“Unless you subscribe to the official line that Jackie Mitchell killed her, someone else got into that flat in the crucial twenty minutes and strangled Alison Maxwell. The only clue to that person’s identity was a glass with half of a thumbprint on it. It wasn’t Jackie’s thumbprint. And it was the only thing in the whole case that didn’t point decisively at Jackie. But without a set of suspects, the print was in itself worthless. It could have belonged to anyone in Glasgow. The police had their killer, or so they thought. So they didn’t have any incentive to pursue the point.

“Now, right from the start, Claire was convinced that Jackie had not murdered Alison, and I have to say I agreed with her the first time she explained her reasons to me. Everything I have learned since has only confirmed that opinion. Claire came to me because Alison and I were once lovers, and because with my contacts at the Clarion I could be expected to pick up gossip and information that was denied both to the police and to private detectives.

“What she didn’t know when she hired me was that I knew where the bodies were buried. You see, I knew where Alison hid her secret diary.” She registered the momentary flash of fear that crossed Antonis’ face and the trembling of Ruth’s wine glass. That told her one of the things she wanted to know. The chances were that Ruth knew about her husband’s affair, but that Antonis was unaware that she knew. Taking a deep breath, Lindsay continued.

“Her diary was an unsavory and rather childish record of her sexual conquests. Alison made notes from the first time she decided she fancied someone. She cataloged the seduction and the subsequent affair, right through to its ending. I’ve got a copy of it right here.” Lindsay produced the diary pages from a folder sitting on the coffee table in front of her. “The original is in a safe place,” she lied.

“I realized that the key to Alison’s death probably lay in those diary pages. Initially, I eliminated anyone whose affair with Alison was over, as long as she hadn’t taken any kind of revenge on them. I was left with a handful of suspects. A couple of them were quickly removed from the list when it turned out they had sound alibis for the time of the crime.