‘What makes you think I didn’t already know?’ said Forest. ‘At least Mackerel is giving me the tools to protect myself, unlike the rest of you.’

‘Well, if you’d tell us what happened to you, then maybe . . .’ Ahab fought to control himself. ‘You can’t protect yourself from Blackbeard, Forest,’ said Ahab. ‘Go back to the café, your uncle and I need to talk.’

‘Don’t bully Mackerel, then,’ said Forest.

‘I’m not . . .’ The passers-by still watched them. ‘Enjoying the show, are you?’ he called.

They scurried away.

‘I’m not bullying him. Go, Forest. I need to talk to Mackenzie alone.’

‘Anything you tell him, he’ll just tell me,’ said Forest. ‘Right, Mackerel?’

Mackenzie grew flustered. ‘I . . . I mean, I dunno . . .’

Ahab pointed to the café. ‘Look, I’ll keep you up to date, now that I know what you know. Now get.’

Forest looked to argue, but then turned and left, irritated, dragging Zeus by his lead.

‘Are you going to run and tell Forest whatever I tell you?’ said Ahab softly.

‘No!’ said Mackerel. He looked miserable. He’d gone back to looking at his feet.

Ahab sighed. He knew his cousin wasn’t stupid. So why was he making these kinds of decisions? ‘Mackenzie . . . the Business is a man’s game, you can’t bring Forest into it.’

‘The poor kid deserves to know a bit about what’s going on . . .’ said Mackenzie. Surely he couldn’t still be that naïve? Bloody hell, he was the child of Ivy and Joel Dempsey, surely any juvenile sense of right and wrong got beaten out of him years ago? ‘How do you know that Blackbeard wants him?’

Well . . . maybe that sense of right and wrong was what was needed to combat Blackbeard. Maybe Mackerel should know what Ahab had seen . . .

‘Let’s sit in your car for a moment,’ Ahab said. Without waiting he walked around to the passenger side and climbed in.

When Mackenzie got in beside him, Ahab told him everything that he’d gathered: the men working for Blackbeard, their deal with Chips, what had been on the burning papers. Mackenzie listened to the whole thing with growing horror, and groaned when Ahab got to Chips’s murder.

‘Chips, no . . .’ said Mackenzie. ‘Ivy asked me to take over the Business. But if Chips had turned . . .’

‘Ivy asked you?’ That gave Ahab pause. Then he considered it. Mackerel was the best option . . .

‘I haven’t given her an answer . . . but if they got to Davey’s second-in-charge, Blackbeard is deep into the Business. There’s no way they’d let me in now,’ said Mackenzie.

‘Unless we find out what Blackbeard wants with Forest. Then we might have a bargaining chip. Might.’

Ahab climbed out of Mackenzie’s car.

‘Ahab, I’ll have to tell Ivy that you were with Forest,’ said Mackenzie.

‘No, you don’t, actually. You never saw me. You know nothing. Roger?’

‘. . . Roger, Ahab.’

CHAPTER 36

MACKEREL