The Survivors

Renn allows Olivia inside the cottage to gather more personal belongings and to find Bronte’s keys to the Surf and Turf for Julian. Renn allows Mia and Kieran to accompany her, and Kieran notices the cottage shows signs of the officers’ repeated searches. While Renn stands on the veranda watching the local news reporters interview a man on the beach, Mia helps Olivia pack. Noticing a signed copy of one of George’s novels, Mia decides to look him up on the internet. She discovers he is divorced, and his wife moved to the U.S. with their children. Meanwhile, Kieran looks around Bronte’s room examining her sculptures and sketches. Sean’s flashlight sits on the desk, and Renn tells Kieran he can return it to Sean. Kieran asks Renn if he thinks there is a connection between the crime and the noises Bronte heard outside the cottage, but the sergeant says he cannot be sure. As Kieran flips through her sketchbook, he notices she sketched many members of the community including his mother. The sketchbook also includes several photographs. Audrey finds a black power cord and attempts to chew it, but Kieran stops her. As he pulls on the cord to unplug it, he realizes it is the power cord to Bronte’s camera.

Renn says the officers have been searching for the camera. Sean arrives on his way to Kieran’s house to collect life jackets Verity is giving him for the diving business. Kieran tells him about Trish’s confrontation with Renn and the friends discuss how they disagree with Trish and feel Renn conducted a thorough investigation of Gabby’s disappearance. Mia mentions she was questioned multiple times about her and Gabby’s argument at the library. In his memory, Kieran remembers Mia confessing to him that she lied to the police about the argument. Mia had a crush on Kieran, and when Gabby told her about him and Olivia, Mia did not believe her, and the sisters began to argue.

Back in the present, Sean walks with Kieran and Mia to collect the life jackets. Verity tells Sean that she and Brian were once avid divers, and they met diving at the shipwreck. Sean offers to take Verity and Kieran diving the next day, but Verity is busy with Brian’s care and declines the invitation. Brian emerges from his office looking confused, and when he sees Audrey, he says, “I thought that girl of Finn’s decided not to go ahead with it in the end” (196). Verity reminds him Audrey is their granddaughter, but he turns and walks back into the study.

As Kieran is packing boxes later, he comes across papers from Brian’s therapy sessions. He finds a page with a list of statements about Kieran’s decisions on the day of the storm as if Brian were trying to make sense of the tragedy and come to terms with his son’s choices. Kieran stares at a photo of Finn and Toby from the day they launched the diving business. It is like the one that was posted on the bulletin board after the accident, but Kieran notices it is slightly different. Verity joins Kieran and tells him she has changed her mind about going diving, and Kieran agrees to make the arrangements with Sean. He asks her what his father meant about Finn’s girlfriend, and Verity says she does not know because Finn was closer to his father than her. Later, as Kieran is swimming, he sees Trish throw something into the water. He swims toward the sinking object and grasps it just before it is out of reach. After dragging it to shore, he realizes it is a grey backpack filled with rocks, and written on the inside is a phone number and the message, “Please call” (202).

When Kieran dials the number, he gets Trish’s voicemail. Ash walks onto the beach and Kieran shows him the pack full of rocks. Ash explains that when Gabby disappeared and her backpack appeared on the beach three days later, Trish was convinced it was placed there. Ever since she has been throwing backpacks full of rocks into the ocean to see if they wash up on shore to prove Renn’s theory wrong. Ash says she stopped for a while but may have started again due to the stress of Bronte’s death. Olivia is frustrated with Ash not being around enough during the investigation, but he is distracted by his landscaping work. She is hoping to move back to Melbourne soon when her mom is well enough, but Ash is not certain she will ask him to go with her. He also admits his relationship with Sean is strained because Sean knows Ash does not like Liam. Ash says Liam is a lot like he and Kieran were as teenagers, always drinking and chasing after girls. Kieran thinks to himself that he is ashamed of the way they used to behave. The tone between the friends is slightly tense since Kieran knows Ash is aware of his and Olivia’s past. Ash agrees to tell Olivia about the backpack, and Kieran walks home on the dark beach.

George joins Kieran and Verity on the dive the next day. Liam is there to assist and Sean pairs him with George. Liam says little during the dive preparation aside from making a cryptic comment that no one in Evelyn Bay can be trusted. As they dress in their wetsuits, Kieran listens to Verity explain to George that she and Brian used to sail out to the wreck each year on the anniversary of Finn’s death. George remembers the historic storm as he was in Evelyn Bay that summer leading the writing course. During the dive, Kieran is relaxed in the water as it feels like an escape from all the drama on the land. Suddenly George swims over and gives the sign that Liam surfaced due to an emergency.

