THE WOMAN IN THE LOCH

AN UNPUTDOWNABLE DCI GLOVER SCOTTISH CRIME THRILLER

BOOK 12

OLIVER DAVIES

Copyright © 2026 by Oliver Davies

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

1

For the past few days, the man had been shaking uncontrollably. Everything he tried was ineffective. He’d tried breathing exercises, hot showers and baths, drinking many cups of tea, and even several long walks... but none of that did anything.

The man couldn’t say he was surprised. He was a killer, a simple fact that was enough to have him trembling for the rest of his life.

The man still had no idea how it had happened. He hadn’t planned it, hadn’t wanted it to happen, and yet when push came to shove… and he was scared, he reacted in a way he never would have expected.

A way that terrified him to his very core.

He’d have never called himself a calm man, and he’d always known that he had a dark side to him, a dark side that he’d always been able to keep mostly under control but now… now he knew exactly what he was capable of.

He ran his hands over his sweaty face, resisting the urge to break into tears as he did so. He wanted to ignore the horrific feelings of guilt and shame that consumed him, but it would have been easier to remove his own skin than to remove his sorrow.

A life of secrets and lies... that’s what’s led to this, he thought miserably.

If only he’d been honest, if only he hadn’t tried to keep things, important things, away from the people that mattered... maybe things could have worked out differently.

Maybe she wouldn’t be dead... and by his own hands.

The man lowered his hands—which still shook as violently as the rest of his body—and tried to think of anything except ‌his secrets, but it was as though they were burnt into his retinas, forcing him to see nothing else.

What had he done? Why had he allowed himself to go into such a frenzy? Had his secrets really been enough to kill for?

Yes, they were, the man thought instantly, ignoring the stabbing feeling of shame in his stomach. If she told the world what she knew, I’d have been done for.

As horrible as it was, the man had protected himself. If he hadn’t, then he knew for a fact he’d currently be sitting in a cell… maybe even for life.

And he couldn’t have that.

Undoubtedly, the murder he’d committed several days ago was the worst thing he’d ever done, but he knew his secrets were just as shameful. He’d done so many wrong things, hurt so many people in the process, and the thought of all‌ his secrets suddenly being out in the open was too much to bear.

She was going to tell everyone about his secrets, she’d even admitted that, and in that moment it was like a wild monster took over him... a monster that would do anything to keep those secrets buried.

He still didn’t understand how she knew. The man was convinced he’d been careful, was certain that there was no way anyone could figure out what he’d done, and yet the counsellor seemed to take one look at him and know.

It was terrifying.

What made things worse for the man was the small part of him that was happy he’d killed the counsellor. While he didn’t relish the murder itself, he knew her death would keep his secrets safe... as long as he worked on his calm composure and stopped looking so goddamn guilty.

It was hard with his wife constantly near him, repeatedly asking him what was wrong and why he was acting weird, and he knew if he didn’t get a grip then he would end up letting everyone know he was the one behind all of this.

And if he still hoped that James could take the fall for it, then he needed to start acting braver.

As much as the man wanted to protect himself, he wanted to protect the people he cared for too. He loved his wife, loved her more than anything, and if she found out about his secrets, then he knew it would destroy her.

No, he couldn’t let that happen, not to a woman as pure and good as her.

He had her to think about as much as himself, and if throwing James to the wolves was the only way to stop his wife from realising that there were terrible things about the man she married, then so be it.

However, after watching the press conference earlier and seeing James speaking to the public, it was hard for the man to know how he could make James look guilty. He had an idea, an idea he’d quickly put into action before his wife returned home, but as much as it might do something to make James look bad, he knew it wasn’t going to be enough to make him look guilty of murder.

But if the evidence he planted wasn’t enough to make James go down for the murder, then what would be?

“Are you coming to bed?”

The man jumped in his seat when he heard his wife shouting for him.

She’d gone to bed ages ago, but as he was suffering from yet another fit of nerves, he knew he couldn’t go to bed until he’d controlled them.

At least to an extent.

He looked down at his hands, and while they still shook, they were better than they’d been before. He’d have rather waited until the shaking was completely gone, but he knew if he made up an excuse to not go up yet, his wife would find that even more suspicious.

“Coming!” he yelled, then he sighed and moved out of his seat, secretly hoping that his wife would be too tired to speak. After everything he’d done, he knew it was unlikely he’d be sleeping much himself.

He walked up the stairs, then into his bedroom. Once he was there, his wife smiled at him, then rolled over and closed her eyes. Good. He’d been lucky to get his wish, but he knew his luck couldn’t last forever.

As he got ready for bed, he thought about the counsellor, the crime scene, and the evidence he’d planted against James. He knew his luck had held out enough for him to evade capture, but it unfortunately hadn’t been enough to make the James look guilty of murder, like he’d hoped.

He still didn’t know how James wasn’t plastered all over the news as the detective-turned-killer after the work he’d put in, but the man mustn’t have done enough to get the police looking at him as a serious suspect. Especially not if he was still conducting press conferences and actively looking for the counsellor’s killer.

The man grimaced as he got into bed, knowing that if the police weren’t doing their job, then he would have to do more work for them.

He closed his eyes, thinking deeply about what else he could do, but the more he thought, the more his mind came up blank.

He knew he’d put one thing into motion, something that would remind the world that the notorious James Glover was far from a perfect role model, but would it be enough?

The man highly doubted it.

The man resisted the urge to groan as he tightly clenched his eyes shut, hoping the tighter they were closed, the more likely it would be that sleep would find him. He knew this was foolish, that he’d be as unlikely to sleep that night as he’d been any other, but he had to try.

Seconds later, he felt his wife move closer to him and wrap her arm around his waist. The act was comforting, and while it should have made him feel better, it only made him feel guiltier.

It made him more aware of the stark reality that if he went down, then it wouldn’t only be his life he turned upside down... it would be hers too.

The man knew he couldn’t let that happen, so as she held him close, he vowed to himself that he would do whatever was necessary to stay out of prison. He didn’t care what it took, or what he had to do, all he cared about was protecting her as much as possible.

And if he could take down James Glover in the process, it would be a welcome treat.

2

Ilooked around as the rest of the team fidgeted in an agitated fashion. We all knew someone from the board—likely Gary, the name Murray had mentioned previously—was on their way, apparently with information on my file that could crack the case wide open, and we were all impatient for them to arrive.

Since we’d heard he was on his way, several things had happened. I’d held a press conference to talk to the press and the public about PC Canavan’s murder, as well as to ask for more help to figure out who Jenny Starling’s murderer could be. We’d taken a few calls since then, none that had been helpful, and we’d also discussed in detail the final details of Canavan’s case so we could put it to a close.

As sad as I felt for Canavan, her story had now been given an end, but Jenny’s still hadn’t, so we had to put Canavan behind us in order to help Jenny’s case receive the same closure.

I just had to hope the board member was right and that the information on my file was going to be as fruitful as they believed it to be.

Murray suddenly clapped his hands together loudly, causing me and the others to turn in his direction.

“I ken it’s been a long day and night, everyone, but we still have a lot of work tae dae,” Murray said boldly. “We’ve done great work on Canavan’s case, even if it didnae end how any of us wid have wanted.”

He paused respectfully for a moment, and we all copied him.

Closing a case was usually a positive experience, but considering that Canavan’s killer was a frightened, fifteen-year-old boy who thought his abusive mother was about to finish him off, it left us all with a sour taste in our mouths.

We’d caught Canavan’s killer, but her killer wasn’t some cold-blooded maniac... they were just a boy, a boy who reacted in fear and made a split second decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

After giving us a moment, Murray continued. “However, while it might not be the ending we all wanted, it is still an ending. With Canavan’s case finished, we need tae all put everything we have into finding Jenny’s killer! The lass has been dead fur a few days now, and yet we’ve made nae progress whatsoever.” He paused again, his eyes narrowing as he looked between us all. There was almost an accusatory look in them, like he felt that we were at fault. I debated on saying something in our defence, but before I had the chance, Murray continued. “Glover has done another conference, which will hopefully push more people tae come forward, so it’s going tae be vital that we keep an eye on the phones. Who kens, the call we miss might be the one we needed. I ken so far they havnae been helpful, but that disnae mean one winnae be!”

As soon as he’d finished his sentence, Fenton stepped forward. “I’m happy tae keep an eye on the phones, sir!”

Gamble stepped in place beside her. “And I’ll help tae. That way we cannae miss one.”

Murray nodded gratefully, then kept speaking. “Right now we have only the calls and the information on Glover’s file that could help us, but that disnae mean we dinnae have things we can be daein tae get information. I ken we’ve been distracted with other cases, so I wid suggest we go back tae the basics, just tae make sure we dinnae miss anything. That means daein things that are usually done days ago, like contacting Jenny’s loved ones tae see if they can give us any potential suspects.”

I felt a wave of guilt hit me at the topic of Jenny’s loved ones, knowing that they likely hadn’t been given the respect and support they’d needed during such a difficult time. I knew they’d all at least been informed of Jenny’s murder—thankfully that was one thing that Hamer actually did right during his time in charge—but I knew that was the bare minimum of what could have been done.

I just had to hope that Hamer had at least ensured that welfare checks had been organised for those connected to Jenny, but considering his obsession with me, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he hadn’t.

As Murray finished up, I saw him glance at the clock before looking back at us all. “Now I ken it is late, but I also ken that none of ye plan on leaving until we get that file.” He hesitated, likely giving the team a moment to disagree, but when everyone remained silent, he continued. “I wid suggest we all look into Jenny’s loved ones while we wait. After we receive the file, we can discuss things more then.”

There was a quick flourish of movement as everyone started to step toward either their desks or the phones.

I moved and settled myself at my desk, typing hastily to see what I could find out about Jenny. I decided to focus initially on her family to see who was around that we could speak to. However, several minutes later I was left disappointed when I saw that there weren’t many family members for us to speak to.

Her parents now lived in Australia, so it wasn’t as though it would be easy to go and pay them a visit, and her brother had died in a drowning accident when he was only a boy. I didn’t know if her parents had come back to the UK after hearing about their daughter’s murder, but after a quick glance I saw nothing on the files to suggest they had. Likely they wouldn’t come until they were able to start preparing for the funeral.

That left only one relative of Jenny's whom we could speak to: her sister, Morag.

Morag lived in Inverness, so at least she was local, and as she wasn’t too far, she would be the sort of person whom Jenny might have confided in.

For a few seconds I simply looked at Morag’s name and wondered how she was feeling. How did she react when Hamer sent someone to tell her that her sister had been murdered? Had she been given the right support during what was likely the worst time of her life? Was she angry with us, knowing her sister was dead and that we still hadn’t found the person responsible?

I went to look into her more, but at that moment the department’s door flew open. I turned toward it and saw a tall, slender man walking purposefully into the room. While I didn’t recognise him, I could tell from his walk alone that he was a man of some authority and power, which made me certain he must have been the board member.

Murray stepped toward him. “Gary, thanks fur coming.”

A part of me felt surprised at the coldness in Murray’s tone. Murray was always the sort who respected his superiors and pushed that same standard onto all of us, so to see him looking at someone who could easily fire him on the spot with such disdain was a shock.

“Duncan,” Gary replied, his expression anything but pleased. “I cannae apologise tae ye and yer team enough fur all of this.” He then looked around at everyone until he saw me. To my surprise, he stepped toward me and held out a folder. “I’m so sorry fur what ye’ve been put through. I can assure ye that Hamer’s actions amn’t condoned by us in any way, shape, or form. He will be getting severely reprimanded fur the mess he made and the damage he’s done.”

At first, I didn’t know what to say, so I remained silent as I took the folder. While I was annoyed with the situation and with Hamer, I knew I couldn’t blame the entire board for the mad actions of one of their own.

When Harvey had turned against me and the London lot, I never would have blamed any of the others for his actions, so I wasn’t going to blame the other board members for the behaviour of just one of them.

The moment I had the folder, Gary held out his other hand for me to shake. I could tell that it was his version of a peace offering, and I could sense the others looking at us intently as he held out his hand.

I smiled weakly at Gary and shook his hand, noticing him visibly relaxing as I did so. “I hold no ill will toward you or the others. None of this is anyone’s fault but Hamer’s. If you’re just as disgusted by his behaviour as we are, then we’re on the same side.”

Gary nodded vigorously, clearly pleased I wasn’t willing to kick off. “Aye, of course! We take things very seriously and we had nae idea Hamer was going tae take it upon himself tae villainise ye in such a way. We can only apologise profusely fur this… and dae better in the future.”

I nodded as I took my hand back. “That’s all we can ask for.”

The moment the handshake ended, Gary looked toward Murray. “I best be off so ye and yer team can go through that file. I just hope it will give us all some desperately needed answers.”

“Feel free tae stay with us while we go through it if ye want, Gary,” Murray responded, his tone much kinder than before. “Ye’d be more than welcome tae.”

Gary politely shook his head. “I’m afraid I cannae, Duncan. This mess with Hamer has us all busy. I’d better get back tae the others so we can all deal with it all together.” He sighed. “That idiot is going tae have us at the office all hours... and we werena exactly gett’n home early as it was.”

Gary then turned his back and left, exiting the department before any of us had the chance to say anything else.

Boyd quirked a brow the moment the door slammed shut behind him. “That was a quick visit, wisnae it? I thought he was going tae at least tell us what aboot the file interested him.”

“Aye, so did I,” Murray muttered. “Still, I ken they’re busy and we are tae, so let’s stop yapping and start seeing what’s on that file!”

Boyd went red as he moved hastily toward me. The others did the same, and once they were with me, I opened the folder and held it out in a way so that everyone could see it.

The moment the folder was opened, I was surprised to see how empty it was. Initially, this wouldn’t have surprised me—after all, I’d barely seen Jenny once—but considering the folder was meant to contain key information, I couldn’t deny I’d been expecting a lot.

There was silence as we all read through the file quickly.

“Is that it?” Murray asked irritably as he pulled the folder out of my hand. He looked at the file from different angles, then swore as he shoved it back into my hands. “There’s hardly anything on it!”

Young frowned bitterly. “They really bigged that up fur nothing, didnae they? There was barely a page in that folder.”

“Aye, but some of the stuff that was on that page was interesting, wisnae it?” Fenton asked.

We all looked in her direction, and her cheeks flushed at the sudden, intense attention on her.

“How so?” Murray asked rapidly.

Fenton pointed toward the file. “Well, Jenny seemed very interested in finding out a lot aboot Glover, didnae she? Ye saw her comments about how Glover didnae say much tae her and how it made her want tae dig deep into him hersel.”

“Aye, I noticed that. Is that normal fur someone in her position tae take such an interest?” Boyd asked dubiously.

“There can be a professional interest, I guess, but I agree it is odd fur her tae seem extra focused on Glover, aye,” Murray answered cautiously. He then looked at me. “What did ye make of it?”

“I found it odd that she wanted to find out so much about me, but what caught my interest most was the comment about the significant person from my past.” I paused as I scanned the file, only stopping when I found the bit I was looking for. “See here, she said that a significant person from my past is now in Scotland and how she feels speaking to them would allow her a greater insight into my life and past.”

“Who is the person?” Young asked rapidly.

I shrugged. “I have no idea... she didn’t actually say.”

“Well, dae ye have any idea who it could be?” Murray inquired impatiently.

I paused for a second, reading the file again and trying to think who it could be about.

“No idea... but whoever it is, it can’t be someone good. Not when she’s also said that she feared if I knew they were around it could be bad for me, maybe even affect my recovery.”

“Not that ye needed much of a recovery,” Boyd replied, his tone a mixture of humour and respect. “Ye werena exactly off work, were ye?”

I smiled sheepishly. “I guess not.”

“Weird,” Young replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Who from yer past could have that bad of a reaction on ye?”

“I don’t know, mate... I’m honestly as stumped by this as you all are.” I paused. “I’m going to have to give this a great deal of thought.”

There was silence as I continued to stare at the file. I didn’t know what to think and if anything, the file had made me more confused than ever.

If I thought it would help me, it had done the complete opposite.

Who from my past could cause me to have such a bad reaction? And why was Jenny so fixated on me and my past? Was that normal behaviour for a counsellor, or was she putting far too much time and energy into me and my life when she should have been behaving in more of a professional capacity?

