‘So you can text Dr Walker and tell him that so as to prolong his agony. Or you can tell him you’re not interested in going out with him.’

Neither sounded appealing to Rhona at that moment.

‘So,’ Chrissy said. ‘What about the diary? Did it give us a clue to the killer?’

‘I think you should read it yourself, before we start work,’ Rhona said. ‘Maybe you’ll spot something I didn’t.’

Leaving Chrissy to do that, Rhona checked to see what they’d had back from their various tests. Although they’d not found semen on the body to check for DNA, Chrissy had extracted skin and microscopic blood spots from under Mary’s fingernails. From these they had a DNA profile, but still no match.

McNab was excited about what they might retrieve from the jumper, but assuming they did and it provided the same profile DNA, it still wouldn’t give them the suspect’s name if he wasn’t on the database.

There were other things they could do, though. With two sources of the same DNA, they definitely had a reason to extend their search. Perhaps through a familial search, hoping that a close family member had broken the law. The blond hairs they’d recovered from the body, without roots, weren’t ideal for DNA capture, but they could extract mitochondrial DNA from them and confirm if it was a match for the other two sources.

At this point her mobile buzzed, and it had McNab’s name on the screen. She answered.

‘Dr MacLeod here,’ she said.

‘I love when you talk dirty, Dr MacLeod.’

‘You sound cheerful, Detective Sergeant McNab. I take it things went all right last night with Ellie?’

‘Well, she didn’t dump me. Just told me she was thinking of having sex with someone else.’

‘What?’ Rhona said, mystified.

‘We agreed at the beginning of this relationship that we would tell one another if that was the case. At least, Ellie proposed the arrangement and I agreed. Never believing it would ever happen.’

Rhona now realized the forced cheerfulness was just a cover for what he was really feeling.

‘Apparently when I’m on a murder case like this one, I become obsessed,’ McNab added, ‘and not with her.’

Rhona finally found something she could agree with. ‘That’s true of you, me, maybe all of us in this line of work . . . except Chrissy.’

Thank God she had made him laugh.

‘Have you read the diary?’ McNab changed the subject.

‘I have.’

‘And what do you think?’

Rhona told him.

‘Can you meet with Magnus and me, before the strategy meeting?’ McNab said. ‘Magnus knows the state of Karen’s mind, I hope. You know how what she said fits with the forensics. We need to put everything together before we talk to the team,’ he finished.

McNab sounded keyed up. Rhona knew what he was like when something had landed. Something important. But he obviously wasn’t yet ready to tell her what that something was.

58

McNab wondered if Rhona had sensed his excitement. This is what he lived for in the job. The moment the scattered pieces started to shuffle into place.