Chris speared a forkful of salad. ‘Why are you so determined it’s him?’

‘I’m not. But there’s no love lost between him and Russell Fox. We can’t ignore that.’

‘It’s not enough though.’

She nodded. ‘Okay, let’s consider this: what if someone’s trying to frame Zac?’

Chris munched his salad, weighing this up. ‘Certainly seems more likely than Zac being the killer.’

‘Remember his story about a message on his phone telling him to wait for a package? That made sure he was in the town overnight.’

‘If it’s true.’

‘But, if someone did want to frame him, what better way to guarantee he’d be in the area when Russell was killed?’

‘It would have to be someone who knew Russell Fox had crossed Zac,’ Chris said.

‘Someone who’d been in prison.’

‘Steve Christie?’

Clare nodded. ‘Could be.’

‘You have his DNA now. So we should know soon.’

‘It’s a long shot, to be honest. But we have to try.’ She fell silent for a moment then said, ‘I think I’d like to speak to Zac again, if he’s not already been released. Could you check? There’s something else I want to do.’

Janey was finishing a bowl of soup in the kitchen when Clare found her.

‘Could you do me a favour?’

Janey carried her bowl over to the sink. ‘Sure.’

‘Could you look into a David Fox please? He died coming up for ten years ago – it’ll be ten years in September.’

‘What do you want to know?’

Clare thought for a moment. ‘I’m not sure. Just whatever you can find out. How he died, if he was married, or living with someone. And especially if he could have had any children.’

‘He related to the victim?’

‘Yeah, brother to Russell and Gaby.’ She smiled. ‘It probably won’t help but I’d like to know, all the same.’

‘We’re in luck,’ Chris said. ‘They released him ten minutes ago and he’s heading for the bus station. A couple of the lads were running him there so they’ll bring him here instead. I’ve said we’ll put him on a bus back to Leven.’

Zac arrived forty minutes later, accompanied by two officers.

‘We’ll take him from here,’ Clare said, thanking them.

‘Am I gonnae be needing a solicitor?’ Zac said, trailing after Clare to the interview room.

‘To be honest, Zac, I doubt it. You’ll still be under caution but I just want to check something with you. I’m happy to arrange for the duty solicitor to attend but it will delay things.’ She opened the interview room door and stood back for Zac to enter.

‘Go on, then,’ he said. ‘But if it gets heavy, I’m saying nothing.’