‘Definitely not. Just the pizza lad and the van.’

Clare rose and Chris followed suit. ‘Okay, Mark. We may need you to make a statement confirming that but we’ll leave it for now. In the meantime, stay away from the Lodge and don’t discuss what you’ve told us with anyone.’

Mark showed them to the front door and they emerged into the sunshine. Outside the two boys were lying on their backs on the trampoline, giggling about something. Clare watched them, thinking they were just a couple of years older than her nephew, James, and she made a mental note to give her sister a call in the next few days.

‘Believe him?’ Chris asked, cutting across her thoughts. He clicked the key to unlock the car and they climbed in.

Clare pulled on her seat belt then sat thinking for a moment. ‘Think so,’ she said. ‘You?’

‘Probably. All the same, I’m suspicious of anyone who starts off lying to us.’ He started the engine. ‘Back to the hotel, then?’

Clare nodded. ‘Yep. Let’s speak to the three partygoers again. Get to the bottom of this van full of girls.’

Chapter 8

They set off for the hotel but a phone call from Janey forestalled them. ‘Your victim and his friends,’ she said, ‘got a bit of background.’

Clare motioned to Chris to pull over and she switched the phone to speaker.

‘I’ve emailed it over,’ Janey went on. ‘But the victim did a bit of time a few years ago.’

‘For?’

‘Drunk driving. He knocked down a young woman one night. Put her in hospital for weeks. He was three times over the limit.’

‘How long did he serve?’

‘Eight months.’

‘That all?’

‘Yeah. It was a dark road, no pavement. She was walking with her back to traffic, dark clothing. The defence made a pretty good case. He pled guilty so it all helped reduce the sentence.’

‘Okay,’ Clare said. ‘Can you look into who he might have met in prison, please? Was it the Bar-L?’

‘Yeah, Barlinnie,’ Janey confirmed. ‘I’ll get onto the prison and see who he shared with.’

Chris leaned forward. ‘What’s he done since prison, Janey?’

‘He’s done all right, to be honest. He was a chef by trade so he started working in a steak house in the centre of Glasgow. Then he took over a cafe that was going out of business. Got it cheap and built it up. Sold it and bought another restaurant. Up till a couple of months ago he had two restaurants. But he put them on the market. Word is he’s had a few offers.’

‘Any idea why?’

‘No. He might just be that kind of guy. Buy cheap, build it up then sell for a profit.’

‘Yeah, could be. Is that it?’

‘Not quite. One of the other lads has a bit of previous too.’

They waited.