‘I’m not involved in the investigation,’ Perez said. ‘Not officially. I wanted to say how sorry I am.’ He saw that Maria hadn’t moved. She’d glanced round when he came into the room, but remained quite still now, in her seat. He thought she’d aged overnight. Perhaps that was because she wasn’t wearing make-up. Usually her eyes were lined with black. Fran had said once that she’d like to paint Maria. ‘She reminds me of a Flamenco dancer. Experienced and soulful. Don’t you think so?’ And again they’d laughed together, joking that perhaps Jimmy and Maria’s ancestors had come from the same part of Spain. Legend had it that Perez’s forebear was a survivor from the Spanish Armada ship El Gran Grifon, which had been shipwrecked on Fair Isle. No reason why there couldn’t have been other survivors, other relationships between the sailors and local girls.

‘Sit down,’ Peter said. He moved across the room so that he was blocking Perez’s exit. He needed company and conversation and didn’t want the visitor to escape too quickly. ‘I’ll make some coffee. You will have coffee with us, Jimmy?’

Perez nodded and said that he would. He sat with his back to the window so that he wouldn’t be distracted by the view, by all that space.

‘Would you mind if I asked some questions?’ This was directed at Maria. Peter could still hear, but he was in the small kitchen that led off the living room, the door between them wide open.

She looked up. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Ask away.’ Showing that she couldn’t care about anything now. Perez knew just how she felt.

‘Is there anyone who might have wanted to hurt Jerry?’

‘Of course not. Why would they?’

‘No jilted girlfriends then?’ Perez kept his voice light.

‘He’s talking about Evie.’ Peter shouted from the kitchen before his wife could reply. ‘That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it, Jimmy?’

‘I heard she was pregnant and her family was none too happy.’

‘They were barbarians.’ Maria’s voice sounded very loud suddenly. ‘They came here and made a scene. The father foaming at the mouth like a rabid beast. As if it was solely Jerry’s responsibility, as if the girl had nothing at all to do with it. But Evie was always the light of the man’s life.’

‘That was years ago.’ Peter Markham came through with a tray of coffee. He set it on a low table. ‘Evie went away to university and Jerry got his job in London. Her parents calmed down. I saw Francis Watt in Lerwick just last week and he was almost civil.’

‘She lost the baby,’ Perez said.