Most of those in the room were new to the scenes now appearing on the screen. The arena and maze were shown from above in a short video, which also featured the sudden explosion of sound from the virtual audience, while Erling gave a brief résumé of the initial boarding of the ship to discover what looked like a mutual death by combat.

‘It became clear,’ Erling said, ‘that the arena games were being played out using a mix of the real and the virtual. The equipment controlling this is now with you in Glasgow.’

Rhona took over then to begin with the first locus, explaining what she and her assistant, Chrissy McInsh, had concluded from the computer room, now confirmed at post-mortem.

‘Although appearing initially to be a possible electrocution, the deceased was dead by suffocation before the fire, which was probably started in an attempt to destroy the equipment.

‘The other two deaths were from exsanguination following major injuries caused not by the small swords you can see at the scene, but by a longer, sharper blade, not yet located, and wielded by a third party. Evidence of cuts to the arms and legs by the smaller weapons suggest the couple did in fact initially fight to draw blood.

‘Near the bodies we found a pool of vomit. We cannot age vomit other than to say it’s fresh or that it’s dried out a bit, meaning it’s probably older. What we can do is compare the contents of the vomit with the stomach contents of the deceased.

‘The vomit contained evidence of a recent meal of beans and hot dog sausages. The last meal consumed by the victims consisted of steak with mushrooms and cut chips, eaten probably less than four hours before death, potentially less than two hours.’ Rhona paused before making her next comment, aware of the reaction it would bring. ‘We estimate the deaths to have happened approximately three to five days before we examined the bodies. However, we think the vomit may have happened after that, which could suggest someone was still alive on board after the deaths of the three victims.’

There was an outbreak of discussion about this as Erling came in. ‘You think someone might have been present on the ship during the storm?’

‘It’s possible, yes. As you saw, the fresh food was already rotting and the power was turned off on the freezers. Tinned food and alcohol were, however, still available.’

‘We searched the ship thoroughly after we boarded her,’ Erling said, ‘but if there was someone on board who was familiar with the layout, they could have escaped the search.’

‘Might they have come ashore once it was anchored in Houton Bay?’ Bill asked.