‘No,’ said Ahab, but not unkindly. ‘You had your chance. Now it’s theirs. It’s only for a week.’

Davey whimpered. ‘Please, Ahab . . .’

‘And you,’ he said, pointing at Forest. ‘You’re coming with me. We’re going for a walk.’

‘Then I’m coming too,’ said Davey, sitting up.

‘Great idea,’ grumbled Ahab. ‘Let’s parade you for all of Shacktown to see.’

Davey slowly lay back down.

‘Where are we going?’ said Forest, following Ahab.

Once he’d closed the door and they were halfway down the stairs, Ahab said, ‘We’re going for a drive. To Hobart.’

‘What? Why?’ Forest pulled up short.

‘We’re going to find Detective De Corrado and tell her that you’re not Forest.’

‘What?’ hissed Forest. ‘Wait!’ He grabbed Ahab’s arm.

Ahab pulled away. ‘If Shelby and Mackenzie are going to try this, then they can’t have the police watching them. Right now, everyone around you is vigilant. We can remove that by you coming forward with the truth. You owe my family that much.’

‘What about Blackbeard? What about what he wants from me?’ The boy had grown panicked. But he had nowhere to run – the only way out of the inn was through Ahab, unless he wanted to break a leg jumping out a window.

‘Whatever it is, you can’t help!’ said Ahab.

‘Wait! Wait, wait, wait . . . I know.’

‘You know what?’

‘I know what Blackbeard wants from Forest,’ said the boy. ‘Promise me you won’t go to the police and I’ll show you.’

‘No, boy, you tell me first.’

‘Fine.’ Forest’s shoulders dropped. ‘I’ll show you where the bodies of Forest and Alexandra are.’

‘. . . Forest and Alexandra are dead?’

‘Here will do,’ said Forest in a quiet voice. ‘Park here.’ He had Zeus in his lap, insisting that he come – Ahab had thought it part of his ploy, but now he wasn’t so sure. The boy was terrified of wherever they were headed, and the dog went some way to calming him.

They were in the carpark of another of Shacktown’s geomarvels, a boulder field of fallen dolerite pillars that would have once been a sea cliff.

Ahab had been silent for the whole drive, wrestling with this new information. After all these years, they’d been this close? That felt the biggest betrayal of all. Unless Forest wasn’t telling the truth, which was the most likely option. Should he be on guard in case the boy was dangerous? How mad did you have to be to get a tattoo of a dead boy’s name?

Forest was dead. This boy had made him hope for a moment he was alive. Now he would need to mourn the real Forest all over again.