Her phone rang again, the calls coming ever more frequently as news started to spread further afield. Frankie recognised the French accent immediately and responded before she could be asked for any leads. “Good morning, Josephine. I don’t have any information for you.”

“Actually, Frankie, I called to offer you information.”

“What have you got?” Her voice was resigned. So far the newspaper was leading them by the nose with all the major leads coming straight off the pages of the Courier.

“I had another visit from Margo this morning.”

Oh God, Frankie thought. We need to talk to her before she goes and blethers to the paper again. She waited for whatever was coming next.

“She handed over June Stevens’ notebook.”

“What was she doing with that?”

“I didn’t ask. But it’s what is written inside in shorthand that I think you’ll find of more interest.”

“I’m listening!” Frankie said, more brusquely than she should have.

“She was investigating child abuse at the orphanage and somehow knew Oscar was a victim. She’d arranged to meet him in the glen by the tree. Why on her own, I have no idea. Oscar was, as far as her notebook records, the last person to have seen her alive.”

They both knew what this signified. The last person to have met a murder victim is always the first in the frame.

“There’s more. There’s a list of names that she believes were involved in the abuse, some of them were nuns who ran the orphanage, but there are a couple of names you might find more interesting.”

“I don’t have time for games, who are they?”

“The recently deceased minister, but you have him already. You might want to question the laird, he features prominently in her notes as an abuser. She also listed DI Brian Rankin and another name that I’d rather not mention over the phone.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Frankie’s suspicion was growing. These weren’t juicy morsels you’d freely hand out if there was no price to pay.

“Quite simply, you need to prove the allegations before we can print them.”

“Hasn’t stopped you so far,” Frankie retorted.

“Ah, but Frankie, these have been Margo’s allegations, recorded and signed by her. If they were untruthful, we merely suffer a slap on the wrist. The nature of the evidence our reporter was pursuing would result in a massive libel action or even imprisonment if we published without corroboration. You might also want to question whether her investigation was so sensitive that she was killed and the murder hushed up by your own police department.”

Frankie thought rapidly. If the reporter’s case was reopened, as Corstorphine wanted, then the notebook and where it had been for the last twenty years would become key evidence. “That notebook should be handed in to the police. I’ll be with you in twenty minutes.”