The phone signal was poor. Walking out into the water, it grew a little stronger. Had he kept the Fear Not, he would have taken the boat out past the headland and called from there.

What if he’d lost his boat forever? For a moment, he considered everything he had lost in such a short time. His mum, his dad, soon his home, and now the Fear Not.

But not Ava, a small voice reminded him.

Thigh-high now in the water, he found a signal. Maybe just enough. He imagined he could see the house at Houton Bay, jutting out into the water. He imagined Magnus on his jetty, his dinghy tied alongside . . . and pressed the call button.

When he re-entered the tent, she was still asleep, Finn beside her as commanded. He chose not to disturb her, but silently compared her life up to now with his own.

He’d considered he’d had it bad, but it was nothing in comparison to what she had endured. While listening to the recording she’d made with Ava, he’d suspected there was more being left unsaid. Now he knew the other things she’d been forced to do on the Orlova.

He also knew that if the police were to be given a chance to bring some of the people involved in these crimes to justice, then they must be told the whole story. Which meant they had to be able to question Nadia properly. Get her to identify suspects.

Even identify the dead.

He thought of the body washed up on the beach at Yesnaby. She’d said it was Guido, but that couldn’t be confirmed without her. And there would be others. The sea would return to land what it had been given. If they’d thrown Guido overboard, then it was likely they’d done that with the others too.

Nadia had only survived because she’d hidden. She knew everyone on that ship, and had worked on another before the MV Orlova. She’d viewed how many rich clients? How many famous customers?

She was stirring now, sensing perhaps that she was being observed. He watched as the fear in her eyes softened when she saw him.

‘What time is it?’ she said, half sitting up.

‘Early,’ he said.

She noticed his bare legs and feet. ‘You’re all wet,’ she said.

‘I was paddling. It’s flat calm in the bay and the two seals are back.’

She’d watched them a few times, from the safety of their hideout.

‘Are you hungry?’ he said. ‘I can mix some of the dried food with water from the burn.’

She nodded, aware that was all they had left.