‘My partner, yes. With big discoveries like this, it’s best to work with someone you can trust. You have to get all your ducks in a row before the media get word of it. There’s less chance of someone leaking the story early and catching you off guard.’

Bram led Sem and I over to a dark green SUV, the boot stuffed with the kind of gear found in every dive enthusiast’s vehicle – plastic tubs for waterlogged wetsuits, custom shelves filled with spanners and bolts, tightly wadded emergency kits and spare oxygen masks. I caught a strong whiff of grease and the familiar, damp-dog smell of mouldy beach towels.

‘See you back at HQ,’ Nico called, waving at us from a rusted orange ute.

Sem ushered me into the front of the SUV before stuffing my bags into the boot and clambering into the backseat. Bram reversed the vehicle out of the carpark then steered us along a winding road, past a cluster of small service shops and a stationary bus raddled with peeling paint.

‘How does it feel being back?’ Bram said.

‘Good. But a little weird. Like retracing your steps when you’ve forgotten why you left the room.’

‘I can’t believe it’s been so long. I remember your aunt Mila.’

‘Marieke.’

Bram nodded. ‘She was a wild one. Dad used to talk about her. Said she once dared him to break into the lighthouse and climb all the way to the top. He was too chicken. So, she did it all by herself.’

I stared at his profile. ‘Marieke? My Marieke? No way. You must be thinking of someone else. Marieke’s afraid of her own shadow.’

‘I think Dad had a crush on her,’ Sem volunteered. ‘They were in the same year in high school. He used to say she reminded him of that old seventies actress from Utrecht – Sylvia Kristel. He kept a copy of Emmanuelle hidden behind the Bible in the living room.’

Both brothers laughed at this recollection.

‘How is your dad?’ I said.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

‘Dad passed away last year,’ Bram said at last.

I stared at him, incredulous. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Ah, we didn’t want to bother you.’

‘Bother me?’

Bram winced at the sharpness in my tone.

‘It all happened so fast. Sem went over to the house to ask why Dad wasn’t answering the phone and found him lying in bed. A heart attack. The doctor said he’d been gone a couple of hours. Probably for the best. He was pretty broken up after Mum died. It would have killed him to fight some long drawn-out battle of his own with cancer or something else. I just don’t think he would have had the strength to try.’