Dead Man's Time

from the prow and holding them steady against the rapid current from the falling tide.
    The sonar was on, but the image on the green screen, of the river bed below them, was fuzzy and indistinct. Occasionally when he looked at it, Gavin Daly could see a fish flit past, and from
time to time something bigger, moving, which he assumed was the diver coming in and out of view.
    There were no
anomalies
, Campbell had told him. That meant the sonar had shown nothing significant down there on this spot.
    Had the messenger boy who had brought him the watch and the numbers, and the other items, merely delivered someone’s idea of a joke? A cruel, nasty, sick joke? Or had it been someone with
a heart?
    It was feeling like a sick joke now.
    He sat, waiting, clutching the watch in his hands, watching the buoy, occasionally staring across at the mess of slab-shaped buildings on the shore. His eyes drifted over some scrubland, and the
remains of the last pier still standing that dated back to his childhood. A black and white tug droned past, a row of tyres as makeshift fenders, hanging down its side. He looked back at the
watch.
    As he did so, he caught the glint in Lucas’s eye. His son was still standing, looking down at him. Or rather, at the watch.
    Gavin Daly held it up. ‘It’s caused a lot of trouble, hasn’t it, this damned little machine?’
    ‘It’s beautiful.’
    ‘Beautiful?’ Gavin shook his head. ‘You’re not looking at its physical beauty; you’re only looking at its value. That’s what’s beautiful to
you.’
    ‘That’s not true, Dad!’
    ‘You killed my sister for it.’
    He saw Campbell frown, as if perhaps he had misheard or misunderstood something.
    ‘Dad, you have to understand—’
    ‘NO!’ he snapped back at his son. ‘I don’t have to
understand
anything, boy. Do
you
understand
that
?’
    As the noise of the tug receded, Gavin Daly heard another sound, very faint at first.
    Lucas heard it too and glanced up, alarmed.
    A moment later, Gavin Daly heard the distant, but unmistakable,
thwock-thwock-thwock
of a helicopter. He turned and saw a speck heading low over the water towards them; it was getting
bigger by the moment.
    ‘Oh shit,’ Lucas said, looking panic-stricken. ‘Oh shit!’
    Gavin Daly held the watch out over the water. ‘This will be for the best,’ he said.
    ‘What are you doing? Dad, no! Are you crazy?’
    ‘We’re done with it, Lucas. I was done with the gun, and now I’m done with the watch.’
    ‘You can’t be serious!’
    ‘What has it done for any of us? What has it brought this family? My dad owned it and he died; my sister had it in her home, and she died. Maybe the damned thing’s cursed. I should
just throw it into the water, where it should have gone all those years ago with your grandfather. That’s where it belongs.’
    The
thwock-thwock-thwock
was getting louder.
    ‘Dad, don’t, it’s sentimental – you can’t throw it in the water. You can’t!’
    Behind Lucas, heading downriver towards them, Gavin could see a launch with a blue hull and grey superstructure. It was travelling at speed, from the size of its bow-wave. He could hear the
drone of the engines.
    Lucas, hearing them too, spun round. ‘Oh shit, Jesus!’
    Calmly ignoring the helicopter and the approaching police launch, Gavin Daly said, ‘What do you know about sentiment? You couldn’t be sentimental for anything. You were born with
that gene missing.’
    Lucas’s eyes were filled with fear and greed. He kept looking at the watch, then at the approaching launch, then the watch again.
    The launch, bristling with antennae, reached the bridge and now they could see clearly the NYPD markings on it.
    A cold stentorian voice called from a loudhailer. ‘This is the New York Police Department. Everyone on board raise your hands in the air. Do not move! Switch off your engines. We are
coming alongside to board.’
    Stuart Campbell looked at Gavin, then Lucas, in fury. ‘What the hell is all this about? You want to explain?’ Before either could respond, he grabbed a megaphone from a locker by the
wheel, and shouted back, ‘We have a diver in the water, I repeat, we have a diver in the water – please keep at a safe distance. I will not move the boat away. I repeat, I will not move
the boat away. Please let me get the diver back onboard safely.’
    He put the megaphone down, raised his hands in the air, and Lucas followed.
    Gavin Daly remained seated, ignoring the