‘It’s Ariadne,’ Dora gasped, now out of breath as well as nearing hysteria. ‘I think she may have gone back to the caves on her own to have another look for the statue. She overheard Karl and me saying that proof was needed or nothing could be done. You have to understand –’ she started to wade through the shallow water to the boat, ignoring her long skirts dragging against her thighs – ‘Ariadne feels personally responsible. Like a priestess, almost. Since she found the hand, she thinks Aphrodite is speaking directly to her.’ Nikos helped her up the ladder at the aft of the boat and she collapsed onto the warm wooden floor. ‘And after today, I don’t blame her.’

‘Stay there while I bring the boat into the jetty for the others. What you need,’ he smiled reassuringly, ‘is a Metaxa.’

If Dora hadn’t been so upset, she would have felt that Penny was bloody lucky. Nikos was not just attractive but kind, a quality her friend’s husband Colin seemed to totally lack. He climbed down into the cabin and steered the boat into the small wooden pier next to the boathouses.

Penny jumped in next, wondering for a moment if Marigold was still in residence at the boathouse and whether she would have been watching the drama unfold from her balcony.

Karl followed, and they set off.

‘Where is it you think Ariadne would be looking?’

‘The Corsair caves. The large one, with the entrance at the front and back.’

‘OK. Penelope, could you get Dora a brandy? The Metaxa is in the galley. It will calm you down.’

‘How would she have got there?’ Karl asked Nikos, looking out at the blue and glassy sea.

‘If she wanted to be quiet about it, she could have gone by kayak,’ Nikos suggested thoughtfully. ‘That way she wouldn’t have to get one of the tourist boats, which would be expensive and they’d probably gossip. We’d better look out for a kayak moored somewhere.’

They all fell quiet, scanning the inlets and beaches for any sign of a kayak.

After a silent and tense fifteen minutes they arrived at the caves with the holes in the rock, where the corsairs had moored their small, swift ships so that they could hide any booty in the caves and still escape through the hidden back route to the open sea.

‘No sign of a kayak,’ said Dora, anxiously glancing round.

‘Which cave are we looking for?’ asked Nikos, tying up the boat in the very hole the corsairs had made three hundred years ago.

‘We’ll need the small boat to go right inside the big cave. It’s off that, to the right.’

They climbed carefully down the ladder into the inflatable craft, as Nikos tried to hold it steady.