‘But what did you mean, “Tell your boss we have something he wants”? We don’t, do we?’

‘No, but we can trick him into thinking we do, and we can use that to draw him out. Macleod will already have told him by now, and he’ll be going crazy wondering what we’re offering him. When he gets in touch, then we’ll be able to eliminate that one per cent of doubt that Stuart is the person behind all this.’

‘I can’t wait,’ she said sourly.

‘You won’t have to. I don’t think he’ll hang around too long to call. In the meantime, let’s get moving. We’ve a lot of ground to cover.’

All that was left of the sunken Mercedes was a few bubbles and spreading ripples on the starlit surface of the loch. Ben shouldered his bag. They turned away from the shore and started walking over the rough ground back towards the road. Grace asked, ‘Which way?’

‘Left,’ he said, pointing.

‘Any particular reason?’

‘If in doubt, I always turn left. Doesn’t really matter which way we go. We’re bound to find something sooner or later.’

‘Fine, then left it is.’

They headed up the road, keeping to the apex where the snow was thinnest. Hitching a ride to the nearest town or village was an option that floated in Ben’s mind. Out here you would hear a car or truck coming from a mile away, but the only sound was the soft moan of the wind and the crunch of frozen snow under their feet. Ben had Brown’s phone in his hand and kept waiting for it to ring.

Nobody called. Ben and Grace kept walking, speaking very little, both of them focused on keeping moving and staying warm. They walked a mile of the lonely, dark, winding road without seeing the slightest sign of human habitation. Then another. After a long silence she asked, ‘Do you think Boonzie’s still alive?’

‘I have to,’ he replied.

‘And that Stuart’s got him?’

‘That’s what I believe.’

‘If they thought he knew where the gold was …’ Her voice trailed off.

‘They’d torture him,’ Ben said. ‘For days on end. Until he talked.’

‘Who are these people, who would do such things?’

‘Dead men walking,’ Ben said. ‘That’s who they are.’

On they walked. Then, at exactly eight a.m., with the dawn still some forty-five minutes away, Brown’s phone began to buzz in Ben’s hand.

Chapter 47