‘No, in fact I’d say you look incredibly calm and collected, Mr Hope.’ She glanced back at the casualties. Kenny Mitchell was beginning to stir and try to pick himself up off the floor. ‘Excuse me for a moment while I deal with this gentleman, before he decides to make his exit.’

‘You need some help?’

She gestured for him to stay where he was. ‘You just sit tight and finish your drink. I’d like to ask you a few more questions afterwards.’

‘I told you,’ Ben said. ‘I’m not going anywhere just yet.’

He sat and watched as Grace Kirk attended to Kenny Mitchell. In all his dealings with law enforcement, one thing he’d always respected was the coolness and bravery of female officers when dealing with large, aggressive men twice their strength. After informing Mitchell that he was under arrest, she calmly and efficiently secured him with a pair of handcuffs she was carrying in her handbag. A good cop is never off duty. Ben thought she was probably carrying an extendable baton and pepper spray in there as well. Next it was the other idiot’s turn. Angus Baird was still out for the count. Grace got on her phone and made some calls, speaking too low for Ben to hear, but he guessed she was calling in police backup as well as maybe an ambulance. No telling how long the response time would be, out here in the sticks.

Soon afterwards the pub door opened, and along with a flurry of snow in came a middle-aged couple who turned out to be the owners, horrified and shaking their heads at the state of the place. Grace Kirk explained to them that there had been a brawl, and said they were waiting for her colleagues from Fort William to come and take away the offenders. Ben wasn’t mentioned. Meanwhile, Holly was busy cleaning up broken glass and spilled beer from the floor, pausing now and then to smile at him.

The ginger-haired guy who’d been sitting with Grace Kirk at the window table quietly finished up his coffee and then left, waving goodbye to her on his way out. Grace was still talking to the owners when blue lights appeared outside. Moments later three uniformed officers with snow sprinkled like dandruff on their shoulders pushed through the door, followed by a pair of paramedics from the ambulance that had arrived with the police response cars. They hadn’t made bad time, Ben thought.