‘Oh, yer bet ’e’ll try,’ said Kieran. ‘Greedy lil’ bugger, Rat, always has been. ’E’ll want what the cap’n promised him. An’ what’s more, ’e don’t want Gran after him, not one bit!’

Albert looked at him curiously. ‘Your Gran must be quite the lady.’

‘Oh, she is,’ he said with feeling. ‘She is.’

They sat in silence for a while, then Albert smacked his hand emphatically against the rock. ‘Well, it’s not good enough!’ he said.

They looked quizzically at him.

‘This,’ he said by way of explanation. ‘What we’re doing. It’s just not good enough.’

Their expressions didn’t change.

‘You know what I mean,’ he said.

‘No,’ said Colby. ‘We don’t.’

The others nodded their agreement.

‘Well, we’re sitting around here like fools, waiting for some kid, while Theo’s a prisoner somewhere in the tunnels, and every second we risk her getting taken that much further away so we can’t find her!’

‘Look, Albert,’ said Colby, laying a hand on his arm. ‘I know how you feel. This is the best course of action right now. What else can we do?’

He shook off the arm. ‘A whole lot more—that’s what we can do! I just keep thinking, Theo’s in the tunnels somewhere, trapped and scared, and the only person who can help us find her is rotting in jail. It’s ridiculous!’

‘Who, yer mean Marcus?’ said Kieran, wrinkling up his nose. ‘Well, ’e killed Castor, didn’ ’e? Where else ’e gonna be? Good thing too, if yer ask—’

‘Well, I didn’t ask you, and you should keep your opinions to yourself till you know what you’re saying!’

Kieran looked at him, too surprised to say anything. Joe took up the cudgels. ‘He’s just saying that—’

‘It doesn’t matter what he’s saying because he doesn’t know!’

‘Know what?

‘Yeah, what don’t I know?’

‘That Marcus is innocent.’

‘What?’

‘Wha—?’

‘Yes, he is. Ask Colby.’

Together, the two men turned to their captain.

‘I think he is,’ he said. He waited for them to wrap up the mandatory expressions and exclamations of disbelief, and went on. ‘I didn’t believe it myself, but then I heard things, and maybe it’s time you boys heard them too.’ He turned to look at Albert. ‘Tell them.’

So once again Albert went through how he had discovered Marcus was innocent, up to how they had gone to Father with the news and what had happened then. ‘So, it’s no good,’ he finished. ‘They just won’t listen.’

Joe whistled. ‘Wow.’

‘Who’da thought it?’ agreed Kieran. ‘So ’e didn’t do it then?’

‘No,’ said Albert. ‘He didn’t.’

‘Then who did?’

‘That we still don’t know.’