Her phone buzzed and she eyed Johnny. The only reason she would answer it was if Josie was trying to reach them because Lizzie needed something. She took it out of her pocket to check. It was Josie; she’d sent a picture of Lizzie and Ted in front of the Christmas tree, sitting opposite one another, seemingly in pretend conversation.

‘Maybe he’s taking her through what Grandpa does for a living,’ Johnny said.

Kelly rolled her eyes. Her father also deserved this break. No matter how much she wanted him to retire, and concentrate on the things that he enjoyed for himself, as well as spend more time with Lizzie, he always found himself dragged back in to the job that he loved. He just couldn’t stay away.

She went to put her phone away but it buzzed again and she saw that it was a notification from Emma, who’d volunteered to cover the Christmas shift.

Kelly checked the message.

‘Shit,’ she said as gently as she could.

‘What is it?’

‘It looks like the Penrith and Lakes is opening a private tribunal into the death of Lord Reilly. The coroner suspected foul play. The coroner as in my dad. He didn’t tell me.’

She looked at Johnny and he concentrated on the boat.

‘You knew, didn’t you?’ she asked him.

‘Sort of,’ he replied.

‘Sort of?’

‘He made me promise not to tell you until after Christmas at least. He doesn’t want you to worry. Why is work texting you, anyway?’

‘You know why,’ she said. ‘But you’re right; there’s nothing I can do about it today.’ She put her phone away in the bag.

‘Apart from think about it all day, which is exactly why he didn’t tell you,’ Johnny said.

But it wasn’t an accusation, or a complaint. He was smiling.

‘And that’s what you’ll do,’ he added. ‘Because that mind never stops. If I could just get another beer, though, that’d be great.’

She left him and got him another beer from the cooler and decided that, today, work could stay on land. Meanwhile, right now, she belonged out here, on the water. With him.

Acknowledgements

As always, the expert knowledge of certain individuals was invaluable when writing this book. Especially Ali Mack, whose infinite and fascinating knowledge of helicopters kept me on my toes, and Paul Stanbridge, for his practiced authority on emergency response. Special thanks goes to Adrian Priestley who is always on hand to answer tricky questions, any time.

Thanks also to Jack Oliver from Adventuring for the shared stories on our way up Scafell Pike.

Thank you to my agent, Peter, for his encouragement and unstinting loyalty to the Kelly series, and the whole team at Canelo, especially Louise and Siân.

To my home team: Mike, Tilly, Freddie, and Poppy the Wonderdog, for keeping me grounded and happy. I couldn’t wish for a better posse.