Dead Man's Dive, page 13
“Well, I’ll be in touch about work but we’re not there now,” he grinned. “Right, I’m going to go and lie to your grandfather about how much I enjoyed being on his boat.”
Tamsyn laughed out loud as he walked over to speak to Ozzie who listened, nodded, accepted his thanks, and the two men shook hands.
Max and Maisie didn’t need to be told to say their thanks, too, which was heartfelt.
“I really liked the dolphins,” Maisie said.
“Yeah, they were awesome!” Max added. “But the best part was seeing Dad puke his guts up.”
“Hey!” Rego yelped, as they all laughed. “I’m getting better. I only puked once on the way back.”
The family waved goodbye to Tamsyn and Ozzie, leaving them to tidy the boat, clean and stow the equipment, as the family walked away along the pier.
Rego felt Cassie’s warm hand on his back and caught the scent of her perfume as she leaned in closer to him.
“Have a good day, luv?” he asked.
“The kids loved it,” she said with a smile. “Max definitely loved seeing his dad chuck up his breakfast for five hours nonstop.”
Rego groaned.
“Ah, come on! I wasn’t that bad.” Then he glanced at Tamsyn who was still watching them. “I’m glad you got along with her – she’s a nice girl; she’ll make a good copper one day.”
“A good copper? Really?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, confused by his wife’s tone.
“For goodness’ sake, Rob!” his wife said, her tone exasperated.
“What?”
Cassie shook her head. “For a smart man you can be really stupid.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Can’t you see that Tamsyn has a huge crush on you?”
Rego was appalled. And slightly flattered – he was only human.
“No, she doesn’t,” he said quickly.
“She really does. Even her grandfather sees it – that’s why he doesn’t like you.” Cassie paused, considering. “Of course, I wouldn’t blame you for fancying her; she’s young and beautiful so I can see why you might be attracted to her, too
“I don’t!” he yelped, sounding like he’d just been stung. “I’m not!”
“I’m glad to hear it, because I’d remove your balls with a rusty spoon.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t blame me.”
She gave him a look that said, Don’t push it if you want to keep both balls attached.
“I’m serious, Rob. She has some real hero worship going on. Don’t get me wrong, I like her, but you have to be careful.”
His wife’s comments left Rego uneasy. He hadn’t picked up any vibes from Tamsyn, but he knew that victims latched onto their perceived saviours and could quickly get caught up in a spiral of attraction that wouldn’t otherwise be there if not for the circumstances – and he had saved her life a few months back.
He glanced behind him and saw that Tamsyn was still watching him. She gave a bright smile which he returned cautiously, and vowed to be very, very careful. The wrong signals to an infatuated junior officer had ruined too many marriages and more than one career.
He turned his head to look at his wife and she raised her eyebrows, as if saying, See? I told you so.
“Rob,” Cassie said quietly, “when you do say something to her, be kind.”
Rego was glad his wife had pointed out to him the huge pit that he’d been marching towards completely oblivious, but the timing was shit. He knew that he needed to distance himself from Tamsyn to avoid any potential problems, but at the same time, he needed her help and expertise on the Kuzma case – and he was going to have to lie to her about it and put her career in jeopardy as well as his own.
First thing that morning, he’d gone to the station and signed over the device and GoPro to security service agents. They’d watched over him as the digital files had been locked and sent to a secure server before they left.
Officially, he was off the case; unofficially, he was running an off-the-books covert op that meant he had to behave as normally as possible. And what could be more normal than a man taking time off to be with his family on their summer holiday.
God, Cassie was going to kill him if she found out what he was doing. He hated not being able to tell her, but it was safer that she didn’t know. He hoped that she never knew.
Rego had many faults – his wife reminded him of them daily – but his dedication to the job was never questioned.
That evening, he took his family to supper at Mackerel Sky in Newlyn, where Maisie refused to eat the mackerel or any other kind of fish – awkward, considering it was a seafood bar. At least she ate the chips.
Back at the cottage, with Maisie sleeping and Max playing a computer game on his laptop upstairs, Cassie opened a bottle of wine and handed him a glass.
“Are you going to tell me what’s really going on?”
Rego looked up guiltily.
“What?”
“Come on, Rob,” she sighed.
He grimaced.
“I can’t,” he said quietly.
“So,” she said slowly, “this is about the job?”
“As always,” he sighed.
“Anything you can tell me?”
Rego thought for a moment. “You might see Godber knocking about.”
“Oh no!” she half-laughed, half-groaned. “I thought he’d left the police?”
“He’s … consulting,” Rego said vaguely.
Cassie shook her head.
“Well, I’m going to bed and I’m taking the wine with me. Are you coming up?”
“In a minute,” he said.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Tamsyn was dragging by the time she and her grandfather arrived home at the cottage. Operating all day on just a couple of hours sleep, she was shattered.
Her grandfather didn’t seem tired – he seemed as immutable as the granite walls of their cottage, and he’d clearly enjoyed being with Max and Maisie. It made Tamsyn wish for things that she had no business wishing for.
