'I went out earlier than usual because of the Spring tide. It was a breathtaking morning, beautiful, mysterious, with the pinkish dawn light playing through the sea fog. As I rounded the point I saw her, rising out of the swirling mist. At first I couldn't believe my eyes for, God forgive me, I thought she was walking on water.'

But it was only when John Spain stretched out his hand to her that he noticed the rope and saw with dismay that she'd been propped upright and lashed to a tree.

Her name was Evangeline Walter - apparently single, she was one of the many incomers newly settle on the south-west coast of Ireland. Nobody knew much about her. So who precisely was Evangeline? Where did she come from? And, more importantly, who wanted her dead?