Blaze, despite her concerns, seemed quite clear what was expected of him. Back on that first day in the birch woods, she’d gone along with the eager dog, all the time thinking he might be leading her to a rabbit he’d killed earlier.

She’d been wrong then, as she had been later on the clifftop.

The sun, now properly up, had emerged from behind the thick cloud cover of earlier. Blaze, having circled the summit of Beinn a’ Ghlinne Bhig, was now heading down the grass and heather slope towards Loch Niarsco.

Following behind him on the narrow track forged by other walkers, Rhona stopped to catch her breath and appreciate what lay before her. In the far distance was Healabhal Mhor, the southern of the two hills known as MacLeod’s Tables, which she had walked to earlier in her stay on the island.

But not from here.

She wondered, as the dog continued to wend his way north-eastwards, whether he was taking her for a walk, perhaps one he’d been on with Donald, and that their path had nothing to do with Seven at all.

Soon they were skirting the lochside and Blaze, moving more swiftly ahead, came to a halt near the north end of the peaty water, very excited, it seemed. Rhona went to join him at the water’s edge, where it appeared Seven’s scent, if that was indeed what he was following, seemed stronger.

Rhona noted the boot prints and the stone fire ring close to the water’s edge, recognizing the tell-tale signs that someone had stopped here, maybe even camped, as evidenced by a rectangle of flattened heather.

Seven had left her tent in place in the clearing, but she could have taken an emergency shelter with her, should the weather turn bad on her walk. If she had bivouacked here, then she must have set out shortly after Rhona and Alvis had encountered her in the forest.

Had they spooked her?

Something about the girl’s story of not being able to make contact with the others unless in an emergency hadn’t rung true. How did they alert one another if there was something wrong, if they kept their phones off all the time? Surely it was more likely they’d organized check-in times with one another?

And, if they had been involved in the incident behind A.C.E Target Sports, the best plan would have been to leave the island before anyone found out about it.

As Blaze had decided to go for a dip, Rhona took a moment to eat and drink something. When he came ashore minutes later, she realized he was much slimmer than his big shaggy coat suggested.