We closed the door. The shop already smelled dank.

“Poor Phyllis,” Liam said sadly.

“I know.”

“Any idea who that is?” he asked suddenly. His gaze had switched to his estate agents’ office across the square.

I looked. A man was examining the listings in the window, a young guy of about thirty, unshaven, wearing a green Barbour jacket and carrying an umbrella. I shook my head. He didn’t look familiar, but then I didn’t have a very clear view.

“Well, rain or no rain, if he’s in the market for something, I’d better go and see what he wants!” Liam said. “I’ll see you at the meeting.”

As Liam crossed the street, the man turned and I caught a glimpse of his face, confirming what I’d thought – he was a stranger. It was only when I reached the corner on my way to my own office that it occurred to me that he could be Lissa’s husband. He was about the right age and there weren’t many new people in town that I hadn’t seen, since no one could get in or out. I glanced back at Liam chatting to him, and he seemed affable enough. But I knew from bitter experience that affability was no bar to violence.

Lissa had given me her mobile number so I texted her and asked her to send me a picture of her husband, repeating my advice that she should really report the whole thing to the guards. I felt another twinge of worry about her. Even if there was little that they could do to protect her, I’d feel better if someone else knew. But she didn’t reply.

When I turned the corner, Molloy was pacing up and down on the footpath outside my office, on the phone. He wasn’t waiting for me, since he couldn’t have expected me to be there on a Saturday, but he glanced up, met my eyes with his tired grey ones, and raised his hand.

“Time for a quick coffee?” I mouthed.

He nodded, stood behind me as I put the key in the lock and opened the door, and followed me in, continuing with his conversation. I caught snatches of it as I went to the kitchen to fill the kettle and to the bathroom to empty the basin. Most of it seemed to be about weather, accessibility, the roads and when they might be clear.

When I emerged from the kitchen, he signed off, put the phone on the counter and breathed out. “An army crew will be able to build a temporary bridge at Quigley’s Point but not until the floods abate, so it looks as if it’s just McFadden and myself for the foreseeable.”

“Cripes.” I paused. “Although I hear Maeve caught the snake.”