And she continued, despite everything, to believe in her uncle. She could hardly imagine the fortitude it had taken to break David’s leg and smash her on the head. He had nursed them, lectured them and loved them all their lives. He desperately wanted them to live—so he had tried to put them out of action, to incapacitate them in order to save them. That was the only conceivable explanation.

“Trust me.”

Of course. There could be no question of that.

At her side, Jeremy peered down at the picturesque island. “I wonder if the old man shoots trespassers.”

“I’m not that lucky,” she said with a wry smile.

She noticed him holding his breath as she circled for a landing. The airstrip wasn’t much, but she was confident. Jeremy had been singularly unhelpful during her preflight visual inspection of the plane. He’d said it was unnerving to put his life in the hands of someone in a bright yellow jumpsuit, scrunchy pink socks and running shoes. Plucking an indefinable stoppage—a squirrel’s nest, perhaps—from behind the propeller, Ashley had told him to go ahead and throw caution to the wind. “As long,” he said, “as my teeth and eyeballs don’t go with it.”

Her landing on the rough concrete runway was, all considered, fairly smooth, and she taxied to a stop, ordering Jeremy to remain quiet until she’d tried to explain his presence to the powers that be on the island.

“Just as long as you don’t offer me up as eel bait,” he said, climbing out.

They were met by a lanky, balding man in a perfectly pressed gray corduroy suit. He looked to be in his early thirties—and upset. Ashley gave him a dazzling smile, put out her hand and introduced herself. He shook briefly, not looking dazzled, and said fussily, “Roger Shellingworth. Miss Wakefield, we understood you were coming alone.”

“Didn’t you receive my secretary’s call?” she lied. “Jeremy Carruthers is legal counsel for the New England Oceanographic Institute, Mr. Shellingworth. I’m afraid these days I can hardly breathe without him.”

“It’s true,” Jeremy said. “It was either bring me along or not come at all.” He smiled. “Institute policy, I’m afraid.”

Shellingworth sighed, perturbed but resigned. “Very well, I suppose we’ll have to make do. Don’t worry about your things. I’ll send someone for them. This way, please.”

Ashley dropped back and walked with Jeremy. “Act like a lawyer,” she said.

“I am a lawyer.”

“Oh. Well, act like a proper lawyer.”

“My God, you sound like my father. I’ve been an attorney for ten years, Ashley. I know how to act.”

They walked along a wide, sunlit gravel path that eventually narrowed into a neat brick path flanked by frostbitten flowers. Breezes came in great gusts and smelled of the ocean, and everywhere were the merry sounds of birds.

Shellingworth explained that J. Land Crockett wished his guests to settle in and make themselves at home. “You are to have full access. If there’s anything you require, please don’t hesitate to ask me or one of the servants. Mr. Crockett will see you at dinner.”