‘Call De Corrado,’ he said, gruff in the face of her cheeriness. ‘She’s gonna want to hear this, too.’

Frankie sat back in her chair, relaxed and placid, but the detective sat with her elbows on her knees, leaning forward. There was a lean hunger in her eyes. ‘Well? What do you have to tell us?’

‘I’m afraid I have bad news and good news, followed by more bad news,’ said Forest carefully, eyes focused solely on De Corrado’s. ‘The bad news is I’m not really Forest Dempsey.’

‘What?’ said De Corrado, eyes bulging. She sat back and then laughed. ‘Okay, you got me, that was good. Did your grandmother put you up to this?’

‘The good news is, the real Forest Dempsey has been in Shacktown for the last week or so.’

‘What do you mean you’re not the real Forest Dempsey?’ demanded De Corrado. ‘This is a joke.’

‘I knew Forest was adopted. I knew that I could pretend to be him and no one could prove otherwise with a DNA test. And I did my research.’ He tried to put as much arrogance into his voice as he could. He had to convince them he was the opportunist they would imagine him to be.

‘How did you . . .? Ivy said you didn’t know about the adoption.’

‘The real Forest did know. Because his dad never let him forget it.’ This had been one of the first things Huck had told him – that Jesse had teased Forest mercilessly about being adopted, about not being a true Dempsey.

He hated the expressions crossing the detective’s face, shock and anger and confusion. She landed on a glare that seemed reserved for something you’d find beneath your shoe.

She turned on Frankie. ‘Did you know?’

Frankie shook her head, mute, a horrified expression on her face. She hadn’t spoken a word. She’d spent all this time thinking she was psychoanalysing Forest Dempsey, only to find out all of it had been a lie.

‘The bad news is, the real Forest Dempsey has gone missing. I need your help to find him.’

‘The real Forest Dempsey?’ said De Corrado. She stood up and walked to the window. After a moment, she punched the wall. ‘You little bastard! Who else knows?’ She was shaking her hand, wincing.

‘I can prove it. There’s a cave nearby with . . . with Alexandra’s body.’ That’s all he had to say. He could keep Davey, Shelby and Mack out of it all.

‘What? Where?’ said De Corrado. ‘Tell me everything, you little rodent!’

‘I . . . I think I need a moment,’ said Frankie, trembling. ‘I’m sorry, detective. Just . . . give me a moment.’ She fled the room.

Forest knew he shouldn’t feel good about how his one-time therapist was reacting, but it did feel good. He’d got the better of her – he’d come out the victor in their private war.