Here? He lived here? The island directly opposite theirs? Was that some kind of joke? She looked back at Hanna for confirmation – surely this couldn’t be right? – but her boss was looking far beyond her as she prepared to dock. She looked at Linus instead and thought his expression must match hers – open-mouthed and incredulous. His father lived here, on 007? He was Dr No?

She gave what she hoped was her best, most encouraging smile, even though what Hanna had told her about his threats to take Linus from her had already confirmed he was every inch the villain Bell and the children had role-played all last summer.

She felt her doubts rear up again. This was wrong. Forcing a child to live with a complete stranger, just to satisfy the whims of a wronged rich man? Whatever sympathies she might have had for him were now gone.

Hanna docked the boat, throwing the rope over the bollards and winding it around several times, her body moving with a rigid, grim efficiency. She could scarcely look at her son, avoiding the silent plea in his eyes as he willed her to look back at him and change her mind.

They stepped up onto the jetty, just as legs appeared through the shadows of the glade, fast-moving and purposeful. Was this him? She watched Hanna straighten up, Linus’s suitcase in her hand, waiting patiently for him to reach them as though she was merely in line for a taxi.

‘Mrs Mogert?’ The man stopped in front of her. He appeared to be in his late thirties to mid-forties, and was wearing dark-green heavy-duty waterproof trousers and a matching polo shirt. He looked more like a gardener than a . . . whatever he was. Security guard? ‘Allow me to take that for you. Would you follow me, please?’

And with the suitcase in his hand, he headed back into the trees again, without even so much as a glance Linus’s way. Hanna stared at his retreating back with an expression Bell couldn’t explain, only feel, but after a moment’s hesitation, she took the girls’ hands and followed on the path too. Linus came after, walking with the stiffly swinging arms of a toy soldier, the resigned fate of the prisoner.

Bell reached for him as he passed and took his hand in hers. ‘Ready for an adventure?’ she winked, forcing a jollity she didn’t feel. For his sake, she had to somehow find some positives in this perverse situation.

He nodded uncertainly. ‘You won’t leave me here?’

‘Hope to die,’ she said, crossing her heart. ‘Now, look out for the rottweilers, okay?’

He looked surprised, then managed a small smile. ‘If you keep a lookout for the sniper rifles and camouflaged man-traps.’

‘Deal,’ she said with a sharp nod, beginning to walk.

They strode through the woodland, moving through deep shade into sudden puddles of sunlight, the sun flashing over their faces like a playful sprite as they wove between the trees. Ahead, the twins were chattering like busy birds, stopping every few metres to admire a flower or pick up a particularly straight stick that might pass for a fairy wand. Hanna walked in silence behind them, oblivious to their games, her pale legs scissoring over the stones, slender as the birches, until after a few minutes, she stepped out of the wood and stood with the girls, bathed in a fierce light. Bell and Linus caught up with them a moment later, all of them taking in the view.