If what the man claimed was true, then he was scared as hell. He’d witnessed a murder. He was carrying the heavy burden of a dark and dangerous secret. It was possible that he’d stay away from the loch altogether, stay at home peeking through the curtains. Or that he’d find another loch or river, or switch to shooting deer for a while. But if he did choose to keep poaching on Loch Ardaich, he’d stay as far away as possible from the scene of the crime. Therefore, if there was any chance of catching him at his work, it would be at the opposite end of the loch, the western side. And while the facts pointed to the alleged murder having taken place during the daytime, the poacher would now be much more likely to venture out only under cover of darkness. An extremely cautious man. Paranoid, even. Knowing that the Fisheries enforcers were out at night looking for him. Knowing also that certain others would be strongly motivated to wipe out any witness who could incriminate them. He’d be as wary as a wild animal, and like a wild animal he might easily resort to violence to defend himself if cornered.

That didn’t concern Ben. He had gone after warier and more dangerous men, and found them, and survived.

The cottage was comfortable and warm, but Ben had no intention of sleeping there that night. As the hour grew later, he made his preparations.

Time to go hunting.

Chapter 21

The far western tip of Loch Ardaich was Ben’s target destination that night, but he didn’t drive all the way there. He headed east from the village and circled the twelve-mile length of the loch anticlockwise along the lonely winding roads until he was running parallel about half a mile from its northern shore. An hour’s trek from the western end he stopped and left the car hidden deep offroad, concealed in the shadow of the pine trees.

He used his phone to mark the GPS coordinates, then set off on foot with his bag over his shoulder and his boots crunching in the hard-frozen snow. The forest hugged close to the west side of the loch, the pines standing thick and straight as spears with their white-capped evergreen canopy drooping low over the ground. An owl hooted from its unseen perch overhead.