The island’s single shop was located opposite the port in Orsaig, halfway down the east coast of Litta. This was the most populous area of the island, with fifteen houses within half a mile of the port, spread at intervals along the loop of the road that curved north from Orsaig, a scattering along the western approach too, and a few more down several tracks leading off the main road. With the post office next to the shop, as well as the port and the small crafts shop that was opened up to visitors in summer (when few visitors came), there were far more people coming and going around Orsaig than anywhere else on the island, where you could often walk for hours without meeting another soul.

Malcolm was surprised not to bump into anyone as he and Tommy approached the shop.

“You remember this?” he asked Tommy.

“Yeah.” A pause, then, “After I came to live with you, I used to help Heather behind the counter sometimes. On her days.”

“That’s right.” How easily Tommy had skimmed over it: After I came to live with you. Perhaps it was down to practice. Perhaps this ability to move round the edges of things had become part of his nature. Malcolm thought of Tommy emerging the day before from the semi-darkness outside his door, as though he had simply materialized there.

Kathy MacDonald, grey haired and solid, was behind the counter when Malcolm and Tommy entered the shop, and Malcolm saw the exact moment she recognized Tommy. First there was a faint look of curiosity on her face as she noted Malcolm coming in with a young stranger; then, as her brain worked out who he surely must be, the shock registered before she could quickly smooth it away.

“Malcolm,” she said. “Not out on the farm today?”

“No, it’s a free day for me.”

“And this must be—surely it isn’t Tommy?” And she smiled.

Malcolm was impressed by Kathy, as he so often had been in the past. She’d always had a way of carrying things off.

“That’s right,” he said. “This is Tommy. Back for a wee visit.” He felt reassured by how normal this made the situation sound.

It was unclear from Tommy’s response whether or not he remembered Kathy. He said, “Hello,” and put his hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable.

“Just stocking up on a few things,” Malcolm said.

“And how are you keeping, Tommy?” Kathy said. “It’s been a while.”

“I’m fine.”

“You living on the mainland?”

“Yes. Here and there,” Tommy said.

Malcolm wondered if Tommy was aware of how evasive he sounded, as though he’d just been released from prison and was trying to conceal it. Then he thought, What if he has just been released from prison? Surely not.

Tommy was staring at the shelves of crisps and biscuits. “Stock’s changed,” he said, to no one in particular.