Rhona recalled Ava’s reaction to that, the firm set of her mouth, the steely-eyed stare out through the windscreen.

‘She definitely wasn’t happy that Mark’s warning hadn’t been taken seriously.’

‘Maybe she’s found out more about DI Cleverly?’ Chrissy suggested.

‘If she has, she didn’t mention it to McNab in their interview,’ Rhona said.

She began to go over every interchange she’d ever had with Ava Clouston. Their first meeting at Magnus’s house for dinner the evening after she and Chrissy had arrived on Orkney. Then the very different scenario with McNab at the curry house in Glasgow. Followed by the really awkward dinner party on her second trip north, when it was obvious something was wrong. Ava’s subsequent text, pleading for Rhona to come alone to the farm. And, finally, her revelation that she was harbouring Nadia and her intention not to inform the police.

Rhona had been the first person Ava had told of the girl’s existence and of her fear for Nadia’s safety.

Then another thought arrived. One that she should have considered before now. Mark had been more than just a journalist and colleague who’d been murdered while working on a story. She now realized Ava had been much closer to him than that.

That night in the restaurant with McNab, Ava had indicated how much faith she had in what Mark had already unearthed. Otherwise, why would she have broken her journey home to speak to them about it?

Mark believed that Cleverly couldn’t be trusted. Had he been right all along? Were Jack Winters’s words enough to dismiss that?

Rhona took a moment to consider the consequences if, in fact, Mark Sylvester had been correct in his suspicions. Maybe even had evidence to prove them.

That would undoubtedly have set Ava on a different path.

What if Cleverly already knew of Ava and Nadia’s arrival in Glasgow and was worried about them being interviewed? Mark was dead, so any suspicions or evidence that he’d collected against Cleverly might well have gone with him.

Or maybe not . . .

‘What are you thinking?’ Chrissy demanded.

‘McNab has two trains of thought on the women’s disappearance,’ Rhona told her. ‘The first is that they’ve been taken to prevent them giving evidence about Go Wild in court. The second that Ava orchestrated their disappearance herself, but he has no idea why.’

‘If she asked about Cleverly,’ Chrissy said, ‘it has something to do with that.’

77

Watching the car pull away, Ava allowed herself a sigh of relief.

‘Let’s get inside before the police officer changes her mind and decides to come shopping with us.’

‘You were worried about that too?’ Nadia said.

‘There was always the chance DS McNab had ordered her to stay with us at all times.’