‘Good morning,’ Lucy said. ‘I thought you would never call me back. I assumed you must be off-grid.’

‘I’m not in the wilderness,’ Joanne said.

‘But you’re near it,’ Lucy said dramatically.

‘I’m a twenty-minute walk from the village.’

‘Which, let me guess, has three houses, a pub and a shop.’

‘A few more things than that.’ Joanne found herself standing up for Blackrig.

There was a pause as Lucy digested this, then her bright voice declared, ‘So, how is your gamekeeper?’

‘It’s called a ghillie,’ Joanne said. ‘He’s away to work and I’m here in his cottage, called Beanach, which means “blessing” in Gaelic.’

‘Listen to you,’ Lucy whooped. ‘Going all native on me.’

‘It’s pretty special up here,’ Joanne said. ‘Especially after the London version of the plague.’

‘So, I take it your ghillie isn’t a disappointment?’

‘He wasn’t a disappointment in London and now he’s on his home turf . . .’

Lucy groaned in what Joanne imagined was jealousy. ‘I wish you’d taken me to the Highland Game thingy. Maybe I would now be swanning around a Highland estate.’

Frivolities over, Joanne moved to more serious matters.

‘Is everything all right down there?’

‘Yes. No one has come looking for you, and if they did, I would say you were off on an assignment, but I wasn’t sure where.’

Joanne considered this for a moment. ‘Thank you, Lucy.’

‘No problem. Since I have no idea where you are, except that it’s somewhere in Scotland.’ She carried on. ‘So how long do you plan to stay?’

Joanne had no idea and said so. ‘It depends on what happens with Greg. He’s keen at the moment, but who knows how long that will last?’ She thought about what had happened yesterday and Caroline’s reaction to her. ‘Plus I think he’s got history with the woman who runs the village shop. She was throwing me daggers when we went in yesterday.’

‘Did he explain why?’

‘No.’ Joanne thought about telling Lucy the sad tale of the pandemic, but realized she might discover where exactly she was via that information, which wasn’t a good idea.

‘Who hasn’t got a history?’ Lucy said.

Joanne made a noise which signified her agreement.

‘Well, keep in touch, Lady Chatterley. And stay safe.’ Lucy’s voice broke a little at those final words, and Joanne knew exactly why.

‘You too,’ she said. ‘Sending hugs.’

She put down the phone, noting that her hands were trembling a little. The first call was always going to be the most difficult, and it had gone well. Or okay, at least.

With the whole day in front of her she decided she would shower, dress and then take a look round Beanach, both inside and out.

They said you could tell a lot about a person by the way they lived.