Thinking back to his discussion with Robbie, McNab suspected he knew what McLaughlin was implying, so he didn’t ask.

‘What happened next?’ he prompted instead.

‘I followed her. She was running. Then she suddenly stopped. Something had spooked her. I couldn’t see what it was. Then she ran on. I didn’t take the path, I cut round the back through the trees.’ He stopped there for a moment, looking at them both. ‘That’s when I saw him.’

McNab and Janice both waited, knowing he’d set them up to ask who he’d seen. When they didn’t rise to the bait, he looked irritated, but only briefly.

‘Robbie McIntyre was there, and he was carrying something.’

Something tweaked in McNab’s brain. He’s lying, McNab thought. The fucker is lying. Maybe just this part. Maybe all of it.

‘Describe what he was carrying,’ Janice said.

‘I was too far away to make it out, but it was definitely white.’

At this point McNab considered whether McLaughlin knew about the confirmation dress in the grave. But how? It hadn’t been released to the press and general public, although he had asked Robbie if he might be able to identify the dress his sister was wearing when she’d disappeared. Robbie might contact McCreadie about it, but McNab couldn’t for a moment imagine a link between either of those two men and the creature that sat opposite him.

‘Please carry on, Mr McLaughlin,’ Janice said.

‘I went home then.’

‘Did you see Karen again that day?’

He shook his head. ‘Folk came out and looked about the place, including Karen’s dad. The police did the round of the houses and garden sheds. Asking when we’d last seen Mary.’

‘When did you last see Mary?’ Janice said.

This time McLaughlin was ready with his answer. ‘The night before when she was whistled in. She didn’t show up at first, so she must have been at the den or in the woods. When she did appear, her dad was livid and dragged her inside the house. She got the belt that night. I heard her crying.’

‘Did you tell the police all of this when you were interviewed?’ McNab said.

‘Of course I did, but DI McCreadie didn’t like me. He thought I did it, and made sure everyone else thought that too.’

So that’s why he’s here, McNab thought, to plead his innocence.

But McLaughlin wasn’t finished yet and he’d kept his bombshell for the end.

‘Wee Mary McIntyre was pregnant when she disappeared. Did McCreadie tell you that, Detective Sergeant?’

26

She’s taller, Rhona thought. Tall and gangly, although her face had barely changed, nor had the intense look McNab had mentioned.

Emma had been nine when they’d last met and, as McNab had said, she wasn’t far short of a teenager now. She’d greeted Rhona with a delighted smile, although once the subject moved to why they were meeting, the serious look had returned.

Her mum, Claire, had delivered Emma to the police station at midday as agreed, but had chosen not to accompany them on their trip to the moor. It was, she’d explained, too big a reminder of what had happened to her daughter the last time they’d met. Rhona didn’t blame her for that.