‘I do, but not in the biblical sense,’ Chrissy assured her with a smile.

At that moment the two detectives arrived, suitably kitted up. While Erling did the introductions, Rhona observed a swift look pass between DS Neville and Chrissy. So there was a tale to tell there, and no doubt she would hear it in due course.

Rhona gave them a brief résumé of what she’d read from her examination of the computer room victim. After which they headed downstairs to the arena.

All murder scenes were unique and frequently bizarre, but she suspected neither man had viewed anything quite like this one before. Silence prevailed as they all stepped their way across the treads and into the centre of the maze.

As luck would have it, the ear-splitting sound and lights of the bloodthirsty crowd came into action as they entered the locus. Even having been forewarned of this, the two men were visibly disconcerted, though trying not to show it.

Erling and Chrissy stayed outside the tent while Rhona led the detectives in to view the bodies. After a silent and close examination, Campbell asked about the weapons found on site and Rhona produced the bagged short swords.

‘So you don’t think either of these swords inflicted the fatal wounds?’ Campbell said.

‘The major cuts to the neck and chest caused them to bleed out. I don’t think the swords are capable of inflicting those wounds. They aren’t sharp or heavy enough. Neither would they be able to chop off a leg,’ Rhona said. ‘Some of the smaller cuts on the arms and legs may have been inflicted when they were actually fighting one another. There is also a resident rat population, although they wouldn’t have liked the intermittent bright lights and screaming from the virtual audience.’

They’d emerged now from the tent.

‘So they were actually trying to hurt each other?’ Neville said.

‘I think that was the idea.’

‘They booked a holiday on the Orlova with a company called Go Wild. One assumes they knew what they were coming to do,’ Erling said.

‘But a fight to the death wasn’t on the cards?’ Neville asked.

‘Men will go to all sorts of lengths to kill their partner,’ Erling said.

‘But I don’t think the male victim was the perpetrator,’ Rhona reminded him. ‘I believe we have evidence to suggest the presence of a third party. And hopefully at post-mortem, forensic proof that neither sword inflicted the fatal wounds.’

‘I assume you’ve not located another weapon in the vicinity?’ Campbell said.

Erling indicated they hadn’t. ‘And it would be easy enough to dispose of it overboard.’

‘We also collected vomit from the crime scene,’ Rhona said. ‘Which we can compare with the stomach contents of the victims.’

‘Do we have a passenger list or captain’s log?’ Neville tried.