‘Stephanie,’ Toby interrupted gently. ‘I’m sure it really is interesting, but the thing is, what I was researching – I’ve finished with it. I’ve… moved on to something else. I’m leaving Newton Dunbar very shortly.’

‘Oh,’ said the voice on the phone, in a tone of disappointment.

‘Sorry,’ he said, feeling the need to apologize. ‘It’s—’

‘No, I understand,’ she said in a rush. ‘It’s just strange, that’s all. I can’t work it out, and so I thought you might be interested, but you must be so busy with a million other things, and I was having to re-file anyway, so…’ she trailed off.

‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘This strange thing that you found?’

‘It’s an order for candles.’

Toby drew a blank. ‘Candles?’ He transferred his phone from one ear to the other. It occurred to him that perhaps Stephanie had contrived this as a reason to call him, and then wondered how, without being a complete arse, he could make sure she never did that again. ‘They must have used candles at Braecoille all the time, surely?’

‘Oh yes,’ the young woman agreed. ‘The estate had a standing order for them that was delivered every three months, it looks like.’

‘Right. So—’

‘This order was on top of that. And it was for a lot of candles. I mean, a lot. So many, in fact, that their usual supplier couldn’t provide them all. That’s why I noticed, you see. There were five different orders for candles in the same month.’

‘How many candles are we talking?’

‘Altogether, one hundred and fifty thousand.’

‘How many?’

‘One hundred and fifty thousand,’ Stephanie repeated, ‘and that’s on top of the usual standing order.’

Toby tried to work it out. ‘That’s… Well, that’s certainly strange.’

‘Could it have anything to do with what you were researching?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. It was certainly a puzzle, but perhaps there was something obvious he hadn’t thought of. ‘What would anyone need that number of candles for, Stephanie? Any idea?’

‘Not really,’ the young woman said. ‘I’ve been racking my brains and not coming up with much. I thought that they had maybe been hosting a big party for Christmas and they needed them for outdoors – like, maybe they were having a ball and wanted it to be held outside after dark, so they needed to light the place for the event? But the only unusual purchase in that month was the candles. There was nothing for anything that you’d associate with a big party – food and drink or music, temporary extra help, anything like that.’

‘Can you tell who made the orders?’

‘It was the housekeeper, as usual. Ahh,’ Stephanie said, ‘I see what you’re thinking.’

Toby drummed his fingers on his mug. ‘What am I thinking?’

‘Oh,’ Stephanie said, awkward now. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean – I was being presumptuous there, I—’

‘Stephanie,’ he said, ‘I’m genuinely asking. There’s something there. I’m not seeing it clearly, but there’s something. Bouncing it off you might shake it loose. What did you think I was thinking?’