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“He always was a joker, that one.” Da nods to Jamie. “Anyway, good to see you, Iona.” He wraps me in a hug.

“You too, Da.”

I hug Archie and Kirsty as well.

Archie says, “I was telling Jamie about the time me and Da met up with you and Lewis in Inverness, at that burger place. I still remember it. We first knew there was something going on between you years ago. These Bannock folk, though”—he teasingly gestures to Jamie—“they only found out about it a few weeks ago, right?”

“Not true!” Jamie protests. “I’ve been making sex jokes about Lewis and Iona for close to a decade! Haven’t I, Iona? Tell him!”

Wow. These two barely know each other, but it seems they’re getting on just fine. They both enjoy winding people up.

I ignore them and turn to Da and Kirsty. “Does one of you happen to have a clue for me?”

Kirsty, smiling kindly, hands me a third purple heart.

Visit the spot where you broke the mould,

And your image turned from shy to bold.

This one is a little more cryptic than the first two, but the answer still comes to me pretty quickly. It’s a reference to the night at the Pheasant when Lewis and I sang “Comin’ thro’ the Rye”. Lewis thought that’d be a good way for me to reinvent myself in people’s eyes.

“I need to continue this treasure hunt,” I say to Da, itching to get to the next location, “but will I get to see you again before you head back to Inverness?”

“Aye, we’ll be waiting for you at the end.”

We hug again, and he squeezes me tight.

“I always did like Lewis,” he says. “I’m glad you two have sorted things out.”

A short while later, I walk into the Pheasant and am immediately pounced on by Maisie, who’s buzzing with excitement. Her hair is a bright pink nowadays, and the colour is quite the contrast to the dark outfit she’s wearing. Since that first girls’ night, she and I have been meeting up regularly, and I now consider her a good friend.

But there’s another figure here I wasn’t expecting to see.

“Cat!” I exclaim.

She bounces on the balls of her feet then takes my hands, beaming at me with dimples that remind me so much of Lewis’s. “This is so exciting! And just look at us: the Scottish Sirens together in person!”

I chuckle, remembering the name Cat picked for our group chat.

“We so need a proper girls’ catch-up,” Maisie says, “but we can do that later. Lewis specifically warned us not to keep you—you’ve got a treasure hunt to complete, after all!—so here’s your fourth clue.” She passes me yet another purple heart.

Go seek a MacDonald, where the food is a delight,

It’s the place we admired a dawn photo at night.

I can’t hold back a giggle at this one. The manager of the Glen Garve Resort is called Craig MacDonald, and so it’s clearly to the resort that I’m meant to go. But it’s the “dawn photo at night” bit that amuses me. During the fancy dinner Lewis treated me to, I briefly flashed up his Dick at Dawn picture on my phone. He’s rather cheekily worked that moment into a clue.

“What’s so funny?” Maisie asks.

If it were just me and her, I’d probably tell her, but I doubt it’s a story Cat wants to hear—not about one of her brothers.

“Oh, nothing,” I say vaguely. “Right, I should push on. See you later!”

The Glen Garve Resort is a vast place—complete with, among other things, an eighteen-hole golf course—so it’s helpful that Lewis’s clue directed me to seek out a MacDonald.

No sooner do I arrive in the car park than I spot Robbie MacDonald tinkering with his motorcycle. He’s Craig’s elder son and is the same age as Aidan and Ally, although, as lads, they did not get on with him. With tattoos, an eyebrow piercing, a leather jacket, and a bit of an attitude, Robbie is Bannock’s “bad boy”—or at least, that’s his reputation. I’ve never been convinced, possibly because I’ve read too many romances where the bad boy ends up having a heart of gold. But I suppose reality doesn’t always match fiction.

“Hi, Robbie!” I say. I’m a little surprised he’s getting involved in the treasure hunt—it doesn’t seem like his kind of thing.