She brought him up to date, giving him the background to what she’d discovered so far regarding the set-up aboard the ship, and the obvious involvement of the company called Go Wild.

‘It’s not the first time I’ve heard that name,’ he said. ‘In fact, I’ve already been trying to find out more on their operations.’

Her heart lifted even further at that.

‘I’ll send you everything I have, which is more than I feel able to put in the public domain as yet,’ she said.

‘Right, I’ll get back to you when I’ve taken a look,’ Mark promised. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any chance you’ll be back down in London soon?’

‘Maybe for a visit,’ Ava conceded. ‘I need to check in with David, about this and other things.’

‘Great. I’ll see you then.’

Ringing off, Ava was struck by the feeling that Mark believed, as she did, that what had happened on the Orlova was merely the opening to a much larger story. What if revealing that story brought repercussions for them both?

It wouldn’t be the first time an investigation had put them in the firing line.

Mark relished a fight. She did too in normal times. Now, when she was Dougie’s only remaining family, could she take the same chances as before?

Deep in thought, she was unaware of Dougie shouting for her until he threw open the kitchen door, his face reddened by running.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ Ava said, seeing his distress.

‘You’d better come and look.’

The calf was two days old. She and Dougie had birthed it together, after the mother had got into difficulty. Her young brother had taken the lead, demonstrating all he’d learned since she’d taken off to roam the world, leaving the farm and Orkney behind.

None of this had been lost on Ava and the experience had brought them together, however fleetingly.

Now the calf lay inert beside its distraught mother, whose lowing was painful to hear.

Ava dropped onto the grass beside it, searching for any signs of life.

‘It’s dead,’ Dougie informed her. ‘I checked. That was round its neck.’ He pointed to a piece of wire lying in the grass.

‘How?’ Ava said. ‘We inspected the fences before we let them out.’

‘We must have missed a break somewhere.’

Ava took a closer look at the twisted length of wire, still bloodied from biting into the calf’s neck. It was new, no rusting, and the ends were cleanly cut. It certainly didn’t look as though it had been broken from a fence.

Dougie was regarding her, wondering what she might say.

‘Okay, fetch the digger. We’ll bury the body away from the mother.’