Too tired for self-reflection, she hit the shower then sat on her bed drying her hair, smiling as she heard her grandmother’s strident disbelief that they’d returned home without any fish.
Jess FaceTimed her just as she was crawling into bed.
“Hey, you! You look rough. What are you up to? How did the date with hot DI go?”
Tamsyn rolled her eyes.
“It wasn’t a date, you wench! His wife and kids were there.”
“I know, but it’s fun to wind you up. So, what were they like?”
“The kids are great, really nice. Max is twelve, and he was trying so hard to be cool – it was cute. I showed him how to bait a rod and he picked it up really quickly. And Maisie is eight going on eighteen – she promised to give me a makeup tutorial while she’s down here.”
Jess laughed.
“She’s right – your makeup sucks. Mostly because you hardly ever wear it anymore since you started with the police.”
“I don’t have the time … and I don’t want to be mistaken for a stripper.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Nothing, it’s a joke.”
“I wonder about you sometimes.”.
“I wonder about me, too.”
“Well, get to the good stuff: what’s his wife like?”
“I really liked her,” Tamsyn sighed. “She’s gorgeous, like a model, great with the kids, great with Rob.”
“‘Rob’, is it now?” Jess said, raising a pencilled eyebrow.
“He told me to call him that when we’re off duty,” Tamsyn said defensively.
“Hmm.”
“What does that mean?” Tamsyn asked, then wished she hadn’t.
“It means you’re crushing on your boss big-time,” Jess said accusingly.
“Oh God, no way! He’s, like, old.”
“Yeah, tell it to someone who believes you. He’s hot.”
“And married. And I really liked Cassie.”
Jess sighed. “Sucks to be you.”
“Anyway,” Tamsyn grimaced, “he was seasick all day – I lost count of the number of times he threw up. He’s a terrible sailor – it would never work.”
“True dat,” Jess laughed. “The guy you end up with would have to be half fish.”
“That’s gross! Look, I’ve got to get some sleep, I’m absolutely knackered.”
“Yeah, okay. Tam?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know how you do it, day in, day out, seeing people at their worst.”
Tamsyn was surprised by Jess’s serious tone.
“It’s not really like that, not always. I am seeing people at their most vulnerable but most people are good; only 1% are bad.”
“You really believe that?”
“Yes, I do.”
Jess smiled crookedly. “Of course you do, ya big softie.”
“Softie?”
“Better than ho-bag,” Jess laughed.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
“Alright, talk soon. Love you!”
“Love you, too.”
Tamsyn fell into a deep sleep with Morwenna curled up at her feet.
Chapter 18
On Tuesday morning, Rego left Cassie and the kids sleeping, and drove the 80 miles to Plymouth to talk to Nate Tregowan face to face. He needed to see the man when he asked for his help. He found him at Sutton Harbour running a training exercise for the next fleet of police divers, equipping them with the skills they’d need to combat maritime crime.
High-tech equipment was stacked on cobbled streets that lined the harbourside, framed by some 200 listed buildings, including the Plymouth Gin Distillery, housed in a former monastery which dated back to the 15th century, and the Mayflower Steps where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World in 1620.
Rego watched for a moment as pairs of divers practised finding small items such as mobile phones in the murky water.
Tregowan saw him from a distance, nodded, then within a few minutes had worked his way across to Rego. His steps would look slow and casual to onlookers, but Rego could see the tension in the man’s body.
“I’m surprised to see you here, sir,” Tregowan began formally.
“Not as surprised as I am, Nate,” Rego admitted. He looked around at the historic buildings, attracting tourists in numbers. “Seems like an unusual place for a training session.”
“The harbour has protective double-lock gates that guarantee depth of water at all stages of the tide, as well as shelter from extreme weather.” Tregowan met his eyes. “I take it you’re not here to find out about my training methods, sir.”
“Nate, I need your help – but I have no right to ask for it. All I can say, is please hear me out before you make a decision.”
Tregowan raised his eyebrows. “I’m listening.”
Rego explained as much as he could, leaving out Vikram’s name and any reference to Godber, ending with their belief that the device was a drone used to listen to encrypted underwater cable intel.
“I’m aware that I’m asking you to ignore a direct order from ACC Gray to cease investigations, and I’m aware it’s wrong on so many levels,” Rego paused, “but I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was a case of national security.”
Tregowan had been watching Rego intently, but now he turned and stared out to sea.
“Your friend, the one who sent you to talk to me, do you trust him?”
“With my life,” Rego said honestly.
“And this friend of yours, he doesn’t want to trust the senior ranks of Devon & Cornwall Police?”
“As far as I’m aware, he doesn’t trust anyone.”
“Except you,” Tregowan stated.
Rego shrugged. “He’s told me as much as he can, but even I don’t know everything. He says he needs my help, and I need your help. Nate, you can walk away, no hard feelings. I have no authority here: none. You don’t know me and I’m asking you to trust me with your career, if it all goes to shit.”
“No, you don’t know me, but you’re trusting me with all this secret squirrel stuff.”
