Her English was excellent, just like the Polish people who worked in the fish processing in Stromness, and the frightened way she told her story had convinced Dougie of its truth.

She’d answered an advertisement for a job in Ibiza. As a language student, she was much in demand, they’d explained, since their clientele came from the UK, Russia and beyond.

‘It was good at first. A bit wild, you understand? Special parties where women were brought in. I remember hearing gun shots, but I never found out what happened because when I started asking questions they moved me to a cruise ship.’

‘The Orlova?’

‘Not yet. It was on the Med. Smaller, very expensive. Guests arriving by helicopter. I was there to clean, make up beds, that sort of thing. There was gambling, partying, frightened women brought aboard who never left again. I wanted to give up the job, then discovered I couldn’t. If I tried to leave they would kill me.’

She’d filled their glasses again at that point, her hands trembling.

‘Then one day I was brought here to the Orlova. I had the feeling that the ones who were expendable ended up here. If we objected to what was happening here, then we would die.’

Fear had radiated from her body. Dougie had wanted to put his arms about her, tell her she was safe now, but knew he shouldn’t.

‘They came here to play games. All involved violence. Some death. We knew that, but never saw it happen. Our job was to clear up the mess they left behind. Just before the storm hit, something bad happened. I hid in here and didn’t come out until we got to this place.’

‘You’ve been on deck. You’ve seen the coastline?’

‘Only after I couldn’t hear anyone else on board.’

‘Why didn’t you talk to the police?’

‘I couldn’t take a chance. They would come looking for me.’

The terror on her face had brought fear to his own heart.

‘All my friends are dead,’ she’d said, as though admitting it for the first time. ‘They killed them and threw them overboard. They never thought the ship would be blown ashore. They never thought it would be found.’

Dougie’s head was reeling a little from the vodka, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to persuade her to give herself up, even to Erling.

But there could be something else she might consider.

He’d told Nadia about his sister. What she did for a living. About her investigation into Go Wild. That Nadia could trust her. She could stay hidden on the farm. No one would know she was there. She could tell her story to Ava. Ava would tell the world. The company would never know where the story had come from.