Despite the feeling of foreboding, she loved this landscape. If a dinosaur was suddenly to appear from behind a promontory, she wouldn’t have been the least surprised. As it was, an Arctic hare, foraging between the patches of snow, barely cast them a glance as the 4x4 drove past, headlights blazing through the gloom. A red deer lifted its head, but only for a moment before returning to its grazing.

We are insignificant. A moving dot on a landscape that belongs to them.

‘You okay?’ Alvis said, casting her a sideways glance.

Rhona murmured ‘fine’ in response, while registering the increasing frequency of Alvis’s enquiries as to her current state of mind. It seemed Alvis might be taking over from McNab as her minder.

‘Stop here,’ Rhona said, suddenly realizing what they were about to pass.

As a surprised Alvis drew in, Blaze gave a little yelp, perhaps in recognition of where they were.

Rhona unstrapped herself and stepped out of the vehicle. The wind, although not strong, was more than a little cold. Though no more snow had fallen overnight, temperatures had remained below freezing.

‘Is this where they parked the vehicle?’ Alvis asked.

Rhona nodded.

‘You didn’t go further than this?’

‘No. Blaze and I headed back in the direction of A.C.E Target Sports by foot, then Donald picked us up.’

The muddy lay-by was churned up even more than Rhona remembered. Lee had sent out a team here as requested, who’d attempted to take tyre-track imprints. Useful, but only if they came up with a vehicle to check them against.

‘We’re not far from the Sitka plantation.’ Alvis glanced up at the glowering sky. ‘Forecast’s for rain, though.’

‘Let’s go then.’

Rhona held the map open on her knees. From their research, she was aware that many of the marked plantations had been planted in difficult terrain in the seventies, when wealthy folk were encouraged to tax-dodge by putting their money into forestry.

Some of these forests had failed to thrive, their roots in boggy ground. Others hadn’t been harvested, because extraction had proved to be too expensive.

From the map, the B885 ran through the southern reaches of the plantation they were focusing on. Two tracks led from the tarred road to a summit named Beinn a’ Ghlinne Bhig. Separated by a hundred yards, both wound their way up through the Sitka plantation, the second looking more like vehicle access than a footpath.

Rhona said as much to Alvis.

‘If anyone wanted to take a vehicle off-road among the trees, the second track looks like the one they would choose.’

Alvis braked a little as the road curved suddenly westwards and started to climb. Soon they left the moorland and entered the plantation, a barrier of tall Sitka towering on either side of the car. Passing the first lay-by, Rhona spotted the wall of rock she’d noted via Google Earth, signalling the entrance they sought.