‘It won’t take long,’ he said.

Ava hoped he wasn’t going to ask her for a drink again. He’d called to update her on the case the previous evening, inviting her to meet for a face-to-face chat at a pub, asking if she’d eaten. She’d claimed tiredness, which although not a lie, wasn’t the reason she didn’t want to see him. Pax Graham was single, attractive and much too attentive, which she needed in her life like she needed the measles.

‘You’ve got two minutes,’ she said.

‘All right.’ He paused, taking several strides before continuing. ‘When the forensic results came back from the cushion used to kill Bruce Jenson, we didn’t just find Gilroy Western’s killer’s DNA on there. Not unexpectedly, we found several different sources. One of them, though, was DI Callanach.’

Ava kept walking, reminding herself to breathe.

‘Callanach placed himself at the scene and admitted he made physical contact both with Mr Jenson and the cushion. I’m not surprised his DNA came up. It’s one of the reasons he’s on administrative leave – to keep the investigation untainted.’

‘I agree, but the DNA wasn’t from skin cells or sweat, which I was expecting.’

Ava stopped walking.

‘There was blood on the cushion, almost invisible to the naked eye, the droplet was so small.’

‘He told us he broke a vase. He reported it to the nurse on duty. It’s possible he nicked his skin then.’

‘It is, but Callanach said he knocked over the vase looking for a towel to wipe Jenson’s chin. His chronology is that it was only later he went back to clean up the broken vase. He didn’t say anything about going back to Jenson again after that.’

Ava smiled and nodded. ‘You’re absolutely right,’ she said. ‘It needs clarifying. Thanks for letting me know first. Have DI Callanach come in and deal with it.’

‘No need at the moment,’ Graham said. ‘It’s not as if he’s a suspect. I just wanted to give you advance notice, in case it comes up when the file gets passed over to the procurator fiscal for trial and that’s not going to happen until we catch whoever’s responsible. I’ll let you get on.’

‘Sure. Thanks,’ Ava said quietly.

She still hadn’t notified Callanach that it was a woman they were looking for in connection with the two murders. Things were too hectic and even if they weren’t, passing on information about the investigation was just another breach of protocol. If push came to shove, he’d have to come up with an explanation for his blood ending up on Jenson’s cushion. That was Callanach’s problem, not hers. She had enough to deal with.