She scuffed over the sand and kicked at a rope of seaweed, releasing a squelch of liquid over her shoes.
‘Shit.’
She looked along the beach. The tide was in, a soft shimmer of waves throbbing against the coast. The sky was gauzy, high haze diffusing the light into a veil over the world. The Inch was a spectre out there, Fife unknowable behind it. She squinted against the fuzzy brightness, longed to see a pillar of smoke driving up from the island, lava spewing from the vents. It was crazy but she missed the island even now. It was so much a part of her, integral to her life, that she couldn’t bear to be away from it for too long.
She felt something under her feet. The sand seemed to vibrate and dance, a yellow blur all around. A gang of seagulls lifted up in a fluster and she felt the first jolt of the quake, a shudder that made her balance shift. She planted her feet, gazed around. Other beach walkers had stopped and done the same, waiting like statues for it to subside. That’s all you could do. A rumble under her shoes as the ground shifted again, grains of sand chasing each other towards focus points, like hourglasses running out. Her fingers were splayed, knees bent like a surfer on a board trying to stay on the big wave. More shifts, a tip one way then the other, the seagulls high in the sky, the air silent like everyone was holding their breath. The shudders gradually subsided replaced by a tremble, a guitar string being plucked, a thin thrum that she felt up her legs and into her hips.
Then it was over.
Surtsey realised she really had been holding her breath. She sucked in air. That was more than just an aftershock. That was as big as the one she’d experienced on the Inch two nights ago. She hadn’t heard any earthquake predictions on the news, but it was a hopelessly inexact science, guessing when earthquakes and volcanoes would fire into action. The earth wanted to keep humankind on their toes.
An old man walked past, highland terrier snuffling at Surtsey’s ankles then scuttling off.
‘Strong one, eh?’ he said.
She watched the man as he walked away. She’d grown up with these disturbances her whole life but he knew a time before them, had spent most of his life on solid ground. She tried to think what that felt like.
She flinched at a ringtone in her pocket. She pulled out her own phone. She was carrying both phones now, in case there were more messages. But this was her phone ringing now. Halima.
‘The earth move for you, babes?’
‘Hal.’
‘Sorry I never got back sooner, been in a dumb meeting with Rachel. “Keeping the ship steady in these turbulent waters,” or some shit. What’s the big panic?’
Surtsey pulled at her earlobe. ‘I need your help.’
‘I’ve got your back, you know that.’
‘Good.’ A pause. ‘Have you spoken to the police yet?’
‘Just on the island yesterday. Why?’
‘They’re coming to see you.’
‘Right.’
Surtsey could hear the doubt in Halima’s voice.
‘I need you to lie to them.’
Static on the line for a moment. ‘What’s this about?’
A young mum was sitting with two toddlers along the beach, picnic blanket laid out. Sippy cups and sandwiches, a bunch of grapes. The kids were nonplussed by the recent quake but the mum threw Surtsey a worried look.
‘They just interviewed me,’ Surtsey said. ‘About the whole Tom thing.’
‘We seriously need to talk about that, by the way,’ Halima said.
‘We will, I promise. The cops asked me where I was the night before we found Tom.’
‘You were out on a date.’
‘I said I was at home with you the whole time.’
Silence. ‘Why?’
Surtsey closed her eyes. ‘I panicked. I didn’t want them thinking… they already knew about me and Brendan, and me and Tom. I didn’t want them to know I was out with someone else.’
Halima sighed. ‘I don’t know, babes.’
‘These cops were dicks,’ Surtsey said. ‘Judging me, you know what it’s like.’
‘Still.’
Surtsey breathed in and out.
‘Maybe you should go back and tell them the truth,’ Halima said.
‘I can’t,’ Surtsey said. ‘I already feel stupid, I can’t handle even more guilt.’
‘I can’t believe they’re hassling you. Are they really suggesting you had something to do with Tom’s death?’
‘They’re just fishing, they don’t have a clue about anything. They didn’t like me, that’s for sure, because of my thing with Tom.’
‘But this date guy is your alibi.’
Surtsey paused. ‘No, you’re my alibi now. OK?’ She had her teeth clenched. She made an effort to ease the tension in her jaw. ‘You said you’ve got my back, Hal.’
‘Come on.’
‘It’s not like you need to lie. We did stay in that night drinking, watching TV. That’s all you have to say.’
‘Maybe miss out the part where we got monumentally stoned.’
Surtsey forced a laugh. ‘Yeah.’
Halima’s tone had shifted, she was on board. ‘OK.’
‘You’ll do it?’
‘I’ll do it.’
The gulls had drifted back down and were pecking at the seaweed looking for food.
‘But we need to talk about all this, Sur. Tonight, yeah?’
‘Definitely.’
Halima ended the call and Surtsey put her phone away. She got the other phone out her pocket and stared at the screen. Flicked to Messages and read through the texts from last night. She scrolled through the other messages between her and Tom, arranging to meet at the Inch. They’d never explicitly mentioned the place, but Surtsey got her own phone back out and deleted all the messages between them. If the police took her phone they could presumably get that data back but it was all she could do for now.
She looked at Tom’s phone. This was the key. Someone had been following them. She had to find out who, and what they wanted. Her thumb moved over the letters:
Come and get me, motherfucker.
She pressed send and looked up, stretched her neck, easing out the knots in her shoulders. In the distance one of the toddlers
