‘Because we haven’t found her body yet,’ Connie said. ‘Everyone’s alive until we know for sure they’re dead.’

Baarda scribbled a note on a piece of paper and held it up for Connie to read: ‘Don’t aggravate her.’

Connie shrugged.

A dramatic sigh issued from the phone speaker. ‘I’ll need an update tomorrow. One with information I can pass on that suggests we are moving forward. Witnesses, forensics, a sighting, intelligence. Just get me something. I’ll be handing over daily supervision to Detective Superintendent Overbeck at MIT. You’ll be answering to her on the ground there. Baarda, I saw Anoushka last night. She was asking me how long you’d be in Scotland. I told her hopefully only a couple more days. Don’t make me a liar.’ The line was dead before Baarda could respond.

‘Who’s Anoushka?’ Connie asked him.

‘My wife. She and DCI O’Neill are members of the same supper club.’

‘You’re fucking with me. A supper club? You know, I do my best to avoid forming stereotypes based on nationalities, but really …’

‘Am I allowed to stereotype you based on your overuse of expletives?’ Baarda asked.

‘Yeah, if you want. I can even help. I’m a coarse American. I chew gum, watch endless sport on TV, and I’m as loud as possible as often as possible. Feel better?’

‘Are you always so extreme?’ he asked, adjusting his cuffs.

‘I guess I am,’ Connie said, standing up to peer at the photograph of Elspeth Dunwoody’s car. ‘Which is exactly the problem I’m having with our killer-cum-kidnapper. The crime scenes have zero in common. Angela Fernycroft died chaotically. Nothing about it made sense. If he intended to kill her, then why do it in a way that left him so vulnerable to injury? There was blood everywhere. She even managed to bite a chunk out of his finger, for Christ’s sake.’

‘He got in unnoticed, though. We still don’t have evidence of a break-in. If she was asleep when he approached her, he also managed to secrete himself successfully for some time.’

‘Good call,’ Connie smiled at him. ‘So he has a high level of impulse control when necessary, but poor final execution.’

‘How can you be so sure he didn’t mean to kill her in exactly the manner he did?’ Baarda asked, joining Connie in front of the photos.

‘The chloroform suggests he either wanted to move her, or to do something more specific that required a lengthy set-up. And the statistical analysis is all wrong for this type of crime. There was no sexual assault, but also nothing stolen. The drawers weren’t turned out. So no robbery, no sexual assault in situ. What’s the motive?’

‘Would I be stating the obvious if I said murder?’