Laura swept on towards Catherine’s office with an impatient sense of purpose. She looked like she had news.

‘Just the woman I wanted to see,’ Catherine hailed as Laura reached her office doorway. ‘We need to go back and ask Frankie Callahan a few more awkward questions.’

‘I think that’s going to be a problem,’ Laura replied.

Witness

The door was answered by a hard-faced middle-aged woman in hospital blues. Jasmine pondered briefly whether William Bain would turn out to be considerably older and more infirm than the most recent photo suggested, but then she noted the laminated badge pinned to the woman’s chest. It was issued by Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride and identified her as ‘Margaret Bain, Maternity Ward’.

She stepped aside to let them in but kept the door open as she pulled a light jacket off the end of the nearby banister.

‘I’m just going on shift,’ she explained. ‘I’d make yous a cuppa tea, but I’m cutting it close. He’s in the living room.’

Jasmine was about to assure her it was fine, but she was out of the door and away with all haste.

They stood in the hallway for a few moments, wondering whether Bain would appear to greet them or should they feel free to proceed unaccompanied. Ingrams looked the place up and down, almost bashing his holdall against the wall as he turned around in the narrow hallway. He had a camera slung around his neck, a tripod and spare lenses in the bag.

They had picked these up from the office, after which they stopped in at the Silverburn shopping centre. They grabbed a quick bite to eat there, and Jasmine purchased a notepad and some pens in order to look more like a reporter. While they ate, Ingrams gave her a few suggestions for what she should ask, then led her off to a men’s fashion store, where he bought a black peaked cap.

He had pulled it down low and tight over his head just before they got out of the car at Bain’s address. Jasmine asked why he thought it would make him look more authentically like a photographer, but she got no answer.