‘Listen, hen, there’s bad news. It’s aboot Ewan.’ Boonzie quickly filled her in on all that had happened, and shared his belief that the same people who killed Ross Campbell had tried to kill him, too. He told her about his meeting with the cops, and how he’d decided to pursue this himself.

Mirella was shocked and worried, but her greatest anxiety was for her husband caught up in the middle of this situation. ‘Promise me you’ll take care.’

‘You know I will. Always.’

‘How do you feel? Are you taking your medicine?’

‘Och, I’m fine,’ he said, brushing off her concerns. ‘Strong as an ox.’

Mirella knew how stubborn he was, and that he didn’t like being fussed over. More matter-of-factly she said, ‘Something came for you. An email, from your nephew. He sent it last night. I only saw it today.’

‘From Ewan? What aboot?’

‘Hold on, I’ll read it to you.’ A pause, while Mirella carried the phone over to the computer and pulled up the email. ‘Okay, here it is. It just says, “Ross found this. It gets weirder. Hope you get here soon.”’

‘Ross found what?’

‘There was an attachment with the email. I opened it. It’s a photo of an old coin. It looks like gold. Why would he send you that? Has this got something to do with what’s happened to him and his friend?’

Boonzie didn’t want to burden Mirella with more concerns, so he reassured her that it would all be sorted out soon.

‘I hate you not being here,’ she said with a sniff.

‘I’ll be back home before ye know it, pet.’

‘Call me every day. Don’t let me sit here worrying.’

‘Twice a day,’ he promised. Then he repeated once more how much he loved her. Which he truly did, no less than the day he’d first laid eyes on her and fallen hard. He reassured her that things would be fine and not to fret. It was hard to say goodbye.

When the call was over, Boonzie sat thinking for a long time. These damned gold coins just wouldn’t go away. They were clearly vital to understand what was going on here, but he wouldn’t know where to start with something like that. By contrast, Ewan’s notes about salmon poaching had given him an idea. If he could find the poacher, he could begin to unravel this whole thing. And there was no better time to start than right away.