‘I’m sure you’re anxious to get down to business,’ the colonel said. ‘Now that we’re free to talk openly, perhaps you’d like to start by describing in more detail your recent encounter? I’m a little foggy on how you became involved in this whole situation.’

‘I don’t have time to go into it all, colonel,’ Ben said. ‘Let’s just say, as I told you on the phone, that circumstances have led us into conflict with some unpleasant people, who have some even worse people working for them.’ He reiterated the story, exactly as events had unfolded from the moment he and Grace had arrived at Jamie McGlashan’s trailer.

If Colonel Montgomery was mildly disappointed that one of the two killers had managed to escape, his pleasure at hearing of the other’s fate more than made up for it. ‘You mentioned you had photographic evidence to show me?’

Ben took out his phone and scrolled up the three images of the dead man for Monty to see. The colonel examined the close-ups of the tattoos first, the regimental ink on the corpse’s upper arm and the Gothic D, skull and daggers adorning his neck. ‘You’re quite correct, Major, this is indeed the insignia of that disgraceful organised crime gang, the Dishonourables. And the older tattoo indicates that this piece of scum previously had the undeserved privilege of serving with the Parachute Regiment.’

‘The third image shows his face,’ Ben said.

Monty brought the picture up and feasted his eyes for a moment on the sight of the bloody corpse in the snow. ‘You seem to have made a thorough job of it, Major. I commend you. In fifteen years of chasing these filthy scumbags I’m yet to have had the satisfaction of personally seeing one sent to hell where he belongs. You’ve no idea how happy this makes me.’

Monty really didn’t like the Dishonourables.

‘But is there a chance we might be able to identify him?’ Ben asked.

‘You could have gone the route of accessing the military records of all servicemen dishonourably discharged from his regiment over, say, the last twenty-odd years and working through them until a match was found,’ Monty said. ‘A long and arduous task. However, the good news is that the legwork has already been done, thanks to my own humble efforts. I have the names and pictures of every single man DD’d from the British armed forces, going back decades. And I’m also pleased to inform you that this particular scumbag’s face looks vaguely familiar to me.’

‘His name?’ Ben asked.

Monty shook his head. ‘You’ll have to excuse an old man’s memory for being a tad less sharp than it once was. So if you’ll follow me, let’s go and consult my records, shall we?’

Chapter 41