“Anyway. I had the locks changed. But I still kept feeling like I was being watched—I still do, actually. Then after your birthday, Ben”—I nod in his direction—“the smoke alarm went off in the middle of the night. It was . . .” I swallow. “Horrific. Thousands of flies rained down on me, it seemed like. Cluster flies; I looked it up the next day. They like to be somewhere warm. Maybe the battery was giving off heat or something, I don’t know. They got everywhere, in my hair, all over the kitchen . . . I had to use most of a can of insecticide to clear up the mess. When I finally went to bed, I left the bin bag with all the dead flies in it by the back door ready to go out. I left the insecticide spray and the smoke alarm cover on the kitchen table. The next morning the smoke alarm cover was back on and the bin bag and the spray can were gone, and Carrie hadn’t touched any of them; I checked. Then someone threw a stone at me when I was outside in the garden one evening; I didn’t see who. Then the dead raven and today the fox.”

“Christ,” says Ali, with the air of a man who’s just got rather more than he bargained for. “But . . . the flies couldnae be planned.”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t think they could.” He’s quick, Ali. “But maybe someone took advantage of that situation. They would have had to have been watching the house to know to move that stuff.”

“If that’s true, it can’t have been Fi,” says Ben unequivocally. “She could barely stand at the end of that night.”

“True.” At least, I think it’s true. It occurs to me that Fiona could be a very good actress. Did she really drink that much, or did she merely pretend to? But I’m being ridiculous: Fiona couldn’t have known Carrie and I would be joining them that evening. Still . . . I try for an innocent tone. “Did either of you two know about her obsession with this house?”

Ali shakes his head, and Ben does, too, after a beat, but then he says reluctantly, “Well, I knew she liked the building.” His eyes roam around the kitchen, as if he’s trying to see it afresh. “But lots of people do. It’s the most impressive piece of architecture around here, barring the hotel. And like I told you tonight, she thinks it’s kind of special.”

“Ah yes. Time folds here.”

“Dinnae mock,” says Ali seriously. “What happened at the kirk—if anything could stick a pin through all time, it would surely be that.”

I sigh. “Not you too?”

“There are more things on heaven and earth and all that. And anyway, there are plenty of genuine reviews online suggesting that this place is haunted.”