I found my brain picturing Arran’s file, and while it had a lot more information on it than my own did, Jenny didn’t seem half as interested in Arran as she did me. It made me wonder why she was so keen to dig deep into my past.

“Aye, ye will, Jenny’s case depends on it,” Murray said bluntly. “We need tae ken who this person is and quickly. They very likely could be our killer.”

“No pressure then,” I mumbled so only Young could hear me.

Young subtly winked at me before looking around at the others. “I think we need to figure out why Jenny was so interested in James’ past tae. As we’ve all said, it disnae seem like just a professional interest.” He paused, his eyes widening. “Who kens, maybe she had the hots fur ye, James.”

I huffed as Young elbowed me playfully. “I doubt that. Besides, even if she did, I can’t imagine she would use her position to her advantage.”

“I agree with Glover,” Murray answered. He received one look from Young, then rolled his eyes. “I may ‌not kent Jenny well, but I dinnae think fur one second she wid dae anything unprofessional. Is it weird that she was so focused on Glover? Aye, a bit, but I think that came more from her seeing a professional challenge she could try tae overcome than anything personal.”

There was silence as we all stood there, our minds working overtime to figure out what the information on the file meant, but after a brief pause, Murray sighed.

“Look, I ken we all want tae help Jenny and I ken I gave ye all a hard time fur our lack of progress, but it is late and I think our best chance of helping her is if we all go and get some rest.” He turned to Fenton and Gamble. “Ye two go tae. I can stay and watch the phone tonight.”

Fenton instantly shook her head. “Nae, sir. I will stay.”

Gamble nodded. “Me tae.”

Murray looked between them, and after seeing their looks of determination, huffed. “Very well, but we will split shifts so ye both get some time tae rest. Fenton, ye stay here fur a few hours and once Gamble has had a kip, ye can go home fur a bit.”

Fenton bit her lip. “If ye dinnae mind, sir, I might sleep here tonight. Is that alright?”

From the look on Fenton’s face, I knew she was concerned about going home. Considering that the last time she was there she was threatened and kidnapped at gunpoint, I could understand why.

Murray, coming to the same understanding as me, smiled weakly. “Of course, Fenton. Whatever ye want.”

“Thank ye, sir.”

Murray nodded, then looked around at the rest of us. “Right, the rest of ye go home and get some sleep. I want everyone tae be here bright and early tomorrow, and let’s just hope we all come in with a fresh perspective.” Murray looked at me, his expression serious. “Try and figure out who that person is, Glover. I think it’s the key tae all of this.”

I nodded. “I will, sir. I’ll stay up all night thinking if I have to.”

Murray grunted, then gestured for us all to leave. As much as we hated the thought of leaving with a lot still to be done, our exhaustion got the better of us, and we grabbed our coats and started to exit the building.

While I walked toward my car, I couldn’t help but dread the thought of dredging up the past. I’d always been notoriously private about it, thinking that some things were better left forgotten, but with a murder victim on my hands, I had no choice...

I was going to have to dig, and I was going to have to dig deep if I had any chance of figuring out who killed Jenny.

3

Balfour yawned deeply, so deeply he likely sucked in a couple of flies.

When his long yawn finally ended, he glanced at the clock and knew the sensible move would be to call it a day. It was after midnight, and while he’d always been one for late nights, he was feeling particularly tired. He had to, for once, listen to his body.

He’d always been a night owl, but over the past few days he’d been staying up much later than usual, and he knew the main reason for this was ‌Glover. As much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he found himself regularly glancing at his phone to see if Glover had contacted him.

He felt pathetic... like a teenage girl waiting to hear from a boy she’d long had a crush on.

It wasn’t that he now suddenly cared for the man—at least so he told himself—but he couldn’t deny how much he’d actually enjoyed feeling like he was part of Glover’s team. To Balfour’s complete shock, Glover had confided in him a lot recently and had even gone to him for help. Before, years ago, if anyone had suggested this as a possibility to Balfour, he’d have simply laughed in their face.

He and Glover... almost friends? Ridiculous.

However, they had been working together a lot recently, and, as much as Balfour hated himself for it, he was keen to hear from Glover again. Unfortunately, he hadn’t heard from Glover once that day, and Balfour knew he had to accept that it was back to the usual way of things.

He came to you before because he was desperate, Balfour thought. Desperate and in need of someone to help him that no one would expect... that was the only reason he came to you.

Balfour grumbled, hating that his thoughts were likely right. He was a fool, and he needed to stop acting like a prized prat and get himself some sleep.

He made his way toward his stairs, still grumbling as he did. What had happened to him? Was he suddenly a good person?

No, he wouldn’t go that far. Balfour knew he still loved a good story, even if it brought someone down, but he also wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to help Glover and do some right in the world either.

He wondered what he would choose between the two, and he shocked himself at how easy the answer was for him.

He could do both.

He could write stories, but stories that helped Glover and the police. Stories that could keep the public safe and aware of everything going on in the world without needing to lie or bring the wrong people down.

As the thought came to him, he felt almost sheepish, wondering if he should see Glover and discuss it all with him. He could offer to be a personal representative of Beauly MIT, a person on their side in the press who could help them as well as the public during horrible times.

However, no sooner did he think of the idea did he shake his head, chiding himself for his stupidity.

Glover would never want to work with me, not on more of a permanent basis anyway, Balfour thought bitterly. You’re good for him when it benefits him, but if you even suggested working with him permanently, he would laugh in your face.

Balfour’s positive mood vanished on the spot, and he continued to walk up the stairs feeling sour. He was letting his thoughts and fancies get the better of him, but even he knew realistically that wasn’t him.

Was he the sort of bloke who would suddenly be pally with the police? Could he really spend his valuable time making them look good when he’d spent so much of his life trying to make them look as awful as possible?

He highly doubted it.

Just as Balfour reached the top of the stairs, he was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of someone posting something through his letterbox. He paused for a moment, the sour feeling in his gut turning into nervous excitement.

Why would someone post something through his door at such a late hour unless it was something important?

He rushed down the stairs, but slowed down as memories of the Butcher hit him. He hoped this wasn’t something as morbid as all that, but he decided on a bit more caution. Before he went to the door, he moved hastily toward his window and looked outside, hoping to see the silhouette of whoever had left him something. However, he was soon left disappointed when all he could see was a black splodge moving quickly into the distance, making it impossible to know who was there.

Fool, Balfour scolded. Of course you can’t see anything! It’s after midnight, for Christ’s sake!

He mumbled irritably under his breath, then walked toward his front door, his curiosity weaving knots in his stomach as he drew nearer.

What could it be? A letter detailing facts on Jenny Sterling’s murder case? Had Glover decided to bring him information on who killed PC Canavan? He was surprisingly quiet about it during the conference, making a comment on how he couldn’t say much due to the culprit’s age, but maybe he’d give Balfour a leg up?

His thoughts carried him until he reached the front door, where he saw what looked like a simple envelope sitting on his doormat.

He moved cautiously toward it, debating ‌whether or not to wear gloves before he picked it up. However, the thought vanished quickly, and he laughed at himself for thinking like Glover would.

This is your house, man! Not a pissin’ crime scene!

He reached the envelope, stared at it for a few seconds, then picked it up. It was brown, looked clean and free of any creases or imperfections, and didn’t even have his name on it. For a moment this threw him, making him wonder why someone had gone through all ‌the effort to post something through his door without even putting so much as his name on it.

Did that mean their handwriting was distinctive? Would it allow Balfour to know who had sent it?

He didn’t know, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he knew he wasn’t willing to wait to find out. He bent down and grabbed the envelope. It was a very thin envelope, so Balfour knew there couldn’t be much in it, but he trembled slightly when he realised what was in there had to be important.

He gently ripped it open, not wanting to risk potentially damaging any of its contents, then put a slightly shaking hand inside ‌the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper. The paper was folded over, and Balfour barely needed to look at it to know it was a newspaper story. However, what intrigued Balfour was the fact that the paper itself was a normal sheet of A4, meaning someone had printed out the story instead of giving him an actual copy of it.

He didn’t know what that meant, but he was too keen to know what the story was to give it much thought.

He opened the sheet of paper and was shocked to see that the title of the article mentioned Glover... and it far from painted him in a good light.

Is this real? Balfour thought with intrigue as he read the article.

Once he finished reading, he knew it was true. It all looked far too authentic for anyone to have faked it.

Balfour read the article a couple of times, unable to figure out what to think of it all.

The story was juicy, juicier than he’d ever expected it to be, and it told a horrid story of a teenaged Glover and his antics. Antics that Balfour wouldn’t have believed if he hadn’t read the article.

Balfour was no fool and knew that if he wrote a story about this article that it would be big. Especially with the current wavering perception of Glover.

He could wait and give it time until he published anything about it, but Balfour had been in the game for long enough to know that things change quickly. A negative story about Glover tomorrow would be big, but give it even a day or two, and the public might already be bored with stories slating Glover. They might crave something different.

No... if Balfour wanted to publish something attacking Glover, he had to strike while the oven was hot...

But could he? Could he write a scathing article about Glover when they were currently getting along better than Balfour had ever imagined?

Balfour screwed up his forehead as he looked at the article, feeling more torn than he’d ever felt in his life. He knew that if he stayed up all night and sent the story off to his editor that they would put it in tomorrow’s papers quicker than blinking. He knew as well that it would go down a storm and make him incredibly popular with the press and public. They’d be desperate to speak to him to find out more about it.

However, if he published the story and gave himself the success he’d been craving for weeks, he knew Glover would never trust him again. His dream of potentially working with him would be over.

If only it was a month ago, back when he wouldn’t have cared about Glover and could have written the article without guilt.

He looked at the story again, trying and failing to ignore the battle between his head and his heart. He read the story again, then looked all over the piece of paper, trying to see if whoever had sent it had left anything else for him. As much as Balfour felt excited over the story, he was also curious over who sent it to him.

What if they were connected to Glover’s case? If he showed the article to Glover, would it help him figure out who was behind this all? Who was behind Jenny’s murder?

Technically, Glover will see the article whether you publish it or not, Balfour thought shrewdly.‌

Balfour knew it was risky, knew he was likely creating a scenario where Glover would never forgive him, where they’d never work together again, but he was too excited to think about all of that. In that moment, all he cared about was the opportunity that had dropped at his feet, and he knew he’d be a fool to let it pass him by.

He moved upstairs quickly, ready to grab his laptop and write an article as quickly as possible so it could be published within a few hours.

As he went for his laptop, Glover’s face kept popping into his mind, but he brushed it away and told himself he was doing what was right for him.

Glover used him when he needed him, but he would never see Balfour as a friend. Balfour knew that, and he knew it was time to stop fantasising about things that wouldn’t ever happen.

Working with Glover and getting access to regular stories would never happen, but writing a story that would shock the world and show Glover for the horrible person he really was could happen... and Balfour was going to make sure he did.

He just had to hope he wasn’t going to live to regret it.

4

Iwoke up early with a light yawn, stroking Max’s belly as he lay contentedly beside me. When I’d got back home, I’d set myself up in the living room, getting out my trusty work board. I then spent several hours diving into my past, writing down the names of anyone I could think of who I might find problematic to see again. It had been a difficult task, and the more I thought about my past, the more confused I’d become.

I knew there were some people I wouldn’t be happy to see, but someone who could potentially have it in them to kill? It had been almost impossible to think of anyone like that.

When I’d gone to bed, the board had been relatively empty, and I’d felt dejected at my lack of progress. It felt awful knowing the entire team was relying on me to come in with results, and even worse knowing that I’d be disappointing them all with my lack of options.

I sighed, gave Max one last stroke, then pulled myself out of bed. I’d barely lifted my body before Max started to bark happily and follow me. I chuckled as I stepped away from my bed and made my way downstairs, Max running around my feet as I did so.

I made it into the kitchen—narrowly avoiding tripping over Max on several occasions—then got to work making myself a strong coffee. I had a feeling it was going to be a long, difficult day, and there was no way I’d be able to handle it without a cup of my favourite coffee.

I made myself a cup, then decided to make myself a flask too, knowing I’d appreciate it later when I didn’t have to accept the station’s weak coffee. Once I finished my cup, I took Max for a quick walk, hoping it would tire him out so he wouldn’t get under our feet once we reached the department, then put him in the car. As I did so, his tail wagged madly, and I could tell he was happy that I wasn’t leaving him behind again.

I was truly grateful to Murray for making it possible for Max to keep with me at work. He was a hard man most of the time, one who didn’t show much emotion, but that gesture towards Max showed me that Murray cared for me more than he dared to admit.

I looked at Max, smiling as I thought about how it would be to have him as a permanent team member, then closed the car door once he was settled. I then climbed into the car and started my drive to work.

As I pulled away from my house, I felt a twinge of guilt when I saw Dot watching me leave. I knew how much she’d enjoyed having Max’s company, so it felt awful knowing I’d taken that away from her. Maybe when I had the time I’d get her a pet of her own, one that would occupy her time and make her just as happy as Max did.

I drove to work at a steady pace, feeling eager to get ‌there but also wanting to allow myself more time to think about my past. There was only one thing I knew for sure: whoever this person was, they had to be someone personal... not professional.

It would have been a long job listing all ‌the criminals from my past, and when Paterson went missing, I looked into practically every criminal I’d ever arrested. That meant I’d been able to compile a list of the criminals from my past fairly recently. The ones who were in Scotland I’d dealt with, meaning it couldn’t be one of them. Furthermore, for Jenny to have known about the person’s connection to me, they had to be someone personal. Jenny might have had access to certain things about me, but it would have taken her time that she didn’t have to go through all the criminals I’d dealt with, and as she’d figured out the person’s connection to me relatively quickly, it made me certain that they had to be someone personal.

If anything, it made it even more annoying that I couldn’t figure out who it was.

Jenny had figured this person out quickly, so why couldn’t I?

I sighed, wishing not for the first time that I hadn’t made such an effort to avoid her. If I hadn’t, she might have spoken to me about the mystery person, and I’d have been able to find them and stop them before anything had happened to her.

It was a regret that I’d carry with me for the rest of my life, but I knew all I could do was rectify my mistakes by finding the person behind all of this and making them suffer.

I made it to the station and parked up in front of it. As I parked the car, I glanced toward the station and felt glad to see that there was only a small crowd of people loitering there. After my press conference last night, a lot of the crowd had left, but there were still a few stragglers. I knew they would likely stay there until news was released regarding the identity of Jenny’s killer.

I just had to hope I wouldn’t be leaving them all waiting for long.

I got Max out of the car, and as I walked toward the station’s entrance, I couldn’t help but think about how nice it was to not need to charge in for a change. Before, when the public had been turned against me, I could barely arrive at work without being harassed, but at least now the attention was finally away from me. That meant I could focus on my job without unnecessary distractions.

I walked into the station, nodded politely to the receptionist, Ainsley Craggs, then made my way straight to my department. When I pushed the door open and placed Max on the floor, he ran straight to his new bed and cuddled into it. I followed him inside and looked around, not feeling at all surprised when I saw only Gamble was there. Not many people felt the need to get in quite as early as I did.

Gamble was on the phone, but smiled politely at me when I looked in his direction. He then gestured toward the kitchen, asking me if I’d like a drink, but I held up my flask to show him I was okay. Gamble returned his attention back to his call.

I walked toward my desk and got myself settled, and by the time my computer had logged me in, Gamble was off the phone and approaching me.

“Morning, sir,” Gamble said tiredly, he then smiled at Max, whose tail was wagging excitedly at the sight of him. “And ye, Max.”

Max kept in his bed but barked frantically, causing Gamble to chuckle.

“Good morning,” I replied. “Any good calls?”

Gamble shook his head, suppressing a yawn as he did so. “I’m afraid not, sir. Fenton didnae hear anything good before I took over.”

At that moment, a door at the back of the department flew open. I looked toward it to see Fenton walking toward us. She still looked tired, and her hair, although tied up in a ponytail, looked messier than usual.

However, considering she’d slept in the station and hadn’t been able to access anything from her house, that wasn’t surprising.

“Hey, sir, I thought I heard yer voice,” Fenton said calmly. “Coffee?”

I shook my head. “I brought my own with me today, but thanks.”

Fenton feigned a look of hurt. “Are ma coffees that bad?”

