The rain has ceased but the wind is up now and he is suddenly aware of the tap-tapping of the buddleia where it has invaded the roof and reached down into the interior. He staked out this abandoned outbuilding. No time like the present, he thinks. It is dark and there is only the most rudimentary CCTV. Everything on the water is quiet. At the encampment things are livelier since the rain held off. Someone has stuck a few broken pallets in the brazier and a drum circle has started up, enough noise to give him cover. Most of the encampment’s occupants will be drunk, or high on something, he thinks, in any case too dazed to notice what is happening on the water until the smokescreen is up and he and Nevis are long gone.

He removes from its holding bag his birding rifle and slides out of the shed onto the quayside. Beside him, on the Floating Harbour, the boats perch like sentinels on the water. He makes his way quickly and quietly to Halcyon Days. The blinds are drawn, the lights off. There is a roof light but someone has laid a pile of two-by-fours across, a few pots of creosote lined up beside, from some renovation project, he assumes. All to the good. Creosote will burn up a treat. He hops onto the cratch and under the cover. It takes him less than a minute to reposition the pots in front of the hatch. Once he sets the light, that exit will quickly become a wall of flame. He takes out his lighter, and the remains of his bottle of Macallan. Lowering himself very gently into the transom he waits for the gentle movement of the boat to settle.

All he has to do now is wait for the smoke to seep into the boat’s interior. When she opens the aft hatch and sees him, he will act the rescuer. If he’s lucky she might fall for that. And if she doesn’t, she will try to get as far away from him as she can. She might race for the bow hatch and, if she does, she will find her exit blocked by flaming paint tins. She might try the skylight but she will not be able to lift the two-by-fours. She might scream for help but she won’t be heard above the din of the drum circle. She might try to hide but before too long the smoke on the boat will flush her out. All he has to do is to show her the rifle. She’s unlikely to fight back; if she does, he’s quite prepared to knock her out.