‘Yeah. I know.’ Thea sighed. Then, in a smaller voice: ‘What if I’m wrong about this place? What if no one’s here? It’s just me, isn’t it? I’m the only one who saw anything.’

He took a moment to stop and look at her, so intently it made Thea shift her feet uncomfortably. But, finally, he said, ‘I believe you.’

That made two people at least. The problem was Thea wasn’t sure if she believed herself anymore.

‘There’s no one here, miss,’ Len said to her, while around her the rest of the security team assembled in the courtyard, blinking in the daylight. ‘We’ve scoured the whole place and there are drones currently mapping the rest of the island.’

Thea was acutely aware of everyone looking at her, these men in their black combat gear, the expressions on their faces, all of them thinking that she’d wasted their time. The hysterical woman, can’t even trust her own eyes, making a drama out of nothing, out of an accident. Stupid, hysterical woman.

‘It was worth checking though, Thea.’ Ethan was being supportive, which was worse in a way, because perhaps he didn’t believe her now either; he just liked her enough to not want to make her feel bad.

Her cheeks grew hot.

‘What about the lighthouse?’ Thea asked.

Had they checked that? Someone could have run there quite easily.

Something like annoyance flickered across Len’s stony face and he took a deep breath. His men shuffled their feet and muttered quietly to one another.

‘Look, Miss Mackenzie, you’ve led us a merry dance all morning. The drones will map the lighthouse. Right now though, that’s not our main concern. See that vicious-looking patch of sky there? I’ve got orders to get us all back before that bitch hits. So, if you wouldn’t mind?’

There were a few sniggers.

Thea had a choice then. After all, she was used to it. She had been the good little girl for her entire life so she could do it again: behave and do what the sensible man said.

Or …

They hadn’t checked the lighthouse. She caught Ethan’s eye and a muscle twitched in his jaw. He nodded ever so slightly.

Her cheeks continued to burn but she didn’t have any dignity left to lose. ‘Well, I’ll go and check on my own.’

Len rubbed the bridge of his nose. He sighed. Thea held his gaze. She might not be crazy, not just yet, that face in the monastery window might still be real and the lighthouse might be all the proof she needed. She was going there.

‘I’m afraid I have orders,’ he said, reaching into the back of his waistband.