“I won’t blame the workman for the poor tools,” I joked.

Fenton rolled her eyes playfully. “The coffee we have here isnae that bad!” She turned to Gamble. “Coffee?”

“Aye, go on then,” Gamble answered. “I’ll have a rubbish coffee if they’re on offer.”

Fenton playfully gestured profanities at him before walking toward the kettle. She had barely entered the kitchen when the main door to the department opened and Boyd entered the room. He asked Fenton for a coffee and settled himself at his desk as she agreed. Less than a minute later, Murray entered the room with Young at his heels.

“Morning, all,” Murray said in a booming voice. “Glad tae see ye are all in early!”

We all said good morning back then; he turned toward Fenton. “I’ll have a coffee if ye’re making them, Fenton.”

“Of course, sir,” Fenton replied, then flushed slightly as she looked at Young. “Wid ye like one tae?”

“Erm, aye, that wid be good, thanks,” Young replied.

Fenton nodded, then went back to the kettle. The moment she turned away, I looked at Young in surprise, but he seemed to be avoiding everyone’s eyes.

When he’d replied, his tone was awkward, and he looked as though he’d rather be anywhere but near Fenton.

What had I missed? Was it possible the two had spoken last night about their feelings and things hadn’t gone very well?

Before I could give it much thought, Murray was speaking again.

“Right, Boyd, sort out the pinboard, will ye? Canavan’s case is still on there, so we can remove that now and give us more space fur Jenny’s.”

“Will dae, sir!”

Boyd got to his feet and walked toward the pinboard. I watched as he removed Canavan’s information and couldn’t ignore the emotional tug I felt when he removed her photo. I’d have given anything for her story to have had a better ending. I just had to hope we could do better for Jenny.

Once Canavan’s information was taken down, and everyone except for me was handed a coffee, Murray stepped into the centre of the room and looked around at us all. As he was standing near Max, Max edged toward him, but Murray ignored the dog and kept his gaze fixed on the rest of us.

“Right, so let’s get started, shall we? I ken yer first question will be if we heard anything last night, and the answer is nae.” Murray paused, his lip twitching slightly as though he was irritated. “We received quite a few calls, but it was all the usual time wasters.”

“Not that surprising,” Young replied. “The public dinnae often help us with cases, dae they?”

Murray frowned at him. “Nae, but we dinnae want tae have that attitude aboot it, Young. We need tae keep optimistic aboot our chances.”

Young nodded slowly. “Aye, sorry.”

Murray grunted, then looked around at us all. “Fenton has already agreed tae man the phones again this morning in case Gamble wants a quick rest, but we still need tae keep our eyes on the phone. If we have the attitude nae one is going tae call in with anything good, we winnae get anywhere, now will we?”

“Nae, sir,” the team muttered.

“Good,” Murray replied, shooting Young another unhappy look. He then slowly moved his gaze from Young to me. “Glover, have ye got anything fur us? Did ye give any thought tae who this mystery person could be?”

Give any thought? I’ve given every thought, I thought hastily. I’ve literally thought of nothing else.

“I have, sir,” I responded. “I got my old board out at home and spent practically the entire evening going through potential options, but the more thought I put into it, the harder it was to figure out who this person could be.”

Murray hesitated for a moment, looking anything but pleased. For a second I readied myself for his wrath, but he only sighed. “I get that, Glover. There are likely countless people who could be our mystery man or lass, so I didnae have high hopes ye’d crack it overnight.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise, but I quickly recovered. “Agreed. However, one conclusion I came to last night was that this person is likely someone personal, not someone I’ve dealt with in a professional capacity.”

“How can ye be so sure, sir?” Gamble asked.

“I can’t say I’m one hundred percent sure, but I’m pretty confident.” I paused, looking at each member of the team in turn. “When Paterson went missing we really delved into my old cases and found the ones with Scottish connections. Those people have already been seen and dealt with, so I can’t imagine why they would be the people that Jenny was on about. She’d have known about that from looking at our case files. That makes me relatively certain that the person has to be personal.”

Murray nodded. “Aye, that’s a good theory, Glover. I guess we could always look into the last few people we’ve dealt with from yer old cases, but if it was one of them, Jenny widnae have been worried about how ye’d react tae seeing them.”

“Exactly, sir. I already had seen them.”

Murray rubbed his face thoughtfully. “I think ye’re right, Glover. We can⁠—”

Murray trailed off when the phone started to ring. Fenton raised her hand in a gesture that she’d get it, but as Gamble was closer, he politely indicated that he would. Once he answered the phone, Murray continued.

“I ken it isnae going tae be easy, but we are really going tae need tae think aboot this. I wid suggest ye create a timeline and figure out significant periods in yer life where—Jesus, Gamble, what is it?”

Murray trailed off as Gamble approached us, looking rather pale.

“Did someone call about Jenny?” I asked hopefully. “Did someone see something?”

Gamble shook his head. “It wisnae aboot Jenny, sir... it was aboot something else.”

Murray swore. “Christ, what now? As if we amn’t busy enough as it is!”

“I-it’s a body, sir. A body washed up on the shore at Loch Ness.”

There was a stunned silence at these words, and I could tell no one knew what to say. Not even Murray, whose skin had paled and looked as though he was torn between guilt at his outburst and irritation at yet another case pulling our focus away from Jenny.

As no one seemed willing to speak, I cleared my throat. “This is obviously not the best timing, but the sooner we know what we are dealing with, the better.” I paused. “I’ll go to Loch Ness with a small team, see what’s gone on, and try to get back here as quickly as I can.”

“Aye, I guess that’s all we can dae, isnae it?” Murray asked impassively. “Get yer coat, Glover, and get there as quickly as ye can.”

I nodded, then rushed to grab my coat. As I moved, I found myself feeling oddly annoyed over the thought of a new case, and that annoyance in turn made me feel guilty.

Some poor person had died, and all I could think about was how that was distracting me from figuring out who killed Jenny.

I shook my annoyance away and knew I had to be fair to the dead person I was about to see. I had no idea who they were, how they’d died, or if this was going to end up being a new case that would take up a considerable amount of my time, but I knew I had to do right by them... whoever they were.

With any luck, their death would be just some tragic accident that would allow me to return to the station and resume my focus on Jenny’s murder...

If it wasn’t, then God only knew how long it would take for us to find out who killed Jenny Starling.

5

As I grabbed my coat, I looked around at the others.

“Fenton, Young, you two are with me.”

Both looked eager to join me and moved as quickly as I did to grab their coats. Once they were ready, we all said goodbye to the others and moved swiftly out of our department. As we walked toward the station’s main entrance, I looked over my shoulder toward Young and Fenton.

“If you two want to travel separately from me I understand, it might be better to do that as that way⁠—”

“I think it wid be better if we all just stuck together, James,” Young interrupted quickly, his neck reddening as he spoke. “That way we can all arrive at the same time and discuss the case together.”

As Young spoke I snuck a subtle look at Fenton. I didn’t know if I’d imagined it or not as her face shifted so quickly, but she looked disappointed at Young’s rejection. I then turned to Young and nodded.

“Very well, we’ll all travel together.” I paused. “We’ll go in your car if you don’t mind, Rory? It’s the biggest and quickest.”

Young nodded, looking relieved. “Aye, we definitely widnae all fit into yer wee car.”

I rolled my eyes and looked away, wondering why Young seemed so keen to not be alone with Fenton. I felt more certain than ever that something must have happened last night.

Either that, or Young was still being ridiculous and punishing Fenton because of her past with Arran.

We made it to Young’s car, and he quickly gestured for me to join him in the front. The gentleman in me wanted to offer the front seat to Fenton, but from the intense gaze I received from Young, I knew he was giving me a firm no, so I guiltily took the offered seat without a word.

“So... another body, eh? What’re we thinking?” Young said rapidly over a small, awkward silence. It was clear he was doing everything he could to weave the conversation as far away from him and Fenton as possible.

“Not much until we see it,” Fenton responded. “Gamble wisnae exactly given much information fur us tae go on, was he?”

“True, we are walking into the dark on this one, that’s for sure,” I answered. “Are we thinking it’s another possible murder, or maybe a swimming mishap?”

“Oh, it will be an accidental death, fur sure,” Young replied confidently.

“Really?” I inquired. “You sound very sure of that.”

“Dae ye not agree then?” Young questioned, his tone as equally shocked as my own.

“I can’t say anything until I’ve seen the body, but considering we’ve dealt with a fair few murders recently, I don’t think we can count it out.”

“I see yer point, but this isnae a body found in a cabin or in the middle of the woods... it’s a body that’s come out of the loch,” Young replied. “It widnae be the first or the last time somehow misjudged the strength of the lochs and decided tae push their luck.”

“And it wouldn’t be the first time someone was killed at a loch either,” I pointed out. “Remember Jamie? He used places like that as his hunting ground.”

Young’s face fell. “Aye... fair point, but we didnae find the body in the loch itself, now did we? I still think we’re looking at some poor bugger getting pulled under the current.”

“I hope ye’re right, I couldn’y bear it if history was aboot tae repeat itself,” Fenton responded nervously.

There was a tense silence at her words, and I knew we were all thinking the same thing...

Could this be the beginning of another serial killer’s journey?

Luckily, after less than forty-five minutes, we made it to Loch Ness. The majority of the journey had been filled with an eerie silence after Fenton’s comment, so I was personally glad when I saw the cordoned off yellow tape. We’d reached our destination.

We approached the main entrance to the loch, and a few PCs stood near the tape, looking as though they’d rather be anywhere but standing there. One of them—a young lad whose face was more pimples than skin—jumped at the sight of us and stood up straight, trying and failing to look as though he was focused. We reached the tape and Young pulled down his window, showing the lad his badge.

“We’re here tae see the body,” Young said calmly.

The pimply lad nodded. “Aye, sir! I will let ye right through.”

We thanked him, then waited a couple of minutes as the young PC struggled to remove the tape so we could pass. After a painful few minutes, we drove past him and were on our way to the scene.

“I swear these PCs are gett’n younger and younger,” Young grumbled. “That guy couldn’y have been any older than sixteen.”

Fenton snorted. “Are they gett’n younger, or are ye just gett’n older? Ye couldn’y have sounded any older just then if ye tried!”

Young’s neck flushed, but he didn’t reply.

After a few minutes, we spotted a couple of panda cars and what looked like Fiona’s van, so we parked up alongside them and made a beeline for a PC who was standing near the cars. I suddenly realised it was one of the men I’d spoken to yesterday about Canavan. He nodded to me in polite recognition before glancing around at us all.

“I was told tae wait here so I could bring ye tae the body.”

“Thanks,” I answered. “Lead us whenever you’re ready.”

The man nodded, then gestured for us to follow him right away. We were walking for a few minutes when he looked over his shoulder at me.

“I guess ye were right aboot Arran, eh?”

I shrugged. “Yes and no... he behaved stupidly, but he wasn’t as guilty as I thought he was.”

“He’s still guilty in my eyes,” the man answered passionately. “What sort of idiot gives a bairn a gun and thinks they winnae panic with it?”

Before I could answer, Young beat me to it.

“Agreed. I said from day one Arran was involved, and I was eventually proven right.”

Fenton shot Young a slightly annoyed look, but I was pleased when she had the sense to not say anything.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and after almost fifteen minutes of walking, I could see why the PC had been asked to bring us to the scene. The trek there had been longer than I’d anticipated, and I was certain we’d have struggled to find our way without assistance.

Eventually, we made it to the scene, and I looked ahead to see several people standing on a small area of shore. There was a mixture of sand and mud along the shore, and near it was a large area of trees.

As the body had been found off ‌one of the main walking routes, I knew it was lucky it had been found.

I looked behind the shore to see the loch, and I didn’t know if it was just because I knew a body was nearby, but I felt no warmth from the water. If anything, it gave off the opposite feeling. I suddenly felt cold, like I’d never be able to warm up my body ever again. It was far from a comforting feeling.

I moved my eyes away from the shore and looked at the people standing there. The first person I noticed was Fiona and some SOCOs who were all crowded together, clearly looking at the body. From how they were standing, I couldn’t actually see the body, but I knew it had to be there.

On the far left was a young man and woman who were chatting to a couple of PCs. From what I could see, they both looked miserable, which made me confident they were the ones to find the body.

I looked away from them and back toward Fiona. I gestured for Young and Fenton to follow me, and together we walked in Fiona’s direction. However, when we were almost a meter away from her, one of the SOCOs looked at us and rushed over.

“Fiona is still looking at the body and wants some space,” he said quickly, though he wasn’t rude.

“Right, I understand,” I replied, hoping the disappointment I felt wasn’t too obvious.

The body was inches away from me, but I wouldn’t be able to see it.

The SOCO pointed toward the couple with the two PCs. “Those two were the ones tae call this in. Maybe ye can speak with them while Fiona finishes up?”

Young frowned. “We’re senior detectives. I think we ken what we can be daein while we wait fur ye tae finish up, but thanks.”

It was impossible to tell, as the man was wearing a forensic suit, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was blushing under it. He turned away and returned to Fiona without another word, likely worried about saying anything else that could annoy Young.

Fenton looked at Young in surprise. She opened her mouth to say something, but I quickly spoke before the two could argue.

“Come on, he’s right. Let’s go see what those two have to say about the body.”

Young nodded, and I could hear him and Fenton following me as I moved away. I kept my gaze fixed on the couple ahead. With any luck, the witnesses might have seen something to help us close this case quickly.

God only knew we could do with a bit of luck for a change.

6

We reached the couple, and the first thing I noticed about them was their uncontrollable trembling. Initially, I assumed this was purely from the shock of what they’d seen, but once we were closer to them I realised they were wearing wetsuits. It was hard to know if their trembling was from shock, the cold of the water, or a mixture of the two. I could tell they were both still wet. The woman’s long, brunette hair was dripping all over the ground, and the man’s short black hair was dripping droplets of water down his cheeks.

I turned to one of the PCs standing near the couple with an unhappy expression. “Have these two not been offered towels? They’re freezing!”

The PC blinked stupidly. “But, sir, the cars are almost a fifteen-minute walk away, and⁠—”

“I don’t care how far away they are, move quickly before these two freeze to death!”

The PC ran quickly, his face suggesting he’d rather deal with the walk than me. I watched him leave, resisting the urge to shake my head in dismay. It was still early, meaning the sun was hardly out, and I couldn’t believe no one had thought to ensure our witnesses were warm and comfortable.

“T-thank ye, sir,” the woman said, her teeth chattering as she spoke.

I took them both in properly for the first time. I’d have assumed they were both in their early thirties, but their pale, cold faces made it impossible to tell. The man was tall and slender. While he didn’t have a lot of muscle, the small amount he had was clear under his wetsuit. His short raven hair clung to his face and scalp, but from the looks of it I could tell it was normally wavy. He was clean shaven with small blue eyes that looked odd on his square shaped face.

The woman was the man’s opposite in several ways. Where he was slender, she was on the curvier side. Where he was tall, she looked to be not much taller than five feet, and where his face was square, hers was rounded.

“I hear you two found the body?” I asked.

The woman made a noise of discomfort in the back of her throat while the man nodded.

“Aye... it was horrible,” he replied, his voice shockingly deep.

“What are your names?”

“I’m Zayn, and this is ma girlfriend, Ophelia.”

“And you called it in after you found the body. Zayn?” I queried.

“Aye, well, not right away,” Zayn responded awkwardly.

I quirked a brow. “What do you mean, not right away?”

Zayn looked uncomfortably toward the remaining PC, then back to me. “We have already gone through everything twice now... dae we really need tae dae so again?”

Zayn looked exhausted, and I couldn’t blame him.

The couple had been through a lot, and I knew how horrible it must have been to keep reliving the moment, but it was crucial I found out as much from them as possible.

“I’m sorry,” I answered gently. “I’m DCI James Glover, and my colleagues here are DI Rory Young and DC Eleanor Fenton.” I paused. “We’re detectives, and it’s our job to figure out what happened her. We can’t do that without your help.”

At that moment the PC returned, panting like he’d just run a marathon. He held out two towels, and I thanked Fenton as she helped the PC wrap them around the couple. Once that was done, the two PCs walked away, leaving the three of us alone with the couple.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to just tell us everything you can, please?” I asked. “It’s really important that you do.”

