He found Berglund sitting alone in the bar of the Pier House Hotel. There was a tray of coffee on the table in front of him and he was scribbling notes on an A4 pad. Perez saw that the writing was large and spidery and quite unintelligible. The place was empty apart from Berglund and Cedric Irvine, who was sitting behind the bar reading the Shetland Times.

‘What can I get you?’ The landlord recognized him from the day before, gave a knowing smile. Perez thought he would probably have as much information as anyone about what had been going on in the island. He wondered if Sandy had thought to talk to him about Mima.

‘Coffee,’ Perez said. ‘Strong and black.’ Cedric nodded and disappeared.

Berglund waved at him. ‘I thought you weren’t coming into Whalsay today.’

‘Something came up.’ He sat at the same table. ‘Did the Setter coins live up to expectation?’

‘Absolutely. They’re in fine condition too.’

‘I’m looking for Hattie.’

Berglund raised his eyebrows. ‘What do you want with her?’

Perez smiled. ‘Just a chat. More loose ends.’

‘I presume she’s in the Bod.’

‘I’ve just been there. Sophie said she was with you.’ This was becoming ridiculous. He didn’t want to play hide-and-seek throughout the island, looking for a neurotic girl. He had better things to do with his time.

‘We had a quick chat earlier just about where she should take the project from here, but I haven’t seen her for a couple of hours.’

Cedric came over with Perez’s coffee. Perez waited until the landlord was engrossed in the newspaper again before continuing.

‘You didn’t bring Hattie in here?’

Berglund pulled a face. ‘Good God, no. Earlier on the place was full of men from the trawlers. It was pretty rowdy and Hattie’s a sensitive sort of flower at the best of times. We just walked along the shore below Utra. It was quite sheltered there, very pleasant.’

‘Did she say where she was going when she left you?’

‘She was going to walk on a little way, just to collect her thoughts, plan out in her own mind how she should organize the work at Setter. I thought she would go back to the dig later. Sophie was already there. I came here. As I said, it was pretty wild in the bar. I sat in my room to make some phone calls – we need to get the coins validated, but I have other work at the university too.’