When Veronica Wilson found her husband dying on the doorstep of their home, her first instinct was to run to the pub across the road, the Havelock Hotel.
Head chef Stuart Wright was on duty that night, and was astonished to see Mrs Wilson running towards him, begging for help.
In the weeks after the murder, a stunned Mr Wright was taken in for questioning and was required to provide a DNA sample, while items from his home were examined forensically.
His kind actions were under close examination by police – like every other potential piece of evidence in the case – who thought there might be more to why Mrs Wilson fled to him in her hour of need.
Mr Wright faced further heartache when he had a blazing row with Havelock owner, Andy Burnet, because he took it upon himself to close the pub that night as a security measure while the drama unfolded.
He was eventually sacked.
Mr Wright, who sill lives in Nairn, does not speak about the night any more, and says he wants to put that period of his life behind him.
He is a prime example – and perhaps the saddest – of how the horrific incident affected people outwith the Wilson family.
All Mr Wright would say, a decade on, is that he would not let the murder drive him from the town he calls his home.
“I won’t be chased from here, just like it didn’t chase Veronica away,” he told the Press and Journal.
“All I’ll say is that there has been a dark cloud over Nairn since the night Alistair was killed, and it won’t be lifted until the gunman is caught.”