Jurgen Harbor might have been the most avant-garde director in the world and Eli Caffrey the most powerful producer. Together they might have been about to produce a blockbuster smash.

But seeing the two of them together, I was struck by a comparison to Laurel and Hardy. Jurgen like a beanpole in a long black cloak, continually scratching his forehead, Eli hands on hips, nodding alongside him, as round as Jurgen was thin. I kept that comparison to myself. I had no intention of pissing them off.

Laurel and Hardy, as I took to calling them in my head, kept me busy from the minute I left the dungeon. First it was Eli, having me running around after him as if I was an intern, not a location scout. I didn’t stop until two in the morning, too late to go and find Robert.

Then the next morning I was busy keeping Jurgen happy in Doon village, reassuring him that the Scottish sunrise wasn’t the wrong shade of yellow for his vision.

“It must set the right scene,” he said to me, framing the skyline between his outstretched fingers. “If my dreams are to blossom into flowers the people pluck and cherish, it must all be perfect. Do you see?”

I nodded. To me, it was all getting too much. I found myself wanting to sneak back to the castle and hide in the walled garden. Or the dungeon with Robert.

I thought about that a lot after we got separated. All day I could feel where he’d been inside me, my body warm from his touch, from the feel of his lips on mine. It kept me going, made all the trudging about after Eli worth it, knowing how he felt about me.

He did have feelings for me. I was so happy to know it wasn’t a one night stand. It was more than that. The way he had kissed me in the dungeon, the hunger with which he’d descended on me, the feelings were real.

I saw him on his sailing boat as I made my way back across the loch with Jurgen and his entourage. I waved but he must not have seen me, his boat turning away and shrinking from view.

Then Laurel met Hardy. The two of them made quite the double act. Ten minutes together before Jurgen went outside to gather “my headspace,” before working out the first sequence he had planned.

Eli called me into the study half an hour later. It felt jarring seeing him sitting in Robert’s chair.

“Close the door,” he said, sliding a glass of whiskey across to me.

“Isn’t it a bit early for drinking?” I replied with a shake of my head.

“We’re celebrating. Because of you, Jurgen is here. I have to tell you, Tilly, I thought it might never happen. Time was ticking away back home, do you remember?”

“I remember.”

“I gave you a fortnight and you kept me hanging but boy you came through in the end. This place is perfect.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I mean it. I’m going to tell everyone what you did.”

“Thanks, Eli.”

“Sit down, have a drink.”

I slid into the chair opposite his, leaving the whiskey glass untouched. “Was there anything else you wanted?”

He drained his drink before replying. “You could go all the way to the top, you know that?”

“I’m doing my best.”

“Course, to get to the top a little quicker, you could always use some help, am I right?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

He stood up, moving around the desk, leaning back on it, too close to me. “I’m talking about helping you progress in your career. I could help you, Tilly. Talk to my people.”

“That’d be great, thanks, Eli.”

“Of course, we’d have to work close together for a while. Real close.”

His hand slid out and brushed over my knee. I froze in my seat, willing him to move away, my breath held in until he let go of my leg. My skin continued to crawl as he grinned at me, leaning closer. “You know, they say what happens in Scotland stays in Scotland.”

“I should get going. Jurgen might need me.”

“I need you more, Tilly. I’ve been watching you since we got here, I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be shy. It’s fine. I know I can be intimidating but I’m just like you. I’m lonely, just looking for a little bit of company.”

“Why not phone your wife?”

“She knows boys will be boys. Don’t worry about her. I want to worry about you. You look nervous. Don’t be nervous. I’m talking about helping your career. You’d be willing to work hard to get your career moving, wouldn’t you?”

“I am working hard, Mr Caffrey.”

His hand slid back to my leg, squeezing my knee, moving upwards. “Want to work a little harder?”

I jolted backwards in my seat, hearing people talking out in the hallway, willing them to come in and save me. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t use my feet, they just refused to listen to me. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I’m not interested.”

“How do you know if you never tried?”

“Look, I should get back to work.”

“Sure, you could go back to work but it’ll be pretty difficult if production was shut down, what do you say?”

“What? Why would production shut down?”

“Don’t you hear me, the air out here thicker? Stop you listening? I’m saying you stay here and we talk this out and I make a millionaire out of you.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.”

“Or you walk out of here and I shut down the movie and I tell everyone it was because of you. You’ll never work in the movie business again. You’ll be lucky to get a job selling tickets in a theater.”

I thought for a second, trying to process what he’d just said. Either sit here and let him sleaze all over me or throw my career away. “You wouldn’t,” I said. “It’d cost you millions to shut down now.”

“Wouldn’t cost me a penny. The investors on the other hand, they’d want to know why they lost it all and I’d have no choice but to tell them it was you.”

“But that makes no sense. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I’m sure I can think of something.”

His hand was on my knee again and this time I moved. I shoved it away, scrambling the chair back from him as he glared at me. “You’re sure you don’t want to think this through?”

I didn’t answer.

“You’re making a big mistake,” he said, crossing to the door. “Your career is over if I walk out of here.”

I didn’t look at him. I heard the door open and then close. I let my breath out in a long low exhalation. I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

I wanted to go out there and tell them all but who was I kidding? No one had seen this. It was my word against his. Who were they going to believe, the guy paying their salaries or me?

I stood up, moving to the window and looking out, wishing Robert was here. Where was he?

I sank into his chair and saw a framed picture by the computer. It was black and white, him as a child standing between two people in front of the castle. They must be his parents. The castle didn’t look any different.

“Where are you?” I said out loud.

There was no answer. I sat with the picture in my hands for a long time, thinking about what had just happened. It had been going so well until then. I’d been working hard but that hadn’t been so bad.

I told myself he was bluffing. There was no way he’d shut down production of a movie this big because I refused to put up with him trying to sleaze me into bed.

I heard a noise out in the hallway and when I looked out I was shocked to find the crew carrying stuff outside through the open front door. “What’s going on,” I asked.

“As if you don’t know,” came the reply from a man who refused to so much as look at me.

I stood there in shock as the equipment was carted outside. “Where’s Eli?” I asked but I might as well have been a ghost. No one seemed to hear me. They all walked around me.

I couldn’t believe he was actually doing it. After all the money that had been spent bringing everyone here, he was actually shutting things down. It was so spiteful I felt sick.

The boats left without me. Hedley was there and all the other boats from Doon village. Within an hour everyone was on board. I searched the castle for Eli only to find he’d already gone back to the mainland, one last joke played on me.

Perfect. I was alone in the castle. My career was over. No one would believe my story. Worst of all, the money Robert so desperately needed was gone. There was no way he’d get paid now. I had condemned him and the castle.

By the time I found out Eli had gone, there was only one boat at the jetty. It was Hedley, come back to collect me. “Did they finish early?” he asked as I climbed on board, my case in my hand.

“They shut it all down,” I replied.

“Oh.”

We set off across the water and for once I was glad he didn’t try and make conversation. What was I going to do when I got home? He was probably on the phone to all the studios, making sure I was blacklisted.

We got to Doon village and I watched Hedley tie the boat up before I climbed out.

“Robert’s in there,” Hedley said as I walked slowly to the bus stop. “If you want to talk to him, I mean.”

I did want to talk to him but I couldn’t do it. “Don’t tell him you saw me,” I said. “Please.”

He walked away, leaving me alone. I stood at the bus stop and waited. It was due soon. I couldn’t face him. How could I tell him I had ruined his chance to save the castle. I had ruined everything. I felt too much guilt to go in there. Instead, I caught the bus out of Doon. I was leaving again, this time for good.