It had been difficult to turn down Bill, her mentor and her friend. But gut instinct had told her that constantly talking about it would make the memories more powerful. So she’d chosen instead to leave the memories behind in Glasgow, which had been working until today.

Glancing at her watch, she realized it was nearing time for McNab’s check-up call. She could of course ignore it, but if she did, that might result in him suddenly turning up on Skye unannounced, especially if he’d been told of the incident in the plantation.

No, better to speak to him, Rhona decided.

She was barely inside when her laptop sitting on the kitchen table indicated an incoming Skype call. Rhona braced herself and answered.

If McNab had been informed about what happened today, it wasn’t obvious in his demeanour.

‘Dr MacLeod, you’ve come home,’ he said, somewhat relieved, she thought, as the view behind her put her back in the kitchen of the cottage.

‘I have.’

‘Is Chrissy with you?’

‘She’s still in Portree,’ Rhona said, keeping her voice light. ‘Keeping an eye on Blaze, my other forensic assistant.’

McNab’s laugh sounded genuine. ‘And his owner, I suspect. So where are you in the investigation?’

‘You haven’t spoken to Sergeant MacDonald then?’ Rhona said, a little suspiciously.

‘I thought I’d speak to you first.’

Rhona wondered if that were true. McNab was perfectly prepared to tell an outright lie if he believed one was necessary. Despite her knowledge of his capability to do so, she still found it difficult at times to recognize that that’s what he was doing.

‘We found the female medic,’ she said without embellishment. ‘The others, she said, were out doing individual survival training somewhere on Skye. It seems they split up after the time the body on the beach was first spotted.’

‘And they’re conveniently off the radar so we can’t check up on them?’

‘You did speak to Lee,’ Rhona accused him.

McNab assumed a wide-eyed look. ‘You, as I said, were my first port of call.’

‘Bastard,’ Rhona whispered under her breath, while desperately wanting to believe him. ‘Anything your end?’

‘This Pete bloke seems to be bona fide. His credit card and email are okay. Not used much recently, so one assumes he was on active duty somewhere. MOD don’t take kindly to questions about army clientele and where they’ve been. If Pete does become officially missing, and we get feedback on the body, and can’t identify it by other means . . .’ McNab tailed off.

‘What about the post-mortem?’ Rhona said.

McNab cleared his throat a little. Not a good sign.