Smith looked from one to the other. ‘I asked Siobhan to come with me,’ she explained. Ogilvie nodded his understanding and led them to a meeting room. It boasted a new-looking table and upholstered chairs and was usually used when giving bad news to relatives or laying on a spread for visiting dignitaries. The cream walls were bare apart from a clock that needed a new battery. Ogilvie placed a slim folder on the table and his phone next to it.

‘We’ve been looking at footage from the road cameras,’ he began, ‘concentrating on Bonnington Road, Broughton Street and Inverleith Row. That time of night, as we suspected, it’s mostly taxis and private hires, plus the odd delivery vehicle. But we flagged up a few cars – Volkswagen Golf, Kia, Nissan, Land Rover …’

‘Land Rover?’ Clarke interrupted.

Ogilvie woke up his phone and found the footage, talking while he searched. ‘Drove the length of Broughton Street and then was caught again on North Bridge.’ He turned his phone towards the two women. ‘Have you seen it before, Laura?’ he asked.

‘I’m not much good with cars.’

‘Me neither,’ Clarke added, ‘but that’s a Range Rover rather than a Land Rover.’

Ogilvie studied the photograph. ‘Pity you can’t make out the driver. Number plate’s not exactly clear either.’

‘I might be able to help you there.’ Clarke got busy on her own phone, showing him the photo she’d taken outside the nightclub.

‘What are you, Derren Brown?’

‘Is it the same car?’ Smith asked.

‘Could well be.’ Ogilvie was tapping the number plate into his phone. ‘I’ll get on to DVLA for the owner’s name.’

‘Do you know whose it is?’ Smith was asking Clarke.

‘Not definitively – but it could be the Mackenzies’.’

‘Which Mackenzies?’

‘Landlords to the poor and needy. That photo was taken outside a nightclub on Blair Street where their daughter DJs.’

‘But I’ve never run a story on them.’

‘Fraser Mackenzie and James Pelham are mates, though.’ Clarke was looking at Ogilvie. ‘How long will it take, do you think?’

‘I doubt they’re back to a full office,’ he said. ‘Probably still mostly working from home. I’ll do my best, though. Are you staying at Siobhan’s again tonight, Laura?’

She nodded. ‘I’m making us pasta with pesto and a salad.’ Her eyes fell on Ogilvie. ‘There’s enough for three.’

‘I’ll probably be stuck here for a while,’ he apologised. ‘We might have ID’d one car, but there are others I want to follow up on.’

‘He’s a grafter,’ Smith said to Clarke.

‘Ronnie’s just back from a bit of a break, batteries recharged.’

‘Go anywhere nice?’ Smith asked him.

‘My sofa mostly. Sometimes the kitchen for a cuppa or a lateral flow test.’

‘Ah,’ Laura Smith said.