Ophelia shot Zayn a worried look, so Zayn gripped her hand, nodded, then looked at me. “Alright, we will dae anything we can tae help.”

“Thank you,” I responded. “Just start from the beginning.”

“Well,” Zayn answered cautiously. “Ophelia and I had decided tae come here fur an early morning swim. We love exploring the different lochs, it’s sort of a hobby of ours.” He hesitated, but after I nodded reassuringly, he continued. “Anyway, we were in the water when I felt something touch me. At first I thought it was Ophelia messing around, but when I turned tae look… I realised it was another woman touching me. Her face was in the water and I could tell something wisnae right, so I called Ophelia over and together we grabbed her and pulled her out of the loch.”

“So ye didnae find her on the shore? She was in the water and ye pulled her out?” Fenton asked calmly.

Zayn nodded. “Aye, that’s right.”

I couldn’t help it, but I felt a stab of annoyance at his words. As the two of them had touched the body, it meant any evidence could have been contaminated. While I knew being in the water would have destroyed a lot of the evidence anyway, it felt even more unlikely that we’d get anything from the body now.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Zayn continued. “I-I didnae ken what tae dae! I just saw her floating in the water and I thought she was dying, so I hoped if we got her tae the shore I could save her... but once we got her there, we realised she was already dead.”

My irritation vanished and was quickly replaced with shame. The young couple had only thought of saving a woman’s life, and there was me thinking about preservation of evidence.

It wasn’t right, but sometimes the detective brain stopped you from seeing people as people, and I knew that was a habit I had to try to break out of.

“You did the right thing, and it’s good you both wanted to save her,” I answered calmly.

“Aye, o-of course we did!” Zayn answered.

Although Zayn spoke, I found my eyes drawn to Ophelia. She hadn’t said a word since I asked them both what had happened, and anytime I glanced at her it looked as though she was looking anywhere except for directly into my eyes.

Was there a reason she was so quiet and avoidant?

Fenton, likely noticing Ophelia’s silence too, suddenly stepped toward the woman with a kind smile.

“Can I speak tae ye alone, Ophelia? It might be easier fur ye if it’s just us lasses, eh?”

Ophelia shot Zayn a terrified look, a look that almost suggested she wanted his permission before she answered. He nodded at her subtly—but not subtly enough for me to miss it—so she turned to Fenton and agreed.

I waited until the two women were gone before I looked back at Zayn. He was watching Ophelia with a nervous expression, but the moment he saw me looking at him, he looked away.

It was hard to tell if his nerves were due to fearing for his girlfriend during a dramatic time, or if he wanted to keep near her in case she said the wrong thing.

“So, ye often swim in lochs, dae ye?” Young asked Zayn.

Zayn nodded. “Aye... as I said, it’s a hobby of ours.”

“So why Loch Ness and why today?” Young pressed.

To my surprise, Zayn laughed awkwardly.

“Tae be honest I’ve wanted tae dae Loch Ness fur months, but Ophelia kept saying nae. Luckily today she decided tae let us come... though I cannae imagine she’s glad she changed her mind now.”

“Why didn’t she want to come here?” I asked.

“Opheila is a wee bit... superstitious. I told her there was nae such thing as the Loch Ness monster, but part of her has always believed it exists.”

I bet she believes there’s a monster here now more than ever after finding a body, I thought with pity as I glanced at the shaking woman.

I turned away from her and looked at Zayn. “In my experience, it’s people that are the monsters, not fictitious beasts.”

Zayn blinked awkwardly. It was clear he didn’t know what to say, so I moved on.

“Is it a common thing for people to come swimming in the lochs?”

Zayn, looking happier that the conversation was on better ground, nodded. “Aye, it is, but it isnae safe fur amateurs. Me and Ophelia have been swimming in these lochs fur a while now so we ken what we’re daein, but it’s sad that lass thought she’d give it a try on her own without much experience.”

I quirked a brow. “So, you believe the woman died due to being an inexperienced swimmer?”

Zayn looked at me in confusion. “Aye, how else wid she have died? She must have swum out tae far and got caught in one of the currents.”

“So, you were saying the loch can be dangerous?” I asked, avoiding Zayn’s question.

“As I said, it isnae a place fur casual swimmers or first timers. The water is notoriously cold, deep, and unpredictable.” He paused. “I’ve swum these waters fur years, but even I widnae come here on ma own late at night. Anything could happen.” He paused again, looking at me dubiously. “What, dae ye think that isnae how she died?”

“It’s our pathologist’s job to figure out the cause of death, not mine,” I answered calmly. “Did you recognise the dead woman at all?”

“Nae, I didnae,” Zayn responded.

I stared at him for a second, analysing his response time. With all of my other questions, Zayn had waited at least half a second before he started to speak, but when asked if he recognised the woman, he didn’t wait at all.

Did that mean he did recognise her and was lying? And if that was the case, why would he lie?

“Is there anything else ye can tell us? Anything at all?” Young asked.

“Nae, sorry,” Zayn muttered. “I’ve told ye the same as I told the others.”

I nodded. “Very well. Thanks for your time, Zayn. If you haven’t already, if you could please just give your details to one of the PCs so we can contact you if⁠—”

“Why dae ye need our information?” Zayn interrupted worriedly. “Are we in trouble?”

“Should you be?” I inquired calmly.

“Nae, of course not!”

“I didn’t think so,” I answered. “We merely need your details just in case we have any further questions down the line.”

Zayn’s face turned beetroot red. “Aye, sorry, I’ll give ma details tae the first guy we spoke tae.”

I thanked him, then watched as Fenton and Ophelia walked over to join us. Suddenly, I heard the sound of Fiona’s voice.

“I’m done over here if ye want tae come and join me!”

For a second I hesitated, feeling torn between my desire to speak to Ophelia and my eagerness to see the body and hear Fiona’s comments. After a moment, I looked at Young and gestured for him to follow me, knowing I could rely on Fenton’s conversation with Ophelia to get a vibe of how she was.

We joined Fenton, and together the three of us walked toward Fiona. As we did, I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder and toward Zayn. He was holding Ophelia close to his chest, but his eyes were on me. It was hard to read his expression with the distance between us, but I was certain he was relieved to see the back of me.

I didn’t know why or what it was, but I was convinced he was lying about something, and I knew I wouldn’t feel happy about leaving Loch Ness until I was certain we had his details.

7

Once we drew closer to Fiona, she glanced in our direction and slowly rose to her feet. As she stood and stepped toward us, I was able to see the body for the first time. However, before I could get much of a look at it, Fiona was moving toward me and blocking my view once again.

“Morning, ye lot,” she said calmly.

“Good morning, Fiona,” I answered.

She clicked her tongue. “Not much good aboot it so far, is there?” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Especially not fur her.”

“No, I guess not,” I admitted.

Fiona stepped to the side. “Ye lot go and have a look and see what ye think. Once ye’re done I’ll go through ma preliminary findings with ye.”

We all thanked her, then waited for a moment while Fiona ushered her SOCOs away for us. Finally, when there was no one else near the body, I stepped toward it with Young and Fenton at my heels.

I’d already gathered that the victim was female after speaking to Zayn and Ophelia, but I looked all over the body to figure out what else I could find. The first thing I noticed was that, like Zayn and Ophelia, the woman was wearing a wetsuit. However, the wetsuit looked abnormally tight on her, like the size was either too small or she hadn’t worn it in a long time and was now too big for it. She had long, dark brown hair that was tied back in a thick ponytail. As there was a considerable number of twigs and other items from the loch caught in her hair, I knew it was likely she’d been floating around in the water for at least several hours. Her skin was pale, clammy, and had a greyish tinge that made it virtually impossible to accurately guess her age, but I’d have guessed she was in her late thirties to early forties. Her dark eyes were open and wide, giving her a look of permanent shock, and her thin lips were slightly parted, which made me certain the contents of her stomach would likely contain a large quantity of water from the loch.

Unfortunately, her wetsuit covered most of her skin, making it impossible to see any potential injuries. I scanned any inch of exposed skin for any signs of a struggle. I glanced over her neck and saw no obvious marks, though her hands looked badly scratched. Considering her stint in the loch, it was difficult to say if those were offensive wounds from an attacker or simply scrapes from items in the loch.

The one thing I did find odd, however, was the fact that one of her flippers was missing, so I could see her right foot. The foot was also as pale and badly scratched, making me relatively certain the wounds were inflicted post-death, but the missing flipper still seemed unusual. I glanced at the other flipper and noticed how it was wedged onto her foot, meaning it would have been difficult for passing debris or anything small to have knocked the other flipper off.

It would have taken some force to remove that flipper, which made me wonder if it had been pulled off during some form of altercation.

I looked away from her foot and back at her face, staring at it for a few seconds. I didn’t know what it was, but something about her looked familiar, like I’d either seen her before or we’d met… I quickly pushed that thought from my mind, knowing it was highly unlikely I’d seen her before that day.

I moved my eyes away from the victim and toward Young and Fenton. Once I saw they were both done, we turned to Fiona and gestured for her to join us. I knew she’d already had time with the body, so I just had to hope she’d have information for us that could help us get things wrapped up quickly.

Fiona gave one look at her SOCOs, telling them to stay put before she joined us, looking between us with a tired expression that not even her forensic suit could hide.

“Now, before I talk aboot the body, I wanted tae talk aboot PC Canavan.”

Fiona paused, and for a second I looked at her in bewilderment.

Was it possible she somehow didn’t know we’d finished that case?

I’d spoken to the press and several others, but while I hadn’t spoken to Fiona personally to inform her the case was over, I’d assumed either Murray or one of the others had.

However, my fears were quickly unfounded when she continued.

“I just want tae apologise tae ye all fur not gett’n the postmortem finished before ye were able tae wrap up the case. Tae be honest, nothing I found during ma search wid have been able tae help ye at all, but I still niver like not having ma postmortem finished before ye can close a case.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for, Fiona,” I answered respectfully. “We’d always much rather you take your time and give us accurate results than rush things and risk potentially leaving something behind.”

“I appreciate that, but still… it’s left a sour taste in ma mouth. I can assure ye that when it comes tae this lass’s postmortem I’ll get ma results tae ye much quicker.”

“Thanks, Fiona, we’d appreciate that. So, speaking of…” I paused, gesturing toward the body. “What can you tell us?”

“Aye, what are we dealing with here?” Young added.

“As ye ken I always like tae say, I dinnae⁠—”

“Like to say much until she’s been in your lab, we know,” I interrupted playfully.

Fiona smirked. “Aye, that. Anyway, from ma initial assessment I havnae been able tae find any marks on her neck tae suggest strangulation. Her eyes also amn’t bulbous or bloodshot which I’d expect tae see if she was either strangled or held under the water with force. Obviously her being submerged in the water disnae help these things and makes it hard tae ken things fur certain, but from what I’ve seen I’m relatively certain we can rule out someone trying tae drown her by holding her head under the water.”

“What aboot the cuts and scrapes on her skin?” Fenton inquired.

“They all look tae have been inflicted after she died,” Fiona responded confidently. “I wid assume after floating around in the water fur several hours.”

“Aye, makes sense,” Fenton replied.

Fiona nodded briefly, then looked in my direction. “I winnae be able tae figure out the full story of how she died until I get her out of that wetsuit and have a proper look at her, but from what I can see here I dinnae think we will be looking at foul play.”

“Really?” I asked quickly. “You think we’re looking at an accidental death here?”

“Dinnae quote me on this but aye, I’m thinking we have an accidental death.” She paused. “She could have suffered from cold water shock, hypothermia, or she may have just drowned due tae the choppy waters.” She paused again, looking at the woman. “It’s never a good idea tae swim in these waters alone, particularly at night.”

“I know you will say you can’t say much until you’ve done your checks, but how confident do you feel that her death was accidental?”

“Not enough tae stake ma job on it, but enough fur me tae feel comfortable tae say it tae ye,” Fiona answered. “There’s nae obvious signs of force, nae indicators from her eyes or skin that she was forced under by anything other than the water... aye, it looks like an accidental drowning tae me.”

“That’s what I thought,” Young answered calmly as Fenton nodded enthusiastically beside him.

I looked toward Young and Fenton and saw no signs of hesitation. It was clear they also felt that the woman had died in a tragic swimming accident... So why was it so hard for me to accept the same?

I wanted this to be an accidental death, wanted this to be a clear-cut case where I could go back to the station, submit a quick report, then give Jenny the full focus she deserved, and yet now that it seemed like I had my wish, I just couldn’t accept it.

“I take it ye have something tae say, James?” Fiona asked.

I turned to her guiltily, unsure what to say. There was no harshness in her tone, if anything, she sounded perfectly calm, and yet I didn’t like the thought of her feeling like I was challenging her judgement.

“I’m just a bit unsure on all of this, that’s all,” I answered.

“And why is that?” Fiona asked.

I hesitated for a second, knowing I didn’t have much. “For one thing, the missing flipper.”

“What, dae ye think someone took it and killed her with it?” Young inquired sarcastically.

I shot him an annoyed look before I looked back at Fiona. “I just can’t imagine how it would have been knocked off. Those things are on pretty tight, and yet one is missing?”

Fiona nodded thoughtfully. “Aye, I was curious aboot that tae. It’s one of the reasons I’m not willing tae say her cause of death with any certainty at this moment in time. That being said, there’s nae reason the flipper couldn’y have been knocked off by something particularly hard or strong.”

I didn’t feel entirely convinced by that argument, but as I had no evidence to contradict her, I kept respectfully quiet. “And what about an ID? Do we have any idea who she might be?”

Fiona sighed glumly. “Nae, the lass had nothing on her, and if she did, it’s very likely at the bottom of the loch by now. Either that, or she left some of her possessions close tae the loch before she entered it. I dinnae think it wid be a bad idea tae get a few PCs to comb the area in case she left a purse, phone, or anything like that somewhere before she got into the water.”

“Good idea, and I’ll definitely sort that,” I answered. “She had to either drive here or get dropped off, so the PCs can look for a possible vehicle as well.”

Fiona smiled. “And that’s why ye are the detective, James.”

“Great idea, sir!” Fenton exclaimed. “Should I go talk tae some of the PCs? I can ask them tae search around the loch.”

“That would be good. Thanks, Fenton.”

Fenton nodded politely, then left. After she left, I looked back at Fiona. “What else do you have for us, Fiona?”

“Nothing,” Fiona admitted. “I’ve told ye all I can fur now. I widnae be surprised if we are looking at an accidental drowning here. I’ve dealt with many of those in ma time, and they always have the same telltale signs.”

“Thanks, Fiona,” Young answered before I could. “I think ye’re right and, if ye are, then there isnae much more that we can dae here.”

“Very true,” Fiona replied. “I will get ma lot tae help me move the body and ye lot might as well go and get back tae Jenny’s case.” She paused, looking between us intently. “I take it there’s nae new news on that front?”

“Unfortunately not, but we will get there,” Young answered confidently.

As the two talked, I found my eyes trailing back toward the dead woman. I looked at her body and couldn’t quite ignore the voice in my head telling me to not give up on her. There was still a chance her death was a carefully disguised murder, and if there was even just a one percent chance of that, I would take it seriously.

I looked at the woman and nodded to her subtly.

I don’t know how you died or who you are, but I can promise you I won’t rest until I find out.

8

Young and I said our goodbyes to Fiona, then went to join Fenton who was still chatting with the PCs. Fenton smiled at us as we approached, then turned her attention back to the PCs.

“And ye confirmed the information they gave ye was correct before they went, didnae ye?”

“Aye, of course,” the PC who ran off earlier replied indignantly.

I quickly realised what they meant and looked around to see that Zayn and Ophelia must have left while we were speaking to Fiona. Part of me was annoyed, but I just had to trust the PC was competent and had checked the information given to him like he’d suggested he had.

“Great,” Fenton answered, taking some paper from the PC’s hand. She then turned to me. “Have ye got anything else tae add, sir? I’ve asked the PCs tae look anywhere nearby fur any cars that could have belonged tae the victim, and some patrols will be here soon tae search around the loch.”

I smiled at her. “I think you’ve sorted everything for us then, Fenton. Thanks.”

Fenton flushed with pride before looking back at the PC. “Contact us if ye find or hear anything, alright?”

“Will dae, ma’am,” the PC answered.

