I stand up and start to pace about. Lola reaches out and touches my arm. ‘Jesse, don’t you see? This is the beauty of it! This is why I pretended I’d gone overboard. There’s no way someone who’s dead can be accused of the murder of someone who was killed after they died, is there? It’s genius, even if I say so myself.’

I stop pacing and look at her. For all my excellent A-levels and first-class honours degree, she’s the one who’s clever in the ways that really matter.

‘I guess … I suppose they can’t,’ I agree. ‘But I still don’t understand why you killed him.’

‘We can talk about that another time. All you need to know for now is that he deserved it, I promise. When I tell you why, you will agree, I’m sure.’ She waves her hand dismissively. ‘But Rick isn’t important. Our future is what’s important now. You don’t want to be on the ships for the whole of your life, do you?’

‘Well, no, but …’

‘So listen. I’ve got rid of Rick, like I needed to. I’m already dead, as far as anyone knows, so there’s no way anyone will ever catch up with me. You, dear brother, as my only family, are the beneficiary of my life insurance. Once I am declared dead, you inherit. Then, after a respectable interval, we meet up and split the proceeds. It’s win-win for both of us. I trust you 100 per cent, Jesse. You’re the only person I could do this with.’

My head is spinning. ‘But if this was what you were planning, why couldn’t you tell me? The last couple of weeks have been the worst of my life! Not only did I think you were dead, I thought I’d driven you to it! When we rowed! When … I hit you! I thought you’d killed yourself. Why would you put me through all that?’

I realize that I’m almost shouting and rein myself in. Tears start to flow again. ‘I’m sorry, Lola. I didn’t mean to get angry. But I don’t understand why you would do this to me.’

‘Because you’ve always looked after me, Jesse. I want to look after you now,’ she says. ‘I bought myself life insurance a few years back. I’ve been planning this for some time. Since I joined the ships, in fact. I got Rick to help me fake my own death, telling him he’d benefit. It made it easier for me to kill him too that way, because he trusted me. He thought we were working together. But with him dead, it’s you that gets the money. Always has been – I lied to Rick about the insurance. But I needed him to help me first, and I needed to kill him too.’