Jasmine sighed, though she’d have preferred to scream.

‘And would it be breaching his client confidentiality to speculate as to why he had your file out? What’s your connection with all this? Why did you drop everything to come up here with me? No more lies. Tell me the truth.’

‘I dropped everything because somebody was shooting at us. I came here with you because I want to find out why. I don’t know what my connection is to this, but if we’re going to work it out, we need to focus on what we do know.’

‘What we do know? I don’t even know what to call you. Is it Tron? Is it Glen? What kind of a name is Tron anyway? As in the daft sci-fi movie? As in the steeple?’

‘As in the theatre. Something … happened to me there.’

‘What?’

‘It was where I decided I didn’t want to be Glen Fallan any more. Nobody’s called me by that name for twenty years.’

‘And would you care to tell me what occasioned this epiphany?’

‘I wouldn’t say it’s germane to the matter at hand. What is more relevant is that Bain’s statement being bollocks changes everything. Without it, the Ramsays’ last sighting is leaving the Campsieview hotel in Lennoxtown the night before.’

‘Why would the police be distorting their own investigation?’

‘A policeman was distorting the investigation. And if you had had the pleasure of my late father’s acquaintance, you’d appreciate that it’s not a given he was doing it from the inside.’

‘So Bain wasn’t just goading you with that? Was your dad really a bent cop?’

‘Let’s just say his corrupt side was among his more positive attributes, and leave it at that.’

Jasmine caught a glimpse of his face as he said this, slowing the car to a halt at some traffic lights. There was no wry humour to his expression, only a steely bitterness.

‘What is crucial,’ he went on, ‘is that my father would have known what an impact Bain’s statement would make on whoever was conducting the inquiry. It completely altered the timeline for the Ramsays’ disappearance, not to mention the geography.’

‘Do you reckon Jim had worked this out?’

With all their cards on the table, they had pressed Bain about Jim’s investigation. Bain admitted Jim had been to the house to talk to him, but said he had stuck to his story.