“No.” His shoulders droop at my blanket refusal. “I’m sorry, but even doing a test suggests the idea has some credibility. Which it doesn’t. I don’t see the point in pandering to the delusions of an obviously sick girl. I’m sorry.” I stop myself abruptly. I shouldn’t have to apologize for refusing to be dragged into this ludicrous nonsense. “Is she on some kind of medication?”

“Well, sometimes that stuff works better than other times.” He blows out a long breath. “Aye. Well. It was worth a shot. I just thought I had to ask. What with you actually being here and everything.”

“Yes.” We sit in silence for a moment. He seems smaller, somehow. Like the fight has gone out of him. “It can’t be easy, living with her,” I venture.

He smiles gratefully despite his dejection. “Well, no. It’s not. And to be honest, I dinnae really have anyone to talk to about it. It’s a pretty small pond here, and it’s not fair to slag her off to folk who are her pals, too. She’s mostly really good at keeping things under wraps, so they might not even believe me anyway. There’s a lot of loyalty round here; my dad makes sure of that. Even when there was all that trouble with the police when she was a teenager, and then the social services investigation over Callum . . .” He sees my confused look. “Oh, it was nothing. He rolled off a bed when he was just a baby and ended up with a head injury. So then there was an investigation for negligence, and what with her police record . . .” He grimaces. Police record? Social services investigation? I suddenly realize I have my mouth open, and quickly shut it, working hard to find some equanimity. “It took all of Glen’s connections to get that cleared.” Glen. Not Dad. “Harassment, it was, he said . . . Anyway, my point is that everybody round here knows about the dyschronometria, and they’re really protective of her. I would sound like . . .” He trails off.

I find myself nodding. “I noticed that with Ben.” I’ve only been here a few days, and already I can tell that Ben would bridle if I tried to say anything uncomplimentary about Fiona.

He leaps gratefully on my confirmation. “Exactly! Look, Ben’s a good guy, though nobody is such an open book as he makes out that he is—but I’m not trying to slag him off; I’m just saying it’s not the easiest. And everyone round here thinks Glen is a saint for taking me in at all. Oh—you dinnae ken? Fiona is my half sister. Same father, different mother.” His lips twist ruefully. “I’m the by-blow. I was dumped on him when my mam died, which well and truly scuppered his plan of refusing to acknowledge my existence.”