Their work on the items taken from the staff and visitor quarters on the ship was nearly complete. They now knew that the male who had washed ashore had slept in one of the deck containers, as had Nadia, so that part of her story was true. But it seemed the staff might have been used in other ways, for Chrissy had also found samples of Nadia’s DNA in the bed used by the games’ two victims. Nadia was young and pretty and, in essence, a prisoner, where her guards could demand anything of her, if the alternative was to be the victim in a killing game or thrown overboard.

If she had been working illegally, that would prove even more difficult for her, should she come in for questioning. The fact that she wanted to tell her story at all showed great courage.

Rhona watched as the first rays of the rising sun found the resident statue of the Virgin Mary in the convent garden below, bathing her in early morning light.

Had she been religious, she would have called it a sign. In her case, Rhona just hoped it might be.

69

The water was flat calm, the two black heads of the visiting seals bobbing like corks, their eyes feasting on him as he walked the shoreline.

Nadia had wanted to return to the Orlova, arguing that no one would look for them there. Dougie hadn’t been so sure.

Fear had driven Nadia’s desire to run. He had been less keen, but he’d known that if he refused, she would have run away alone and unprotected. And he couldn’t have let that happen. So he’d brought her here, knowing that eventually someone would come for them. He only hoped that it might be a friend rather than an enemy.

But how would he know the difference unless he chose them himself?

So he was planning to do that without telling her, knowing he had a limited time before his mobile and his power pack both ran to empty.

She would feel betrayed, but it had to be done, he told himself again.

He had succeeded in hiding the tent, and they’d not lit a fire. What food he’d brought was almost done. But someone would spot them eventually. And he couldn’t watch the sky and the water forever.

He brought out his mobile. Now he had to decide who to call. His guilt at not telling Ava he was alive rose again to engulf him. He’d wanted her to release the material and she’d not been sure, and Nadia wouldn’t agree to wait any longer. So they’d fled, setting fire to the boathouse to cover their tracks. He was sorry about that, nearly weeping as they’d sailed away, the flames melting into the distance.

‘I’ll rebuild it,’ he’d promised himself, ‘when this is all over.’