McNab appeared as Dr Wang began recording a description of the body. His blue eyes above the mask acknowledged Rhona’s presence, followed by a raised eyebrow to Rhona when he realized two things at the same time: Dr Sissons, his bête noire, wasn’t present, and a woman was.

Dr Walker immediately made the introductions. ‘DS McNab. This is Dr Wang. As we believe the victim is a child, Dr Wang is presiding as a consultant paediatric pathologist.’

McNab gave Dr Wang a warm smile, noticeable despite the mask.

‘So,’ Dr Wang continued in her light voice, ‘we have a young female. Length from top of head to heel 54.5 inches or 138.4 centimetres. So her height would likely be within an inch either way. As Dr Walker mentioned earlier, her hair has been bleached by the acid, the red coming from the iron in the soil. However, there is enough of her original colour to suggest she had long dark hair.’

‘Age?’ McNab said.

‘For that we would study the teeth and look at the sites of bone development and bone length, which of course will take a little time.’

‘At a guess?’ McNab persisted.

Dr Wang looked a little perturbed by this, but then conceded. ‘Between ten and fourteen years.’

McNab came in again. ‘Anything to indicate the way she died?’

‘The body is well preserved, with no disarticulation. The skull is intact with no obvious evidence of blunt-force trauma. Although,’ Dr Wang moved to study the genital area, ‘these look like puncture marks.’ She looked to Rhona at this juncture.

‘I noted those as well,’ Rhona said. ‘I counted five, perhaps six of them. We have only just begun to test the soil we collected from above and below the body, so we don’t know if she died elsewhere and was brought there to bury, or whether she was still capable of bleeding when put in the ground.’

‘So the wounds may have been inflicted after her death. Once we open her up, we’ll hopefully have a better picture of what happened here.’ Dr Wang turned to McNab. ‘Do you think you might know who the child is?’

‘There’s a chance it’s Mary McIntyre, aged almost twelve, who disappeared after her confirmation ceremony at her local chapel, a few miles north of the deposition site. She had long dark hair and was wearing a white dress and veil at the time.’

Dr Wang’s eyes expressed the sorrow she felt at that piece of news.

‘Also, we did find a confirmation frock, veil and shoes in a plastic supermarket bag in the grave,’ Rhona told her.

‘Which would point to Mary McIntyre as your victim,’ Dr Wang said.

‘Except,’ Rhona looked to McNab, ‘I believe the clothes I recovered from the grave wouldn’t be a good fit for this girl.’

‘What?’ McNab looked bemused by this revelation.

‘Dr Wang’s just confirmed the measurements to be the same as those I recorded at the crime scene,’ Rhona said. ‘However, the frock and the shoes we retrieved from the grave may be too small to fit a child that size.’