‘Someone’s keen to link him with LfA.’ He pointed at the mask. ‘The arson too?’

‘What if this is our arsonist? Someone knew what he did and shot him. It’s a possibility, isn’t it?’

Other than what the body was lying in, there wasn’t any blood spatter around the corpse.

‘Presumably he wasn’t killed here?’ I asked Dr Clark.

‘My guess is he was killed elsewhere and brought on site. It would be too much of a risk to shoot him here and cut out his tongue. I’m sure Dougie’s team and ballistics will be able to add to that, and I’ll leave you to establish why the body was left here.’

‘What about the tongue? There’s not much blood around his face and neck, so presumably that was done post-mortem?’

‘Subject to the PM, I’d agree.’

‘Do we have the tongue?’

‘Sadly, not.’

Ideas coursed through my mind. Had the killer taken it as a souvenir? My thoughts turned to the victim’s family. ‘Right. Someone tell Chris Thomas to keep schtum about Ryan’s ID. Last thing we want is it getting in the media before we’ve had time to notify next-of-kin.’ I turned to Dr Clark. ‘Have you got a slot for the PM?’

‘I’ll get it done later today.’

‘I wonder what the petrol’s about. D’you suppose they were planning to set him alight or is it hinting at the fire on Friday?’

‘Impossible to say,’ Dr Clark replied.

‘Fortunately, it’s dry so if he’s been brought here from another location, there may still be transfer materials on him.’ I surveyed the scene.

‘Speaking of transfer materials, his body is covered with what looks like dog hair.’ Dr Clark pointed.

‘Oh, yes. I can see them.’ Medium-length dark hairs had collected in the fibre of his clothing and speckled his skin.

‘As soon as I give the go-ahead to move him, the CSIs can start on the body’s forensics.’ Dr Clark was recording measurements.

‘Cheers, Doc.’

Dan had gone to speak to Chris Thomas, so I left the crime scene area and pulled off the white suit and shoe covers.

Back on the street, the site foreman, Robert Johnson, was leaning up against the wooden hoardings around the development, bellowing into his mobile and pacing up and down. When he saw me, he cut his call and tucked his mobile in his pocket. ‘Sorry about earlier. Behaving like a dick.’ He looked sheepish. ‘Working in this kind of environment, the alpha male thing becomes a habit after a while.’