Skeleton Sea

CHAPTER 48

Back at the pier, as we began to ferry gear off the boat, Lanny asked Tolliver, “Are you going to arrest me?”

We stopped in our tracks.

Lanny clutched his swim fins, one in each hand. His knuckles were white.

Tolliver finally answered. “For what?”

“For helping Mr. Flynn.”

“Son, I'm going to have a lot of questions but now isn't the time to….”

“Yes please I want to say it now.”

Tolliver shrugged, and set down the tank he'd been carrying.

Walter and I set down our gear.

Lanny licked his lips. He faced us all. “I thought the iron seed thing was hurting the ocean so I tried to shut it off and that messed up the big gate in the cavern and then Mr. Flynn told me that a lot of those big jellyfish got out — and I didn't even know about the gates and the jellyfish — so Mr. Flynn told me all about the project and then he said I betrayed him…” Lanny's voice rose, “…and then he said I could fix what I broke and he said the big gate wasn't open that long and it shut again, that's called fail secure, and he said good thing the little gate didn't open and he said he would forgive me if I went back down to put in new numbers to be sure the little gate always stayed closed so the little jellyfish couldn't ever get out. Only Mr. Flynn…” Lanny stopped.

Walter said, very gently, “Mr. Flynn was trying to kill you.”

Lanny said, “I know.”

“You sabotaged his project — and you knew too much — so he sent you to open the gate. You would have been the one to get swarmed.”

“I know.”

I still didn't get it. “What did he tell you about the project?”

“It was going to be good.”

“Good?”

Lanny's eyes pleaded. “Mr. Flynn was going to be a hero and I was going to help him.”

“Didn't you understand what kind of man you were working for?”

He shook his head.

“Lanny.” I had to take in a deep breath. If I'd still been underwater my bubble trail would be off the charts. “Those creatures down there…what part of that was good?”

“That wasn't good.”

“Then what? The devil moons?”

“No that wasn't good, I didn't know that was going to happen, I just knew Mr. Flynn liked to call them devil moons.”

“Then what, Lanny? What could possibly be good about Oscar Flynn's project?”

“He was going to make sick people well.”