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anything so mean.”
    â€œNot this time, then. Let’s have a look around in the morning. I’m staying down at Kinlochbervie. See you about nine o’clock?”
    â€œRight,” said Hamish, “if I can find somewhere to stay. My budget doesn’t run to a hotel.”
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    Hamish was often amazed at the amount of stuff Dick managed to pack into the Land Rover. A small tent had been erected near the fire.
    â€œYou’ve been away a long time,” complained Dick. “I thought we’d better stay the night.”
    â€œGrand,” said Hamish happily. With any luck, tomorrow he would see Anka again.
    He took off his uniform of sweater and trousers and hung his trousers up in the Land Rover. He crawled into the tent and eased himself into a sleeping bag. Dick followed him, crept into his own sleeping bag, and promptly fell asleep. Sonsie and Lugs lay together at the entrance to the tent. Hamish lay listening to Dick’s gentle snores with mounting irritation. The man was making Hamish positively claustrophobic. Hamish considered that Dick was blocking him off from any chance of marriage. He had interfered before. Before he finally fell asleep, Hamish vowed that if Dick came between him and Anka, he would get the pest transferred back to Strathbane.
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    But it was hard to stay angry with Dick when Hamish woke to the sound of a crackling fire and the smell of brewing tea. He struggled out of the tent in his underwear, stripped off, and plunged into the sea, gasping as the cold waves hit his body. When he came out, it was to find a small group of villagers, standing a little way away, giggling and pointing.
    Dick handed Hamish a towel. He dried himself, got dressed, and advanced on his audience, who melted away before he could reach them.
    â€œI’ll talk to that lot later,” he said, taking a seat by the fire.
    â€œI’ve made you a bacon bap,” said Dick. “Man, thae baps are the best I’ve ever tasted.”
    It was a cold, crisp day with sunlight sparkling on the waves. The dog and cat chased each other around the beach like children let out to play. Hamish then ate, and, after fetching a bag from the Land Rover, took out an electric razor and began to shave.
    â€œChristine, the forensic lassie, is coming back at nine o’clock,” said Hamish. “But I’ll go back to the cottage and have a look at the back in the daylight. Why don’t you knock on a few doors and see if anyone remembers anything?”
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    Anka had finished her baking chores and was considering going to bed when there came a knock at the door. She opened it and found Dick Fraser on the doorstep.
    â€œNot more questions!” said Anka. “I have told Hamish all I can think of.”
    â€œJust a wee word,” pleaded Dick.
    â€œOh, all right. Come in. Take a seat. Coffee?”
    â€œGrand. Milk and one sugar, please.”
    Dick studied her covertly while she made the coffee. Surely there was something suspicious about such a beauty immuring herself in this remote village.
    A small television was on the kitchen counter. Anka had been watching the news before Dick had arrived.
    â€œThat’s Hamish’s girlfriend,” said Dick.
    She swung round. “Where?”
    â€œOn the telly. Elspeth Grant.”
    â€œHave they been together long?”
    â€œOh, years. They’re just working out the logistics. I mean, Hamish’s work is up here and she’s down there, in Glasgow.”
    Anka put a mug of coffee down in front of Dick and then sat opposite.
    â€œAnyway,” said Dick, “what I really want to know is can you give me a recipe for thae baps?”
    â€œIs that all you came about?”
    â€œWell, yes. I’ve never tasted baps like that before.”
    â€œI’ll think about it.”
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    Meanwhile, Hamish was at the back of Liz’s cottage, up on the moorland, painstakingly searching the