Bear’s cries dragged Ally back into the present, and she shakily placed the heavy pages of the diary on the dresser in her cabin.

‘There, there, sweetheart.’ Ally lifted Bear out of his cot, where he had been happily slumbering until moments ago. The enormous roar of the Titan’s engines had just quietened, and ironically it seemed to be the change in tone which had woken him. ‘Captain Hans must have found a place to anchor for the night, Bear, that’s all.’

She sat back down on the bed and, operating on autopilot, bounced her child on her knee. Ally blinked heavily, realising that she had been so absorbed in the diary for the last few hours that afternoon had turned into evening. She switched on her bedside light, and then put Bear to her breast as her mind whirled. She imagined that the others were similarly reeling from the concrete revelation that Pa had known Kreeg Eszu, and moreover, that he seemed to be running from him. Ally thought especially of Maia, for whom the truth must be particularly difficult to accept. She was grateful that Floriano was close by.

But for Ally, there was more to take in. Pa’s alias, Bo, and his love, Elle . . . Ally knew the names. They had been close friends of her grandparents, Pip and Karine Halvorsen, and were mentioned frequently in the manuscript of Grieg, Solveig og Jeg, the primary document through which Ally had learnt of her heritage. Bo was Pa all along. Tears formed in Ally’s eyes as she recalled that he didn’t say much, but was the most talented musician at the Leipzig Conservatory. She desperately tried to remember any more information about her grandparents’ friends, but beyond the fact they fled to Norway – because Elle and Karine were Jewish – there was little she could recall. What had become of the pair? Did she remember something about them travelling to Scotland? Her thoughts were broken by a knock on her door.

‘Come in,’ she said automatically.

The door opened, and the tall, handsome figure of Jack entered the room. ‘Hiya, Ally, I . . .’ He spotted her feeding Bear. ‘Oops, so sorry, I can come back later. I didn’t mean to . . .’

Ally’s cheeks reddened. ‘No, sorry, Jack, I was in my own world . . . It’s fine, please come in. He’ll be finished in a moment.’

‘Righto.’ Jack took a seat on the leather chair next to the dresser. ‘I just wanted to come and check on you. Are you doing all right?’

‘Yes, thank you, Jack.’ Ally gave him a weak smile.

‘Have you eaten? Or at least managed some water, or a cup of tea?’

Ally thought for a moment. ‘You know, actually, I haven’t.’

‘That might explain why you’re white as a sheet.’ She didn’t have the energy to explain the full implications of what she had learnt from the diary that afternoon. ‘Here, let me get the kettle on. You can make a start on this in the meantime.’ He tried to hand her an unopened bottle of Evian from the room’s fridge.

‘Thanks. Would you mind . . .?’ Ally nodded at the bottle.

‘Oh, sorry, of course.’ Jack unscrewed the top and Ally held the water in her spare hand. She took a deep glug.

‘That’s better. What’s everyone doing up there, by the way?’ she asked, looking to the ceiling.

‘To be honest, it’s a total ghost town. Everyone’s hunkered down reading. I haven’t even seen Mum this afternoon. She must be as engrossed as you are. All of us “spare parts” are just sort of milling around making awkward chit-chat, too embarrassed to ask any of the staff for anything!’

‘Jack, don’t be silly. You’re not spare parts at all. In fact, based on what I’ve just read, you’re all going to have very important roles to play in supporting my sisters.’

‘And you, of course.’ Jack smiled at her as he prepared the tea, and Ally’s heart fluttered like a teenage girl’s.

‘That’s very sweet of you, Jack, thank you. But honestly, I’m fine. I have this one.’ She glanced down at Bear.

‘Now, I’m no expert, but from what I remember about babies, they’re not traditionally the best conversationalists.’ Ally laughed. ‘You see, I reckon that you’re some sort of leader up there. The other girls look to you for guidance. But they’ve all got partners who they can moan and whine to when they close their cabin doors. You don’t have that luxury, just this little tyke to give you the runaround. So, basically, I wanted to say that . . .’ – he opened his arms out – ‘I’m here for ya.’

‘That’s really very sweet of you, Jack, thank you,’ Ally replied sincerely. He placed the tea on the dresser and returned the milk to the fridge. ‘Jack . . .’

‘Yes, Ally?’

‘I just wanted to say that . . .’ Bear spluttered and looked up at Ally. ‘Sorry, just give me one moment.’

‘Oh, sure, take your time.’ Ally removed Bear from her breast. She noted that Jack averted his eyes, which she thought was sweet. She placed her son on the bed, and he gurgled contentedly. ‘You were saying?’

Ally blushed. ‘Oh, nothing.’ Jack nodded and looked down at the floor. Ally chastised herself, and attempted to quickly change the subject. ‘I haven’t even told you the biggest revelation from the diary.’ She went to pick up the pages from the dresser. ‘What was the name of the house in Ireland? The one in West Cork, where your mum’s coordinates led . . .’

‘Argideen House?’ Jack replied.

‘Yes. You remember that you traced it back to the name of Eszu?’

‘I do.’

‘Well, my father knew him. Quite well it seems.’

