Shaking with anger, she tried to focus. What she’d said to Dougie and the girl still held true, she reasoned. What they chose to do now would affect the outcome of all their lives.

Had Dougie decided to flee and hide or had someone else chosen his fate for him? An image of Nadia’s face when they’d discussed their plan came to mind. Had the girl always intended to run? Had she been the one to persuade Dougie to do that?

Stop and focus, she told herself angrily. Imagine you could call Mark and talk to him. What would he tell you to do?

She thought of other times and other places, where they’d had to decide . . . to hold back or not. How many times Mark had put himself in the firing line. A soldier of the truth, without the means to protect himself.

Fuck it, Ava . . . what are you waiting for? his ghost-like presence demanded.

She smiled. ‘You’re right. What am I waiting for?’ She sat down at her laptop. It would take a while to get it properly out there, and then for people to find it.

Dougie had told her that when she was ready, the story should be released to the online gaming community first. That way it would spread as swiftly as a virus. He had even set up an automatic link for her to do that. ‘So you don’t need me here when you decide,’ he’d told her.

The knock at the door broke her concentration.

‘Ava, I have some news for you.’ PC Tulloch’s voice sounded too tentative for the news to be good. Or was she just imagining that?

Ava opened the door and invited Ivan inside.

‘What?’ she demanded when she saw his face.

He hesitated, only making things worse.

‘For God’s sake, Ivan,’ she said in distress.

‘The coastguard have just reported finding the Fear Not abandoned and drifting.’

‘Where?’

‘Hoy Sound.’

‘Close to shore?’ she said, more in hope than expectation.

‘It’s not clear,’ Ivan said, his expression a picture of misery.

Ava took pity on him. ‘Thanks for letting me know, Ivan.’

Alone again, Ava tried to focus on the possible scenarios which might have led to what Ivan had just described.

Dougie was somewhere on Hoy and had released the boat to suggest they’d drowned.

They had drowned, but since Dougie knew these waters, prevailing tides and winds, that didn’t seem likely.

They were dead by someone’s hand and the boat released to give the impression they had drowned.

They’d been captured and were possibly still alive.

No matter which way she played it out, instinct told her it was one of the last two.

The forces ranged against them were just too strong, she acknowledged. In London, and also here on Orkney. They simply couldn’t win.