Ewan’s visit to Fort William police station was news to Boonzie. The gold coins were even more so. He said nothing for a moment as he wondered why Ewan hadn’t mentioned them. It could all have happened since they’d last spoken, while Boonzie was attending to certain matters before setting off.

‘I gather you and he have been in contact,’ Macleod said. ‘Just out of interest, he didn’t happen to mention anything about the coins to you, did he? Such as, where exactly Mr Campbell might have found them?’

It sounded to Boonzie as though the cops were fishing for particular information here, though he had no idea what or why. ‘No, it’s the first I’ve heard o’ it. What’ve gold coins got to do with this?’

‘I’m afraid that’s a police matter,’ Macleod said, clamping on the lid with something that looked a little too much like a satisfied smile. ‘Concerning a separate investigation.’

Thirty-three years in the military, twenty-six of them as an NCO climbing up the ranks of the British Army’s most elite regiment, had honed Boonzie’s skill at reading people. Neither Macleod nor Coull was making a good impression on him. He sensed they were holding back. He didn’t like being kept in the dark.

‘A separate investigation? So ye’re saying ye dinnae see these two cases as connected?’

‘Again, it’s too early to say, Mr McCulloch,’ Coull replied in a smarmy, condescending tone that made the bristles on the back of Boonzie’s neck prickle even more. Coull added, ‘And as we’re not generally in the habit of divulging the details of our ongoing police investigations to the public, might I suggest that you go home and let us take care of it? Rest assured, we’ll find the men who did this.’

Boonzie grunted. ‘Aye, we’ve heard that shite before.’

Macleod said sharply, ‘Meaning what?’

‘Meaning that I havnae come all the way here from Italy tae be given the brush-off, while my nephew’s lyin’ in a hospital bed wi’ a face like raw minced steak an’ a stoved-in heid he might never recover from. Ye’ve had two long days tae investigate what Ewan told ye aboot the poacher, and it seems tae me as though ye’ve done bugger all but sit on yer big fat arse’ – pointing first at Macleod, then swivelling his accusatory finger like a turret-mounted fifty-cal Browning to aim at Coull – ‘and yer wee scrawny arse.’

With the cops momentarily too stunned and outraged to utter a reply, Boonzie glowered at them both with steely disapproval and added, ‘There’s more tae this than meets the eye, and if the police cannae be bothered tae find out what, then I damn well will.’

Standing in the background, Grace Kirk hadn’t spoken a word. Boonzie thought he saw a flicker of amusement curl her lip, but then she quickly suppressed it.