‘Interesting. What are the implications of that?’

‘I don’t have all the answers yet, but I’m getting there. Come to think of it, I really should go to Maia. That information will have affected her the most.’

‘May I ask why?’

‘Sorry, Jack. It’s not my story to tell.’

‘Of course. Tell you what, shall I look after the little nipper while you go and see your sister?’

‘Would you do that for me?’

‘Sure, no problem.’

‘Thank you, Jack. Feel free to take him somewhere else if you don’t want to stay in here. And if you get bored, then Ma should be about too.’ She grabbed her tea and made for the door.

‘Righto. Come on, Grizzly Bear, why don’t we take you upstairs? You go on ahead, Ally. We’ll see you later.’

Maia felt physically sick. Awful memories of the smarmy, oily Zed Eszu – Kreeg’s son – filled her mind, and the thought that a generation before, Pa had been forced to flee from his father made her want to cry. Did Zed know their family history? He must have done. Perhaps that explained why he seemed to target the D’Aplièse sisters. She was well aware that he and Electra had been together, and Tiggy had told her all about his arrival in the Scottish Highlands. Zed’s presence in the girls’ lives must have caused Pa a lot of pain, and it was all too much to bear.

‘Bastard!’ Maia cried, throwing the pages of the diary to the floor.

‘Maia?’ Star said. She and CeCe had appeared at the door of the reading room just as Maia put her head in her hands and began to sob. Her two sisters ran and wrapped their arms around her. ‘I’m so sorry, Maia. How awful for you.’

‘For what it’s worth, I agree with you, Maia. What a vile piece of shit,’ added CeCe.

‘He knew, didn’t he? He knew about Kreeg and Pa. That’s why he’s buzzed around our lives, like a wasp that can’t be gotten rid of. I feel so used. I had his baby!’ Maia shrieked.

‘I know, sweetie, I know. It wasn’t your fault.’ Even though Maia had only ever told Ally, her other sisters had always suspected, given her move to the Pavilion at Atlantis under the pretence of ‘glandular fever’ for nine months. ‘We came up as soon as we’d read it.’

‘Thank you, Star.’ Maia sniffed. ‘Oh dear. It’s all so emotional, isn’t it? I hate to think of Pa so desperate and alone.’

‘At least he’s found Elle now. She’s changed his life. Even his handwriting seems to be more . . . twirly. Do you know what I mean?’ CeCe said.

Maia gave a half sob, half chuckle. ‘Weirdly I do, yes. And it makes me happy to read about how kind the Landowski family were to him.’

‘Gosh, of course. I hadn’t properly considered that. It must have been odd enough for you reading about Pa’s time at the atelier, and his interactions with Laurent Brouilly,’ Star said softly.

‘Yes. He was the silent little boy I’d read about in Bel’s letters. I couldn’t believe it.’

‘It explains how he got the soapstone tile that Pa left you in your letter, too,’ Star continued.

‘It does, yes.’

Ally entered the room and approached her sisters. She took Maia’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Oh darling. We’re all here for you. Whatever you need.’

‘I know. Sorry, I’ll pull myself together.’ Maia wiped her tears on the back of her sleeve. ‘Zed’s a piece of work, what’s new?’ Ally handed her a tissue from her pocket. Maia took it gratefully and dabbed her eyes. ‘So, Pa knew Kreeg.’

‘I think that “knew” is a bit of an understatement,’ CeCe added sharply.

‘Why didn’t he ever say anything about it? He must have had a heart attack when I first mentioned that I’d met a boy called Zed Eszu,’ Maia snivelled.

‘I don’t know, sweetie. Maybe they resolved their grievances? We only know part of the story after all,’ Star added, stroking her sister’s hair.

‘Something tells me that didn’t happen, Star,’ Maia replied. ‘We all know that on the day Pa died, Kreeg committed suicide. And Ally, you said that you saw the Olympus next to the Titan that day too?’

‘I didn’t see it myself, but Theo’s friend mentioned it over the radio,’ Ally confirmed. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. ‘Actually, I think it’s time that I brought everyone up to speed on something.’

‘What do you mean, Ally?’ CeCe asked sharply.

‘Do you remember that Merry’s coordinates led to Argideen House in West Cork?’ Her sisters thought for a moment, then nodded. ‘Well, even though the house is long abandoned, it belongs to the Eszu family. Jack found out when he was looking into it on our behalf.’

There was a silence as the women tried to process the significance of the connection. ‘What does that mean?’ asked Star eventually.

‘I honestly don’t know yet. But one thing is clear – with Zed, Argideen House and the presence of the Olympus on the day of Pa’s death . . . the relationship between Pa and Kreeg is the key to understanding everything.’

‘Agreed,’ sniffed Maia.

‘I’ll round up the others and check where they’ve read up to in the diary. Then we can discuss the connection over a couple of bottles of rosé.’

‘Good idea, Ally,’ nodded Star. ‘There’s so much of the story we still don’t know. Where Pa came from, why Kreeg believes he murdered his mother . . . the diamond . . .’

‘We can only hope that things become clearer as we all read on,’ Ally said, putting a hand on Star’s shoulder.