I pat his back. “You did fine, Olly. And I’m going to go fetch him. I need you to stay here and get on a lifeboat when they find you a spot. Don’t worry about Wink. I promise I’ll take care of him, okay?”

Olly swallows and nods.

A crewman hands out life belts. While Olly and Fong help each other with their straps, I grab one for myself and one for Jamie, who’s now speaking with another officer.

The officer struggles to raise the sides of the collapsible stored next to the cutter. Jamie uses his good hand to hold the boat steady for him. “Five of us,” he says.

I hurry over. “Three of us for now,” I drop in Jamie’s ear. “Wink is gone.”

“Wink?” Jamie grabs at his head. “Bloody cats. Where’d he go?”

“I think he went to fetch the money. Where is it?”

“I gave it to Wink to hold while we took care of Skeleton and his mates. Then we all went to look for you. I’m not sure where he put it.”

“My guess is somewhere in the room.”

“Oh, this is grand.”

“I’ll be right back. Go on ahead.”

“No way.” He grabs me by the elbow. “We’ll go. Fong, take Olly. The crew are in a rush to drop the boats. We’ll figure something out.”

The old trimmer nods.

We tie on our life belts. I unhook one of the lifesavers, just in case we need it, and wear it like a necklace. Then we descend the crew stairs from the bridge. This time, no one protests our use of them. We tread carefully on the heavily slanted staircase.

“Stinkin’ codfish,” Jamie mutters. “When we find that minnow, I’m going to wring his scrawny neck and serve him with a wedge of lemon.”

Reaching the well deck, we move carefully over the icy planks. Jamie sucks in his breath and adjusts his injured arm. He’ll be of more help to Wink if he’s not in so much pain.

“Let me fix your sling. Smartly, now. I dunno why you didn’t just stay up on the Boat Deck. You’re dragging us down as always,” I say irritably as I untie the sling and help him reposition his left arm so that it lies comfortably outside of the life belt. Somehow being crabby eases my anxiety.

“Stop fussing over me, for cod’s sake.”

“Stop getting into scrapes, you codfish.”

He grunts, and for a moment, he feels as far away as the moon. “Do you remember what Ba would say whenever he’d wake from one of his spells?”

My ears perk. Jamie rarely brings up Ba. “‘Family saves family.’”

He stretches back his shoulder, and a shadow crosses his face. “But he was always the one putting us in jeopardy.”