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show my friends pictures of you finding all these amazing things, but you’re never in any of them!’
    ‘You know me, love,’ he said. ‘Just naturally modest.’ That provoked a sarcastic snort from the third woman in the party. Chase’s expression tightened. ‘Oh, and Nina, this is my sister, Lizzie.’
    ‘Elizabeth,’ the woman said firmly, stepping forward to greet Nina. ‘Elizabeth Chase. I changed back to my maiden name after my divorce.’
    ‘Nice to meet you,’ Nina replied, not sure how to respond to being given an answer to a question she hadn’t asked. Elizabeth was clearly related to Chase in looks, but while he was only of average height and quite stocky, she was a couple of inches taller, thin and rigidly upright. Her expression was just as closed as her brother’s. Whatever Chase’s problem with his older sister, the feeling was apparently mutual.
    ‘You too. So, how long have you two been engaged now?’
    ‘Nearly a year.’
    ‘And Eddie still hasn’t committed to a date.’ It was a statement, not a question. ‘Well, that doesn’t surprise me.’
    Nina felt obliged to defend him. ‘We’ve been busy. But now the discovery of Atlantis has been officially announced, we should have more time together, so we can decide what we want to do.’
    ‘Speaking of deciding what to do,’ said Chase, looking up at the clock, ‘are we going to have lunch? They do drinks in this place, right? Lizzie, you could have some whine . Or maybe a pint of bitter .’
    ‘Yeah, let’s have lunch,’ said Nina hurriedly, trying to defuse the situation by taking hold of Chase’s arm and resting her head on his shoulder. ‘Let’s sit out in the sun, it’ll be nice. Won’t it, Eddie?’
    His response was distinctly lacking in enthusiasm. ‘Yeah, I suppose.’
    Holly, on the other hand, was energised at the prospect. ‘So you’re going to tell us about all the cool places you’ve visited, aren’t you?’ she asked. ‘You’ve been all over the world - you must have seen tons of amazing stuff. Much better than being stuck here in boring old Bournemouth.’
    ‘Told you,’ Chase said to Nina. He led the way to the café’s entrance, walking slowly to let his grandmother keep pace. ‘Well, when we started looking for Atlantis, the first place we went was Iran . . .’
     
    Chase - with help from Nina, to correct the historical inaccuracies and tone down his more fanciful recountings - told Holly and Nan about the hunt for Atlantis and the discovery of the Tomb of Hercules over a leisurely lunch. Elizabeth, meanwhile, sat on the sidelines, disinterested. It wasn’t until they’d finished eating and were wandering up another pedestrianised shopping street curving uphill out of the Square that she offered Chase anything more than a perfunctory response. ‘I suppose I have to give you some credit. That’s the first time lately Holly’s seemed interested in anything that didn’t involve text messaging.’
    ‘Well, you know,’ said Chase, ‘if the subject’s interesting, kids’ll pay attention.’
    Holly pouted. ‘I’m not a kid.’
    ‘Okay, so, what? Young lady?’
    She shrieked. ‘Oh, God! That’s even worse! That sounds like you’re telling me off !’
    Chase shrugged helplessly. ‘So what do you call fifteen year olds?’
    ‘We used to call you “trouble”,’ offered Nan. ‘Edward and Elizabeth were such rivals when they were young! Always fighting, they were.’
    ‘Thank God that’s stopped, huh?’ Nina chirped, wishing she hadn’t when she saw Chase’s and Elizabeth’s expressions.
    Fortunately, Holly provided a distraction. ‘So, you know you said you broke your arm when you saved New York, Uncle Eddie?’ She gestured at his left sleeve, voice dropping in part-fearful, part-gleeful anticipation. ‘Was it, like, snapped in two? Or did it get sort of . . . squashed?’
    ‘You want to see it?’ asked Chase.
    Holly winced, hands over her mouth. ‘Oh, no, no! I don’t