Fenton, looking pleased with herself at being referred to in such a way, said goodbye to the PC, then started to follow me and Young away from the scene. As we walked, I turned to Fenton.

“How did it go with the PCs? Did we miss anything before we got there?”

“Not really, sir,” Fenton responded. “As I said, I asked them tae call in fur backup so we can get the loch and the surrounding area searched for any signs of the victim’s belongings, and they’ve agreed tae make a list of license plates of cars nearby that they will send tae us once they’re done.” She paused. “With any luck, one might belong tae the victim.”

“Good work,” I praised. “That will certainly help.”

“Aye, and fur the dead lass’s sake I really hope they dae find something.” Young said, then paused, grimacing uncomfortably. “I niver like the thought of someone out there not kenning that their loved one winnae be returning tae them, so the quicker we can figure out who that lass is the better.”

“Fingers crossed,” I answered. I hesitated for a moment, quickly making sure we were heading the right way, then continued. “How did your talk go with Ophelia, anyway? I hoped I could to speak to her, but they left before I had the chance.”

“She was quiet... very quiet, almost like she just didnae want tae or felt like she couldn’y speak.” She hesitated, her expression thoughtful. “I didnae ken what⁠—”

“Well, that isnae exactly unusual, is it?” Young interrupted, earning him a glare from Fenton. “The lass had just seen a dead body and helped pull it out of the loch, so it’s nae wonder she’s a bit shaken by it all.”

“Usually I wid agree with ye, but this wisnae that sort of silence... I dinnae ken how tae describe it, but it was more like she wisnae talking because she was scared tae say something wrong.”

I’d felt suspicious over Zayn’s behaviour before, but now those suspicions were only heightened. I still wasn’t as confident as the others that the victim’s death was accidental, and as the two who found her were behaving oddly, it made me wonder if it would be worth looking into them both once we got back to the station.

There had to be a reason for their evasive behaviour, and I was eager to know what that reason was.

“So did she say nothing tae ye at all then?” Young asked dubiously.

“Not at first, but after a bit of a push she answered ma questions and described events in practically the same way as Zayn had.” She hesitated. “I did ask her if she kent the victim and she seemed tae get a bit nervous around that question.”

“I thought the same when I asked Zayn that question,” I answered. “He definitely gave off the vibe that he knew more than he was letting on.”

“Aye, Ophelia gave me that same feeling,” Fenton responded.

We were silent as we walked the rest of the way to Young’s car. Once we made it to the car park, I looked around at the cars with a new interest. There weren’t many there, and most of them likely belonged to our lot, but I couldn’t help but wonder if one of them our victim’s.

Young unlocked his car, and we all climbed in. This time Fenton sat in the front passenger seat, and although I saw Young shoot her a nervous look, he didn’t say anything.

There was an initial silence as we travelled back to the station, but after around ten minutes, Fenton broke it.

“I cannae stop thinking aboot that poor lass... what a way tae go.”

I quirked a brow. “But we still don’t know how she died.”

Fenton looked at me, her cheeks slightly pink. “Aye, I ken we dinnae ken the full details, but it’s very likely she died by being out there on her own, isnae it?”

“We don’t know if she was out there alone.”

Young glanced at my reflection in his mirror. “Oh, come off it, James. Surely ye amn’t thinking her death is anything but accidental?”

“I’m not willing to count anything out just yet, Rory,” I answered. “Besides, look at Zayn and Ophelia’s bizarre behaviour. They both clearly know more than they’re letting on.”

“Aye, that or they’re caught up in something stupid and dinnae want tae risk gett’n our attention.” He paused. “Ye ken what people are like these days. They’ve probably got a small stash of weed at their house, and they were petrified we’d come over and find it. People worry aboot all sorts of rubbish the moment they feel the eyes of the polis on them.”

“Maybe,” I replied without conviction.

We were quiet for the rest of the journey, and the silence told me that Fenton and Young were as certain of the victim’s cause of death as Fiona was. After a while, I shook my head, wondering if I was just being stupid.

We had enough on our plates with Jenny’s murder... was I really going to make our lives even more difficult by looking into another potential murder, especially when no signs indicated foul play?

We eventually made it back to the station, and as Young pulled in, Fenton gasped in shock. Within seconds it was clear why Fenton had been so shocked.

The crowd outside ‌the station was at least six times bigger than it was when I left.

“Christ, why are all ‌these people here?” Young muttered quietly as he passed them. “Surely news aboot the body cannae have spread already?”

I groaned. “It must have done... great, just when I thought we were having a quiet period for once.”

Young parked up, then together the three of us entered the station quickly before anyone from the press could start questioning us about the body. As we moved, I tried to ignore the crowd, but that became impossible when I heard several of them shouting my name. In spite of myself, I glanced toward the crowd and was shocked to see that all of them had their eyes on me, each person looking as furious as the last.

Surely they couldn’t be blaming me for the woman’s death?

I tried again to ignore them, but as I drew closer to the station’s door, their voices became clearer and harder to block out.

“Ye have some nerve coming here, Glover!”

“How is that man still working here!?”

“Ye’re a horrible, cruel man! Ye amn’t the sort tae be looking out fur us at all!”

Their words confused me and, again, I couldn’t help but look toward the crowd. I’d been convinced that the press and the public were slowly warming to me again, so why had they turned again so suddenly? As I looked around the crowd, I almost stopped moving at the sight of Balfour’s face. His expression caught me completely off guard.

He looked impassive, almost subdued, like he didn’t know how to look at me.

This put me on edge. I’d have expected him to acknowledge me in a more positive way, or at least look more supportive. Maybe because there was a crowd surrounding him, he was playing it smart, not wanting to draw angry attention onto himself from the crowd.

“James, let’s keep moving!” Young hissed quietly, grabbing my arm and forcing me to move quicker.

In my shock of seeing Balfour’s face, I hadn’t registered the fact I’d slowed down to look at him. Young brought me back to reality and the aggressive crowd that was keen to reach me, so I allowed him to force me onward. I didn’t decrease my speed until we were safely inside the station.

Once we were inside and a few PCs stood as a guard between us and the door, Young turned to face me.

“What the bloody hell was that all aboot?”

I shook my head. “I honestly have no idea. Maybe someone new has jumped on the bandwagon and started circulating those stories about me again?”

“Christ, that’s all we need!” Young groaned.

Fenton bit her lip nervously, but gently touched both me and Young on the elbow. “Come on, let’s go join the others and see if they ken what is going on.”

Young and I agreed, and we instantly started walking toward our department.

“If they don’t know, I might quickly message Balfour.” I paused. “He was there, he’ll know what’s going on.”

Young scowled. “I wid rather eat yer hat than trust that man.”

“Usually I’d agree with you, but he has helped us a lot recently, and if anyone will know anything, it will be him.”

Young grunted in response, showing he still wasn’t keen on the idea.

We made it to our department, and the moment we pushed the door open and saw Murray, Boyd, and Gamble, I knew something wasn’t right.

They all looked extremely grave.

Max ran toward me the moment he saw me, barking happily and jumping up my legs. I grabbed him and picked him up, but my eyes were fixed on the others.

“We just had bloody hell gett’n in here!” Young exclaimed. “Have ye seen the crowd outside?”

“Aye, we have,” Murray answered, his eyes still on me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, jerking my head away from Max as he tried to lick my face. “You know why they’re there, don’t you?”

Murray rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Aye, we dae.” He looked toward Boyd. “Show them, will ye?”

“Show us what?” I asked worriedly.

Boyd went to his desk and grabbed something. He then stepped toward us, and I realised he was holding a newspaper in his hand. He passed it to me with an apologetic expression, and I realised whatever it was they wanted me to look at was on the front page.

I glanced down at it and within less than half a second my eyes were widening in horror at the title splashed across the page.

‘The Bully Detective’

I gulped nervously and took the paper with a trembling hand. I had a feeling I knew what it was going to be about, but I prayed I was wrong...

Because if I wasn’t, then things were going to get far worse.

9

As I read the article, it soon became apparent that I wasn’t wrong. The story I was reading in the paper was the exact one I feared it being. The one I’d been trying to forget about for as long as I could remember.

There was a horrid silence as Fenton, Young, and I read the article together. They both felt unusually tense beside me, and as I tried to ignore the discomfort floating around the room, all I could do was read about an event from my past that I’d hoped no one would ever find out about.

An event that happened when I was in school.

I could still remember it like it was yesterday. It was one of those moments in my life I’d find hard to ever forget. I was around fifteen at the time—still young enough to act rashly, but old enough to know better—and I’d been having issues with a lad in the year above me, Adam Nunn. Adam was far from a good person, and I’d often struggled with him, particularly his attitude towards women, but one day I’d lost it completely. I ended up beating the lad half to death. I still don’t know how it happened, or how I’d succumbed to such a fit of rage, but once I started I couldn’t stop. It took a few people to pull me off ‌him. He was in a bad way once I’d finished with him, and I knew I’d never forget the guilt I felt when he was taken away, looking more like minced meat than a man. I was kicked out of school for several weeks, but my parents appealed to the headmaster’s good-hearted nature and helped get me back into school.

A feat that for several weeks seemed very unlikely.

I’d always be grateful to my parents for everything they did for me then. I’d had my issues with both of them over my life—particularly my father—but if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have got back into school. More importantly, my parents had done the impossible and made sure any reports of what I’d done were removed from social media, news circulation, and pretty much every internet search...

So how had someone found out about it? What had caused the story to get out there when I knew damn well every effort had been made to stop the story from being found?

The press and the public were starting to warm to me again, too, I thought bitterly. But they’ll likely never leave me alone now they’ve seen this.

A part of me felt selfish for thinking about how the story would affect me, but really, what else could I think about? Anything that affected me in turn affected the team, and with potentially two murders to solve, there really couldn’t have been a worse time for the story to be out there.

I read the article again, feeling bitter at the high level of information that was revealed, but as I reached the bottom of the page, I froze in shock at the familiar name attached to it.

Ewan Balfour.

For a moment I stared at his name and felt stunned... of all ‌the people I’d have believed behind publishing this article, he wouldn’t have been someone who entered my mind.

Balfour. It had been ‌Balfour who’d somehow found out about the darkest event from my past and decided to use it for his own benefit.

The shock I felt soon turned to anger, anger at myself as much as at him. I’d been a fool to ever think that Balfour was going to change, or that our recent truce and time working together had ever meant anything to him.

No. When push came to shove and Balfour was given the opportunity to publish dirt on me, he jumped at the chance. He never had any intention of trying to be a better man. He’d always loved writing stories to attack me, to make me look bad, and it seemed like he’d been unwilling to drop the habit even after our time supporting one another.

And to think I’d even told Young I should contact him to see what information he had! I thought angrily. You idiot, James, he was the one who released it! The best thing you can do now is keep as far away from him as possible. But how did he do this? How did he know about any of this?

I tried to push Balfour from my mind, but it was hard.

As much as I’d never admit it to the others, I’d genuinely believed he was changing, but now I had to accept the fact that just because we’d done a couple of jobs together it didn’t mean we were friends.

Balfour always did things for himself, always had his own agenda, and now it was time to keep him at an arm’s length before he did any more damage.

Although a large part of me really didn’t want to, I tentatively raised my head from the newspaper to look around at the others. As I did, I couldn’t help but worry about what I was going to see.

Were they going to look at me in shock? Disbelief? Maybe even anger? Were they going to see me as an entirely different person now? Would working together become an uncomfortable experience?

I saw, much to my chagrin, that they were all looking at me with wide, shocked eyes. I was filled with a feeling of shame. Apart from Murray, I was their superior, so to see them looking at me with such disbelief was a bitter pill to swallow.

I tried to figure out what to say, but before I could formulate a sentence, Murray started speaking.

“Why the hell is this story out, Glover? How has it come aboot? It was years ago, fur Christ’s sake!”

There was another awkward silence. I could tell the others had no idea what to say, and I couldn’t help but fear they were seeing me differently after realising exactly what I was capable of.

Adam Nunn was a nasty piece of work, but I never should have lost it with him. I’d regretted it ever since it had happened.

I remained silent for a few moments as I considered Murray’s question, though I knew I couldn’t answer it.

How did Balfour find out about it? As I knew the story itself wasn’t circulating anywhere—thanks to my parents—then I knew he could have only found out about it from someone who was there at the time.

My thoughts strayed to Jenny and how she’d written about her certainty that someone from my past was local, and how they could hurt me. Was this what she was worried about? Had she seen someone from my past in the area? Was it even Adam Nunn himself, seeing how well I was doing here and feeling eager to bring me down?

Nunn was never someone I’d considered before. Although I’d attacked him, that was a long time ago. My actions as a teenager hadn’t been enough for me to seriously consider that they’d cause me further issues as an adult. However, the timing of the article seemed far too much of a coincidence, and I knew I had to seriously consider him.

Especially because Adam was most certainly the type who would take great pleasure in seeing the world turn against me.

I looked at Murray, ready to voice this theory to him, but Murray, clearly misinterpreting my look as one of confused silence, swore and rubbed his face.

“Look, just tell us anything ye can aboot all of this, Glover.” He paused. “I dinnae ken! Just tell us if it’s true, if ye have any thoughts on it all, really, just anything wid be a help other than this continued silence!”

I glanced around at all ‌their wide eyes, then sighed. “I’d like to say it isn’t true... but it is. I did attack Adam Nunn, and he was in a very bad way by the time I was pulled off ‌him.”

I hesitated as both Fenton's and Gamble’s shocked expressions turned to ones of disappointment. I could tell from that quick change that neither of them had believed it for a second, so it caused my stomach to ache to see them both looking so dejected.

“It’s no excuse, but Nunn wasn’t a good person. If you saw the way he treated people...” I trailed off uncomfortably. “I shouldn’t have attacked him, I know that, but I did and there’s no changing that. We can fixate on the wrong, awful thing I did, or we can focus on the more important matter of figuring out how this article got out there in the first place.”

Boyd cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Surely it widnae have been hard fur someone tae have found it? Ye ken how these historical articles are, they’re kept everywhere these days.”

“Usually I’d agree with you, but this one is different.” I paused. “I mean, look at recent events and how adamantly Hamer was trying to go for me. If it had been easy for anyone to find this information out, he’d have used it as fuel for his own fire, right? But he couldn’t… it was practically removed from, well, everywhere shortly after it happened. I wasn’t even given a record or anything as I was young and the PC I spoke to was kind and wanted to give me a chance.” I hesitated again. “No. Whoever got this out there had to have either been there at the time, or knows someone who was and got the information from them.”

“Could it be Nunn himsel who spread this?” Young inquired. “The information was given tae Balfour, and Nunn wid likely have kent Balfour as a London journalist. Maybe he sent the information tae Balfour fur whatever reason.” Young’s lip pursed. “I told ye all we couldn’y trust Balfour and here’s the proof! The pathetic weasel was the one tae publish this, and I bet he⁠—”

Murray cleared his throat loudly, causing Young to abruptly stop speaking. “I’m not exactly happy with the journalist either, but he’s a small fish in a big pond. It might be worth speaking tae him tae find out his source, but we all ken journalists niver exactly give away information like that, now dae they?” He sighed. “Nae, it’s probably going tae be up tae us tae figure out who sent this tae him and I reckon Nunn is a good place tae start.” Murray turned to Gamble. “Look into Adam Nunn, will ye? Find out if he has any record and if there is any way he now lives locally.”

“Aye, sir! I’ll get right on it,” Gamble answered.

As Gamble moved speedily toward his computer, Fenton tentatively stepped closer to Murray.

“Sir, I’ve just heard back from the PCs at Loch Ness and they’ve sent me all of the license plates that were close tae the area. Should I start looking into them and figure out if one of them⁠—”

“Aye, get right on that!” Murray interrupted. He then turned and faced Boyd. “Ye help her go through them, Boyd. That way we can narrow things down quicker.”

“Sure thing, sir,” Boyd answered.

Boyd then smiled at Fenton before the two rushed off to Fenton’s computer. I turned away from them, then looked back at Murray.

I wasn’t surprised to see that he was staring at me.

“Sorry tae ask this, Glover, but this isnae the first time ye’ve had tae deal with rubbish from the press and the public, only this time I can imagine it will be worse than before.” He narrowed his eyes. “Dae ye think the negative attention around all of this is going tae affect yer job?”

