Then the cat climbs onto Violet’s lap and purrs in exaggerated contentment as she strokes him.

“This town is weird,” says Vi, in an amazed voice. “Weird, but wonderful.”

“Weird and wonderful, yes,” I say. “But also dangerous. Thanks again, Erwin.” I give the cat a scritch behind the ear.

“And how about me, Herbie?” says Violet, sticking her chin out. “Still not sure you can trust me? I mean, now I’ve been shot and nearly killed by a harpoon. Do you still think I’m in cahoots with Sebastian Eels?”

I adjust my cap and nearly meet her eye.

“Um,” I say, twiddling that very same harpoon between my fingers. “Sorry about that.”

“How could you even think it?”

“It’s just…” I start. “Vi, how did you know where Eels lives?”

Vi’s chin wobbles slightly. “OK,” she says. “I suppose I haven’t been completely straight with you.”

“Oh?”

She folds her arms. “Look, it took me a long time to pluck up the courage to leave my guardian and come here, Herbie. And I might not have come at all, if Great-Aunt Winniegar hadn’t decided to start a new life in Tasmania.”

“You came here from Tasmania?”

“No!” says Vi. “Tasmania’s on the other side of the world. If I’d gone too, it would have been years before I could have come to Eerie-on-Sea, if ever. But I knew that if I ran away just as we were due to leave, my guardian wouldn’t bother trying to find me. She’d never risk missing her boat, and that new life she wanted would certainly be happier without me getting in the way.”

Erwin arches his back and rubs Violet’s cheek with his head.

“Anyway,” says Vi, “it also meant I had less time to prepare than I thought; less time to research Eerie-on-Sea. Almost all the information I could find was about Sebastian Eels.”

“Eels?”

“Yes. He’s more famous than you might realize, Herbie. My local library has lots of his books. Even Great-Aunt Winniegar has read some. So when I got here, I honestly thought he would be my main lead to my parents. I imagined, since my dad is an author too, that Eels would have known him, that they would have been friends. It’s what gave me the idea to come here in the first place.”

“But I thought you said you came to see me?” I say, though I hate the whiny tone it brings to my voice. “You said you needed a detective, that you needed my lost-and-foundering to solve the case. You said I was famous.”