‘No, as in I’m a personal friend of the McCulloch family.’

She cocked an eyebrow in surprise. ‘You came to see Ewan?’

‘Everyone around here seems to know Ewan. Including our friend Angus Baird, who doesn’t seem to like him very much.’

She made a casual gesture with one hand. ‘It’s a small community. We all know each other. Maybe too well, sometimes. People tend to harbour a lot of stuff. Old grudges, bad blood, rivalries that sometimes go back generations. As for Baird, he’s just an angry moron who hates everyone. Forget about him.’

Ben was happy to do that. ‘How is Ewan? I only just got here and I haven’t been to the hospital yet.’

‘He’s doing about as well as anyone would be doing, after getting half the bones in their body broken and their brains almost beaten out. He still hasn’t come around. Maybe he never will.’

‘I’m very sorry.’

‘Yeah. So am I.’ Ben could see the depth of sadness in her expression, and sensed that she wanted to say more. She paused a beat and then added, ‘It’s been really hard for me, because Ewan and I used to go out. A long, long time ago. How do you know him?’

‘I don’t. I have to admit, Ewan’s not my main reason for being here. His uncle’s an old friend of mine. I came to look for him.’

She frowned. ‘What do you mean, look for him?’

‘I mean, he was here, and now he seems to have vanished.’

Her frown grew deeper. ‘You’re talking about Boonzie?’

Now it was Ben’s turn to be surprised. ‘You know Boonzie?’

‘Hardly very well, but I liked him. I met him in Fort William, at the hospital. Gave him a lift to the station, and I was there when he talked to DI Macleod and DS Coull. Not a very cordial interview.’

‘Boonzie doesn’t think much of the police generally. Present company excepted, I’m sure.’

‘My superiors weren’t too enamoured of him either. Especially when he announced that he was intending to hang around the area and pursue his own private inquiry into what happened to Ewan. I haven’t seen him since. I thought he must have just drawn a blank, given up and gone home to … Italy, wasn’t it?’

‘Drawing a blank and giving up isn’t Boonzie’s way.’ Ben paused a moment while he tossed another log on the fire. Thinking about whether he should feed her more of what he knew. His instinct told him no, but despite himself he felt he could trust her. Grace Kirk might just turn out to be a useful contact. Even if she was a cop. He said, ‘If he was planning on going home empty-handed so soon, he wouldn’t have borrowed his nephew’s camper van.’

‘He took Ewan’s camper?’