On entry, McNab greeted her with a characteristic grin, while Rhona waited for him to explain why he was there.

‘Where’s Chrissy?’ he said, looking around.

‘She went home early to play with wee Michael. Why are you here?’ Rhona asked outright.

‘I was in the area,’ McNab began, then stopped when he caught her disbelieving expression.

The grin began to fade and Rhona now caught a glimpse of McNab’s true mood. Rhona could read McNab like a book – after all, she’d had enough experience of doing so over the years they’d worked together.

‘It’s Ellie, isn’t it?’ she said.

‘How did you guess?’ McNab said drily.

‘What happened?’

‘I think she may have dumped me,’ McNab admitted. ‘After abandoning her the night I was chasing Eric Jackson.’

‘You explained why?’ Rhona said.

‘Yes, but it didn’t work. Seems being in a relationship with an officer of the law is losing its appeal.’

‘Ditto with Sean,’ Rhona said. ‘Ever since I missed that meal and went to view Alec McLaughlin’s body instead. Even my offer of dinner out at my expense hasn’t done the trick.’

McNab was brightening a little. ‘So what are you planning for tonight then?’ he said.

‘A walk through the park, then a pizza probably,’ Rhona told him.

McNab hesitated, leading Rhona to believe he might be about to ask if he could come with her.

She got in first. ‘You can join me if you like.’

McNab’s face broke into a relieved grin. ‘Eating out or in?’

Taking McNab home with her didn’t seem like a wise move, certainly not in the mood she was in, so Rhona said, ‘Let’s splash out. Your choice of restaurant.’

‘Okay, Dr MacLeod, fancy an Italian?’ McNab said, beginning to look like a new man.

‘I do,’ Rhona told him.

‘Then I know just the place.’

69

The crow’s back. No more need to fall down the chimney to gain entry. I just leave the back door open and in he comes. His favourite perch is on the back of Jack’s chair.

I used to think the crow had come from Mary. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe it was Jack after all. He certainly looks very comfortable in Jack’s place alongside the kitchen range.

He also enjoys hearing me talk to him. So much so, he sometimes caws a reply. Which, of course, the clothes, however well laid out, never did.

Mr McCreadie often comes to visit. Plus we meet for a walk when he takes out Lucy’s wee terrier, Benji.

We’re working on a project together. Him and me and Marge.

They say if you can turn bad things into a story, then you’ve survived them.

I’m beginning to think that may be true.

Three months later

STOP PRESS

Local Headliner at Bloody Scotland

International bestselling writer J. D. Smart will talk about his new podcast and soon-to-be-published book, The Taking of Mary McIntyre, at Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling, mid-September.

The former Detective Inspector and famous Stirling resident, who left the force after his unsuccessful investigation into the disappearance of eleven-year-old Mary McIntyre in 1975, played a major role in the new investigation into her murder after her body was discovered in a raised peat bog south of her home town of East Kilbride.