“Did you ever go back to buy in Fife?”

Patrick held up his hands defensively. “No way. Those guys meant it. I didn’t want to end up floating in the harbour.”

Katie came across with a mug of tea and slid herself onto the bench beside Dan. “There was one time when you nearly got killed in the line of duty.”

Patrick shot her a quizzical look. “When was that, Kate?”

“In Italy.”

“Jeez, yes. Now that wasn’t funny.”

“What happened?” Dan asked.

Patrick contorted his face. “I had a new customer in Pisa. I didn’t know much about him, but he’d put in a big order and he insisted that I go over there with the shipment. Anyway, I’m pretty convinced now that he was Mafia. I arrived at his place in the evening, and he took one look at the prawns and said that I was trying to swindle him. ‘They are all deefferent sizes,’ he said. So he and two of his henchmen pushed me into the cold store, threw in a lightweight anorak, and locked me in with two pallet loads of prawns. ‘I want them sorrted out by the morrning!”

“Don’t tell me you were left in there overnight?”

“Too bloody right I was.”

“How on earth did you survive that ordeal?”

“Not very well. I returned back here with double pneumonia and my bank balance about five thousand pounds short.”

Dan laughed. “This is unreal! I wouldn’t have thought that running a prawn business could prove to be such a dangerous occupation.”

Patrick shot him a wink. “Ah, but that’s what makes it so much fun. You’re dealing in”—he clicked his fingers and pointed at Dan—“well, you said it. Cowboy country.”

“Yes, but my line of business was pretty tame compared with that,” said Dan, leaning back against the window and pushing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “You don’t get into those kinds of situations in the City.”

“I bet you did. I bet you laid your life on the line every time you made a deal.”

“Not literally.”

“All right then, your livelihood. Weren’t there times when you thought, If this deal doesn’t go through, then that’s me finished?”

Dan smiled. “Yes, constantly.”

“Well, there you go then.” Patrick thumped his fists on the table. “I think there are great similarities between us, Dan. Neither you nor I have ever had anything handed to us on a plate. We’ve both had to fight hard to succeed in businesses that were never our absolute destiny. And that’s what makes success all the sweeter.” He glanced round at the kitchen clock. “Listen, Kate said that you were catching a train this evening. What time does it leave Fort William?”

“Just before eight o’clock.”