She made what she called an interesting salad; in other words, not just lettuce and tomato. She found fennel, which she sliced thinly, a bag of pine nuts and some raisins. She tossed it all together with a grated carrot and some balsamic dressing and went to put a log on the fire, now that it had settled. Graeme had wired up a Sonos speaker to his Wi-Fi and she searched for some soothing music. With a bit of luck, the lamb and the wine would make her drowsy. It was her first night alone in the cottage; the other two, she’d had Graeme by her side, even if he had come back late from drawing up plans at Allerdale House.

She heard a sound outside the back door. It sounded like a bottle toppling over. She’d seen cats around the garden, and sometimes perched on a wall when she looked out, so she dismissed it. However, it made her want to check all the doors again and peek out of the window to see if Graeme’s car was back. She felt a little foolish, but it couldn’t hurt. She tested the lamb and turned off the grill. While the meat rested, she went upstairs and checked the window locks as well. All was secure and she came back downstairs. When she reached the back door, she felt like peeking out, just to look at the stars, but she decided against it and pushed on the handle. It was secure.

She finished her meal alone and took her plate to the sink, which was scrupulously clean and tidy: the cottage had been bleached to within an inch of its life since she’d moved in. She drained her wine and stared at her phone, jumping when she heard the same sound outside the back door again.

During the day, there was plenty of noise from tractors, sheep and cattle. But at night, the countryside was as still as a graveyard. She went to the back door and unlocked it. The only thing that would still her mind was checking for herself whether a pesky cat was toying with the recycling. She opened the door, but saw nothing in the back yard. There was no cat. There were, however, two wine bottles on the floor that must have been blown over by the breeze. She tutted and stepped outside to pick them up.

Chapter 53

An unmarked car left Agios Nikolaos intelligence station and headed for the Troodos Mountains, escorted by two military police in another vehicle. They estimated they’d be there in just over an hour.