Forest. And he was walking with intent, straight for the Mermaid’s Darling.

Is he coming to see me?

‘You want a coffee for the road?’ said Ahab, lurching inside, beckoning De Corrado to follow before she spotted Forest herself. He didn’t want her interfering, or sending him back to Ivy.

Ned had his instructions – if the boy ever came looking for Ahab, he was to keep him away from prying eyes.

‘No thanks,’ said De Corrado, stopping to peer closer at Ahab’s board.

He looked across the mess of clues and rumours pinned to the corkboard. It all seemed so much less important now. He was no stranger to grief, but the manner of Chips’s death . . .

‘I might stay here,’ said Ahab.

‘Really? You don’t want to come?’ said De Corrado, putting her hands on her hips. ‘I don’t offer ridealongs to just anyone, you know.’

‘You don’t get it,’ said Ahab, with a genuine chuckle. ‘To us, going to Hobart isn’t a fun daytrip. It’s a bloody exhausting day.’

‘Okay, old man,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’

Ned had ushered Forest around to the back of the inn, quiet at this time of morning, where he waited until De Corrado had got in her car and driven off. When Ahab finally got out there, he was surprised to see the boy looking so . . . comfortable. He looked tired, heavy bags under his eyes, especially for someone so young, but he leaned nonchalantly against a banksia tree, his dog’s leash in his hands.

‘Not here,’ was all Ahab said, and the boy nodded in understanding.

They took the short walk down to the beach in silence, passing early morning joggers and other locals walking their own dogs. Ahab guided them to a picnic table on the foreshore, underneath tea-trees and jacaranda, a group of cockatoos strutting along the grass in front of them. Ahab felt weirdly excited. His instincts told him today was going to reveal something important.

Once they were sitting at the table, he stayed silent, waiting for Forest to volunteer something. But the boy gave him nothing. He watched the waves over Ahab’s shoulder with a great weight of sadness.

‘I missed the ocean,’ said Forest eventually, bringing his eyes back to Ahab’s.

Ahab was in no mood to play these games anymore. He’d been patient. They’d all been patient.

The boy had to man up. Was he a Dempsey or not? If he was, then he owed it to Chips’s memory to help them stop Blackbeard.

‘Forest, I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through but . . . I need to know . . . what happened to you?’ said Ahab. ‘And don’t start making your —’

‘I’ll tell you,’ said Forest.

‘You will?’

‘I will. But on one condition: first, you teach me how to scuba-dive.’