It had been a devil of a job, the man from the hire firm said. The client had wanted his car-phone transferred from his own car to the hire car.

Of course: how else could Liz Jack have contacted him? He had been on the move all day, hadn’t he?

Had the hire car been cleaned since its return? Naturally, a full valet service. What about the boot? The boot? The boot, had it been cleaned too? A bit of a wipe maybe . . . Where was the car now? On hire again, a London businessman. A forty-eight-hour hire only, and due back by six o’clock. It was now a quarter to five. Two CID men would be waiting to drive it from the car-hire offices to the police pound. Were there any forensics people available at Fettes HQ . . .?

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not the same car returning to the lay-by, but another car. Holmes had asked the question: what had Liz Jack been waiting for? She’d been waiting for her husband. She must have telephoned him from the box in the lay-by. She’d just had the argument with Steele. Too upset to drive herself home maybe. So he’d told her to wait there and he’d pick her up. He had a free afternoon anyway. He’d pick her up in the blue Escort. But when he’d arrived there had been another argument. About what? It could have been anything. What would it take to smash the ice that was Gregor Jack? The original newspaper story? The police finding evidence of his wife’s lifestyle? Shame and embarrassment? The thought of further public scrutiny, of losing his precious constituency?

There was enough there to be going on with.

‘Okay,’ said Lauderdale, ‘so we’ve got the car. Let’s see if Jack’s at home.’ He turned to Rebus. ‘You phone, John.’

Rebus phoned. Helen Greig answered.

‘Hello, Miss Greig. It’s Inspector Rebus.’

‘He’s not here,’ she blurted out. ‘I haven’t seen him all day, or yesterday come to that.’

‘But he’s not in London?’

‘We don’t know where he is. He was with you yesterday morning, wasn’t he?’

‘He came into the station, yes.’

‘Ian’s going up the wall.’

‘What about the Saab?’

‘It’s not here either. Hold on . . .’ She placed her hand over the mouthpiece, but not very effectively. ‘It’s that Inspector Rebus,’ he heard her say. Then a frantic hiss: ‘Don’t tell him anything!’ And Helen again: ‘Too late, Ian.’ Followed by a sort of snarl. She removed her hand.

‘Miss Greig,’ said Rebus, ‘how has Gregor seemed?’

‘Same as you might expect of a man whose wife’s been murdered.’

‘And how’s that?’

‘Depressed. He’s been sitting around in the living room, just staring into space, not saying much. Like he was thinking. Funny, the only time I got a conversation out of him was when he asked me about last year’s holiday.’

‘The one you went on with your mum?’

‘Yes.’

‘Remind me, where did you go again?’