‘So what do we think?’ Willow leaned forward across the table. They were eating lentil soup and home-baked bannocks. ‘It must be one of the three friends, mustn’t it? None of the locals would have met Eleanor Longstaff except at the wedding party. They’d certainly have no reason to kill her.’ She dipped the corner of a bannock into the soup and reconsidered. ‘We need to check the alibis of the Malcolmsons, of course. They’ve known her for years too. So our murderer must be one of those five.’

‘Don’t we have to be sure that Eleanor hadn’t been in touch with anyone here?’ Perez spoke slowly. ‘I know it’s unlikely, but if she’d started work on that ghost programme, she might have contacted people who’d claimed to see Peerie Lizzie. It’s even possible that she set up a meeting with them.’

‘At two o’clock in the morning? And then pissed them off to the extent that they’d decided to kill her?’ Willow was scornful.

‘It’s unlikely, I know, but it would be interesting, don’t you think, if Eleanor had been talking to islanders and hadn’t told her husband or her friends.’

There was a moment of silence. Charles Hillier wandered through and offered cheese and fruit. When he’d bought the big house with his partner there’d been rumours. Not just about a gay couple taking on the place, but something else. Perez struggled to remember the details. Something about a celebrity past?

Charles lingered close to the table and then seemed to realize he was intruding: ‘Just help yourselves. I’ll make myself scarce. David’s in Lerwick all day, so he won’t disturb you, and I’ve told the guests that the morning room’s out of bounds. They know better than to come into the kitchen. Health-and-safety regs. A nightmare!’ He hesitated for a minute as if he was hoping they’d include him in the conversation, but when they only smiled at him he disappeared.

‘So where do we go from here?’ Willow cut a large slice of cheese. ‘Sandy will be tied up for most of the day with Vicki, and I’d like to be at the scene when the body’s removed.’

She was being thoughtful, Perez decided, keeping him away from the crime scene because he might be distressed by another sight of the body, but he made no comment. He was past the stage when he railed against people who were being kind. ‘Do you want me to talk to the Malcolmsons – Lowrie’s folk – this afternoon?’

‘Please.’ A pause. ‘And someone should go to London to see Eleanor’s mother and her colleagues. If Eleanor was having an affair with someone at work, I bet one of them will know. I’d ask you to go, but I understand that’s tricky because of Cassie.’

‘It’s not necessarily a problem.’ And immediately his head was full of plans. He found himself strangely excited about a trip south. ‘It might even work out well. Cass can come with me and stay with Fran’s parents. They’d love to see her. They miss her.’