“Grabs them from the A9,” another of the team was saying, “buries them here and sends a picture—got to be local.”

“Might just be someone who knows the road,” Rebus cautioned. “Any tire tracks up there?”

“Nothing useful as yet.”

“Only three or so weeks since he was last here, though.”

“Ground might have been frozen—dipped below zero the night the McKie girl went missing.”

Rebus nodded his understanding. “You’ll keep looking?”

“Until we’re told to pack up.”

“Clothing and personal effects might have been buried separately.”

“We’ve a metal detector coming later today, plus the offer of geophys if we want it.” The man’s eyes were on Rebus, daring him to doubt the effort being made. Rebus blew across the surface of the soup instead. Reconstituted peas and carrots had never held such fascination for him.

47

47

Late in the afternoon they reconvened at Northern Constabulary HQ in Inverness. Dempsey was due to host a press conference at the top of the hour, but wanted her team to hear the news first. The mood was solemn. Photographs were handed round. According to the pathologist’s report, all five corpses were women, but only one was readily identifiable. Rebus stared at the face of Annette McKie. Her eyes were closed and bits of earth still clung to her eyelashes, hair and ear lobes.

“Manual strangulation,” Dempsey was intoning. “We may even get lucky and come up with a thumbprint. You’ll see signs of bruising to the neck, especially around the voice box. Large hands, the pathologist says. Judging by decomposition and insect activity, victim has been deceased for between twenty and twenty-five days.” She looked up at the room. “Three weeks today since she was abducted, so I think it’s fair to say she wasn’t kept alive for long.” Dempsey returned to her notes. “From the visual evidence, I’m prepared to name the victim as Annette McKie, but the family are on their way from Edinburgh to make the formal identification.”

“Did the other victims die the same way?” someone asked, interrupting Dempsey’s flow. She glowered at the miscreant.

“No way of telling. Deterioration is too advanced. All the pathologist would say is that she can’t see initial signs of stab wounds or gunshots on any of them. Regarding Annette McKie, there’s probable sexual activity, but as yet no indications of forced penetration. Pathologist’s got a mountain ahead of her, however, and we can’t expect a full report for a few more days. We have the particulars of the missing women provided by our friends at Lothian and Borders, and those will be useful in the preliminary stages. I have to stress that we don’t know for sure who the other victims are. I don’t want any of you jumping to conclusions.”