When Sarah woke the bedroom was bright with sunshine. She had a hangover. At the instant of waking she thought that she was still in Cornwall. The clarity of the light was the same. Then she felt the headache and remembered where she was. She stretched. She supposed that there was no hurry to get up but she wanted to explore the island. She wondered if Jim had made any tea. There was no noise in the kitchen. She got out of bed and put on a thick jersey on top of her nightdress. The lino felt cold on her feet. There was no one in the kitchen. She plugged in the electric kettle to make tea but there was no electricity. The fire in the range was out and the grate had not been cleaned. How thoughtless of Jim to go out so early without showing her how to light the fire. She tried to remember if he had said anything, the night before, about intending to go out, but at first she could only recall the images of the party. She remembered Agnes sobbing, and the men deciding to search the island. Then it all came back to her. She had walked back with Maggie and the boys, and she had gone to bed alone. She went into the bedroom. There was no sign of Jim’s suit or his smart shoes. He had not been home. For a moment the image of Jim taking Elspeth in his arms to dance returned, and there was a sickening moment of suspicion. Then she told herself that she was being foolish and that there must be some other explanation for his absence.

She heard the noise of the generator. It must be ten o’clock. Maggie had told her that they had the generator on for two hours every morning for the freezers and so that the women could use vacuum cleaners and washing machines. Sarah boiled a kettle to make a cup of instant coffee. She used the rest of the hot water for washing, then dressed.

She went outside. There was a cold wind from the north. She walked across the patched tarmac lane to Buness where Alec and Maggie lived. The boys were playing outside with a go-cart. It was Saturday. Parties on Kinness were always held on Friday nights. If they were held on Saturdays, they would have to stop at midnight. Dancing wasn’t allowed on a Sunday. She knocked on the front door of the white house. No one answered and she went round to the back. The back door was open and Maggie was in the kitchen pushing children’s clothes into a spin dryer.

“Hello,” Sarah said. “I was wondering if you knew where Jim was. Did they find Mary?”

She felt young and shy in front of this competent woman engrossed with her domesticity.

Maggie looked up.