‘Maybe to make sure you can’t change your mind,’ Ava said. ‘If it had just been the cable ties, I might have believed it. It was the handcuffs that did it for me. They gave the whole scene a sense that a tableau had been constructed. Someone had worked hard building that image in their mind. They’d seen how it would play out. Surely you don’t plan a suicide like that. It’s reactive, chaotic in most instances. I’m no expert, but I’d have said your natural instinct is to give yourself some sort of flexibility or an out clause. Also, an element of comfort or ease. No one wants their death to be that traumatic, no matter how depressed they are. You spoke to a witness from a suicide support group about the Stephen Berry killing, didn’t you? Do you think he’d be willing to come in and talk to me about it? I reckon we’d benefit from having an expert to give a second opinion.’

Callanach thought about it, knowing Ava was right and that Rune Maclure would probably be more than happy to help. The idea that the two of them would be ideally suited struck him again. Maclure would make Ava laugh, he thought, and put her at ease. He was the right age for her and Callanach was pretty sure he hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring. That didn’t mean he was single, of course, but if he was … Callanach stopped himself there. He had no right to limit Ava’s access to men who might be good for her, or bad for her, for that matter.

‘Yeah, his name’s Rune Maclure. I’ll talk to him tomorrow,’ he compromised. ‘You go to the postmortem and get what you can from Ailsa. We can meet back at the station and debrief the team. It’ll save time.’

‘You’ll have other things to think about tomorrow. Pax Graham’s going to have to interview you about the nursing home death and the sooner we get that over with, the better. He needs an official statement on file in case you have any relevant facts that might assist and it’ll ensure that we’ve followed proper procedure. What I still don’t know is why you were there in the first place. Seems like a long time ago now, but that is the reason I came round earlier.’

‘I’m going to need a drink for that conversation, even if you can’t join me,’ he said, walking to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of red wine.

‘Do you have any beer?’ Ava shouted after him.

‘Yes, but you can’t have it. Doctor’s orders. How did Selina seem to you?’