“No, sir,” I responded instantly. “I can’t say it won’t cause some problems, as we all know that would be a lie, but I’ve dealt with public unhappiness before. I can do so again.”

Murray bit his lip, eyeing me thoughtfully as he did so. I could tell he was contemplating his answer, but just as he opened his mouth, the station’s main phone started to ring. Murray glanced toward the others, but when he saw they were chatting and looked busy, he swore impatiently and went to answer it himself.

Once he was gone, I looked toward Young and saw him looking at me thoughtfully.

“How’re ye feeling, mate?”

His kind tone took me by surprise, and it made me grateful toward him. “It feels like it’s all just been one thing after another recently, mate, but I’ll be okay.” I sighed. “Another backlash with potentially two murders to solve is far from ideal, but we’ve been through worse.”

Young frowned, likely at my comment about two potential murders, but before he could answer, we turned at the sound of Murray’s quick return.

He strode toward us purposefully, causing me to look intently in his direction. I sensed Young doing the same, and neither of us said a word.

“Everyone, pay attention!” Murray barked.

Once Murray knew everyone was listening, he cleared his throat again.

“I potentially have some much needed good news! After the call I’ve just received, I think we might now have the identity of our mystery dead lass.”

10

Iglanced at Young and saw him turn cautiously in my direction, one of his eyebrows raised. There was a glint of intrigue in his eyes, and I could tell he was just as curious about the call Murray had just answered as I was.

I slowly turned from Young and looked back at Murray. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but if we knew the victim’s identity, it would only make our jobs easier.

And with two dead bodies on our hands, we needed as much assistance as we could get.

“Who called, sir? And what was said that made you feel like we had an ID?”

“It was a man who called tae report his wife missing,” Murray replied.

I heard Fenton gasp. Murray must have too, as he stopped speaking and looked in her direction. She flushed red, but maintained Murray’s eye contact until he looked away.

There had been a hint of hope and excitement in Murray’s tone, but likely realising this was disrespectful, he cleared his throat and continued in a more impassive voice. “The man I spoke tae was called Owen Spinter, and he seemed concerned as his wife didnae return home last night... Now, this might not be our victim, but I think it wid be safe fur us tae go and speak tae him with the thought that our vic is her. Obviously, if it is, we need tae go in delicately, but if we can get answers sooner than we expected, that’s good.”

I nodded, feeling, like Murray, that the timing of Owen calling to report his missing wife had to be relevant.

“Did he say much about it all, sir?”

Murray shook his head. “Nae, and tae be honest, I didnae ask much. I was quick on the phone as I wanted tae relay this information tae ye all so we could begin.”

“Understandable,” I answered.

“I just made sure he kent that we’d be on our way imminently and that helping him find his wife wid be our top priority,” Murray continued. “All he did say was that he last saw his wife in the early hours of yesterday evening and how he was scared when she didnae come home. He admitted he didnae think tae call it in then, but when she still wisnae back this morning, that fear only intensified. He’s certain something had tae be wrong.”

I pursed my lips thoughtfully as Murray spoke. A small part of me wondered why Owen didn’t call last night if he was worried about her disappearance. As I thought about it, I couldn’t stop my brain from picturing Paterson. She wasn’t my wife, but I knew for a fact that if she hadn’t returned home to me, I wouldn’t have waited until the following day to start figuring out what could have gone wrong. However, I quickly pushed that thought to the back of my mind, knowing that most people didn’t like to react too quickly by calling the police. I knew over my long career and the countless cases I’d worked that on average people either called instantaneously or they gave it potentially too long. This meant that Owen’s reaction was far from out of the ordinary, and I therefore shouldn’t do him a disservice by wondering why he waited.

He’d called early the next day, and that had to count for something.

I turned to Young. “What do you think? Should we go see Owen together?”

Young instantly agreed.

I went to grab my coat, but as I walked toward Murray, he stepped in front of me with a considerate frown.

“Are ye sure ye can deal with this right now, Glover? It’s a sensitive thing tae potentially deal with a man whose wife might be dead, and we dinnae want the press and the public making a sensitive matter even more difficult than it needs tae be.”

I nodded confidently. “Trust me, sir. I’ve got this.”

Murray hesitated for half a second before he sighed and stepped out of my way. I thanked him, then went to join Young near the coatrack.

As we were getting ready to leave, I heard Murray talking.

“Right, I ken ye are all currently working on jobs, but once ye have finished those I want all of ye tae look into Owen Spinter and see if ye can figure out if either he or his wife could have any enemies.”

I turned to Murray in surprise, my right arm halfway into the sleeve of my coat.

Did that mean that he, like me, wasn’t entirely convinced that the victim’s death was accidental? Had he been suspicious of her death since he heard about it and wasn’t willing to let it go without looking into it?

Fenton furrowed her brow. She glanced around at the others, but after seeing that no one else planned on speaking, she stepped forward. “But, sir, Fiona seemed certain that the vic’s death was an accidental drowning.” She hesitated uncomfortably. “So, even if they dae have any enemies, that widnae matter, wid it?”

“Fiona might seem certain, but until she has finished her postmortem and actually kens fur certain, we amn’t counting anything out.” He paused and looked around at everyone. “Are we all clear on that? I winnae have us not giving this case our best efforts until we ken fur certain. I ken I gave ye all a hard time over Jenny’s case, and we will still be making that a priority, but that disnae mean we dinnae give other cases our complete focus either.”

“Aye, sir!” the DCs mumbled.

“Sir, if you’re looking into the victim’s death as potentially a murder, then you might want to look into the couple that found her body,” I said.

Murray furrowed his brow. “And why wid we dae that, Glover?”

“Something about them seemed off, sir, and I got the feeling they were lying when they said they didn’t know the victim.”

“Hmm,” Murray muttered. He was silent for half a second, then continued. “They easily could have just been shook up after what they’d seen, Glover.”

“Maybe, sir, but I didn’t get that feeling from them.”

Murray looked at me for a couple of seconds before responding. “Alright, fine. We will add looking into them tae our list, but as I’m not as convinced on that as ye are, we will put that as a low priority job fur now... it isnae that common that the people that call in the body are the ones tae have done it. After all, it wid bring unnecessary attention onto themselves, widnae it?”

“I know it would be risky, sir, but it wouldn’t be the first time I saw criminals that were too cocky and felt untouchable if they called it in.” I paused, but after seeing Murray’s face not move, I knew I wasn’t going to convince him. “By all means put the job lower on the list, but I still think it should be done.”

“And it will, Glover. Dinnae ye worry aboot that.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Murray grunted. “Enough pleasantries, Glover. Ye have a potential grieving man tae visit and question.”

I nodded, then went to leave, but I hesitated when I heard Gamble speaking.

“Sir, I’ve found out some information on Adam Nunn.”

The sound of Nunn’s name caused me to turn eagerly in his direction.

Was it possible he’d found something that could help us figure out whether or not Nunn killed Jenny?

“And?” Murray pressed impatiently.

“I looked into his record first, like ye asked, and it turns out he does have a bit of a criminal record, sir,” Gamble continued swiftly, looking nervous about displeasing Murray. “He⁠—”

“What’s on his record?” Murray interrupted.

“It looks like two different lasses accused him of stalking, sir,” Gamble answered. “There are a couple of years between each report, but both lasses made similar comments in their reports aboot him always being near them. It sounds like he followed both lasses everywhere and learned their routines. Once they realised they went tae the polis right away.”

Murray grimaced uncomfortably, and I copied him.

One of the main reasons I’d attacked Nunn as a teenager was due to the perverted way he treated the girls in our school, and if he had been charged twice with stalking, then it concerned me that the man hadn’t changed much from the creep I took several swings at.

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“That’s the thing, sir,” Gamble replied. “These offences were both over fifteen years ago, so they might not be relevant, but I still thought it was worth bringing up. It looks like he stalked Olivia seventeen years ago, then Hannah fifteen years ago, but there’s been nae other reports since then.”

“They’re always worth bringing up,” I answered. “He might have not been charged in over fifteen years, but that could just as easily mean he’s been smarter with how he does things as opposed to him actually changing.” I paused darkly. “We all know criminals tend to learn through experience, and after being caught twice, I can’t imagine he was keen to get caught again.”

Young looked at me worriedly. “So ye think he is still up tae his old ways?”

“I don’t trust Nunn, so I wouldn’t put it past him. He could just as easily be following women about, but being much cleverer in his approach.”

“Well, if he is daein shit like that, we’d better stop him before anyone gets hurt,” Murray replied.

If he hasn’t hurt someone already, I thought coldly.

“I’ll see what else I can find out,” Gamble answered.

“Aye, ye get on that,” Murray agreed. “Who kens what else there will be tae find on him.”

My mind drifted to Jenny and her potential connection to Nunn. Was it possible that Jenny had gone to see Nunn to ask him questions about his treatment of women and my fight with him, leading to him losing it with her and killing her before she was able to let the world know he hadn’t changed?

I felt Young’s hand on my shoulder and shook my head, knowing I was allowing my thoughts to distract me when we should already be on our way to Owen’s house. I gestured for him to lead the way, then we said goodbye to the others and made our way out of our department.

As we walked, I thought about Nunn again and just hoped that by the time we got back to the station that Gamble would have answers for us. Nunn’s criminal record didn’t surprise me in the slightest, and while nothing had been reported in a while, I knew I wasn’t willing to let it go.

It was looking likely that Nunn had given Balfour the information on our past fight, information that couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The stakes were already high, and now with the press and the public on my back again, I just had to hope that Nunn wasn’t going out of his way to make solving Jenny’s murder harder by the second.

Jenny deserved justice, and I didn’t care what Nunn threw at me... she’d be getting it even if it killed me.

11

Young and I charged out of our station and toward his car. As we ran, I couldn’t help myself from looking toward the crowd near the station. I repressed a groan when I saw that it was bigger than before. The moment the crowd saw me, they grew irate and started pushing into the line of PCs blocking their path. I scanned the crowd and hesitated when I saw Balfour. I shot him an annoyed look, but to my surprise, Balfour returned it with a look of guilt.

Was it possible that he, for once, felt bad about what he’d published? The old Balfour would have winked at me or looked at me in smug satisfaction, so to see Balfour looking so reticent was a shock.

I couldn’t understand why he’d feel guilty, not when he’d clearly made the choice to publish, but a small part of me wondered if maybe a small part of him really had changed.

We made it to Young’s car, and I was glad when he wasted no time and instantly drove us away from the station.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Young muttered irritably as he put his foot down on the accelerator.

I threw on my seatbelt and clung to my seat as Young drove us speedily away from the scene, and although the driving was reckless, I was grateful to him for it.

Once we were away from the station and Young started to slow down, I looked at him. “Did you see Balfour out there?”

“Nae, I cannae say I looked toward the crowd and ye shouldn’y have done either,” Young answered. “Ye dinnae want any of them tae get into yer head. None of them have a clue what they’re talking aboot. Not if they believe any of the rubbish that Balfour releases.”

“I know, I know,” I responded. “It’s just when I saw Balfour he looked almost apologetic, like he⁠—”

“Nae!” Young interrupted firmly. “I’m sorry, but there’s nae way we are going tae sit here and say we feel bad fur him.”

“I’m not saying I feel bad for him, I’m just wondering if maybe I wasn’t wrong to think that he⁠—“

“He is the one that published the article and made things difficult fur us, he is the one who has made it so we can barely get tae and from our own station, and he is the one who has let us down time and time again... so, nae. I have nae sympathy fur him whatsoever. The man is scum, selfish scum, and I’ve said it from the moment I met him. He’s only proven that right by what he’s done.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but after a pregnant pause, I sighed, knowing Young was right.

I’d always seen Balfour as selfish. He’d practically been my enemy when I lived in London, so how had I allowed myself to change my views on him after so long? I’d been right to not trust him in the past. I was better off without him.

“You’re right,” I answered eventually. “He’s only shown himself to be the same man I knew in London. If anything, some of his behaviour has been even worse.”

“I’m sorry, mate. I dinnae want tae talk down at ye, but Balfour isnae worth either of our thoughts.”

I nodded. “You’re right.”

There was silence for a few moments before Young looked back at me with a sheepish expression.

“So... that article he posted,” Young said, averting his eyes as he spoke. “Tell me aboot it.”

I sighed. “I thought I did back at the station?”

“Aye, sort of... I just wondered if ye had more tae say as all. Things that maybe ye didnae want tae say in front of the others.” He paused. “Ye ken ye can tell me anything, right? We’re mates.”

I looked out of the window for half a second before answering. “I’m ashamed of what I did and don’t like to talk about it, okay? It isn’t exactly a good look for a detective to be beating people up, now is it?”

“I get that, but I still dinnae understand why ye did beat him up… and I’d like tae ken,” Young replied cautiously. “Ye didnae really go into specifics.”

“It’s related to his criminal charges, I guess,” I answered. “When he was in school, you should have seen the way he treated the girls there... he was always forcing himself on younger girls, making them uncomfortable and not leaving them alone.” I paused. “I told him a few times to leave them alone, but he didn’t listen. One day, when I saw him making a girl cry, I went over tae see what was going on. Once I was near him, I saw he’d pinned her into a corner. He kept… touching her arms, and she was crying because she wanted to get away. He just wouldn’t let her.” I breathed deeply. “When I saw her looking so scared, I just lost it. I’m not proud of it and I know it wasn’t right, but I can’t change what happened, now can I?”

There was silence for a couple of seconds before Young broke it. “Dinnae tell the others I said this, but I can see why ye attacked him. Ye clearly saw something in him before anyone else did.”

I nodded, but didn’t reply.

I felt ashamed when I thought back to that time, but I also hated the small part of me that was glad for what I’d done. When we’d both returned to school, Nunn had made my life a living hell, but equally he never went near any of the girls again.

It was a small price to pay to make sure they were safe from him.

“So, Nunn,” Young continued, causing my stomach to squirm uncomfortably.

Surely he didn’t want to keep forcing me to relive that time over and over again?

“What about him?” I asked unhappily.

“Ye’re now thinking he’s local then?”

I bit back the urge to sigh in relief over the slight change in subject. “As I said, the original story was nowhere online as my family made sure it was all removed at the time, so for it to suddenly be out there again means someone who was there had to have circulated the story... who else would think to do that?”

Young nodded. “Aye, it makes sense... but, what, are ye thinking he could be our murderer then?”

I sighed. “I really don’t know... I think we have to be open to the idea.”

“But why wid he kill Jenny? What reason wid he have tae dae so?”

I chewed my cheek. “Again, I really don’t know... Jenny was a skilled counsellor, though, and seemed to be able to read people easily. It was one of the reasons I felt uncomfortable during the one time I met with her.” I paused, giving myself a moment to let my guilt subside. “Maybe she went to speak to him and uncovered things about him? Things he would kill to protect?” I paused again. “I admit it’s a long shot, but⁠—”

“But right now, a long shot is all we’ve got,” Young finished for me. “Who kens, maybe ye’re right. Maybe he did lash out at her fur kenning tae much.”

There was silence again until I broke it. “Anyway, as much as I want to find out more on Nunn, it’s Owen we need to be thinking of right now.”

“Aye, and the body in the loch,” Young added. “So, what are ye thinking? Dae ye think it’s his wife?”

“It’s hard to know until we see photos, but the timing of someone else being missing since last night would be a bit coincidental, wouldn’t it?”

“Aye, that’s true. Fur his sake I hope it isnae his wife, but fur our sake I hope it is.” He grimaced and looked at me guiltily. “Not that I want tae wish anyone dead, but the sooner we can ID our vic, the sooner we can figure out what happened tae her.”

“I know what you mean.” I paused. “We just need to tread carefully when talking to Owen, look for photos of his wife, and hope that we can find out information that can tell us whether or not she’s the victim. Even if we do think it’s likely after seeing photos, we still don’t exactly want to outright tell him his wife is dead until we know all the facts.”

“Agreed,” Young hesitated. “God, I always hate this part of the job.”

I kept silent, knowing I felt the same.

We drove in silence for the rest of the journey, and I only spoke again once Owen’s house came into view.

“Looks like we’re here.”

“Christ, that’s a nice house!”

