‘Baxter, I want you to go and find out what news there might be after the diver has been in the river.’ Ann took a sip of her Madeira. ‘Also, I need you to send a telegram for me, asking Lady Cruickshank if my husband did indeed leave her at the allotted time to catch the usual train at Ladybank station. Shall I write down the address or can I leave it to you?’

‘There’s no need, Mrs Craig, I can do that fine, I ken her address from Mr Craig’s letters. Kirkmichael House, Ladybank, Fife. I’ll do that first then go from the post office to the harbour and find out anything more.’

‘Thank you, Baxter.’

* * *

That afternoon, Ann was still up in the drawing room, striding back and forth, stopping occasionally to straighten an ornament or move the curtain an inch. Margaret had agreed to keep the children till teatime to give Ann time to consider her options. Ann decided that she would go to the station first thing the next morning and speak to Mr Smith herself. She had had enough with hearsay and rumour; she needed to speak to someone in authority. Alec Smith would have information, surely. She had been acquainted with him for some years – he would help her. The way he looked at her, admiring her, he would definitely be of use.

She picked up the field glasses again and turned at the knock on the door.

Baxter walked in, still with his overcoat on. He had his hat in one hand and as he removed his coat, Ann noticed his black armband.

‘What news do you bring?’

‘Well, Mrs Craig, the Fairweather – the tug that took the diver out there – set sail at two o’clock. The diver went down at the far end there.’ He went to the window and pointed to the south end of the bridge, now barely visible in the dying light of the late afternoon. ‘Twice he went down. First time he came back up he said he found the first class carriage.’ Baxter stopped as Ann Craig gasped and collapsed into her chair. That was where her husband would have been sitting.

‘It was lying on its side, about fifty feet east from the fifth broken pier.’

Ann lifted her fan from the table and began to fan herself with wide sweeping movements.

‘Shall I continue, Mrs Craig?’

She nodded.

‘Then he went down again and this time found the engine. Same eastern side, just further along. They say the train’s lying there along the river bed, from the fourth to the fifth pier.’ He pointed out the window. ‘The diver found nothing more. No bodies.’ He bowed his head and stood still, absorbing the silence of the room.