‘That’s right. Washed up right here, actually. Was a surprise at the time because the bay’s pretty clean, and I didn’t even know what it was at first, but the thing was so distinct, even though however long it’d been in the water it still looked like hers. I found it first thing while I was, uh, prepping the ferry. She’d painted these little … flowers all over it. Not to my taste, but, eh. Each to their own. That’s how I knew it was hers, anyways.’

‘Were you running the ferries around the time she went missing? Would you have noticed her onboard?’

‘Might’ve, but I never …’ In the wake of his speech’s trail, Frank looks at me like I’ve insulted him – maybe realizing, after having been transported to what seemed like his own little world, that he’s said far too much. ‘What’s this about, then?’

‘Nothing,’ I say. ‘Just curious.’

‘Well,’ Frank drinks his water in quick jerks, swigs like it’s whisky and smooths down his moustache. I notice now how small the shack is. A square of light filters through the window and spotlights him. ‘I certainly don’t know anything about that.’

‘Thanks for helping me out,’ I say. I go to leave. ‘I’m feeling a lot better.’

‘That Ellis is bad news, you know.’ This makes me stop; I wonder if he knew that it would. ‘You don’t wanna get mixed up with any of this. That family is broken. Bad genes. Something. You can hear it every time he speaks that there’s something …’ He gestures, with an open hand, towards his own head. ‘Wrong there.’

I turn, making sure I have one foot outside the hut in case I need to break. ‘Really?’

‘I think God doesn’t make mistakes.’

‘All right. Thanks for your help.’

I stride out of the hut, back to somewhere, anywhere else, I don’t care where I’m going, I just care about getting away. If it’s a murder suspect I’m looking for, then I think I might have just found the first.

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

After what seems an impossibly long trek to the dorm, powered only by low-level impulse, I think of texting Ellis to tell him what’s happened but decide he’s almost definitely still asleep. In the meantime I write down every solitary detail about what just happened.

The sunrise cleanses everything. The sky has lightened to eggshell blue, shapes harder to pick out from my bleached memory – but Frank’s still there, hazy on the borders, like the vestige of a dream. It did happen; my chin still smarts to prove it.

I’m not supposed to see Ellis until Saturday but this can’t wait. Frank mentioned a woman named Lenore. We need to talk to her.