And she would, Rhona thought. After which would come the enquiry about why a dog was on board the Orlova. Rhona could only hope that, by then, she would be free to tell Chrissy the truth.

Chrissy was now pointing to the contents of the refuse bag. ‘These tins the stowaway’s been eating. Peas, beans, hot dog sausages.’ She paused. ‘Well, a full report’s now back on the make-up of the vomit. Whoever puked up near the crime scene had been eating hot dogs and beans, which suggests the vomit may well have come from your stowaway.’

Rhona was in the act of constructing a suitable response, when Chrissy suddenly declared, ‘You’d better watch your time.’

When Rhona looked blank, she added, ‘The strategy meeting?’

Lying or omitting to tell the whole truth was an exhausting business, Rhona acknowledged on the way to the police station. She could only hope that after talking to Bill she might be freed from keeping any more secrets, from Chrissy at least.

They had moved the strategy meeting to a larger venue, the number of combined officers now exceeding the original. On stage was DCI Sutherland, backed by Bill. The chief inspector called the meeting to order, then immediately spoke of DS McNab who, he said, had not yet been located.

‘I have been in discussion with my opposite number in the Met, who assures me that we have their full cooperation on this and other matters associated with both the fire death here in Glasgow and the deaths on the Orlova.’

At this point Rhona felt compelled to ask a question.

DCI Sutherland noted her raised hand, but there was a brief moment when he looked as though he might not acknowledge it. A murmur from the surrounding officers changed his mind.

‘Dr MacLeod?’ he offered.

‘Are you aware that the Met has yet to provide us with DNA samples that would allow us to establish if, in fact, the fire victim is Olivia Newton Richardson?’

The silence that followed begged a response from the commanding officer, although he didn’t look keen to supply it.

Eventually, looking a little put out, he assured Rhona that that was being dealt with and added, with a sombre look, that the investigation was now associated with matters of ‘national security’.

After which DCI Sutherland beat a hasty retreat.

Beside her, Janice muttered a word beginning with ‘p’ to perfectly describe him, which Rhona found herself agreeing with. She threw Janice a look of support as Bill called her up to brief them on the latest forensic evidence findings.

Having voiced her concerns about matching the body to the actual Go Wild employee Ms Richardson, Rhona revealed Chrissy’s discovery of the discrepancy between the fingerprint retrieved from the fire victim and the one on her supposed credit card.