The woman stepped up to Ben and flashed a warrant card from the handbag. ‘Police officer. You stay right where you are.’

The name on the card was PC Grace Kirk. Ben replied, ‘Afternoon, Constable. I wasn’t going anywhere. I haven’t finished my drink yet.’

‘They started it,’ Holly protested, pointing past Ben at the slumped shapes on the floor.

‘I saw what happened.’ PC Kirk glanced down at the inert body of Angus Baird, then over at the other two.

‘They’ll be fine,’ Ben said. ‘Just had a little too much beer and got themselves all worked up over nothing.’

She stared at him. ‘Who are you?’

Ben gave his name, slipped his wallet from his jacket and flicked out his driving licence to show her. She took it from him and checked it over, warily comparing his face to his photo and back again. He asked, ‘Are you arresting me, officer?’

‘I’m thinking about it.’

‘For what? I barely laid two fingers on them. Like handling butterflies.’

She thought about it for a few moments longer, then seemed to make a decision and handed him back the licence. ‘Fact is, Mr Hope, I wouldn’t know what to arrest you for. You were only defending yourself and Holly here. I can’t charge you with assault if you used minimal force. And you hardly seemed to do very much at all.’

‘I didn’t have to,’ Ben said. ‘They’re not really bad boys. They just think they are.’

‘Tell that to all the other people they’ve had a bit more success trying to beat up. Looks like they came unstuck this time. Even three against one, with a broken glass. Hardly a fair fight.’

To have had any chance of a fair fight against Ben, the likes of Angus Baird and his pals would have had to arm themselves with more than a broken glass. Thirty-millimetre cannons might have equalised things a little, as long as they knew how to use them. But Ben kept that opinion to himself. It might not be what PC Grace Kirk needed to hear.

‘So, all things considered, no, consider yourself lucky because I’m not arresting you,’ she said.

‘Thank you, officer.’

‘But consider yourself cautioned. No more trouble, okay?’

‘Why would I cause trouble? I’m just an ordinary traveller minding his own business.’

Grace Kirk looked at him curiously, as though she’d never encountered anyone quite like him before and wasn’t sure how to deal with him. ‘Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need to sit down? Talk to someone? Shock can affect people in all kinds of ways.’

‘Do I look in shock to you?’