‘I think it’s an RIB.’
‘A rib? ’
‘Rigid inflatable boat. Yes, I’m right. And it’s anchored in some way.’
‘Out here? Strange.’
‘Can’t see anyone aboard.’
‘Give them a blast on the horn.’
‘When we get closer.’
A few minutes later, Jim Bentley sounded the horn.
Nothing came back.
‘Be like that,’ he said.
‘They won’t have a horn,’ Hallows said.
‘They could wave.’
‘They’re lying low. Shagging, I expect. Thought they were all alone in the ocean and we show up, giving them the fright of their lives.’
‘It’s early in the day for that. Seriously, I’m wondering if they’re in trouble, engine failure or something.’
‘They’d be waving to you by now if they are.’
‘Not much sign of life. Suppose the guy has had a heart attack.’
‘Serve him bloody right for being at it so early in the morning,’ Norman said.
‘I’m going closer, just to be sure.’
Hallows sighed. He wasn’t going to get the game done. He stirred himself, got up and watched as they drew alongside the anchored inflatable gently bobbing with the waves. No one was aboard.
‘The Mary Celeste,’ he said. ‘Another unsolved mystery of the sea.’
They both stared down into the empty boat. It was larger than most inflatables, with an inboard diesel that powered an outboard motor. The anchor chain looked sturdy.
‘Should we do something?’
‘Like what? Send up flares? A Mayday call? I wouldn’t mind betting there’s a perfectly good explanation for this.’
‘Get a GPS reading. That’s the least we can do.’
Hallows saw the sense of that. He checked their position with the phone, picked up a pen and made a note of the coordinates on the back of his hand.
‘You know what?’ Bentley said. ‘There’s another line in the water as well as the anchor. See the red cord on the far side?’
‘Where?’
‘Going over the tube. From here it looks like part of the structure, but it’s a line on a reel fixed to the hull.’
‘I see it now.’
‘I reckon someone’s doing a dive and that’s his safety line.’
‘You could be right. What’s the point of doing a dive out here, I wonder?’
‘Something of interest below us, like a wreck. Divers make a thing of seeking out old wrecks. There are hundreds along the coast.’
‘Treasure hunting, you mean?’
‘Not really. Just knowing there’s something down there to explore.’
‘Dangerous, doing it alone.’
‘Bloody stupid, if you ask me. Do you think he’s all right?’
‘How would I know?’
‘Let’s wait and see, just to be sure he’s OK. He’ll be coming up shortly. They don’t stay down all that long, even with breathing equipment.’
‘If you want,’ Hallows said. ‘But I think we should give him space, move off a bit. He could get a panic attack if he spots the bottom of our boat alongside his.’
Bentley started up again and took the cruiser some thirty metres south of the inflatable, still within hailing distance. ‘Something to tell the ladies, eh, how we did the decent thing and made sure a diver was safe?’
‘I suppose.’
‘We could fish while we’re waiting.’
‘It had better not be that long.’ Hallows sank into the cushions, took out the phone again and went back to playing solitaire.
Several more minutes passed.
‘He’s up. I can see his head,’ Bentley said.
Hallows joined him again.
Masked and hooded, the diver took a couple of overarm strokes towards the inflatable and flopped his arms over the near side. He had his back to the cabin cruiser.
‘He hasn’t seen us.’
‘He looks OK. I’ll give him a shout.’ Hallows cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, ‘Are you all right?’
Now the diver turned his head and lifted the mask and they could see the pink oval of his face. After staring for a moment, he raised a thumb.
‘He’s fine. Well in control.’
They watched as the diver hauled himself over the side and into the boat. It was quite an effort with the cylinders he had on his back and he was no lightweight.
‘Go in closer,’ Hallows said. ‘I’d like to know what’s down there.’
The diver was reeling in the line. He seemed to have finished for the day.
Bentley took them closer. In this calm sea it was a safe manoeuvre.
Hallows took a souvenir picture. In the spirit of boating people across all oceans, he called out, ‘Anything of interest down there?’
The diver turned his head and called back, ‘Bugger off. I’m busy.’
‘Suit yourself, mate,’ Hallows answered. ‘There’s gratitude,’ he said to his friend. ‘We stop to make sure he’s all right and he tells us to bugger off. I was about offer him some coffee from my flask. Full steam ahead, skipper.’
Diamond couldn’t avoid bringing Georgina fully up to speed. Soon after waking at six thirty, he’d checked with Chichester CID and the girl Melanie was still missing after two nights. There was a full-scale alert. The parents were distraught and a family liaison officer was with them at their home trying to see if there was some detail they’d overlooked. The fact that Melanie had visited the police station to enquire about the missing teacher earlier on the day she’d disappeared was a bizarre coincidence no one could understand.
He waited near the dining room entrance, trying to ignore the tantalising aromas of breakfast. When the boss finally appeared at around eight thirty he put down the paper he was pretending to read and followed her in. She waited to be seated, oblivious that he was behind her until he spoke.
‘Mind if I join you?’
She turned and frowned. Suspicion, more than pleasure, was her first reaction. ‘I thought you liked to eat alone.’
He nodded. ‘Table talk isn’t one of my strengths, particularly in the morning.’
Her shoulders twitched. ‘Don’t feel under any obligation, then. We can ask for separate tables.’
‘That’s not what I meant.’
‘Do you have something to discuss?’
‘If that’s all right with you.’
‘A working breakfast? I’m all for that.’
They were shown to a table by the window. Georgina said she would have toast and coffee. After Diamond had collected a plate heaped with everything on offer at the hotplate, he explained why Melanie’s disappearance needed following up.
Georgina saw the point. They were charged with examining Hen Mallin’s conduct and if anything at all had governed her recent behaviour it was missing persons: Hen’s niece, Joss, and the series of local criminals she had been investigating and campaigning about. And now there were two people from the local school, a teacher and a student.
‘The teacher went missing during the summer,’ Diamond said. ‘She left the school at short notice and vanished. Nobody knows the reason — or will admit to it, although she wasn’t popular with her classmates.’
‘Did DCI Mallin know about this?’
‘She would have seen the report on the teacher, but she may have decided there was no link to organised crime, like some of the other cases on her radar. You can’t get excited about every missing adult on your patch.’
Georgina raised the knife she’d been using to butter toast and brandished it between them. ‘But consider this. What if the teacher — what’s her name?’
‘Miss Gibbon.’
‘What if Miss Gibbon was involved in crime and Mallin overlooked it?’
‘Miss Gibbon a villain? That’s a new angle.’
Georgina looked pleased with herself.