It wasn’t until they’d left the estate behind them and were back on the open road in the direction of Kinlochardaich that they heard the chorus of sirens and saw the flashing lights of dozens of police and emergency vehicles filling the horizon. Moments later, the speeding procession screamed past in the opposite direction. It looked like half the Scottish police fleet had rolled out in response to Grace’s call.

‘Only took them ninety minutes to get their arse in gear,’ she remarked acidly.

‘Now’s your chance to stop and talk to them,’ Ben said. ‘They’re going to have a lot of questions.’

Grace shook her head and smiled. ‘Some other time. I’m off duty right now.’

Epilogue

The police did have a lot of questions. An awful lot. But curiously, even after Grace made her formal statement to her colleagues in Fort William, they didn’t show any interest in speaking to Ben. It was almost as though he’d never been involved in any of it.

Boonzie voluntarily checked into Belford Hospital the morning after the incident. The same afternoon, Mirella landed on the place like a hurricane, and Ben was there for the tearful reunion. He was also a witness to Boonzie’s solemn promise to his wife that his days of danger and excitement were officially over. If Mirella didn’t hold him to it, Ben damn well would.

It was while the reluctant retiree was still being fussed over in the hospital that Dr Fraser, the head surgeon, came to deliver the news that Ewan had awoken from his coma and was talking. Even though he could remember little of what had happened to him, his cognitive functions seemed otherwise unimpaired and the doctors expected him to make a full recovery.

The following day, after spending hours with his nephew, Boonzie went home to Italy a happy man. But his parting words to Ben were disturbingly ambiguous, as Boonzie clasped his hand, gave him one of those sly winks and said, ‘All’s well that ends well, laddie. We must dae it again sometime.’

Ben remained in Kinlochardaich for several more days afterwards, and spent most of that time with Grace. There were moments when he thought he’d just stay there for ever.