‘Yeah.’

‘Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.’

He shrugged. ‘It’s not like I had to move anything around to fit you in.’

He sat down and glanced around the hall, watching his fellow inmates and their visitors. The rumbling sound of their chatter filled the room.

‘Your name was Kate?’ he asked.

‘Kate Keddie,’ she said. ‘I think my husband came to see you recently. I’m not sure when, but it would have been sometime over the past few weeks.’

He shook his head. His sagging jowls wobbled like a turkey neck.

‘Are you sure?’ Kate asked.

‘Positive. So, is that it?’

‘Can I show you a picture of him? Maybe it’ll jog your memory.’

‘My memory doesn’t need jogging. I can count the number of visitors I get on one hand.’ He raised his right hand into a two-fingered Scout salute. ‘Come to think of it, I don’t even need the full hand.’

Several times on the long drive to South Hallston, Kate had doubted herself – it was a long way to come for some words scribbled on a Post-it Note – and she doubted herself again now. But she had shed her cocoon. She was something new now. Something stronger. ‘I know he came here to see you,’ she said coldly. ‘I just don’t know why. You can either tell me, or I can leave. But if I leave, my next stop is the police. They won’t have any trouble accessing visitor records, and then you can talk to them.’

‘The police?’

‘My husband is dead,’ Kate told him. ‘John was murdered on Belport Island a few days ago.’

Ray flinched. His muscles tightened. ‘I had no idea…’ he said, looking past her. ‘How?’

‘Someone lured him to Beech Tree Landing,’ she said. ‘Then they slit his throat, close to the exact same spot where David Stemple was killed.’

He met her eyes. ‘Jesus. I’m sorry to hear that.’ It sounded like he meant it.

‘He did come to see you, didn’t he?’ Kate asked.

There was a moment of confused silence. Watching him, Kate felt sure he was about to deny all knowledge again. Then, unexpectedly, his face softened. He nodded and looked away.

‘Why did you—’

‘Look,’ he interrupted, ‘I’m sorry you’re going through this, but you’re not going to get any big revelations here. I hadn’t seen him in years.’

‘Years? You’d seen him before?’

Ray made the face of someone who had just accidentally ruined a surprise party. He began speaking more cautiously. ‘He was one of the regular summer kids,’ he said carefully. ‘I did maintenance on a lot of the holiday places, so I knew most of them. By face, anyway.’

Kate considered probing further, but she could see him closing up again. She had to get to the point before it was too late. ‘Why did John come to see you?’ she asked.