"You'll get nothing out of her that way," said Hamish. "I'll get her a cup of tea. Come along, Miss Maundy. Time to have a word with you. We'll just go to your chalet and have a cup of tea."

She was unresisting as he led her towards her chalet. "Got the key?" he asked.

"I n-never bothered locking up."

He opened the door and led her inside. Her chalet was identical to Tommy's except that dried herbs hung from hooks in the ceiling, there was a knitting machine in one corner and a sewing machine in the other. "Now sit yourself down," said Hamish soothingly.

He went into the small kitchen. There was nothing but herb tea so he made a cup of camomile and took it to her.

Hamish watched her as she sipped her tea and then said gently, "Why were you so upset when you saw me outside Patel's today?"

"I didn't even see you," she said, her eyes moving this way and that like a hunted animal.

"We'll leave that one for the moment. When did you last speak to Tommy?"

"Today. He asked me to get him some groceries from Patel's. He was working hard on his book."

"How well did you know him?"

"Not very well. He was just a neighbour. He wouldn't have taken drugs." She began to cry again.

Hamish saw a box of tissues on the kitchen counter and handed it to her. She blew her nose noisily. Hamish waited until she had recovered, thinking hard all the while. Why was she so shattered, so distressed, if she and Tommy had been only neighbours?

"And before you left," he continued, "did you see any strange people around? Hear a car?"

She shook her head. "A couple of cars passed me on the road to Lochdubh heading the other way, but I didn't notice them particularly."

"You must have noticed something about them," said Hamish sharply. "Colour? Large, small?"

She shook her head wearily. "One was small and black, I think, and the other grey, and a bit bigger."