head and vigorous shaking by Rod to bring him round. He had no need to tell them what had happened; the empty food cupboards, with doors swinging wide and the bare refrigerator, completely defrosted and dripping water, spoke for themselves.
“I imagine T’iang has wreaked his vengeance well and truly now,” mumbled David.
Rod nodded and helped him to his feet. “There is a body in the aircraft,” he said bluntly.
The statement brought David back to full awareness with a snap. “You saw it?”
“I took photographs, but the camera is fathoms deep now—along with the aircraft.”
David waited for details. His training taught him to listen first and ask questions, if necessary, later. All he did say at the end was: “So we are still unaware of his or her identity?”
“Until we see who is missing, yes.”
They all went across the compound towards the laboratory, and as they went in, the sole occupant looked up from his work in surprise.
“Where are the others, Alec?” asked Rod, his voice like gravel.
“Charlie went off to do something—I don’t know—”
“And Sheila?”
“She wasn’t feeling well. I imagine she went to her bungalow.”
. . It was still and quiet on the other side of the compound, and Rod’s voice echoed in the silence as he called Sheila’s name from her veranda.
Her eyes were red-rimmed and sunken in a white face. “Oh—Rod!” she said tonelessly. “Why the deputation?”
“I have something rather serious to discuss—and I can’t tell you how glad I am that you are here to listen.” His voice had taken on a warmth which didn’t escape Nancy. “Firstly, have you any idea where Charlie is?”
She looked bewildered. “Isn’t he in the lab? He went off to collect some chloride from the store, but that was at least an hour and a half ago.”
Rod found his voice. “May we all come in?”
Nancy felt stunned. Little roly-poly Charlie; the merry man who had been so excited about his son and who had danced the cha-cha with her in such an enthusiastic manner!
Her mind came back to the present as Rod was saying: “So we knew it had to be the one person who was missing from the laboratory when we got back.”
Neither Sheila, nor Alec said a word, although the Australian girl seemed near to collapsing, and Alec was more concerned with her condition than the facts Rod had just put before them.
“No doubt, we shall unravel the full story in time,” David told them all, “but our main witness lies at the bottom of the ocean—and so do the opals.”
“No, they don’t. I have them.” Sheila Maitland’s voice froze her listeners into a tableau of incredulity.
She went to a drawer in the sideboard and took out a cardboard box. It contained several stained and dirty wash-leather pouches. One by one, she emptied their contents on to the table until there was a heap of gleaming black stones whose hearts contained rich, multicoloured fire.
“They’re all there, just as I found them.”
In dazed disbelief, Alec looked across at her. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? What does it mean?”
There was only one person in the room, as far as the girl was concerned, and the confession was made solely to Alec. “I did it for you—for us! I thought the whole thing was over and done with, but I was wrong, and now Charlie is dead. What is the point of keeping them? The investigation will drag on and on until it all comes out—the whole sordid story! Opals are known to be unlucky and these live up to that reputation. Since the night Jim caught us together, I have been so wrapped in guilt that I had to make you believe I had changed, but why do you think I wanted to stay on here after Jim died? To be near you! Although I gave you no encouragement, I saw you each day and felt we were together in some way, but I might just as well have admitted I still love you, because everyone will know the truth, after this.”
The recipient of all this was unable to say a word. He simply went to her and took her hands in a grip which whitened his knuckles.
Rod looked considerably shaken, but David, true to his profession, was studying the gems on the table with a happy smile. After several seconds he looked up from the opals and nodded to Alec, who coaxed Sheila on to the settee and sat beside her.
“You’ll have to make a full statement in time, Sheila, but would you just tell me briefly how you come to be in possession of these?” David said.
“I took them from the wrecked aircraft about three months ago—the day after Jim died, to be exact.”
“How did you know of their existence?”
“Jim told me.” She glanced up at him. “I’ll have to begin before that date in order to tell you the full story.”
“Go ahead.”
“My marriage to Jim when we were both students was a mistake and already over when he heard about this project on Wonara. He thought two years on an isolated island might solve the problem and bring us back together; but he had not foreseen that Alec and I would be instantly drawn to one another. We tried to hide it but Jim came back to the bungalow sooner than expected one night and caught Alec and me together. He said the most terrible things before walking out. When he returned after several hours, it was to collect his camera before going out again. I couldn’t understand his behaviour, but as soon as we were alone that night he told me he had found the solution to all our problems, and if I waited patiently there would be no more need to take on work like this—and I wouldn’t be casting eyes at anyone but him.”
She looked at her audience. “Several days later, he showed me some photographs of what looked like a submerged aircraft, and then produced the newspaper report about the Jamieson crash. There was no doubt the aircraft was the same one, but it seemed impossible that it could be here when the surviving brother had appeared in New Guinea. Jim hinted that he would soon be able to offer me far more than a second-class scientist could.”
She smiled wanly. “He told me that when he stormed out after finding me in Alec’s arms, he walked blindly through the jungle, but soon became aware that Charlie was some distance ahead of him on the path. Jim followed him and became very curious when Charlie went diving, out near the edge of the shelf. Jim pretended to ruin a film, then drew another from Ben and went exploring.”
She put up her hands to Rod. “You know the rest. He was in a fever to get those opals, but the opportunities to go off on his own were rare. I tried to stop him making the attempt in those dangerous conditions, but he was past reasoning with. When he didn’t return, I knew exactly where to look. While you were all out searching the reefs I walked along the path and swam to the edge of the shelf. Jim was there, trapped by his foot.”
Alec tried to slip his arm round her, but she leant away from him. Nancy was staring at the girl. What kind of woman could sit so calmly as she described the death of her husband?
“Do you mean he had been accidentally held beneath the surface until his air ran out, or that some other person had fixed the body there intentionally?” David asked.
Sheila’s blue eyes looked
candidly across at him as she said: “I don’t know. There was no air left in his cylinder, but that doesn’t prove anything.”
“Mmm. We’ll probably never know the answer. Please go on.”
“I swear I had no particular plan in my mind except that Jim had died trying to get the opals for me—so I took them.” She held up a hand to prevent Rod from speaking. “I should tell you that the aircraft was not where you found it. Its original resting place was right on the edge of the shelf, flat on the undercarriage, although I suspect the high seas of the previous day, when Jim went down, had shifted it somewhat until it was precariously perched right above the drop. It seemed logical to tip the thing over the edge afterwards, although it was only later that I realized I had put an end to any further activity from Charlie—at least, that’s what I thought. I had every reason to believe it was going right down to where it is lying now. It didn’t occur to me that it might become lodged somewhere still accessible.”
For the first time she faltered slightly. “If I had known what you were doing, Rod, I should have told you this before. There were two deaths already attached to those wickedly beautiful stones, but I could have prevented a third.”
*
Nancy knew that Ben would be down by the jetty, messing about with the boats, on his first day back at work. There was so much she wanted to discuss, and nobody she wanted to discuss it with more—except Rod—but she had only seen him during dinner at Aunt Meg’s during the past two days, and he had been completely preoccupied.
She reached the boathouse and a cheery voice called: “A bloke can’t have a cuppa tea on his first day back without some sheila trying to make a party out of it!” Ben held out the thick beaker of tea that he had poured when he saw her coming. “Just don’t get any ideas you can make it a habit, that’s all.”
Nancy looked at him with great affection. “Ben, you are the one sane person on this island. How shall I manage without you when I leave?”
“How, indeed!” he said emphatically. “You’ll write me long letters, that’s how! Just you see there’s one on the boat every month!”
