Clare said, ‘We can give you a lift into town if it helps but I really do want a team to go over the van. So, the keys, if you don’t mind.’

They drove Samantha and her two bags of tablecloths into town.

‘Just here,’ she said, as Clare turned the car into South Street.

She pulled into a parking space and, as Samantha clicked off her seat belt, Clare said, ‘Just one thing more…’

‘Go on, then.’

‘The woman who booked you, did she give you a name?’

‘Just a first name.’

‘Which was?’

‘Val.’

Clare raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s it? Just Val?’

Samantha shrugged. ‘Think one of the girls called her Big Val.’

Clare was suddenly alert. ‘Big Val?’

‘Think so. Not that I ever set eyes on her. Might have been a joke, though. I honestly don’t know.’

Chapter 16

‘I think you’re getting ahead of yourself,’ Chris said, as they walked back into the station.

‘It needs checked out,’ she said.

‘There must be hundreds, no, thousands of women in Scotland called Val.’

‘Big Val, remember. And how many of them do you think would be capable of organising sex workers for parties?’

‘Suppose.’

‘Listen, Chris, we’ve had dealings with Big Val Docherty in the past. We both know she was up to her neck in drugs when we were hunting that missing baby, but she walked away from any charges because she helped us clear the case up. Since then, as far as we know, she’s steered clear of drugs. So she must be making her money somehow.’

‘Okay so, what do you want to do?’

‘I want to find out if she’s still in Edinburgh. And then I think we’ll pay her a visit.’

‘Oh good!’ Chris rolled his eyes. ‘She’s a charmer.’

‘She’s all that,’ Clare agreed. She was about to head for her office when Bill caught her.

‘Zac Buchanan, boss.’

‘You got something?’

‘Think so.’

Clare nodded to Chris to join them and he ambled across.

‘Go on, then,’ Clare said.

Bill consulted his notepad. ‘So Zac spent a few months living in a hostel with another couple of lads, and one of them did time for supply of firearms. I’ve checked up on the firearms lad and he’s actually on remand in Perth prison so we can rule him out. But it’s possible Zac had met some of his associates. Could be that’s how he got his hands on a gun. If he is our sniper.’

‘Great stuff. We might actually be getting somewhere.’

‘And he does have a motive,’ Bill went on, ‘Russell getting a year added to his sentence.’

Clare was silent for a moment, running this through her mind.