A man in a black robe and cap with a florid nose bursting with whiskers sits at a desk, surrounded by larger-than-life oil paintings of men with swords and kilts and feathered hats. The window behind him is stained glass, and the high ceiling above our heads is held aloft by so many dark wooden beams it reminds me of an upturned fishing boat. The man glances up, and I can tell he is about to dismiss me when he sees my neck and his jaw drops.

‘Sir, this is the condemned criminal Maggie Dickson,’ announces the McIvor on my left. ‘Hanged this morning, but returned to life at lunchtime. We witnessed her revival and brought her straight to you. One minute she was in her coffin, the next minute she was up and walking.’

‘If this is a trick, I will have you all hanged,’ says the court man, rising to his feet. But I can tell he knows it is not, for the welt on my throat throbs mercilessly and he can’t take his eyes off it.

‘No trick, no con, just God’s will,’ says the McIvor on my right.

‘Was she revived by a physician? Or either of you?’ asks the court man, narrowing his eyes with suspicion. ‘For that would be a crime in itself.’

The men tremble and shake their heads vigorously. ‘We are as shocked as you are now,’ one says. ‘She walked into the Sheep Heid Inn as though she had been woken from a slumber. I almost dropped dead myself with the shock of it.’

The other McIvor murmurs in agreement. ‘Is there a reward,’ he asks, ‘for bringing her back?’

The court man is still gawping at my rope-burn. Eventually he speaks. ‘The sheriffs are at their victuals in the White Hart Inn, where they have been since this morning, it being a Hanging Day,’ he says. Then he clears his throat and gathers himself back to full gravity. ‘When the sheriffs are at their victuals, particularly on a Hanging Day, they do not like to be disturbed. In fact it is their expressed desire to be left alone to ponder the weight of the law.’

The McIvors shuffle a bit and I think they are going to start begging for a reward, but never mind them. Now is my time to start being courageous and sharp. I put my hand to my throat and lower my eyes.