‘It’s okay. I know there’s talk about us, but that suits him fine. He likes to keep the fact that he’s actually gay from the village gossips. We don’t have much of an LGBT community in Kinlochardaich.’

In Ben’s world, LGBT was a military acronym for Laser-Guided Bomb Target. But he got the general idea, and nodded sagely as Grace went on: ‘You have to work hard to preserve your privacy in this place, you know? They’re all watching every move you make from behind their net curtains. As for me, I’m a single girl, if that’s what you were trying to find out.’

‘I wasn’t.’

She smiled. ‘Your driving licence says you live in France.’ Changing the subject.

‘Normandy.’

‘What do you do there?’

‘I’m in education.’

‘Teacher?’

‘Of a sort.’

‘Before that, were you in the army with Boonzie?’

‘He told you he was in the army?’ Ben was amazed. Boonzie never talked about his military past.

‘And about growing tomatoes in Italy. People tell me things. I don’t know why. Just got that kind of face, I suppose.’

‘I didn’t tell you that about myself.’

‘No, but I kind of sussed it out. Not just from the fact that I saw you take down two notorious local hard cases without breaking a sweat or even hitting anyone. It’s the way you talk, the way your mind works. You kind of have the look, too, although I imagine your hair would’ve been a bit shorter back then. How long has it been?’

‘My hair?’

She tutted. ‘No, silly. How long since you left the army to go and live in France?’

‘Your powers of observation do you credit. You should be a detective sergeant, at least.’

‘Working on it,’ she said. ‘So am I right?’

Ben said, ‘I’ve been out for a while.’

‘And that’s where you met Boonzie, in the army?’

‘He’d already been there for ever when I joined. We served together, but only for a short time before he quit. He trained me. Taught me. He was my mentor, and later my friend. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever known.’

‘I admire that you came all this way for him. We should all have friends as loyal. Someone who’d drop everything to look out for us, whatever it takes.’

Ben wasn’t sure if she was being sincere, or circuitously trying to fish for what his intentions might be. ‘I meant what I said about not leaving here until I discover what’s happened to him. Nobody’s going to stand in the way of that.’