‘He took Zoe out last night. She texted Sara.’

Clare shook her head. ‘I did warn her.’ She stopped, thinking for a minute. ‘Look, Chris, maybe Zoe thinks I’m coming on a bit strong, being her boss and all that. Could Sara have a word? Set her straight about Tony.’

‘She’s already tried. But Zoe won’t have it. Says she’s big enough to look after herself.’

‘Oh well. Maybe she is. I mean she’s pretty sparky. Maybe she’ll finally be the one to break his heart.’

‘You’re assuming he has one.’

‘Sorry,’ Clare said. ‘Rookie error.’ They entered the incident room and the hum of chatter died away.

Clare turned to face them. ‘Okay,’ she began. ‘Lamond Lodge. We’ve established that a party of five women was driven there on Friday night by a Samantha Reynolds. Ms Reynolds owns a minibus and was booked by text message from a burner phone. Chris and I believe the phone belongs to Val Docherty but we doubt we can prove it. We also know there’s a connection between Val and a small-time crook, Zac Buchanan. We know Zac had a grudge against Russell Fox. But was it enough to get his hands on a sniper rifle, track Russell down then break into the house to shoot him?’ She shook her head. ‘It seems far-fetched to me.’

Nita’s phone buzzed on her desk and she excused herself to take the call.

Clare went on. ‘We know Zac was in St Andrews on Friday night. He used a cash machine in the town, and a rather nice BMW was stolen. Zac, as you probably know, has precons for stealing high-end cars. So he might have been in town to nick the car or he could be connected to Russell Fox’s death. Or it could even just be a coincidence.’

‘Don’t forget Val’s daughter,’ Chris said.

‘Thanks, Chris.’ She looked round the room again. ‘Val’s daughter Lauren was the girlfriend of Zac Buchanan’s son Leo. According to Val, Lauren and Leo aren’t together now but I need someone to check that. It’s unlikely to be a factor but we can’t ignore it. Val is almost certainly involved with the minibus of women and Zac has a grudge against Russell Fox.’

‘They could be in it together,’ someone said.

Clare nodded. ‘They could indeed. But would someone like Val be interested in a spat between Russell and Zac?’ She shook her head. ‘From what I know of Val, she’s out for only one person – herself. All the same, we have to check it out.’

‘What about the hotel?’ Chris asked.

‘No luck,’ Janey said. ‘Staff I spoke to weren’t on duty at the weekend and they haven’t come back to me on the CCTV yet.’

Clare clicked her tongue. ‘It is a murder enquiry, Janey.’

‘Yeah, I know, boss. I’ll get back onto them.’