‘There’d been a survey about contemporary belief systems for one of the national papers and it seemed to indicate a spike in the number of younger, educated individuals who claimed to have had supernatural experiences. Our documentary planned to look in more detail at what might have provoked the increase. It wasn’t about debunking the reports, but about considering what might lead apparently rational people to become convinced that they’d seen a ghost or that a medium had been in contact with a deceased loved one. A need for the spiritual in an irreligious age. That was the angle we were going for.’ The words came easily. He’d obviously described the project before. He paused before continuing. ‘Actually we were all thrilled when we got the commission. Things had been looking a bit tricky recently. Financially, I mean. It looked as if there might have to be some redundancies. The ghost project was just what we needed.’

Perez made a mental note to ask Willow to get a search on the Bright Star accounts. ‘What was Eleanor’s take on the subject?’

‘I’m sorry?’ The lanky young man frowned.

‘Did she believe in ghosts?’

‘Oh, I don’t think so!’ Leo gave a sudden grin. ‘Nell believed in good red wine and expensive shoes. I don’t think you would have called her a spiritual woman in any sense.’

‘Even more recently? I understand that the loss of a child had affected her very deeply.’ Perez looked out at the young, unmarked faces and wondered if any of them had faced tragedy. In the weeks after Fran’s death he’d been convinced that he’d seen her standing at the foot of his bed. If a medium had promised that she could set up a line of contact with the dead, he’d have jumped at the chance.

‘That was a few months ago,’ the man said. ‘She’d been more her old self lately. Excited by her friend’s wedding and the trip north. The whole ghost thing.’

‘Were you all working on that?’ Perez looked around the room, at the nearly grown children who’d lost their boss and their surrogate mother.

‘No,’ Leo said. ‘Just me and Alice at this point.’ A small, dark young woman dressed in black waved from a desk in the back row. ‘The others are winding up a couple of smaller projects. Eleanor did the important stuff, setting up meetings with potential directors, working out budgets. We were making the initial contacts, weeding out the loonies.’

‘Were there lots of those?’

‘No,’ Leo said. ‘Surprisingly few.’

‘Had you talked to anyone in Shetland about sightings of Peerie Lizzie?’