Rego acknowledged the truth of his words.
“I’ve got to start somewhere … and I need someone with dive knowledge.” He met Tregowan’s gaze. “And I know you weren’t happy with what happened at the post-mortem.”
Tregowan sucked his teeth.
“I’ll be honest with you, Inspector, it sounds so far-fetched, it pretty much has to be real, but I need to think about it.”
“Okay. I’d like to say take as much time as you want, but I don’t think time is on our side.”
“What exactly do you want me to do?”
“You told me that you know some of the divers at Culdrose? And when we were at the PM, you offered to have an informal chat with them. That’s all I’m asking you to do. Just talk to them, talk their language, find out what they heard, thought or guessed about the body you found. What did the rumour-mill come up with? I’d imagine that they’ll already be gossiping about the body being found, so start there. Did anything seem strange about the Ukrainian dive team? Was their equipment different in ways that seemed incompatible with what they were doing? What was the general feeling about why the Ukrainians left so quickly.”
“Ukrainians?” Tregowan interrupted, his eyebrows shooting up. “You think … that’s where you think the body comes from, isn’t it? The combat dive team that visited two years ago.”
Rego drew in a long breath.
“I’m just asking you to find out what the chat is, that’s all.”
Tregowan was silent, appearing to study the request from all angles. Finally, he nodded slowly.
“Okay, I’ll do it. It’s time I met up with some of my old dive buddies anyway.”
Rego drove back down the A30 deep in thought. He was beyond relieved that Tregowan had agreed to help. But that was only one step in an increasingly complex dance.
He was loath to involve more people because every time he did that, the chance of a leak increased exponentially. The next step could make or break the case.
And he needed an update from Vikram.
But as he headed home, he was determined to be the other Rob Rego again – husband and father. And he managed for several hours while they visited Flambards amusement park, but that evening, as soon as the kids were upstairs, his mind was on the case.
“What the hell is going on with you?” Cassie asked in exasperation. “You’re acting like you don’t want us here.”
“No, that’s not it,” he sighed. “This case is kicking my arse and I can’t, can’t let it sit – I have to deal with it now. Godber is on his way over.”
Cassie looked at him, sadness reflected in her beautiful eyes.
“There’s always going to be a case,” she said. “If not this one, then another. The kids are growing up so fast, I worry that you’re going to miss it.”
Rego wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close.
“I’m sorry. I have to do this.”
“I know,” she said, pushing away and giving him a small smile as she walked up the cottage’s tapering staircase. “Tell Godber I said hi.”
Less than a minute later, Rego heard a soft tap on the back door.
“Am I interrupting?” Godber asked, peering inside.
“Yes, but it’s not your fault,” Rego sighed.
“Missus giving you an earful?”
Rego nodded. “Not that I blame her.”
Godber patted him on the shoulder awkwardly.
“Cassie’s a good girl. She’ll be alright.”
Rego hoped he was right.
Then his burner phone lit up with a video call from Vikram. Rego didn’t bother to say hello.
“Have you retrieved any useful data so far?”
Vikram was in a darkened room and he looked exhausted, his manner furtive.
“I’ve run a few decryption software packages but … well, I think I’ll have to write some new coding and…”
“Vik, cut to the chase, mate,” Godber said shortly.
“I think the drone is a Russian copy of a Ukrainian UUV,” said Vikram. “It uses technology very similar to what the Ukrainians have been developing, although it’s not a 100% match. This could mean they recovered Ukrainian technology from the Black Sea or found some other way to steal it. I’m hoping decryption will tell me more.”
“How do you know it isn’t a Ukrainian device and they’re the ones trying to listen in?” Rego asked.
Vikram hesitated before answering.
“It’s a fair question. All I can say right now is that I don’t think so. And I suspect the drone was there to listen into more than Sea-Me-We-3. The US military has a submarine cable network for data transfer from conflict zones to command staff. And you don’t need me to tell you that interruption of the cable network during intense operations could have direct consequences for the military on the ground.”
“Yeah, but the drone wasn’t on any cable,” said Godber. “It was inside a flamin’ century-old wreck.”
“Yes, and that’s part of what worries me,” said Vikram. “During the Cold War, the NSA succeeded in placing wire taps on Soviet underwater communication lines, but these days, the use of end-to-end encryption minimises the threat of wire-tapping.”
“Yeah, and?”
“I’m still working on it, but I think this drone has capability of accessing, even decrypting, underwater comms without even being near to the targeted cable. And I don’t think this drone needs to surface to transmit intel. That would be a huge leap forward in the technology.”
“Bloody hell!” said Godber.
Vikram hummed his agreement.
“It’s beyond anything I’ve seen but at this point, I can’t risk sharing what I know and what I suspect. It’s frustrating, but I’m hoping I’ll know more when I get my hands on it.”
“Your courier picked it up just before I left work at lunchtime. It should be with you any moment.”
“Good.” Vikram hesitated, then spoke. “Look, I know we wanted to keep this a closed loop … I just don’t think that’s possible anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Rego asked unhappily.
