‘Ah, Joanne. Meet Megan Huntly, Josh’s mum.’ Kath waved at Joanne to join them. ‘Take a seat. I’ll fetch you a cup.’

‘Kath’s told me all about you,’ the woman said, observing her intently.

Joanne had no idea how to follow that, because all she knew about Megan Huntly was that she’d lost a child to the virus, and that Josh, who she’d never met properly, had led the gang that had destroyed the hot tub, releasing the horror of Ailsa’s death on the community.

Perhaps noting her discomfort, Megan said, ‘They let Josh go. He’s out fighting the fire with Greg and the others.’

‘Is he a volunteer firefighter too?’ Joanne said, relieved to have the fire as the main subject of their conversation.

‘Not normally, but in emergencies, yes.’

‘So it really is an emergency?’ She hadn’t thought of it in those terms up to now.

‘We’re a wee village, miles from anywhere, and surrounded by woods. We have a burn close by and the loch up by Ard Choille as water sources, but getting enough manpower and water anywhere near the fire is a problem.’

Kath, back by now and pouring Joanne’s tea, added, ‘Last time this happened, they were fighting it for three days.’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Joanne said. ‘Caroline says there’s a tea and coffee van set up outside the hall.’

The two women exchanged looks. ‘You’ve been talking to Caroline?’ Kath said.

Joanne nodded. ‘I met her on Main Street on the way here.’

‘Then you’ll know about Finn?’ Megan said.

‘Yes,’ she admitted.

Kath shook her head. ‘It’s a bad business. All of it.’

Her declaration seemed to bring an end to the tea party, at least for Megan.

‘Right,’ she said, rising. ‘I need to get back. Thanks for the tea, Kath, and,’ she turned to Joanne, ‘it was nice to meet you, Joanne.’

When Kath returned from showing her out, she immediately said, ‘Megan knows Josh led the raid on the hot tub. She hates the Party House with a vengeance and she has good reason. I suspect she knows Finn wasn’t with Josh when he did it. Whether Josh told the police that, we don’t know.’

Kath refreshed her tea before continuing. ‘Malcolm told me he advised Greg not to say anything about being there that night. I think he’s right. Remember, we don’t even know whether the fingerprint story is true. If folk in Blackrig don’t know the whole story, they tend to fill in the blanks themselves, usually coloured by how it affects them personally. That’s human nature.’