Perez jotted down the name and address of the French restaurant. Outside on the pavement outside the production-company office it felt sweltering. The sun was bouncing off the concrete again and onto his face, making his eyes water. He was never prepared for how warm it was in the south and how little breeze there was. He always dressed in the wrong sort of clothes. From the Bright Star office it was an easy walk to the restaurant. On the way he dialled Willow’s phone number, but there was no answer. He hesitated for a moment and then tried Sandy instead. The Shetlander answered just as Perez had given up hope. He sounded flustered.

‘We’re just at Sletts talking to the English folk. Seems Vaila Arthur met up with Eleanor the afternoon before the murder. Eleanor recorded the interview for her TV programme, but we can’t find the machine.’

‘Are you getting anywhere with the people at Sletts?’

Sandy hesitated as if it was a trick question. ‘They claim not to have known about the meeting with Vaila. I’m not sure how it’s going. The boss is still in there with them.’

Perez wondered if he should wait until Willow was free, to pass on the information about Charles and David, but Sandy was more reliable these days. ‘There seems to be evidence that Eleanor made more contacts in Unst than we’d realized. She’d been in touch with Charles and David about the history of Peerie Lizzie Geldard’s time at Springfield House, for example.’

‘Why didn’t they say anything about that to us? They’d surely have recognized the name.’

This time it was Perez who paused. ‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? That’s the question that’s been bothering me too.’

The restaurant was small and unpretentious. Perez stood outside for a moment pretending to look at the menu and imagining Caroline walking past on a gloomy day and catching sight of her friend inside with a strange man. He thought that he’d check the restaurant’s name with Caroline when he returned to Unst, but he suspected this was the right place. There were tables close to the window and it wasn’t far from the university, so it was feasible that the academic could be wandering past after work. Caroline could easily have caught a glimpse here of Eleanor with her mystery man. Now it was two o’clock. The lunchtime rush was over and the elderly waiter found him a table looking out into the street. ‘So that you can watch the world go by, huh?’