When he reached the beach in front of Masthead Point, he saw Neptune's Folly underway, heading to sea. At the wheel, all alone, was the accursed American's mother.

He was not surprised, for he had foreseen it. He knew that the shark had gone to sea, felt the cold depths on his own skin and the beat of an alien heart.

And he felt a searing pain in his side, deep and festering, that had begun just the previous day.

"Papa Jacques?" piped a voice. "Where Thea's grandma goin', all by hersef?"

The pain eased. He looked down at Clarence's daughter Deenie, his patient's older sister.

"To find my loa, mon chéri." Papa Jacques smiled softly. "He has tol' me he will kill her in the ocean." He jerked a thumb toward Prince George Town. "Back there, he almost kill your lil' white friend."

The child stared up at him in shock, turned, and fled toward the main house.

***

Mike Brody was halfway home along Aerodrome Road—dotted with potholes and gravel fill—when he saw Hoagie's yellow jeep approaching in his rearview mirror.

The Englishman was making a good seventy miles an hour. Mike hugged the left, English side of the road. Hoagie swung around him to the right and passed, with a beep and barely a wave, intent on the curves ahead. Mike caught a glimpse of CALYPSO'S FRIENDLY CHARTERS on the door, and then the pilot was over the next rise in a shower of roadside gravel.

On a day when half the drivers on the island would be drunk, the Englishman was insane. But Mike had no time to puzzle over Hoagie. His own mind was on the shark and how best to track him down and kill him.

As he crested Spyglass Hill he saw that the dock in front of his home was empty. He cursed under his breath. Jake must have gone without him, taking Neptune's Folly out to search for the shark alone.

Then he saw him talking to Deenie on the porch of the main house. Jesus, where was the ketch?

He slammed the jeep to a stop below them, in a cloud of sand and dust. "Where the hell is Folly?"

Jake glared at him. "Ask Deenie!"

Mike looked at the girl. Her eyes were wide with fear. "I seen it passin' Mas 'head Point, suh. 'Bout an hour ago. Thea's grandma take it."

He stared up at the porch. "Who?"

"Thea's grandma!"

He couldn't believe it. "My mother? And who else?"

"Jes' her! My daddy seen her too. She be headin' out the cut."

He leapt out of the jeep. "Jake, call the Royal Bahamas Police!"

"I did," said Jake. "They said, 'You reporting a stolen boat?' so I hung up."

His heart began to pound. "Jake, she's flipped! She's after the shark!"

"What'll she do if she finds him?" demanded Jake. "And why does she think he's gone to sea?"

"God knows!"