Page 41 of Where We Belong

The resistance equipment was slower than the magnetometer as it couldn’t cover the same area with each pass, but until they could work out why they weren’t getting decent data from the other equipment, there wasn’t much point in carrying on. After a quick drink, they started over from the beginning, Adam going first again. He set the small frame onto the ground, waited for the meter to beep to confirm it had sent out a pulse, took two strides forward and lowered the probes again. Beep. Two strides, pause, beep. Up and down. Cam knew from experience that once you got into a rhythm with it, there was something almost meditative about the experience, but standing around watching was an exercise in managing his own impatience. While he waited, he glanced around the site to see Barnie’s group had split off into twos and threes. A couple of students were sitting near the chapel ruins, sketching by the looks of things. Another pair were measuring off something near the riverbank using the meter wheel. Cam watched them for a few minutes, wondering what had caught their – or likely Barnie’s – attention. Where was he, anyway?

Cam turned a slow 360 and finally spotted a small group quite a long way up from the site where the river curved in a lazy arc before it followed the natural slope of the land. He spotted Barnie amongst them, his broad frame and dark hair easy enough to pick out. He watched as Barnie reached down then stretched his arms high. Why was he taking off his shirt? ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he called to Adam before breaking into a jog up the incline.

He arrived just in time to see Barnie sit on the edge of the riverbank and lower himself into the water. He straightened up, hands still pressed firmly on the bank, only letting go when he had a sure footing beneath him. The water covered him almost to mid-thigh, turning the bottom of his khaki shorts a dark brown. ‘What on earth are you doing?’ Cam asked.

It was Scott who answered him. ‘There’s an anomaly in the water,’ he said, pointing a little upstream from where Barnie was standing. ‘I noticed it earlier and thought perhaps there was a large rock or something that was diverting the water, but I couldn’t see anything, so Dr Barnard decided to check it out.’

‘You just wanted an excuse to go swimming,’ Cam said, as he adjusted the sweaty brim of his hat against his forehead.

‘Well, that was one temptation for sure,’ Barnie said with a grin. ‘But Scott’s right, there’s something here that’s changing the current.’ With care, Barnie lowered himself to his knees, the water swirling up his chest almost to his shoulders. The lack of rainfall over the summer had lowered the level of the river, but even so, Cam didn’t want to take any risks.

‘Scott? How well can you swim?’

‘For God’s sake, Cam, I don’t need a bloody lifeguard. It’s not exactly the Niagara rapids,’ Barnie scoffed.

Ignoring him, Cam turned back to Scott. ‘Well?’

‘I’m a strong swimmer,’ Scott said, already toeing off his shoes. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Just stand downstream and brace Barnie’s weight a bit so he doesn’t topple over.’ He turned back to his friend. ‘What are you looking for, anyway?’

‘I’m not sure.’ He glared up at Scott. ‘Hurry up then, if you’re coming in. These stones are killing my knees.’

Scott eased himself into the river and took up post, one hand braced on the bank, the other holding Barnie’s shoulder. ‘How’s that?’

‘Ask nanny over there,’ Barnie grumbled, his attention turning back to the bank.

Cam didn’t say anything, just gave Scott a quick, reassuring nod and they both turned their attention back to Barnie, who was running his hands along the inner edge of the bank. His hands dipped lower, the water rising almost to his chin, and Scott had to bend at the waist to keep hold of the other man’s shoulder. ‘What the hell is this?’ Barnie said in a wondering voice. ‘Hang on a sec.’ Before Cam had a chance to ask him what he was planning, Barnie sucked in a deep breath and ducked down below the water, almost pulling Scott off balance in the process.

‘Bloody idiot,’ Cam muttered. ‘Are you all right, Scott?’

‘I’m fine. I’ve got my leg braced against him.’

Barnie bobbed up above the surface, shaking the water from his head like a dog. Cam was about to tell him off for acting the fool, but one look at the beaming smile on his friend’s face and all thoughts of safety flew out of his head. ‘What is it?’

‘Stonework.’ Barnie was still grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Cam frowned. ‘What, like something to shore up the bank, you mean?’

Barnie shook his head. ‘Better than that. There’s an opening in it. If I put my hand in front of it, I can feel the water flowing in that direction.’

Cam felt a familiar thrum of excitement in his blood. ‘Like it’s feeding a well?’ He glanced around. Why would anyone need to build a well when they were so close to a source of fresh water? It would be a hell of a lot of work when they could as easily walk down and dip a few buckets.

Barnie shook his head. ‘I don’t think so, because the movement would indicate that if it’s coming in here then it must be flowing out somewhere else, otherwise there’d be signs of flooding.’

‘A drainage system, then?’ Cam stared back over his shoulder and looked towards the lumps and bumps of the chapel ruins. ‘How sophisticated would this complex need to be to require a drainage system?’

He hadn’t realised he’d asked the question out loud until Barnie heaved himself up onto the bank beside him and sprawled on his back, still grinning like an idiot. ‘Now isn’t that the million-dollar question?’

19

Hope had left as soon as the site surveys began. Although she was interested in what everyone was doing, the mood was understandably flat and she’d decided the best thing she could do for now was leave them in peace. Besides, with the police still to make their visit she hadn’t wanted to let the dogs out of the car, even with the little compound Declan had built for them. She headed back to the farmhouse to catch up on some paperwork. If she turned up at the distillery, Zap would think she didn’t trust him to keep an eye on things, which wasn’t true. He’d be fine handling the orders and sending out invoices, but he hated chasing customers for payment. She’d spend a couple of hours going through the most recent bank transactions then send out a few polite email reminders after lunch.

She’d just finished the bank reconciliation and was contemplating heading down to the kitchen for something to eat when her phone pinged with a message from Cam.

Everything okay?

She rolled her shoulders. Working sitting on her bed was not good for her posture, but it was the quietest spot in the house. She could take the dogs for a walk after lunch – a bit of exercise would do her good. Carrying her phone with her, Hope paused at the top of the stairs and typed out a quick reply to Cam.

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