‘The goddess of love,’ Penny smiled.

‘Anyway, Ariadne is convinced she comes to the grove.’

‘Right,’ Nell nodded, deadpan.

‘The thing is, she said you could tell she’d been there when there was a scent of myrtle, and while were standing, it suddenly came. An overpowering scent of myrtle! Right out of nowhere.’

‘But surely that’s not so odd,’ Nell pointed out. ‘Wasn’t there myrtle growing there?’

‘That was the thing,’ Dora looked from one to the other and shrugged. ‘There wasn’t any myrtle anywhere.’

Nell and Penny glanced at each other, unsure how to react. ‘So what you’re saying,’ Nell attempted, ‘is that this goddess was really there?’

Dora shook her head. ‘I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m just telling you what happened.’

Behind them, Penny caught a look of intense irritation on Xan’s face, covered almost instantly by a patronizing smile. ‘I hope you don’t mind me interrupting, ladies.’ He looked straight at Dora. ‘But I think your imagination must have been in overdrive. There’s nothing in that grove except a few goats. It was probably cliff rose, which can smell a little like myrtle. It grows everywhere round here at this time of year.’

He drained his drink and bowed, then began to stroll along the harbourside towards the other end of the town.

‘Well, what do you make of that?’ Nell asked.

‘Didn’t Takis say he wants to bulldoze the olive grove for his holiday home? I don’t suppose he wants any inconvenient goddesses hanging about and getting in his way.’

‘But you can’t actually believe there was a goddess there?’ Nell was sceptical.

‘I don’t know.’ Dora looked thoughtful. ‘But tomorrow I’ll go and see if there are any of these cliff roses nearby. Do either of you want to come with me?’

‘We can’t,’ Nell replied. ‘We’re going to meet the owners of those boat garages on the beach. Penny reckons she can turn them into star Airbnb attractions.’

Penny and Nell looked at each other.

‘I feel I just want to help,’ Penny said with sudden determination. ‘It’s such a beautiful place. Takis says people go to Santorini and even Sifnos, but not to Kyri. It’s time people knew what a lovely island this is.’

‘Good for you,’ Dora replied, looking at her thoughtfully. ‘But I thought we were only here for a short holiday.’

Five

Back in her room, Nell decided that this time she really would call Willow. It was ridiculous that she should feel nervous of ringing her own daughter. But she did.

As usual, the phone rang out and didn’t even go to voicemail. Willow hated voicemail. She said it was stupid, because she could tell that the person had rung anyway. Only old people left voicemails, she said. So it had to be bloody Instagram.