She had twelve search tabs open, covering everything from industrial cranes, statistically the most dangerous type of construction equipment, right through to stamping machines for car panels. Her initial calls that afternoon to the Health and Safety Executive hadn’t been much help. They didn’t have statistics sorted by machine type, only by industry. As far as accidents were concerned the construction industry was clearly the most dangerous, but again that didn’t help her. A really well-designed, modern machine was only safe when it was used in the way it was intended. If a bunch of people decided to use it as a weapon against a helpless individual, then that was different. The only progress she had made was on the size of equipment. An image search had allowed her to disregard many different types of presses, moulders, extruders and so on as not having the scope to accommodate anything as large as a man’s torso.

Perhaps a bit of outsourcing would be useful.

She got up and made her way to Ewan’s bedroom door. It was quiet, but there was still light coming from inside. She tapped on the door and walked in. The place was an absolute tip, but she knew she had to bite her tongue if she was to get what she wanted. The boy, all gangly arms and legs, was lying on his bed in shorts and T-shirt, looking at his phone.

‘I’ve got a wee project for you, son,’ she said. His bright blue eyes flicked up to her briefly before returning to the video he was watching. He made no reply.

‘A little bit of detective work.’

That seemed to grab his attention. ‘What?’

‘A piece of Internet research, right up your street. I want your ideas on the types of industrial machinery that could be used to kill people—’

He launched right in: ‘Drill through the head, burned in a steel furnace, crushed by a bulldozer…’

‘Whoa, hold your horses. It’s quite specific. It must be capable of gradually suffocating someone by pressing their chest, so it must be big enough for a person to fit inside.’

His eyes widened. ‘Wow, like a horror film.’