‘Well, they won’t be putting up any plaques in his memory,’ responded Anthony Thomson, who had been charged with this particular task. Beano, as he was known, was the baby of the bunch, an inexperienced but enthusiastic DC whose eager professionalism was borne out by the fact that he was sitting there with his leg in plaster from ankle to hip. He’d broken it in several places falling off a garage roof in pursuit of a suspect, but had insisted on showing up to work every day, taking on any station-bound task, however menial or tedious.

‘He was an eyewateringly vicious individual, even for Gallowhaugh,’ Beano went on. ‘Started off as a debt collector for Tam Beattie back in the early nineties, along with his pal Paddy Steel.’

‘Aye, that was the local equivalent of a YTS in those days,’ said Raeside.

‘Fond of his blades, liked to say he’d marked more men than a tattoo artist. Not just a slasher, though. Stabbed Arthur Lafferty to death inside the Caplet Arms pub in February 1996 in front of roughly thirty witnesses, none of whom saw a thing. The case remains officially open. The dogs in the street know who did it, but McDiarmid walked away clean. Same deal again in July 2004, when he killed Paul McGroarty, reportedly over an unpaid drug debt. McDiarmid fronted a quantity of heroin to McGroarty on tick. Problem was, McGroarty got lifted and his stash pochled by the polis. McDiarmid discovered that the value of your investments can go down as well as up, and acted with a view to ensuring greater probity from any future venture-capital beneficiaries. He killed McGroarty in broad daylight: went up to him while his car was stopped on a red, reached through the open window and stabbed him through the throat. This time there were civilian witnesses, but by the time the case was due to reach court, none of them were prepared to give evidence.

‘These are just the greatest hits, and the ones we know about. He’s locally believed to have accounted for at least two more murders, as well as having a noted predilection for abduction and torture if he felt he needed to make a lasting impression on somebody but still wanted them alive. It’s actually a bugger he’s dead, because my sister and her husband were looking for a babysitter.’

‘What about Lafferty and McGroarty?’ Catherine asked. ‘Any family or friends possibly been biding their time?’