Ahab lay quiet, his heart pounding. Mentally, he gauged the distance to the fence behind him – if he was discovered, he’d turn and sprint, making as much noise as he could. Surely they wouldn’t dare shoot him with witnesses nearby . . . would they? Chips lived on such a large block, would the sound even carry?

Tranquil hesitated right by the bush where Ahab lay hidden. Ahab looked at the man’s shoes, holding his breath, praying that he wouldn’t look down . . .

‘Probably the same possum that set off your car alarm,’ called Chips.

Tranquil pointed the gun at her. ‘Don’t make jokes.’

‘Don’t point that gun at me.’

‘He’ll point it at whoever he wants to,’ said Vance.

‘Put it away or I’ll tell Blackbeard how you nearly fucked the whole deal,’ said Chips. She licked her lips.

‘You aren’t telling Blackbeard anything,’ said Tranquil, laughing as he returned to the fire pot. ‘You might think you’re a big shot because you made it up high in Davey’s crew, but you’ll never get so far up in our crew that you’ll meet Blackbeard. You’re a small fish here, woman.’ He waved the shotgun back and forth, like charming a snake, and Chips flinched.

‘Oh, c’mon. You think I haven’t worked out who Blackbeard is?’ she said, voice cracking on the last word.

That caught Tranquil’s attention. He stopped laughing and raised a challenging eyebrow at Chips. He lowered the shotgun. ‘There’s no way you’d know.’

She took a step towards Tranquil and spoke a word, but it was too soft – Ahab strained, but he couldn’t hear it.

Tranquil did, however. His face went flat.

‘Who told you?’ His voice was dead of all emotion.

‘No one. A woman has her ways.’

Vance looked shocked, turning back and forth between Chips and Tranquil.

Chips made to speak again, but it all happened so fast that Ahab couldn’t even think about stopping it. Tranquil brought the gun up, leapt across the distance and boom, an instant later Chips was motionless on the grass, blood soaking her football jumper. He’d pressed the gun to her chest so the sound of the shot was softened, but not completely silenced.

She was dead.

The way she fell, it seemed to Ahab she was looking right at him. But no one living had eyes that dull. Blood seeped out of her open mouth, joining the pool gathering around her.

This is your fault. You brought her into this world.

‘What are you doing?’ shouted Vance.

‘You heard what she said,’ said Tranquil. ‘She knew.’

‘Yeah, but . . .’

‘Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted again,’ warned Tranquil. ‘Now go find a blanket to cover her up. I’ll call some of the boys to come and take her out to the continental shelf . . .’

A flame of murderous intent flickered in Ahab’s heart, but he pushed it down.