Definitely the sort of paranoid ramblings that normally gets a side-eye at the council meetings, but Skulduggery is used to being the one in Ava's position. He can definitely understand, and honestly even appreciate, the paranoia, even if he thinks it might be misplaced in this one instance.

"If I might offer a counter-argument..." Skulduggery takes a moment to sit, ignoring the wet concrete and crossing his legs neatly beneath him. "The anonymity is indeed suspicious, and I won't deny that. But, what if the letter-writer chose to hide their identity because we wouldn't trust them normally? There are a fair few people with checkered pasts aboard. It could be that signing their name would detract from the message itself." Sort of like anonymous criticism at the workplace. "And while you're not wrong that gaining our cooperation would make it easier to fund their own escape, it's also clear that cooperation is not what the captain expects from us. If nobody else has tried it, then it serves our interests to be the first."

Of course, "We still ought to keep a close eye on it, to make sure nobody uses this call for unity as an excuse to trade us all in to the captain." Because she's right about all of it, in the end. If the letter-writer has any ulterior motives, she's likely hit the nail on the head.