‘No, of course not. That was perfectly true as far as it went – but I missed a perfect chance to admit to something about my life that it would have been better to acknowledge straight away – and now the obvious moment has gone and I wish I’d had more guts. When Win showed such courage this morning, I despised myself.’

‘Would you like to tell me more now?’ she asked, wanting to try to help him because he looked so troubled; very surprised to think he might need help in any way at all. There was a silence. He appeared to be considering the possibility. ‘There’s no need to tell anyone about your personal life if you don’t want to,’ she went on, although she was dying of curiosity. ‘Why do you feel you have to say anything at all?’

Christopher lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. ‘Partly because I think it’s going to come out anyway – which is a very poor reason, I know. You see, I’ve been the object of quite a lot of publicity off and on, but I thought that here I would be completely anonymous. Then I found that Louisa and I had met before and we both remember where. I can see she’s curious about me and she could easily find out what there is to know if she wants to.’

‘And you want to be able to get in first?’

‘Yes. I suppose I do.’

‘So? Go on then.’

‘So,’ said Christopher, ‘I’m having a session with Catherine this afternoon – she’s kindly been looking at some writing I brought with me and I shall tell her the reason why I’ve come to Glendrochatt . . . but perhaps I could tell you first?’ He gave her a quizzical look and she wondered what was coming. ‘I do want a new career. I do want to try to write – and I do urgently need to change my lifestyle.’ He took a deep breath. ‘But . . . I’ve only recently come out of prison,’ he said, gazing across the loch to the far hills. ‘I’ve served half my sentence. I’m still on probation.’

‘What did you do?’

‘I killed someone.’

‘Did you mean to?’ she asked, showing interest but no surprise, as if it were quite an everyday occurrence.

‘God no! No, it wasn’t murder. It was “death by dangerous driving” – which, if you’re convicted, carries a mandatory three-year sentence.”

‘If my mother had died all those years ago, I would have committed murder,’ said Marnie.