I couldn’t disagree with Young as I took in the house. It was a large house, and I could tell it must have had at least four bedrooms. As I looked at it, I felt another twinge of sadness.

Was it possible that they had children? Was our visit going to leave more than one person grieving ‌the loss of a loved one?

I continued to look over the house to see what information I could gather about the people that lived there. I could tell they were clean and organised, as the garden was neatly trimmed—there wasn’t a single blade of grass out of line—and the windows looked pristine, like they were cleaned on a regular basis. There were also two cars parked in their driveway, and as I looked at them, I couldn’t help but wonder if Fenton and Boyd were wasting their time going through those license plates.

It was always possible the couple owned more than two cars, but I found that hard to believe. From the sight of their house alone, they likely would have had the money for it, but it was very rare that a couple owned more than one vehicle each.

Either that, or we were completely barking up the wrong tree. Maybe the body we found wasn’t Owen’s wife.

I took a deep breath, then turned to look at Young. He was also staring at the house, only there was a blankness in his eyes that told me he was more looking through the place than actually at it.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump.

“Shall we go do this then?” I asked.

Young sighed. “Aye, best get it over with.”

I nodded, and then the two of us left Young’s car. As we walked toward Owen’s bright blue front door, I wondered if I was about to deliver the man news that would turn his world upside down.

News that would destroy him.

It was always my least favourite part of the job, but it was also an important part, and one that needed to be handled with care.

12

We made it to the front door, and I knocked on it loudly. As we waited for someone to answer, I tried to ignore the nagging feeling in my head that we were about to destroy Owen’s life. I kept telling myself we were simply doing our jobs, but that didn’t make the guilt I felt feel any less heavy.

I knew it would be better for him to hear the potentially bad news from us instead of the press. I couldn’t imagine how awful it would feel to find out your wife had died at the same time as the rest of the world, and I held onto that thought as I waited for the door to open.

We didn’t wait long for someone to answer the door. In fact, we’d barely waited a few seconds before the door was pulled open. When the door opened, I saw a man standing there with an eager expression, but the happiness on his face dropped at the sight of us.

“Oh, sorry... I was expecting... someone else.”

He was a handsome, well-groomed man—unsurprising from the clean aesthetic of his house—with stubble that was neatly trimmed and stylish glasses surrounding his dark eyes. Although the man wore a jumper, it was fitted to his body and showed off his muscular physique. I could tell he was the sort who liked to work out. Similar to the woman we found at Loch Ness, I’d have assumed the man was in his late thirties to early forties.

I smiled at the man, feeling guilty at the realisation that he’d likely been hoping we were his wife returning to him. “Sorry about that.”

“That’s okay,” the man answered tentatively. “I just thought ye might have been ma wife, that’s all.” He looked between me and Young thoughtfully. “Who are ye and what are ye daein here?”

I grabbed my badge and showed it to Owen. As I did, I could sense Young mimicking my action beside me.

“My name is DCI James Glover, and my colleague here is DI Rory Young,” I answered. “You just spoke to a colleague of ours at the station about your missing wife.”

Owen nodded anxiously. “Aye, of course. T-thank ye fur gett’n here so quickly. I must admit I didnae think ye’d be here so soon. Yer colleague said he’d send people soon, but still I—” He paused, shaking his head. “Anyway, please, please come in.”

“Thank you, Mr. Spinter,” I responded.

As Young followed me inside, I sensed Owen looking at us.

“O-Owen, please.”

“Of course, Owen,” I replied kindly. “Whatever you’d prefer.”

Once we were inside and Owen shut the door behind us, I glanced around the hallway and wasn’t surprised to see the house was just as pristine on the inside as it was on the outside. There was minimal clutter around, giving the hallway a spacious feel, and the area was so clean that I knew you’d never see so much as a shoelace out of place.

I turned away from the hall and looked at Owen, who was watching me curiously.

“Erm, can I offer ye both a drink?”

I smiled. “A coffee would be welcome, thanks.”

“Aye, the same fur me if ye dinnae mind,” Young added.

“Aye, it’s nae bother.”

Owen turned and started to walk away, and I held back a sigh of relief. As much as I desired a hot drink—having left my flask at the station—I was keener for the opportunity to be left alone to look around Owen’s house. However, no sooner did I turn my head to start looking, I froze at the sound of Owen turning back to face us.

“Come this way, I’ll lead ye tae the kitchen.”

Owen turned away from us, and at that moment, I shot Young a look. It was clear, like me, he was annoyed by this, but also we knew we had no choice but to join him. For a brief moment, I debated ‌hanging back to see if I could find much while Young distracted Owen, but I knew there was no way I could keep away without Owen getting suspicious.

Begrudgingly, I followed Young into the kitchen. As we entered the doorway, I wasn’t surprised that the kitchen was almost double the size of my own. It was very modern in appearance, and like the rest of the house, there wasn’t anything out of place. I quickly spotted some comfortable-looking stools, so I gestured for Young to join me.

We both sat down and watched Owen make our drinks.

“T-thanks again fur coming here tae see me,” Owen muttered anxiously as he walked around the kitchen grabbing things. “I really didnae ken what tae dae with masel.”

“Of course,” I answered. “We want to do everything we can to help you find your wife.”

Owen nodded. He accidentally spilled some hot water from the kettle on the kitchen counter, causing him to blush. He then started to clean his mess as he continued speaking.

“It isnae like Mag tae stay away like this.” He paused, wiping his forehead with a shaking hand. “She isnae the sort who would go out somewhere late or stay somewhere all night... I just dinnae ken where she could be or what she could be daein.”

Owen finished making our drinks, placed them in front of us, then sat down next to me.

“Thanks,” I said as I took the drink.

Young then did the same.

“Maybe I should have called sooner, but I just didnae ken what tae dae or think.” Owen paused, shifting uncomfortably on his stool. “I kept telling masel she’d be back at any moment, but when she wisnae back this morning, I kent I had tae try and dae something.”

“So, when did you last see your wife?” I asked, pulling my drink closer to me.

“It wid have been last night at around five.” Owen paused, biting his lip thoughtfully. “Maybe six? I cannae remember the exact time now.”

“And where did she say she was going?” Young queried.

“Erm, she didnae,” Owen answered, looking embarrassed.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Mag said that there was something she wanted tae dae, but she didnae exactly give me any information on what it was.” He paused. “She sometimes goes out on odd errands, so I didnae think anything of it... but looking back I really wish I had asked now. Maybe I’d have had some idea as tae where tae look fur her.”

“Ye cannae blame yersel,” Young answered, his tone surprisingly kind. “None of this is yer fault and ye are daein great.”

Owen smiled in a mixture of gratitude and sorrow before clearing his throat and continuing. “I just wish I had more tae tell ye. We had a coffee, she told me she was heading out, and that was it. I kept waiting fur her tae come home, but she didnae and now it’s been quite a few hours, I cannae help but be worried.” He sighed. “Why didnae I just ask her what she was daein?”

As I listened to Owen speak, I couldn’t help but find his vagueness odd. The two were husband and wife, they shared a house together, shared a life together, and yet they didn’t share their plans together? Was it really possible that a man could see his wife going out and not even show a passing interest in what she was doing, especially if she wasn’t the sort to go out in the evenings, like Owen had claimed?

“So, that’s really all you can tell us?” I pressed.

Owen avoided my eye contact, likely in embarrassment. “I was wrong tae not find out where she was going... I ken I was…”

“I take it ye’ve tried tae call her since she left?” Young queried.

“Aye, of course! Dozens of times now, if not more,” Owen answered.

“And what happens when you try to call her?” I asked.

“Before the calls went tae voicemail, but as of a couple of hours ago the call cuts off right away.” He gulped. “That isnae a good sign, is it?”

Either the phone was only recently turned off, or it was left somewhere and the battery has since died, I thought.

“So, tell us about her leaving here last night,” I said, not wanting to address Owen’s concerned question. “You said she left here at some point between five and six, but how did she leave?”

Owen looked confused. “I-I dinnae understand,”

“What I mean is we noticed you have two cars parked out front,” I responded. “Does anyone else live here?”

“Nae, it’s just us,” Owen replied, a shadow of sadness crossing his face. “We werena able tae have bairns, ye see.”

“I’m sorry tae hear that,” Young replied.

Owen grimaced sadly. “Thanks... we came tae accept it in the end, but that disnae mean we dinnae both often wonder what could have been.”

“So, back to the cars,” I said, my tone polite but firm. “Do you have any others, or just the two?”

“Just the two.”

“So, how did Mag leave here last night if you only own the two cars?”

Again, Owen looked uncomfortable. “I dinnae ken. She went out with a bag and said she widnae be tae long. I just assumed she was going somewhere close by.”

“Well, that’s good tae ken,” Young responded. “It means we can start locally.”

Owen nodded. “Aye... but if she was local, then why isnae she back yet?”

I was thinking the same thing, but I hadn’t wanted to voice it.

“I don’t know, but we’ll do everything we can to find out,” I answered.

Owen kept quiet, but it was clear from his face that he was worried.

I wished I had more to tell him, some words of comfort that would help him during a scary time, but I didn’t. A part of me wanted to ask if Mag had gone out with any swimming gear, but as I still didn’t know if Mag was the one we’d found at Loch Ness, I knew it would make no sense to ask until we knew more.

“I don’t suppose you have any photos of Mag that you could show us, do you?”

Owen laughed dryly. “Aye, I have photos of her alright... try a lifetime's worth of them.” He rose from his seat. “I’ll go grab ye some now.”

As Owen left, I watched him go and didn’t look away until I could no longer hear him moving. Once I was confident he wasn’t near us, I looked at Young.

“What do you think?” I asked quietly. “He doesn’t seem to know much, does he?”

Young shrugged. “Aye, but I’m sure he’s trying his best.”

I quirked a brow. “What sort of man doesn’t know where his wife has gone?”

To my surprise, Young chuckled. “They’ve probably been married fur a long time, havnae they? Most married couples stop listening tae one another after a while. Who kens, she might have told him where she was going and he just wisnae listening, or she just didnae say. Maybe they’re comfortable enough tae dae things without having tae explain it tae the other.”

I nodded, wondering if Young had a point.

Was I being too harsh on Owen to believe he should have found out more? Probably. It was clear the man was worried, and the last thing he needed was to be made to feel even guiltier. He was clearly wracked with guilt as it was.

A long time in this career had made me see suspicion and potential suspects everywhere, and I knew I had to give Owen the benefit of the doubt.

Moments later, Owen returned. He was clutching a handful of photos in his hands, and once he reached us, he placed them on the table in front of us.

“I’ve got a lot more, but hopefully one of these will be alright.”

“Thanks, Owen,” I answered.

I finished my coffee, then just as I went to put it down, Owen offered to take it for me. Young finished his mug and passed it to Owen. The moment Owen turned away from us, I gestured for Young to move closer. Together we started to look through the photos. I instantly froze at the sight of the first photo.

It was a photo of Owen and Mag dressed in their finery. It looked as though they were at a wedding. Mag, looking beautiful in her navy floral dress, was clearly the woman we’d found at Loch Ness.

I looked away from the photo and at Young. He caught my eye, and from the way his brow furrowed, I could tell he was as confident as I was that we’d found our victim.

I put the photos down and looked at Owen. I felt another twinge of guilt when I saw that he was looking at me anxiously.

“Random question, Owen, but is Mag into swimming at all?”

Owen laughed dryly. “Not as far as I’m aware, no!”

“So she’s niver shown an interest in late night swimming? Or discussed wanting tae swim in different lochs with ye?”

“Nae, not at all,” Owen responded confusedly. “The only time she’s ever shown an interest in swimming was during our first night as newlyweds. We decided tae swim around Loch Ness together.” He paused, smiling slightly. “We both hated the cold though, said we’d niver dae it again.”

I nodded, feeling a sense of doubt as I glanced back at the top photo of Mag. She looked a lot like the woman we found at Loch Ness, but if she had no interest in swimming, then how did she end up there? Especially when she’d apparently nipped out to do some errands.

I still thought something about her looked familiar, but try as I might, I just couldn’t place why.

“What’s going on here?” Owen asked nervously, causing me to look at him. “That’s an odd question tae ask, and when ye were looking at Mag’s photos, I could swear I saw some recognition in yer eyes.”

I looked into Owen’s eyes. I knew I couldn’t lie to him.

One way or another, we had to get to the bottom of things, and that wasn’t going to be possible if he didn’t know everything.

“I’ll be honest with you, Owen. Before you called us, we received a call this morning to say that a woman’s body was found at Loch Ness.” I paused, holding back a sad grimace at the way Owen’s face fell. “The woman looks a lot like Mag, but⁠—”

I abruptly stopped speaking when Owen burst into tears. For a few seconds I stared at him, dumbstruck, until Young stood up and threw his arm around Owen’s shoulders.

“I-I kent something wisnae right when she d-didnae come home! She always comes h-home!” He wiped his eyes. “W-we havnae spent a night apart in well over a decade now, so I kent something must have happened when she didnae come b-back!”

“I’m so sorry,” Young said as Owen continued to sob into his shoulder.

After giving Owen a few seconds of respectful silence, I spoke. “The woman we found was wearing a wetsuit, but as you’ve said that you two didn’t go swimming, can you explain why she potentially was out in one?”

Owen shook his head. “N-nae... as I said, she had a wetsuit that she wore that one time, but as far as I’m aware she hasnae worn it since.” He paused, looking between me and Young. “Are ye sure it was Mag? Could it be someone else?”

“At this stage I don’t want to say anything for certain,” I responded diplomatically. “As I said, the woman looked like Mag, but it would be really helpful if you could come and see for yourself.”

“A-aye, I can dae that,” Owen replied shakily. “It’s better tae k-ken, isnae it?”

“It would give you confirmation, if nothing else.”

Owen moved away from Young, his body trembling. “I cannae believe she might be d-dead... we always said one day we’d go back tae the loch together tae celebrate our marriage, but I just cannae understand why she’d have gone without me.”

I was thinking the same thing, I pondered. Why did Mag go out there on her own? Was she practicing her swimming and died in a tragic accident, or was she meeting someone else there?

If she was meeting someone else there and felt the need to hide it from her husband, then it suggested she could have been having an affair. I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole until we knew more.

“I know this isn’t easy, Owen, and⁠—”

“Sorry, I just need a moment,” Owen interrupted.

Owen walked out of the room, and I listened to him going upstairs. I turned to Young, who grimaced sympathetically.

“It cannae be easy... hearing that yer wife is likely dead.”

I nodded understandingly. “Call someone from family liaison to get here, will you? They can take him to see the body and make sure he’s okay at the same time.”

Young nodded, then exited the house.

As I waited for either of them to come back, I looked around the kitchen and tried to picture the couple there. It was a beautiful home, and I could imagine the couple had a lot of wonderful memories there. I knew it wouldn’t have been perfect—no relationship is—but I felt bad for Owen to know that part of his life was now gone forever.

I heard a noise and turned to see Young joining me. He glanced upstairs, then at me. “The officer is on their way. Is he still not back yet? Should I go and check on him?”

I was about to say that I’d do it, but I hesitated at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Owen then joined us, looking pale.

“M-Mag’s wetsuit is g-gone.” He looked between us with frightened eyes. “I saw mine was still there, but hers isnae. S-she widnae have chucked it, s-so⁠—”

He trailed off then started to cry again, and I knew at that moment he realised that his wife had to be gone. That she’d never be coming back to him.

“I’m so sorry, Owen,” I replied. “Someone from family liaison is now on their way. They will take you to ID her, and they will be here to support you too.”

“T-thank ye... I just cannae believe she’s gone... and from such a stupid accident tae!” He shook his head. “Why? Why did she have tae go swimming so late? It isnae like her at all, and now look at what’s happened!”

Young rubbed his back supportively, but I remained silent.

We still didn’t know how Mag had died, but it surprised me that everyone kept assuming it was an accident. I knew accidental drownings did happen, but why was everyone just assuming that was how she died?

“Was she much of a swimmer?” Young asked.

Owen laughed dryly. “Nae, not at all. Tae be honest she was a bloody awful one... but I niver wid have told her that.”

If she was a bad swimmer, it made sense why Owen had assumed she’d died by accidental drowning, but equally, if she was that bad of a swimmer, then why would she have gone to Loch Ness at all? Had she really gone on her own, or was she with someone who took advantage of her poor swimming skills and planned a clever murder?

