Mackenzie turned, dazed. It seemed as though he had no idea where he was, what he was doing, where he should go . . .

‘I’m just going to have a vape,’ said Mackenzie, holding it up. ‘Is that okay?’

‘You don’t need my permission, son. I just wanted to say I was proud of you, for what you did today. Going after your brother.’

Mackenzie’s face screwed up. He turned away. ‘I failed him.’

‘You couldn’t have saved him . . .’

‘Ahab . . .’ Mack’s voice lowered. ‘Someone else was down there with me.’

‘What?’ Ahab pulled Mackenzie away from the house so they wouldn’t be overheard. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘There was someone down there. They attacked me!’ Mackenzie furtively sucked on his vape. ‘Davey was all tied up, and then out of a tunnel . . . I couldn’t see his face! His mask was all . . . Ahab, I think Blackbeard is here. Sal – at the café, Sal told me that h-he’s making a move. I think Blackbeard got to Davey.’

The Dread Pirate Blackbeard? Here in Shacktown?

Here in my town.

Ahab released a breath, puffing out his cheeks. If Blackbeard was in town, or at least someone trying to be Dread Pirate Blackbeard – the whole point of the moniker was to introduce an element of confusion and uncertainty – then Mack was right. There was every chance he’d murdered the local drug kingpin. Poor Davey. It would have been like a knife in the dark.

‘I’d always hoped Blackbeard was just a myth,’ he said, lighting another cigarette. ‘Salvatore is sure?’

Mack nodded, sucking on his vape. A weight had left him – he looked at Ahab with complete confidence that his cousin would now take care of the situation.

‘So you think Blackbeard put his body there as a . . . as a what? As a sign that he’s here? As a warning?’ said Ahab.

‘Maybe.’

For now, Chips would be able to keep the Business running, but if Blackbeard really was making a move, she’d be too short on respect and experience to hold power for long.

And why did Blackbeard strike right when Forest reappeared?

‘You need to tell someone,’ said Ahab. ‘You need to tell the police.’

‘No,’ said Mackenzie, a Dempsey’s default response to any mention of the police. ‘Ivy would kill me! And Shelby . . . the truth would ruin her.’

‘It’s already ruined her!’ Ahab said sternly. ‘She deserves to know why her husband died. As far as she’s concerned, he was a law-abiding citizen. She deserves the truth. And she needs to know that the money she’s been relying on for so long is about to dry up.’ A realisation hit him. ‘Mack, if the person in her roof was one of Blackbeard’s men . . .’

‘N-No, Ahab,’ said Mackenzie. ‘We can’t do this to her. Please.’