‘Absolutely,’ Callanach agreed, meeting Graham’s fierce gaze. He was more intelligent than his bulk suggested. The size of him provided almost perfect cover for his acuity. Graham was well aware there was more going on than he was being told. ‘I’ll do that for you this morning.’

Lively and Graham disappeared, talking tactics and forensics. Ava waited until the door was firmly shut.

‘Before you speak, think very carefully,’ Ava said, fiddling with her watchstrap. ‘You said you knew nothing about Bruce Jenson’s murder, even though you were in attendance at the murder scene just before it took place. I know you have a vested interest in getting revenge on Western. So if this was nothing to do with you, why the hell are they both dead in this city, lying side by side in the sodding mortuary?’

‘I have no idea,’ Callanach replied, sitting down.

‘Stand up,’ Ava hissed. ‘We’re not going to be having a cosy, informal little chat.’

‘Ava …’

‘Detective Chief Inspector,’ she corrected him. ‘That’s what I am to you, and we’re going to address one another formally from now on.’

‘If that’s what you need,’ he said.

‘It is, but what I need more is to be sure, really fucking sure, that you didn’t take out a contract on the men who conspired to rape your mother.’

Callanach breathed in deeply and walked to the window, staring out into the spring drizzle dampening the grey street. Edinburgh had rarely looked so cold. Even the depths of winter had seen more welcoming days. Here he was, in a city he’d had no attachment to a couple of years earlier, a place that had held almost everything he’d wanted just twelve hours before, and now it was a ghost town.

‘I didn’t arrange to have either of those men killed. I didn’t suggest to anyone that it was what I wanted. I haven’t discussed the situation with anyone at all, save for my mother and you. I’m not involved in any crime at any level. Is that what you needed to hear, Detective Chief Inspector?’

‘Don’t sound so petulant. This has gone so far beyond anything I anticipated that you and I are both going to get fired if the real reason you were at Bruce Jenson’s nursing home gets out.’

‘And that’s the only reason you’re pissed off with me, right?’ Callanach asked.

‘It’s the only reason I want to think about right now, but as you raised it, what I found last night more than justifies my being concerned about your mental state.’

‘I’d try to convince you otherwise, only I know that look on your face, so I won’t waste my time,’ he said, walking to her door.