‘And what was the first name that popped into your head?’

‘I was too shocked to think about anything like that.’

‘Bollocks you were. Gut instinct: who did you think about?’

He took another gulp of juice, buying time. This told her that whatever name followed would be a lie, but more importantly that there had been a name he didn’t want to give her.

‘Tony McGill,’ he said, prompting a snort of amusement from both his dining companions. ‘I just thought, maybe the auld bastard’s still trying to keep the drugs out of Gallowhaugh.’

‘Aye, very good,’ Catherine said with a measured lack of interest. ‘So you won’t feel it’s incumbent upon you to respond on the late Mr McDiarmid’s behalf, or be worried that you might also be under threat.’

‘I’m keen that justice is done, and I’ve every confidence that you’ll see it is, Officer … ?’

Nige reprised his grunt. He thought his boss was a riot, clearly. He was easily pleased, although not so easily sated, going by the damage he had inflicted on the buffet.

‘McLeod,’ she stated. ‘Detective Superintendent.’

‘McLeod, aye. And no, I’m not worried. Like I said, I don’t know what this is about, but it’s nothing to do with me. Now, would you mind passing the salt?’

Catherine motioned to toss it. Steel cupped his hands. She deliberately threw it a little too hard and a little too fast for him to catch. It hit him in the chest, bouncing off his sweatshirt with a percussive sound that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pecs couldn’t have made, even in his prime.

‘Not worried, aye,’ she said. ‘That’s why you’re out running between two fat bastards, getting jogger’s nipple off a bulletproof vest.’

Machinery

Sergeant George Collins had the polite and slightly disconnected air of giving a well-rehearsed speech. The effect was dishearteningly like speaking to an advanced but no less impersonal answering system. For missing persons, press one.

‘You see, Miss Sharp,’ he explained, ‘our resources are finite, so it’s incumbent upon us to prioritise them appropriately. For that reason, unless we have solid evidence that a crime has been committed, we can’t act upon a report of a missing person.’

Jasmine felt stupid now, but only because, deep down, she had known this was how it was going to play out. It was only just gone eight o’clock, meaning she had to admit to the cop that she had first noticed Jim missing less than twelve hours ago, not even overnight.