He hesitated, reminding himself internally to say little and to not elaborate. ‘It was five years ago,’ he began. ‘And I said it all in my last statement.’

‘Nevertheless, we’d like to go over it with you again,’ Snyder said. ‘But first Detective Sergeant Reid would like to take a mouth swab, if that’s acceptable to you, Mr Taylor?’

He’d been expecting this all along, just not at this precise moment. It seemed it was Snyder’s forte to lead a suspect down one path, only to surprise and unnerve them by suddenly taking another.

It was obvious that he couldn’t refuse such a request, although every fibre in his body wanted to.

‘Of course,’ he heard himself say.

He almost gagged as she poked the cotton bud into his mouth, all the while thinking that they had to have got DNA from Ailsa’s body.

Which would be bad news for him.

Joanne

It was as though there were multiple Gregs. The smiling funny one on their trip out today and the frighteningly angry one in the Land Rover.

And what about the sensual one? She and Greg were well matched sexually. He was as rough as she wanted, but also tender. Was liking two out of the three versions enough to stick around, even for a good story?

She was still trying to work out why his mood had changed so rapidly.

His anger hadn’t been directed at her. That she was sure about. It was all to do with the radio call. He’d told her last night how much he hated Stratton and what was going on at Ard Choille. Might the call have been from Stratton?

If so, surely he would have headed for the Party House rather than downhill towards the village?

At that moment an alternative scenario presented itself. What if the call was from Caroline? Something was definitely going on between the two of them. What that thing was, she had no idea, but it was strong enough that he’d chosen to tell Caroline that the body was likely Ailsa’s. Something he hadn’t wanted to confide in her.

Not for the first time did she consider what the obvious bond between them might be. Just old friends or former lovers? Or might it be something directly related to the dead girl?

According to newspaper reports, Ailsa had been seventeen when she’d disappeared from Blackrig. Greg would have been in his mid-twenties back then. When she’d asked if he’d known Ailsa, he’d responded by saying of course he had, because everyone knew everyone else in Blackrig. But he hadn’t known the girl well, because she was younger than him.