“There are more in the house,” she added before John Ackerman or his solicitor could interject, “and we fully expect the blood sample we found on an interior door handle to match your DNA.”

John Ackerman’s left hand instinctively covered a cut on his right. He looked hopefully at the solicitor sitting beside him, only to receive a slight shake of the head in response.

Corstorphine almost felt sorry for the gamekeeper, the way he slumped dejectedly into his seat.

“I’d gone there after seeing you. I was still angry that the bastard had his gamekeeper set me up. That was one of his fucking birds and he knew it!”

“Did you have an argument with him?” Fiona questioned.

He looked at her in that same way he had before, wondering why a woman was asking him questions. “No, there wasn’t anyone at home. That’s when I decided to break in and try and find some evidence.”

The solicitor was holding up a hand in a futile attempt to stop the flow of conversation. “I’d advise no comment to any further questions.”

John Ackerman continued as if the solicitor wasn’t there. “I couldn’t find anything. The bastard’s too clever to leave anything incriminating around. So I took a shooting trophy, solid silver, thought that would be payback.”

The solicitor sat back with a show of disinterest. If his client wanted to incriminate himself against his advice there wasn’t much he could do.

“Where were you between Friday 9th May and Sunday 11th May, John?”

“You’ve already asked me all this crap. I told you where I was!”

Frankie opened her notebook, reading the dates she’d written down before responding to his outburst. “You told us where you were from Monday 12th through to the day Oscar died, Friday 16th. We now believe that whoever was responsible for Oscar’s death set the snare sometime over the previous weekend. What were your movements?”

John Ackerman sat up in his seat. “You’re not pinning that on me. I had nothing to do with his death. What is this?” He looked at the solicitor in appeal.

“Are you accusing my client of possibly being an accomplice to murder, officer?”

Corstorphine watched Ackerman shrewdly. He didn’t have the composure to hide anything. If he had killed Oscar it would be as plain as day.

“Not for the moment, but we are charging you with breaking and entering, criminal damage and theft from Mr Anthony McCallum on Monday 19th May. You’d better remember what you were doing that weekend and who you can provide as witnesses, otherwise you could find yourself in deep water.”

“I’d like a word alone with my client, given the nature of these fresh allegations you’re making.”

Corstorphine turned off the voice recorder whilst Frankie collected her laptop and paperwork.