I breathed out. Even if the snakebite hadn’t been the cause of death – and that hadn’t been established yet, only that the snake wasn’t venomous – the snake’s presence still bothered me. It had to have some significance. A search on Wikipedia revealed that, Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing.

Was whoever killed him making a point about Bob Jameson’s “rebirth”? I took a screen shot of the comment on my phone to show Molloy. Scrolling through the rest of the comments, there was no further mention of a snake but none of them was any better. Amanda was off the mark if she was laboring under the illusion that her husband had been universally liked.

I felt my eyes closing, so I put the phone to one side and turned off the light. Ten minutes later I realized I’d forgotten to brush my teeth, so I went to the bathroom where Molloy’s old-fashioned razor and shaving brush gave me a flutter, probably because it was the only thing in the house that revealed anything vaguely personal about him.

My heart sank when I heard rain on the roof again, but at some point in the middle of the night the man himself came in, climbed into bed and put his arms around me.

Chapter Nineteen

I WOKE AT eight, alone and momentarily disorientated, hardly surprising considering this was the fourth bed in six days I’d woken in. Once I’d figured out where I was, I stretched luxuriously and listened out for the inevitable rain. But there was none. I could even hear some birdsong, the first I’d heard since I’d returned to Inishowen, although I never heard too much birdsong outside my own window in Malin with Guinness prowling about. I hoped he was okay. Charlie had said he’d take him into his house and if there was one thing Guinness enjoyed doing, it was torturing Charlie’s poor, sweet-natured old corgi, Ash.

Thinking of prowlers reminded me of my unease in the office the night before. Had someone been there out in the yard? I’d call in later, in the daylight, to check. I wouldn’t mention it to Molloy, I decided. He had enough on his plate. Had I dreamed his return in the middle of the night or had he come back and left again? How long had I been back in Inishowen? Three nights? It felt like so much longer. In many ways it felt as if I hadn’t been away at all.