‘Hang on … that does sound vaguely familiar.’ My mouth gaped open—I’d known there was something intriguing about the island from the moment I first laid eyes on it.

‘It dropped out of the news pretty quickly when no leads came forward.’

‘Wow. Does anyone live there now?’

‘No,’ she said, looking out to the island. ‘Well, aside from Lion and the other wildlife.’

‘There’s a lion out there?’

Jedda chuckled. ‘Bill’s cat—a stray he found as a kitten—is called Lion. The poor thing must be getting on in years now. The cat’s almost as famous as the castle is round here.’

‘The castle?’

‘Yeah. Well, it’s a shelter Bill made of shells and other debris, but it certainly looks like a castle; it has turrets and everything.’ She shrugged. ‘Or so I’ve heard.’

I took another sip of wine—it was very good. ‘Do you know Dan?’

‘Emerson?’

‘I’m not sure of his last name, but I met him on the beach my first morning.’ Although I hadn’t been close enough to talk to him again, I’d seen him every morning—sometimes in the early evenings as well—rowing to and from the island. ‘He was coming back from the island.’

‘Yep, that’ll be Daniel Emerson. He and Bill were mates and I hear he’s become Lion’s unofficial guardian. Most people would move the cat to their place, but apparently Dan didn’t want to unsettle the animal.’

‘That’s sweet of him.’

‘Sweet?’ Jedda snorted. ‘Now there’s a word I wouldn’t associate with the Emersons.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You’ve heard of The Lobster Factory, right?’

I nodded. It hadn’t taken me long to discover that many of the townsfolk worked at the local icon—either in the factory, the shop, the restaurant, as tour guides or as cray fishermen out on the boats. It sounded like a multimillion dollar business and, in addition to crayfishing, The Lobster Factory also offered fishing charters and a sea lion tour, but I’d been so busy cleaning up the shack and enjoying just chilling on the beach, I hadn’t visited the reason most people came to Ragged Point. Truth be told, it didn’t hold much appeal as I wasn’t big on seafood. Plain fish was about as much as I could stomach.

‘The Emersons own The Lobster Factory and they invest a lot in the local infrastructure. Dan is Stephen Emerson’s youngest son and runs the family business with his domineering father, his arrogant brother and his stuck-up sister.’

‘They sound like a nice bunch,’ I said, unable to reconcile Jedda’s description with the man I’d met on the beach. He’d seemed friendly enough, and I remembered the slight anxiety in his voice as he’d mentioned his boss and not wanting to be late for work. Had he been talking about his own father?

‘Do you want a refill?’ Jedda asked, nodding towards my mug.

I downed the last couple of dregs and nodded. ‘But it’s my turn to do the honours.’

I went inside and emptied the last of the bottle into our mugs. Our conversation flowed easily for the next hour or so as we finished the wine, then Jedda decided that she’d better take Bindi home.