She carries on speaking, as if unable to stop. ‘There was something about the way he said it. He was so confident and he seemed kind too. I know this sounds like I’m crazy, but I thought it would be OK. Diane and I had a conversation when he was in the toilet and she tried to make me stay. The thing is, I thought I’d read him wrong. I was recording our conversation on my phone, that was the idea, but I began to feel safe. I thought we were going in his car, but he didn’t have his car. That was a bit strange, I admit. I asked why he didn’t have his car. I should have known something was up. He said he had cycled from the lochans, but his bike wasn’t outside. No fishing stuff. He said we could use Diane’s car. Looking back, he wasn’t taking any chances.’ She coughs, and Niall can see tears rolling down her face. ‘I was such an idiot. I left him outside and asked Diane again if she wanted to come too, but before I could mention the car, she dingied me. Told me she wanted to stay at home. I said I’d text her and if anything happened we could meet. This place in the woods we go to smoke. I nicked the keys from her coat pocket.

‘To be safe, I insisted on driving.’

Niall looks at her, surprised.

‘I learned from my dad out here. I remember, when we first got into the car, he put his gloves on. He had been standing around in the cold, waiting for me, with bare hands, but to get in the car, he put his gloves on. Inside the car, he then zipped up his jacket and put his hat on. I just thought he was warming himself up, or something. But the car was warm, so it didn’t really make sense. Then when I was driving up a track in the forest, several miles away from Diane’s, I didn’t really know where we were. It was then he told me he knew. Christine was killed in a hidden basement.’ She starts to shake but no more tears come. ‘Kept saying that Alan Mackie had done it. I went to check my phone was still recording, to get all this, but it wasn’t there … I looked over and he had tied a scarf tight over his face. It was just his eyes looking at me. I stopped the car. We were deep in the woods. I didn’t really know where. He took the car keys, then made me get out and walk. I must have walked for miles.’ She starts to cry again, holding herself tightly.