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‘I’ve spares in the boot room. Let’s get them and go over to the Bothy first and then we can decide the next move.’

As Katie took off her wet coat, Pongo’s tail lashed her legs and he nuzzled her hand.

Katie bent to stroke him. ‘Thanks, Pongo. I needed that.’

Arlo’s heart lurched with compassion and something deeper and more personal. He had fallen head over heels in love with Katie.

His feelings had built day by day, no matter how hard he’d tried to suppress them. From that first moment she’d stood, dripping wet but gorgeous at the jetty … then that spine-tingling kiss … her plea to him to stay for Christmas … the way she’d gently persuaded him to reveal things he’d never told anyone … and the way his heart leapt every time he looked at her.

Katie had come into his life like the tropical sun shining in the depths of winter and thawed his frozen heart almost instantly. Having closed himself off to any kind of romantic feelings for so long, he was raw and vulnerable and powerless to stop himself, racing from lust to love in a few days. He’d only pulled back because he was terrified of how his feelings had unfolded.

He must suppress of all that and help ease her mind about Ned.

He unlocked the door of the Bothy with his master key, aware that he was intruding on a guest’s privacy and that Ned might suddenly arrive home, bristling with indignation that he and Katie were rooting around in the holiday let.

Books and papers were scattered all over the coffee table, alongside several mugs half full of coffee and a half-eaten mince pie on a plate. Ned’s laptop was on the sofa.

Katie stared at the scene, which showed no orderly departure. ‘He hasn’t packed up then …’

‘No. Do you want to have a look around?’ he asked, not comfortable with disturbing Ned’s stuff.

‘If he’s taken off … he’s not used to wild places like this and he can be a bit impetuous when he’s obsessed with something.’ She saw his open laptop. ‘He’s left it on.’

‘It’ll be locked,’ Arlo said, thinking that the laptop being on did signify Ned might have left in a hurry, although he might equally have simply forgotten to power it down.

‘I know the code. If he’s kept the same one …’

While Katie tapped in the numbers, Arlo thought of how close Ned and Katie were and how much he must trust her to tell her the code to his laptop.

The screen lit up her face and she scrolled through the open page and sighed. ‘Oh, Ned. You idiot.’

She said ‘idiot’ as if was a compliment.

‘What?’ Arlo asked, still unwilling to delve into Ned’s personal affairs.

‘It’s a route map and history of Dalton’s cave.’ She turned the screen so Arlo could see it. ‘He’s been writing about Millican, so that’s not surprising, but I’m thinking he might have headed up there again?’

Arlo’s throat grew dry, remembering the conversation he’d heard outside the cave. Katie still had no idea he’d been listening.

‘I can’t see his rucksack so that’s probably where he’s gone, then. There’s hardly any signal so no wonder you can’t reach him.’ He glanced out of the window and Katie echoed his own thoughts.

‘It’ll be dark in a couple of hours.’

She started as her phone pinged again. ‘It’s Ned.’

Expecting her to laugh or curse Ned cheerfully, Arlo grew cold when Katie put her hand over her mouth.

‘It’s another message from Ned. Sent two hours ago before the photo.’

She held up the phone.

Life stifles me. I long to be free.

Arlo went cold. He really didn’t like the implication of those words.

‘I – I think it’s another Dalton quote,’ Katie said and googled it on Ned’s laptop. ‘Yes, it definitely is. I know I said he seemed fine after yesterday but something you said has made me think. Never assume. We can’t really know how people are feeling deep down, can we? They may put on a brave mask yet underneath they could be in a very dark place. And Ned is very good at masking. Sometimes I wasn’t sure who the real Ned was … does that sound silly?’ She pressed her hands together.

‘No, not silly at all but I don’t know Ned well … but I still don’t think there’s anything to worry about,’ Arlo said, unable to ignore a creeping sense of unease. Ned’s behaviour did seem odd.