The crowd of other passengers who’d disembarked appeared to disappear almost immediately whilst Winter strode off without so much as a glance in my direction. It occurred to me that he’d probably used his almost perfect memory to map out every street of the small town in his head. He’d have a nice little B&B set up and waiting for him. I had a heavy suitcase, Brutus and his cat carrier, and absolutely no clue.

With no one around to ask for help, I set off at a shuffle down what looked like a main street. At that time of night, there appeared to be nothing open. I passed a few tearooms, an art gallery and a pub that seemed to be dark and dead. Brutus growled in irritation.

‘I know, I know, but I can’t remember the name of the damn hotel,’ I muttered to him. My excitement at being part of the Enchantment team had long since dissipated.

I was just about to turn on my heel and head back to the station to demand to be returned to civilisation when a young guy in his twenties ambled out from a side street, pausing to light a cigarette as he went. Feeling hopeful, despite his somewhat unkempt appearance, I trotted up to him. ‘Hello!’

He lifted his head and looked at me, glancing up and down with an assessing eye. ‘Tourist or TV?’ he asked in a heavy Scottish brogue.

Excellent. ‘TV!’ I beamed. ‘I’m here for the Enchantment filming but I’m not sure where the rest of the crew are staying.’ I stuck out my hand. ‘Ivy.’

He shook it briefly but there was very little enthusiasm behind the effort. In fact I had the distinct impression that he wished I’d go away and leave him in peace. ‘Gareth.’ He raised a bushy eyebrow. ‘You important? Some TV bigwig or something?’

‘Of course! I’m vital to the entire production. Without me, they’d all be lost.’

He considered this. ‘But aren’t you the one who’s lost right now?’ he finally enquired.

Ha! Gareth was smarter than he looked. ‘You’ve got me. Between you and me, my driver didn’t show up to pick me up from the station.’ I leaned in closer and added with a dark edge, ‘Heads are going to roll.’

He watched me for a moment. ‘Interesting choice of words,’ he murmured.

I frowned. ‘Why?’

‘Because heads have already rolled. Literally.’

Hang on a minute. ‘Are you referring to…?’

‘The contestants. Or, more specifically, that bloke who managed to get himself killed here just last week. There’s not been a suspicious death here in decades then, within days of your company showing up, there are body parts strewn across the Highlands.’ He reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a small flask before taking a swig and shuddering.

‘How do you know about it?’ I asked, treading carefully. Contrary to expectations, I had actually read the files and I knew that the circumstances of Benjamin Albert’s death were being kept quiet by both Enchantment and the police. This might be a small town where gossip spread like wildfire but Gareth still knew that the victim had been decapitated and dismembered – and I was certain that little titbit had been withheld from all but those closest to the investigation. I’d avoided thinking about it too much; it was simply far too gruesome.