‘Not yet. We’re to help do the same thing on the far bank.’

Trekking back over two-and-a-half kilometres of rough ground to the fire truck had taken its toll on all of them. It had also eaten up precious time.

Once on board, he tried his mobile, cursing the lack of a signal which was unlikely to improve much before Blackrig. On the third try, he finally got a ring tone from Joanne’s phone. When she didn’t immediately answer, he thought perhaps she was outside, checking with the telescope.

But I told her to keep her mobile with her at all times, he muttered inwardly.

He tried the landline, as he had done from the prison. Listening to it ring out, he knew in his heart that she wasn’t at Beanach. So where was she?

He tried Kath next.

‘We talked earlier on the phone,’ she told him. ‘She was watching the fire from the hill behind Beanach. What’s wrong?’

‘The fire’s jumped An Lochan Uaine. We’re headed back to Blackrig and from there to Ard Choille.’

‘Is there anyone still in the Party House?’ Kath said worriedly.

‘Not as far as we know. Stratton was scheduled to leave yesterday.’

‘D’you want me to go up to Beanach and check on Joanne?’

‘Wait until we get up there with the fire engines. Then maybe keep trying her mobile. Tell her I want her to come down to the village. If she doesn’t answer, head up there and get her and the dogs. I won’t be back at Beanach for God knows how long.’

Ringing off, he tried to turn his attention to what would come next. There was open ground in front of Ard Choille, then the lochan itself. But behind were dense dry acres of birchwood. Christ, Ard Choille itself was built round a giant birch tree.

A house like Beanach, built of solid stone, would be harmed, but likely its walls would stay standing. Lord Main had built what amounted to a tinderbox, the perfect sustenance for a greedy fire.

Had Stratton and Chalmers left already? He hoped to God they had. He hated Stratton and everything he stood for, but he didn’t wish him dead.

Then there was Blackrig. If the fire claimed Ard Choille, its next port of call would be the woods that surrounded the village.

Kath hadn’t mentioned the likelihood of an evacuation. With Malcolm on the hill with the other firefighters, his deputy on the community council would have to take the decision to move folk to the neighbouring village, six miles away. He hoped Joanne would be included in that and, having spoken to Kath, he now felt confident she would be.