After taking less than thirty seconds to read the letter it took me less than another five to accept its invitation. Now, two days later, I was here in the Orkneys and wondered if I should have taken longer to think about it. Against the light flooding from the house the man was a black outline, a slab of threat, as tall and wide as the door itself. If he was anything like the wind in Orkney he wasn't going to bother to go around me and I, the immovable object, was already beaten into submission from the violent rain. One more step and I'd be trampled underfoot. When he finally stopped in front of me my relief was palpable but it dissolved quickly when he grabbed me by my jacket and hauled me off my feet. "Who ere ye?" It took me a moment to process what he'd said. He had the thickest accent I'd heard during my journey here. My fellow passengers had tried to talk to me, once they'd finished staring, but I shrugged and pretended that I couldn't hear them over the whine of the transfer plane's engines.
