‘Lowrie had been convinced by his mother that the Peerie Lizzie scam must be kept secret at all costs. Grace was often knocking around in Meoness and it was freaking Polly out. The poor woman was really starting to believe in ghosts. And of course the girl was at the dinner in the boat club with Vaila and Neil and his boys. Polly must have thought she was going mad by that point, especially as Grace was in the dress she’d worn on the beach.’ Perez paused and pulled together the time-line in his head. ‘Grusche phoned Lowrie to offer them a lift back from the boat club, so that they wouldn’t have to walk in the fog. The sight of Grace was already making him jumpy and he told Grusche that she was there.’

Perez spoke slowly, explaining the events to himself as well as his audience. ‘The sight of the girl in the same room as Polly would have sent Lowrie into a panic. What shall I do? What will happen if Polly sees the girl, and Grace tells her everything? The police will want to know why I’ve been lying to them. And there might have been recriminations too: I should have gone to Jimmy Perez right at the start. I should have explained. Implying that it all this was his mother’s fault. And still Grusche would have been strong and reassuring: “Don’t worry, son. Leave it to me. I’ll sort it out.” Then Lowrie made another phone call to Voxter, after Polly went missing, and the tension increased. Grusche would have heard the fear in her son’s voice. “Polly’s disappeared. She chased after Grace. She just phoned Marcus to tell him what she was doing, that she’s seen Peerie Lizzie.” And again Grusche would have reassured him. She’d always looked after him and she would always provide the answers.’

Perez’s thoughts rushed back to the house by the shore, where he’d lived quite happily until Fran had swept him away to her home in Ravenswick, like flotsam on a big tide.

‘Grusche phoned Polly on her mobile and told her to go back to the boat club, where George would pick her up. That’s where George was, Sandy, when you went to visit Voxter. He wasn’t asleep in his room, but driving through the fog to do what his wife had told him. Half-asleep and more than half-drunk.’ A pause. ‘And by then Grusche thought she was invincible and that her only role in life was to protect her son.’

‘I’d wondered if Polly Gilmour was the killer,’ Sandy said. ‘She seemed so weird and distant most of the time. Spending her days reading old folk tales and legends. I thought it might have twisted her brain. It didn’t seem like a real job for a grown woman.’