‘Nobody gave her any hassle?’ Sandy drained his glass and raised it to Billy to show that he wanted another. The barman seemed disappointed.

‘Nah. It wasn’t that sort of party. You’ve been to the hamefarin’s. It was for families. Elderly relatives and bairns.’

‘Did you know all the people there?’ Sandy asked.

‘Apart from the English folk.’

‘I’m interested in a peerie lassie. Aged around ten. She was out on the beach, and her parents could have been in the hall. Do you mind who that might have been?’

The man considered and seemed to be running through possibilities in his head. ‘Sorry, I can’t think of anyone like that at all. But I didn’t know everyone. Besides the couple’s English friends, there were other relatives from the south.’

‘Any lasses of that age live in Meoness?’

This time he answered more quickly. ‘Nah. Some of us have bairns, but they’re all boys.’

The drinkers drifted away then and Sandy was left to finish his beer alone. When he returned to his room the light in the office had been switched off.

Chapter Seventeen

Perez left Unst the next morning on the first ferry to Yell. Sandy got up to see him off and watched him go, as if it was a sort of desertion. There were a couple of families on the boat, holidaymakers heading south after a spring break. Perez wondered if he’d see them again at Sumburgh. The rest were local, in cars with the blue-and-white Shetland flag on their bumpers, making the long commute to Lerwick for work or shopping.

Cassie was waiting for him at Duncan’s house, her small overnight bag already packed. He could tell she was excited, but that she was fidgeting about missing school. Cassie had always been one for following rules, and since Fran’s death it had become a kind of compulsion. A neurosis. Perez could understand that. It was about security. Playing it safe.

‘I’ve told her,’ Duncan said, ‘a few days away from lessons will do her no harm. I was always bunking off, wasn’t I, Jimmy?’

‘I’ve talked to Miss Price.’ Perez directed his words to Cassie, not to her father. ‘She’s given me some work for you to do when you’re staying with Grandma. And she wants a story all about the trip to London, when you get back to school.’

On the way south to Sumburgh they talked about London. ‘Grandma wants to show you the sights,’ Perez said. ‘She’s talking about a boat trip on the Thames and all sorts of treats. They can’t wait to see you.’

‘Will you be there?’

‘I have work to do in the city,’ Perez said. He paused. ‘Anyway I think Grandma and Grandpa would rather have you to themselves for a while. Then they can spoil you without me seeing and stopping them.’

‘Is it dangerous work?’

‘No! It’s talking to people, to women mostly. Routine. Background stuff.’

‘But you’re a boss,’ she said. ‘Sandy should be doing routine work.’