‘I’m not denying it at all. I’m saying I know it wasn’t Glen Fallan shooting at you today, because you’re still alive. Glen Fallan doesn’t make attempts. If he wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Come on, Catherine: a guy pulls up behind you in the street, in broad daylight, in the same kind of motor you already associate with him, and starts shooting holes in your car. Not exactly discreet.’

Catherine caught up.

‘The shooter wanted to be seen,’ she said.

‘The word is out that Fallan’s back in town, and he was never short of enemies. You spoke to him this morning. How did he seem? What did you ask him about?’

‘Seem? Big. Guarded. Scary. The strong, violent type. I asked him about Callahan, Fleeting, McDiarmid, Miller. He said he didn’t know who they were.’

‘Did you believe him?’

‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘I pretended to him that I didn’t, but it was obvious. He’s here about something else. He’s with this young girl, as you know, Jasmine Sharp. Works for her uncle’s PI outfit, except, get this, he’s gone missing. Retired cop. Jim Sharp. That ring any bells?’

‘Yeah, he was CID over in Clydebank. Good cop. A workaholic, though. No surprise he went private. Guys like that can’t retire. And he’s gone missing?’

‘Apparently. She reported it Monday. Says Fallan’s helping her look for him. He’s going by the name Tron Ingrams these days. I can’t work out what his angle is, but then I know next to nothing about him.’

‘Well, unless you work out what his game is, and unless it affects you directly, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to get involved. Tread very lightly, and make no assumptions about him: positive or negative. Anybody with a past like his who’s subsequently stayed off our radar for more than twenty years is either very much reformed or even more dangerous.’

‘There was one thing he mentioned,’ she remembered. ‘Think he was messing with my head, but he made reference to “the biggest gang in Glasgow”. Said I should ask somebody older about it. Do you know who that is?’

‘Aye,’ said Sunderland, his features suddenly that little bit more alert. ‘Us.’

Infrared and Sonic Boom