On the surface, Liam is sitting on the boat in obvious distress. Sean chastises him for leaving behind his partner, but Liam insists he could not stay down any longer. He finally admits to Sean that he had a panic attack under the water. Liam claims something is off near the caves because the birds are acting strangely. He says he noticed it first when he saw Kieran in the caves with Audrey. Verity is shocked to hear Kieran took the baby into the area. When they return to the marina, Kieran overhears Sean and Liam talking about the stress Liam is enduring as a suspected murderer. Sean reassures his nephew and asserts they will not tell anyone about the panic attack. While walking to the Surf and Turf for coffee, Verity and Kieran exchange heated words over his visit to the caves. She claims what he does with his child is his business, but Kieran can sense she wants to say more. At the restaurant, Lyn is watching the local news interview with Bronte’s parents. She announces there is a community meeting later that evening to discuss the situation.

Members of the community gather at the library for the meeting. While waiting for it to begin, Mia and Kieran talk with George about all the inflammatory posts written on the community forum. George claims the police are monitoring the page and removing posts, but as Kieran scans the entries, he sees posts attacking Bronte’s character and his father is mentioned. Kieran watches as residents pour into the meeting including Bronte’s parents. Renn and Pendlebury begin the meeting, but Renn is interrupted by a local named Heath who is angry the police are questioning residents when it is clear the suspect is from somewhere else. Renn asks attendees to show respect and listen to what they have to say. Pendlebury shows photos of Bronte’s missing camera and her laptop, and the officers ask everyone to search their property for the items as they think the suspect dumped them somewhere in town. To close the meeting, Pendlebury gives Bronte’s parents the floor for a brief statement. Her father begins to read from a prepared statement but gets emotional and cannot continue. The mother takes the microphone and addresses the crowd with one question, “Who did this?” (237). She then launches into a heated, angry speech where she vows to do whatever it takes to track down and bring to justice the murderer threatening to air all the secrets of the town along the way if necessary.

George and Kieran briefly speak about the unlikely odds anyone will find the laptop and camera. Pendlebury helps Verity escort Brian out of the meeting and speaks with her briefly. The next morning Kieran goes for a swim and leaves Audrey sleeping on the beach. From the water, he sees Trish approach the baby and rushes to meet her. Trish mentions it might not be safe to leave the baby on the beach alone. Kieran tells her he has her backpack in his shed, but he has not told Verity about it. Trish knows people must think she is crazy, but like Bronte’s mother, she is desperate to know what happened to her daughter. She admits she has thrown dozens of backpacks in the ocean but only two or three have returned. After turning down an invite for coffee, Trish leaves with a reminder to Kieran to treasure his days with his daughter.

Kieran returns to the cottage to find Mia reading an old article about Gabby. Verity emerges from the bedroom looking tired after struggling the night before to get Brian home from the meeting. Kieran asks her what Pendlebury discussed with them, and Verity says she only asked how the move was progressing. Kieran suggests that there might be more to it, but Verity refuses to discuss it and goes outside to do yoga. Kieran and Mia go for a walk and see Ash’s truck parked outside George’s house. His dog Shifty is there, but there is no sign of Ash. While they walk, Mia comments that families who have lost children tend to only remember the good in them. Kieran retorts that Finn was far from perfect. He recalls in his memory a time when Finn and Sean had a dispute with a tradesman and Finn got revenge by sleeping with the man’s girlfriend. Everyone including Brian thought it was funny at the time, but Kieran now wonders how it made the girl feel to be used that way. At the top of the path, Mia and Kieran hear the crazed birds. When Kieran looks towards the caves, he sees the shadow of a person.

Despite Mia begging him to let it be, Kieran walks down to the caves to investigate further. He finds Pendlebury on the beach with her tablet computer. He cannot see what is on the screen but suspects they are the photos from Bronte’s camera. The detective tells Kieran she is not happy they were not more forthcoming about Brian being the last person to see Gabby. Kieran asserts his family has nothing to do with Gabby or Bronte’s death. Admonishing her to leave before the tide gets too high, Kieran begins walking back up to Mia. He leaves Pendlebury looking out at The Survivors statue through her tablet camera lens.