‘Or the sale will be on one of Ms Richardson’s credit cards,’ Rhona said.

‘But that still doesn’t prove the body is hers, does it?’ Chrissy said, reading Rhona’s expression. ‘For that we need the DNA of the owner of the credit card.’ Something that surely the Met could have provided by now. ‘Why did Cleverly come up here to try and identify the body, and never mention whether they’d collected sample DNA of the supposed victim? After all, they would have access to her apartment and her place of work.’

Chrissy was voicing Rhona’s own train of thought.

‘Do you think this death could be a link to something bigger, something they’re already investigating, and they don’t want to divulge anything?’

That did make sense, and Rhona said so. ‘Especially since Cleverly seemed to pointedly ignore any mention McNab made of Go Wild.’

Chrissy hadn’t finished her handbag story. ‘If we can prove that the handbag is not the victim’s, then someone carried it down to the back court and placed it with her, and that same someone may have set her alight.’ She paused. ‘I did manage to get some DNA off the bag handle. Which we could try and match with the victim.’

‘Dr Sissons collected semen from the vagina,’ Rhona said. ‘If we get a DNA match between that and the handbag . . .’

‘We have a possible perpetrator.’ Chrissy’s mobile buzzed an incoming text. ‘That’s weird,’ she said, checking the screen. ‘It’s from Sandra.’

‘Your nurse pal?’

‘It’s about McNab,’ Chrissy said, wide-eyed. ‘Sandra says he turned up at A&E last night, pretty beaten up. Told them he got run down by a cyclist in a twenty-mile-per-hour zone.’

‘That’s got to be a lie,’ Rhona said.

‘Sandra thought so too.’

‘Is he okay?’

‘They wanted to keep him in overnight in case of concussion. He insisted on calling a taxi and went home.’

McNab answered on the third ring. ‘What’s up, Dr MacLeod?’

Rhona switched to loudspeaker. ‘Where are you?’ she demanded.

‘At work, of course,’ he said.

‘What happened last night that meant you ended up in A&E?’

‘Ah.’ There was an exasperated sigh. ‘I see your forensic assistant has eyes everywhere.’

‘Well?’ Chrissy got in on the act.

‘I had a run-in with a cyclist,’ McNab said in an irritated fashion, ‘as I explained to the nurse.’

The groan that followed sounded real. But the rest? Rhona suddenly thought of Ellie. Had McNab got into a fight over her? She didn’t get a chance to ask because McNab swiftly changed the subject.

‘On a more important topic, Cleverly’s gone back to London, having given us zilch on our fire victim and without speaking to the boss.’

‘What does Bill think about that?’ Chrissy said.