Yes certainly, that all makes sense, but I think that Wilkes sets it up in a strange way in the book so as to somehow try and highlight a weakness or plant a seed of a conspiracy, I have only read the first four chapters so far though. I just wondered if this might have been the start of the conspiracy theory about the other ex-serviceman. I have also read about the panic alarm. I think the way it is worded in the book it suggests that Nevill expected to get shot. However, there is no way to know where the quotes came from either.
Perhaps. I enjoyed the Wilkes book and, when I first read it, viewed it as the best researched of the books so the most reliable. The problem is though that Wilkes does not attribute his sources - though none of the other books do that either, or perhaps Claire Powell does. We're told that Wilkes interviewed a lot of witnesses, but he does not identify them or attribute who told him what. He spent a considerable amount of time interviewing Jeremy's extended family, who we know have a rather one sided view of the case.