The Survivors, стр. 78

Kieran made himself look up and meet Pendlebury’s eye.

‘These are barely in shot,’ he said. And it was true. He looked down again, this time at the S–E–A of Sean. The image was very tight, with the letters out of focus and distorted by the shadows from a harsh flash. Kieran pointed to a piece of flowering lichen blossoming next to the S.

‘Bronte was clearly taking close-ups of the rock,’ he said. ‘These don’t mean anything.’

‘I didn’t say they meant anything.’ Pendlebury’s face was perfectly neutral. ‘I was asking if you knew where they were located.’

‘Some of them. I suppose.’

‘All right,’ she said. ‘Show me.’

Kieran led her across the sand to the mouth of the North Cave. It was cool and dark in the shadows, and it took a minute for Kieran’s eyes to adjust. He could see Pendlebury blinking as she gazed around.

‘Here.’ He pointed to the wall. ‘These ones you saw yesterday. And there are a few more over here.’

Pendlebury flipped open her tablet and scrutinised the screen, then the rock face. She took a few steps one way, then pulled out her own phone and took a photo. Then a few more steps, and another photo. Kieran watched as she repeated that several times, trying to recreate the angle. She stared at the tablet and shook her head.

‘I don’t think this one is right. The space between the lettering isn’t the same.’ She turned the tablet screen so Kieran could see. He could make out Ash’s name in the corner of the photo.

‘It might not be.’ Kieran shrugged. ‘There are a few around.’

‘Can we find them all? I’d really like to get these locations marked off.’

The cave stretched out before them, deep and meandering. ‘They could be anywhere. I wouldn’t even know where to start.’

‘There was no system to it?’

‘Not really. Originally we did it when we’d mapped a new route.’ Kieran found he didn’t have the energy to defend it. ‘But a lot of the time it was just because we were bored. Not Sean so much, he thought it was a shit thing to do. He did it once because I made him, but me and Ash would do it all the time. And Toby. And Finn, obviously.’

‘Anyone else? Mia?’

Kieran stopped. He felt cold in the shadows. ‘No. Why?’ He glanced up, although the lookout was completely invisible from where he stood. ‘She’s never been down here. Why are you even asking?’

‘What about Gabby Birch?’

‘No.’ Kieran stared at her, confused. ‘What does she have to do with anything? Or Mia?’

‘I’m just asking questions, Kieran. Trying to build a picture.’ Pendlebury paused. ‘How about Olivia?’

Kieran couldn’t tell if she knew, or if she was fishing. He couldn’t tell if it mattered. ‘Yeah, Olivia’s been here.’

Pendlebury was peering into the cave. The birds had settled and Kieran could hear the waves breaking on the shore.

‘Can we go in further?’ she said. ‘See what we can see?’

‘No,’ Kieran said. ‘Not with me. It gets like a maze. I don’t know it well enough.’

‘You used to.’

Kieran nodded at the names scratched into the wall. ‘I used to do a lot of things I don’t do anymore.’

‘Fair enough.’ Pendlebury flipped the tablet around so Kieran could see the photos once more. ‘Take a look at these, then. Is anything else familiar enough to pinpoint?’

Kieran flicked through more of Bronte’s photos, dreading each new shot.

‘The Survivors, obviously,’ he said. ‘And that’s the edge of the path at low tide. North Cave again.’ He was strangely aware of a faint niggle burrowing somewhere deep as he looked through the images, but he couldn’t dig it out. Something felt a little off. He skimmed through a few shots too closely cropped to recognise, then came to a halt at the sight of a familiar corner he had seen many times. The ledge in the South Cave, where he and Olivia used to meet. Kieran could feel Pendlebury watching him.

‘I know where that is.’

‘Show me, please?’

They both squinted in the light as Kieran led the way back out across the beach, this time to the mouth of the South Cave. As they plunged once more into the gloom, Kieran pointed at the photo on Pendlebury’s screen and then to the ledge.

‘Those shots were taken around here.’

Pendlebury walked over to the rock and ran her fingers over it. She dropped her hand and took out her phone, firing off a few shots of her own before frowning at the screen. She looked up again, noticing Ash’s name scratched into the rock above the ledge. She raised an eyebrow at Kieran, who shrugged.

‘Like I said, there are a few.’

His voice bounced off the walls before being absorbed and deadened by the sand. Pendlebury cocked her head, listening.

‘I can’t get used to the sound in here,’ she said, turning back to the ledge.

Kieran waited, feeling uneasy. Outside, through the arch of the cave’s entrance, he could see a wide strip of beach lying between them and the sea. Under his feet, the sand was firm. It wasn’t wet, it wasn’t covered with water. Everything was fine, he told himself. The tide was out, not in. They had plenty of time.

‘What’s wrong?’ Pendlebury was looking at him.

‘Nothing.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’ Kieran pushed back against a rare wave of claustrophobia. The roof suddenly felt unusually low and he put a hand up to check it was still out of reach. ‘Sorry. I used to come to this spot a bit when I was younger.’

‘Before the storm?’ Pendlebury was still watching him. ‘On the day of the storm?’

‘Both.’ Kieran shrugged.

She was quiet for a moment and ran her hand thoughtfully over the cave’s rocky wall.

‘I had a friend. Have a friend, technically, although –’ She sighed. Started again. ‘A couple of years ago my friend and her husband were having a few quiet drinks at home on a Friday night. After dinner, they went for a dip in their own backyard pool. By the time she realised he wasn’t messing around,