‘According to the mother when I spoke to her last night.’

‘There must have been an implied criticism in Sophie’s decision to leave, don’t you think? Sophie obviously didn’t enjoy working with Hattie. That would have been hurtful to a sensitive young woman.’

‘Perhaps.’ Perez hoped she could tell by the tone of his voice that he didn’t agree.

‘Any previous suicide attempts?’

‘We didn’t go into that sort of detail. But she did say she’d been treated as an in patient in a psychiatric hospital and the mother was obviously worried about her.’ Though not worried enough to come to Shetland to see for herself. ‘Her colleagues both say that since Mima’s death she’s become more isolated and withdrawn. Even her success at the dig doesn’t seem to have raised her mood very much. They’d found some silver coins to validate her theory about the building. Everyone expected her to be very excited. She was – she talked to me about her plans for the future of the project – but she still seemed troubled. Mima Wilson’s death seems to have affected her deeply.’

‘You’d met her, then. Couldn’t the resignation of her colleague have pushed her over the edge?’

‘Unlikely, I’d have thought. She seemed very self-contained to me. I had the impression that she preferred to be alone. Her boss didn’t seem to think that Sophie’s wanting to leave had upset her very much.’

The Fiscal seemed to come to a decision. ‘We need to talk to the mother before we commit ourselves on this. If the girl has attempted suicide before, we don’t want to turn this into a full-blown murder inquiry. That’ll mean bringing the team in from Inverness.’

Which had implications for budget, not to mention the Shetland tourist trade. The Fiscal wouldn’t make herself popular with the politicians if she called it as murder and it turned out to be something less dramatic. And at the moment she was very keen to keep in with the politicians.

‘I’m worried about the coincidence,’ he said. ‘Two sudden deaths, one explained as an accident, another as a suicide. I can’t accept it.’

‘That had crossed my mind too.’ Gently sarcastic. I’m not a fool, Jimmy. Her voice hardened. ‘But I won’t be drawn into conspiracy theories. She was a depressive young woman. This looks like a classic adolescent suicide.’

‘She was twenty-three,’ Perez said. ‘Hardly an adolescent.’

The Fiscal stretched. It was as if he hadn’t spoken. ‘Yes, the most likely cause of death is suicide and that’s how we’ll play it for now. Is the mother coming into Shetland?’