button.’ He tapped his temple with two fingers. ‘Why would you go around saying a thing like that?’
‘I’m not saying it for the hell of it,’ snapped Joe. ‘John Miller told Anna. Uh, confidentially.’
‘Well, it’s absolute nonsense,’ said Frank. ‘She seems perfectly fine to me. It’s John Miller’s sanity I’d be worried about.’
‘There was nothing you thought unusual about her when you two spoke that time?’ said Joe.
‘No,’ said Frank. But his mind went back to the strange sexual embrace he had been pulled into by the respectable schoolteacher.
The phone rang and Richie picked up. ‘OK,’ he said. He turned to Frank, ‘The Water Unit’s here.’
‘Water Unit?’ said Joe. ‘Why?’
Frank shook his head. ‘Joe, I have to go.’ He grabbed his keys and walked out the door. Joe followed him.
‘Frank, look, before you go…’
‘I’m on my way to the harbour. Can this wait?’
‘No, no,’ said Joe. ‘I’ve got a mug shot for you to look at. Of the guy I was telling you about? Duke Rawlins. Just in case. I have some friends checking into him in the States.
‘And this,’ said Joe, handing him the email. ‘Someone emailed this to Shaun the other day, no return address. Read the confidentiality note. This can’t all be a coincidence. I’ve spent time on this. I know what I’m talking about.’
‘OK, Joe. I’ll report this all to Waterford in the morning. They can check this Rawlins man out through Interpol, but with all the red tape, I’d say your friends in the States will be able to get back to you quicker.’
‘Thank you, Frank. I appreciate this.’ He grabbed Frank’s arm as he was trying to get into the car. ‘You’ve found something new, haven’t you? That’s why the Water Unit’s down at the harbour. What did you find?’
‘You know I can’t tell you that.’
‘What does it mean for Shaun?’
‘I think it’s what it means for Katie that matters most.’
Frank got into the car and looked at the email again. He decided to make a detour on his way home that evening.
Anna filled two buckets with hot water, squirting liquid soap into one. She pulled a grey fleece hat low over her head and slipped on a pair of gardening gloves.
Shaun was slumped in the window seat.
‘Want to help?’ she asked cheerily.
‘Yeah, right. Only moms think housework makes people feel better.’
She sighed. ‘OK, OK. I was just asking.’
Anna tucked a bag of cloths under her arm and pushed her way out the back door. It was eleven-thirty a.m., but so overcast, it was almost dark. She barely looked up as she crossed the grass, keeping her eyes on the water level in the buckets. She couldn’t help but feel better when she arrived at the lighthouse. She unlocked the doors and went up to the gallery to start cleaning the lens. Within twenty minutes, she was in the workshop, pulling out as many buckets and cloths as she could find. She went back into the house to Shaun.
‘Sorry, but you’ve got no choice. I can’t keep going up and down those steps all day. You’ll have to help me take some water up.’
Shaun glared at her. ‘I can’t believe you’re making me do this right now. I’ve just lost everything in my life, even my shitty job, and you want me to—’
‘Carry some buckets, Shaun. Nothing more dramatic than that. It will take half an hour. I’ll make it up to you. Believe me, I would rather not be doing this myself, but unfortunately life goes on.’
‘You sound so cold,’ he said. In her face, he got the reaction he was hoping for.
When he was finished helping her, he went to his room and lay on the bed, reaching for the remote control. It switched on to the news. ‘A team of Garda divers has arrived in Mountcannon, Co. Waterford, following the emergence of new evidence in the Katie Lawson murder inquiry…’ The shot cut to the harbour. A reporter in a beige coat and red check scarf raised her microphone. Shaun jumped up and grabbed his jacket.
For four hours, Anna washed down the lens, inside and out, then swept and scrubbed the floors. Darts of pain ran across the small of her back. Her shoulders ached and she was starving. She went back into the kitchen and there was a sandwich and a bottle of Coke on the counter from Shaun with a note beside it – gone out. She ate quickly and headed out again, rolling the top of a pair of overalls down to her waist, tying the arms in a knot. She pulled a blue sweatshirt over her T-shirt and walked towards the lighthouse.
‘Excuse me? Mrs Lucchesi?’ She turned around to see a man smiling down at her.
‘Hi. I’m Gary. Mark from Lawn Order can’t make it today or tomorrow. Personal stuff. He sometimes calls me to fill in.’
‘Oh,’ she said, puzzled. ‘He didn’t say anything about that. It would have been OK for him not to come in for a couple of days. There’s no real need for you to be here.’
He looked down at the pot he was carrying. ‘Well, I’ve brought some things, so I may as well just unload them.’
‘That’s very pretty,’ she said, touching one of the leaves. ‘What is it?’
‘Uh, that’s a—’ he looked at the label, ‘Hosta.’
Anna studied his face. ‘Well, you can put it down there,’ she said. ‘Near the bottom of the steps. Are you sure that’s it? That it’s something personal, that’s why Mark didn’t come to work?’
He stopped. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘That’s all it is.’
Anna watched as he walked away, then went back into the house and dialled Mark’s number. It was diverted.
When Shaun got to the harbour, the first thing he saw was the crew from the TV station, the cameraman heaving off his equipment and swinging it through the open doors of a news van. The reporter stood a few feet away, pushing away the hair that blew across her face, then climbing into the passenger seat. Shaun watched as they drove up the slope, the driver nodding as he passed him. Small crowds had gathered to watch the activity by the dock. Shaun stood far enough away to go unnoticed.
Seven men in black drysuits stood on the harbour wall, looking into the water, a line of boats rocking back and forth against the concrete beneath them. One of them nodded and the first diver slid down the side into the water, holding a thick rope in his hand. His head stayed above the surface. Then three divers pulled on black masks and jumped in after him, each with white dual cylinder oxygen tanks mounted on their backs. They held on to the rope and moved under the boats.
Martha Lawson brought a tissue up to her nose and looked away, as though they were immediately going to find a new horror for her to face. She linked her sister’s arm. The divers continued for hours, moving around the harbour, then further out, working from a small boat.
Shaun was still there after most of the onlookers had gone home. Everything he saw depressed him. The boats that could have spent a month carrying evidence out to sea in tangled fishing nets, the churning tides crashing off the rocks, even the hungry seagulls that flew overhead. The secrets of the harbour today were not the same secrets as a month ago. Suddenly, he heard a shout from one of the divers in the boat. The three divers in the water surfaced. One of them held a pink sneaker in his right hand. Shaun watched as it was placed into a clear plastic evidence bag. He started to cry. He loved those sneakers. They were so Katie.
Victor Nicotero was sitting on his deck with a cardigan zipped up to his neck and a can of beer that was freezing his hand. Patti handed him the phone.
‘Nic, when do I call you?’
‘When you’re looking for something, Joe.’
‘I know, I know. And this time, it’s for another alarm bell check. Because they are ringing loud, here. But honestly? I don’t know if a part of me is wanting something to be this way or not…’
‘Spell it out for me.’
‘OK, if you heard what I’m about to tell you…what would
