Tony McAvettie was pulling on his jacket when Clare entered her office.

She threw her bag down in the corner. ‘Leaving us so soon?’

‘Things to do, people to see, Clare,’ he said. ‘Any luck with Big Val?’

She shook her head. ‘Nope. Not surprising, really. She covers her back, that one.’

‘And the prossie?’

She glared at him. ‘Who?’

‘Oh don’t go all prissy on me. Your interview this morning.’

‘Melanie Fraser? For the record I don’t believe she is a sex worker.’

‘She was hired to entertain four blokes and spent the night with one of them. What would you call it?’

‘I…’ Clare found she was lost for words. What was Melanie Fraser? Was it fair to call her a sex worker? Or had she made a good point about her friends and their one-night stands? Whatever the rights or wrongs of it, she wasn’t about to let Tony away with badmouthing Melanie. ‘Whether she has sex with men for money or not, Tony,’ she said, ‘we do not use words like prostitute these days.’

‘Aye, whatever. Was she any help?’

‘Not much, to be honest. But we’ve found a link between Big Val and a small-time crook called Zac Buchanan.’

He wrinkled his brow. ‘Rings a bell. Remind me?’

‘Zac did a stretch for serious assault at the same time as Russell Fox. Zac whacked another prisoner and Russell gave evidence against him. Gives him a motive.’

Tony nodded. ‘Still, a sniper’s pretty far-fetched for a guy like Zac.’

‘I agree. It’s unlikely he fired it, but he could have supplied it.’

‘True. We’ll have his DNA on file. Get SOCO to cross-check with any samples from the scene.’

‘Gee, thanks, Tony. I hadn’t thought about that.’

The sarcasm was lost on him. ‘You’re welcome, Inspector.’ He put a hand on the door then stopped. ‘You’ve seen that lot out there?’

‘The press? Hard to avoid.’

‘So an early result would be good.’

‘We’re working flat out.’

‘Course you are,’ he said. ‘Just make sure you’re using the resources wisely.’ He flashed her a smile. ‘And now, I must rush.’

Clare followed him out into the front office, looking for Chris. She noticed Zoe, picking up her bag from under the desk. Tony was striding towards the front door and she saw Zoe give him a slight nod. Clare watched as she fished a lipstick out of her bag. ‘Zoe?’ she said.

Zoe looked up, running the lipstick over her lips. ‘Yeah?’

Clare hesitated. Then she said, ‘Tony’s a bastard.’

Zoe stared. ‘And?’

‘He’s caused trouble here before. And…’ she hesitated, conscious she was straying beyond her role as Zoe’s boss, ‘I wouldn’t want him to treat you badly.’