Ahab’s clothes were soaked. After he’d seen Chips killed right in front of him, he’d gone straight down to the ocean for a swim – to calm himself in the bracing cold of the water. To stop himself from running straight back to Chips’s house to . . . he didn’t know what he wanted to do there.

Climbing the stairs from the beach to Ivy’s place, he made his way around to the front so no one would misread his intentions. The police knew the two of them were not exactly on the best of terms.

It was Constable Linda, sitting in the marked car parked out the front. She climbed out, as though coming to speak to him, but he waved her back into the vehicle. He needed to focus on one thing at a time right now.

‘Ivy!’ He rapped his knuckles on the letterbox at the end of the drive. ‘Ivy, I need to talk to you.’

There was no time for a family feud now. They needed to come together, for Forest’s sake. Because if Blackbeard was inside Dempsey Abalone, but wanted Forest alive, it couldn’t be for anything good.

Eventually the door opened. Ivy stepped out into the rectangle of light, wrapped in a dressing-gown. She walked down the footpath towards him. ‘Will you be quiet! Forest is trying to sleep!’

‘I need to talk to him,’ he said without preamble.

‘No,’ said Ivy. Her tone was furious, her teeth bared. ‘Go away.’

‘You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,’ said Ahab.

‘What do you need from him?’ she snapped.

‘I need to know what he’s not telling us.’

‘You think you can get it out of him? Give me a break.’ She peered closer, seeing his drenched clothes. ‘Why are you bothering an old woman at this time of night? The police are right over there – want me to call them over?’

She waved at the police car in a friendly manner, as though proving she could summon Linda if she so desired.

‘We need to work together, Ivy,’ said Ahab. ‘Blackbeard is here. He’s inside Dempsey Abalone. Forest is in danger.’

‘The Business wouldn’t let him in that quickly,’ snapped Ivy.

‘They have!’ He fought to control his rising voice. ‘I just saw Chips killed. By Blackbeard’s men.’

That brought her up short. ‘What?’

‘She knew. She knew who Blackbeard was, and they killed her for it. I swear it on my mother’s memory.’

That seemed to take her aback. ‘She knew?’

‘Ivy . . . Do you think it could be . . . Is Jesse Blackbeard? Is he back?’

‘Jesse . . . My Lord . . .’

‘It’s the only thing that makes sense,’ he insisted. ‘That’s why I need to speak to Forest. I need to know if Jesse’s alive. I need to protect him.’