Vera wondered what that would be like and decided it was probably easier to adore a fantasy heroine than a real woman.

‘But you’d spent time together again recently?’

‘She’d just found out that she was ill,’ Kerr said. ‘She wanted to tell someone. Not Kate and the kids. She thought they’d get too upset.’

‘She told you that morning before you dropped her off at the Haven?’ Vera had to turn in her seat to see his face.

He nodded. ‘She asked if I fancied going for a walk. We went to the beach at North Mardle. It was freezing and we had the place to ourselves, apart from a couple of dog walkers miles off. Then the sun came out.’ Vera could see that in his head he was back on the beach in the winter sunshine walking beside the woman he’d known since he was a young man. Had he taken her hand? Put an arm around her shoulder?

‘She had cancer,’ Vera said.

‘I said I’d look after her. Whatever she needed.’ He was almost in tears. ‘She said she had to sort a few things out. Affairs to get straight. “I’ll need you to help me with that, Malcolm.”’ He smiled. ‘Of course I hated the thought of her being ill, but I loved her involving me, making me part of her life again. So we’d be together in a way, even if we didn’t have very long.’

‘Did she say what she needed to sort out?’

But Malcolm didn’t answer immediately. They’d reached a red buoy close to a rocky outcrop of the island. He cut the engine and tied the boat to a metal ring on the rock. The boat swung and he reached out to haul in the rope attached to the buoy. The water was very clear here and Vera watched the object slowly emerge. He lifted it, dripping, into the body of the boat. A weighted metal plate covered in sand. Vera’s attention shifted briefly from the investigation.

‘And what did you say is in there?’

‘A sediment monitoring plate. The Prof. needs it for his research. I said I’d bring it in, in case there’s a storm over the holiday.’ He slipped the knot from the ring and pushed the boat away from the rock. ‘He’s a good man, the Prof. I don’t mind doing him a favour when I can.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me you’d met Margaret when I talked to you yesterday?’ She was exasperated. ‘We could have saved all this carry-on – half my team having you down as a murderer.’

‘I was scared,’ he said.

‘You said you’d been in touch with Margaret since your divorce? Did you approach her?’

He shook his head. ‘She knew how I was fixed. It was up to her. She contacted me about Kate Dewar’s lad.’