“We’re so sorry, Owen,” I said gently. “I’m sure Mag was a lovely woman.”

“It feels weird hearing anyone else call her that,” Owen replied. “Her name is Morag, but I havnae called her that in years.” He paused, then started to cry again. “I cannae believe it... another death. I dinnae think I can deal with it any more.”

I felt a twinge of familiarity at the name, but again I ignored it.

“Another death?” Young asked. “Has someone else ye ken died recently?”

Owen nodded. “Aye, and in the space of a week... first Morag’s sister, and now her. I-it’s just awful!”

I looked at Owen tensely. “Who was her sister?”

“Ye wid ken her,” Owen replied. “Her name was Jenny Starling, and I think she worked fur yer team?”

13

Owen mentioned Jenny’s name so casually, but it felt as though someone had set off fireworks in my stomach.

That was why I thought Morag looked familiar! She looked like her sister, Jenny, and I recognised the name Morag as I’d only read her name last night!

Owen, who seemed oblivious to the internal battle waging inside of me, continued to sob and look into the distance. I looked at Young and wasn’t surprised to see that he was looking at me, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

We didn’t speak, but we communicated without words as we looked at one another. I knew he was also shocked by the timing of Morag’s death.

Surely it couldn’t be a coincidence that Morag had died within a few days of her sister? Was it possible that the two deaths were connected?

I looked at Owen and knew I had to ask him about Jenny. It felt like insensitive timing as he had just learned that his wife was dead, but I knew I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by.

We’d been desperate to get any information on Jenny’s case, and so far it had seemed like we’d had nothing but bad luck. Now seemed like we were going to get the information we’d desperately been searching for in the most unlikely of places.

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve just lost your sister-in-law too,” I said sympathetically. “That’s awful... we didn’t know Jenny well, but you’re right, she did work in our station. She seemed like a good woman.”

Owen nodded. “Mag loved her more than anything... probably even more than she ever loved me.”

I felt another twinge of excitement. “So the two were close, were they?”

“Oh, aye, ye can say that,” Owen responded. “As I said, Mag a-adored her sister more than anything. There wisnae anyone she respected more than she respected her.”

“So they confided in one another a lot, did they?” I asked.

Owen looked at me as he wiped his eyes. It took him a moment to reply as he was scanning me with suspicious eyes. “W-why are ye asking me that?”

For a split second, I hesitated, wondering what to say. Owen was clearly going through a lot, but I needed answers, and likely the only way I was going to get them was if I was honest.

“As you’re probably aware, we are currently working on Jenny’s murder. If her and Morag were close, then it’s possible that Morag might have known information that could help us... or know things that Jenny’s killer didn’t want us finding out.”

Owen looked between us slowly. “I dinnae understand what ye’re trying tae say?” He paused. “M-Mag died from a tragic a-accident, didnae she? Y-ye said she was found at the loch in her wetsuit… surely she d-drowned?”

I could sense Young’s eyes on me, and even without looking, I knew those eyes were staring at me in warning. I knew I should be cautious, knew it wouldn’t be fair on Owen to tell him information when we still had no idea how Morag had drowned, but I had to be as honest as I possibly could.

“We know that Morag died from drowning in the loch, but that’s all we know.” I paused. “There are many ways she could have drowned, but what if there’s a chance that her death is connected to Jenny’s... What if it wasn’t an accident and she was targeted by the same person who went after Jenny?”

Owen’s eyes widened in shock. “S-so ye think Mag’s death wisnae an accident? Is that what y-ye’re trying tae tell me?”

“We dinnae ken that,” Young answered quickly. While he didn’t look at me, I got the sense he was annoyed. “We dinnae ken anything right now until our pathologist gives us information.”

“So right now we are considering anything and everything,” I added. “Morag’s death could have been a tragic accident, but if it’s a cleverly disguised murder, then we have to look into that too. It wouldn’t be fair to Morag for us to not take her death seriously and really look into things.”

Owen looked scared, but he nodded. “I dinnae think I can accept Mag is really gone until I’ve seen the body... she’s ma wife, ye ken? And I want tae believe she’s coming home... but she loved Jenny, so if there’s anything I can dae tae help ye then I will.”

“Thank you,” I replied. I then continued quickly, not wanting to give either Young a moment to challenge me or Owen a moment to change his mind. “So, what can you tell us about Morag’s relationship with Jenny?”

“As I said, the two had always been close,” Owen answered. He had stopped crying now and sounded more confident when he spoke, like he felt better by knowing he was doing something to help. “Mag was the older sister, and I think that always made her a wee bit protective over Jenny. Jenny ‌saw Mag as someone she could depend on, and I ken that she always confided in Mag when she had problems. The lasses were sisters, but they were best friends tae.”

“Ye say Jenny confided in Morag aboot things, but did that involve things tae dae with work?” Young inquired.

“Aye, it did,” Owen responded. “Dinnae get me wrong, Jenny was a professional, and she niver broke any confidentiality!” Owen added quickly, like he thought he could somehow get the dead woman into trouble. “Mag wid tell me things Jenny said tae her, but a lot of the time Jenny niver went into specifics. I guess she wanted tae protect her clients. I ken that she wid tell Mag aboot difficulties though, even if she couldn’y tell her names. Mag said it helped Jenny just tae have Mag listen tae her.”

My heart was racing the more Owen spoke. With each word that left his lips, I became more confident that Morag knew things, things that made Jenny’s killer nervous. If she knew about Jenny’s work issues, then there was no telling what Morag knew and how dangerous she could be to Jenny’s killer.

While I still didn’t know if Morag’s death was accidental or not, I knew I’d be a fool to not look into further connections between the sisters.

Somehow, both of them had died within the space of a week, and I knew I wasn’t going to forget that fact anytime soon.

“How had Morag been since Jenny died?” I asked.

Owen frowned. “Tae be honest, she’s been a mess... she’d been more upset than I’d ever seen her. I tried tae be there fur her, but it was like she just couldn’y accept the fact that her sister was gone.” His eyes suddenly widened. “Wait... ye dinnae think that Mag went tae the loch because she was depressed... dae ye?”

My eyes also widened at Owen’s comment. In my head, I’d been convinced that Jenny’s murderer had killed Morag, but what if she’d gone to the loch knowing she wasn’t a strong enough swimmer?

I didn’t want to think about Morag’s death as a suicide, but I knew it was something I had to consider.

“Had anything about Morag’s behaviour recently suggested she could be suicidal?” I asked calmly.

Owen hesitated. “If anyone had told me before that they felt Mag was the sort who could hurt hersel then I’d tell them they were crazy... but seeing how she’s been these past few days.” Owen’s lip quivered. “She’s been devastated, Detective, and I was starting tae worry she widnae get out of it... and maybe she felt the same way and didnae confide in me aboot it.” He sighed. “I mean she went out in her wetsuit fur one thing and she hasnae worn that in years... so maybe she wore it last night kenning it wid help her tae some extent in the water.”

“Do ye believe she went tae the loch last night tae commit suicide, Owen?” Young asked calmly.

Owen didn’t respond immediately. He screwed up his face like he was in deep concentration and tapped his foot anxiously on the floor.

“Ma head says maybe... but ma heart says nae,” Owen eventually replied. “I ken she was struggling, but wid she really be that desperate? I just dinnae ken if I can really believe that... but I guess ye niver really ken in these situations, dae ye?”

“No, you don’t,” I replied. “But equally you knew your wife, and I’d say to trust your instincts.”

Owen looked up at me. “So, ye dinnae think she k-killed hersel then?”

I hesitated, knowing there was no right way to answer that question. “I didn’t know your wife, so I couldn’t say, but you did know her and I don’t think you want to upset yourself by thinking she could have done something like that without knowing.”

To my surprise, Owen chuckled coldly. “I think I’ve already upset masel, dinnae ye, Detective?”

I nodded gently. “Of course... I only meant you don’t want to try and think of anything that will only make you feel worse.”

At that moment, there was the sound of a car approaching. I glanced at Young, who nodded and made his way toward the window. After a second, he looked at me and nodded.

I turned to Owen. “When you were upstairs, we called someone from family liaison who will keep with you and look after you. They will also take you to see Mag when you’re ready, but there’s no hurry on that and⁠—”

“I want tae go now,” Owen interrupted.

“Feel free to take your time, Owen,” I replied. “As I said, the postmortem is still happening, and while I know Fiona would stop it for you to see her, that doesn’t mean you have to rush right⁠—”

“Nae, I have tae go, I have tae g-go now,” Owen cut me off shakily. “She was ma wife... ma wife. I-I have tae ken, have tae ken fur sure if she’s... if she’s really...”

He stopped speaking as he clutched his face, looking like he was fighting the urge to cry again. I gripped his shoulder, and he turned to me gratefully.

Part of me would have liked to continue asking Owen questions about Morag’s connection to Jenny, but it was clear the man was desperate to see the body of his wife. I knew I was in no position to stop him.

The man was grieving, and his emotions had to come first.

I looked at Young again, gesturing with my head for him to go and bring the officer in, then watched as he left. Once he was gone, I looked back at Owen and saw he was standing there in a still, stunned silence.

As I looked at him, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for not only being the bearer of bad news, but for questioning him about his dead sister-in-law too. However, as bad as I felt, I knew both the dead women and Owen deserved answers, and the only way I was going to get them was to keep digging.

14

Young came back into the house, nodding as a way of telling me that the officer was waiting in their car and would take Owen straight to pathology. I thanked him, then looked at Owen.

“The officer is waiting in their car outside. They will take you to see the body whenever you’re ready.”

Owen swallowed dramatically. “A-alright.” He hesitated. “Thank ye fur this... I-I wid be going crazy if I wisnae allowed tae go and see her... tae ken fur sure if it’s really h-her or not.”

“We can understand that,” Young answered diplomatically.

Owen stood up straight, even though his body still shook slightly, then looked at me. “I’m r-ready.”

I nodded, then together Young and I escorted Owen out of his house and towards the officer’s car. The officer rolled down their window, revealing a beautiful Asian woman with short black hair who looked as though she couldn’t be any older than her mid-twenties.

“Owen is ready to see Fiona in pathology.”

The woman nodded. “Of course, I’ll take him there right away. I promise tae call ye once we are done there.”

“That would be appreciated. Thank you.”

The woman smiled weakly before leaning across to the passenger side door to let Owen in. We said goodbye to them, then walked toward Young’s car. As we did, Young watched the car leave with narrowed eyes.

“I dinnae think Murray wid approve of some of the information ye gave him.”

I looked at him. “Do you approve?”

Young shrugged. “Not completely, but I get it. We needed answers and ye were trying tae get them.”

We were silent as we stepped into Young’s car, and the silence continued for the majority of the journey. As we finally drew closer to the station, I sensed Young looking at me.

“Hopefully there winnae be more people waiting outside fur us.”

I sighed. “There probably will be.”

Young nodded. “Clearly Owen haedna read anything aboot it, otherwise he’d have said something.”

He was probably too busy worrying about where his wife was to spend time looking at the news, I thought glumly.

Before I had the chance to reply, Young pulled his car into the station, and I groaned at the sight of the crowd. To my surprise, it wasn’t much bigger than before, but there was no denying that there were considerably more people than when we’d left.

“Let’s just park up and get straight in,” Young muttered.

The moment Young moved his car into a space, we climbed out and wasted no time getting into the station. As we moved, I could sense Balfour still among the others, looking at me.

I felt annoyed at the thought, and it only strengthened my resolve and forced my eyes away from the crowd.

We stepped through the reception and made a beeline straight to our department. I pushed the door open and wasn’t at all surprised to see that the rest of the team, including Murray, were all waiting for us.

Murray instantly turned in our direction as the door opened. “Glad ye’re back! So, what news?”

“Until Owen formally IDs the body, it’s hard to say for certain, but we saw some photos of Owen’s wife at his house… It is very likely she’s the woman we found at the loch.”

Fenton frowned sympathetically as Murray nodded.

“Well, at least we ken who the lass is now,” Boyd said.

“We know more than that,” I answered, causing the others to look at me curiously. “It turns out Morag, Owen’s wife, is Jenny Starling’s sister.”

Fenton gaped in shock while Gamble turned to me in surprise.

“Seriously?” Murray asked. “What are the chances of that!”

“My thoughts exactly, sir... what are the chances of that.”

There was a tense silence.

“Let me guess... yer suspicious brain has clicked in?” Murray asked, smirking slightly as he spoke.

“Isn’t yours? No one can deny the timing is weird.”

“Aye, it is,” Murray muttered.

“I think it is crucial that we start looking into connections between the two sisters,” I said quickly. “If there is any chance Morag was killed because she knew something, then we need to find out exactly what that was.”

Fenton looked between me and Murray thoughtfully. “I see yer point, sir, and the timing is... interesting, but Fiona seemed pretty confident that Morag’s death was an accidental drowning.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but hesitated when Murray beat me to it.

“I agree with Glover. The connection between the two victims is way tae big fur us tae just ignore! It wid be a bizarre coincidence if two sisters were found dead within a few days of each other in completely different circumstances. Now, I ken it’s possible!” Murray added, looking at Fenton’s uncertain expression. “But that disnae mean we shouldn’y look into anything we can. Maybe Morag was targeted due tae her connection tae Jenny.”

Fenton nodded. “Aye, sir. I’ll dae what ye ask.”

Murray thanked her, and before he could say anything else, I spoke.

“So, you know how we got on, but how did you all get on when we were out?”

Murray glanced at Fenton, then back at me. “Fenton and Boyd had nae luck when it came tae those license plates.”

Boyd grumbled. “Aye, that was one big waste of time!”

“Aye, we did think that wid be the case after we went tae see Owen,” Young replied. “They have two cars, and both of them were at their house.”

“So, if she didnae drive tae the loch, then how the hell did she get there?” Murray asked.

I nodded thoughtfully, knowing I’d been pondering the same question.

“She couldn’y have walked there,” Young answered. “A taxi, maybe?”

“Or someone gave her a lift,” I added.

Murray huffed. “Let’s just prioritise looking into connections between the sisters tae see if there is any way that Morag was targeted because of Jenny. We still havnae looked into the couple that found the body, but that job disnae seem as important now. I want everyone focusing on Jenny and Morag.”

Everyone agreed and started moving toward their desks. I didn’t have the chance to even turn before Murray was standing in front of me.

“Before ye go anywhere, speak tae Gamble. I believe he’d just finished looking into Nunn when ye got back.”

I quirked a surprised brow, wondering why Gamble hadn’t spoken about his findings in front of everyone, then made my way over to him. Once I reached his desk, it was clear he’d been expecting me.

“Sir,” Gamble said. “I take it Murray told ye I was⁠—”

“Done with looking into Nunn? Yeah, he did.” I paused. “So, what have you got for me?”

“Well, ye were right, sir, Nunn now lives in Scotland. Inverness, actually.”

Although I’d assumed this, that didn’t mean part of me wasn’t surprised to have my suspicions confirmed.

“How long has he been there?”

“Not tae long, sir,” Gamble answered. He paused as he looked at some information in his notebook. “It looks like he and his wife moved here around four years⁠—”

“His wife? He’s married?” I interrupted in shock.

“Aye, he’s been married tae a Sophia fur eight years.” Gamble furrowed his brow. “I assume she disnae ken anything aboot his past.”

“I doubt it,” I answered. “I can’t imagine many women would marry a convicted stalker, can you?”

Gamble snorted. “Nae, I cannae say I can.”

I nodded as my mind pictured Nunn. He was trying to live a normal life now, and likely was trying to stop his wife from knowing anything about his past. I thought about Jenny and wondered if she’d gone to ask him about his past, and if that forced him to attack her.

Had he seen red when she spoke to him, knowing she had the knowledge and power to turn his wife against him? Had he been so desperate to keep his life the way it was that he was willing to kill anyone who got in the way of that?

“Have you got anything else?” I asked. “Anything connecting him to Jenny?”

Gamble shook his head. “Nae, sir. Sorry.” He bowed his head guiltily. “I tried tae find out things aboot him, but the man is very private. It was an almost impossible task. If he ever did meet up with Jenny, there was nothing I could find tae confirm that.”

“Can’t say that surprises me,” I said bitterly. “If he is still up to his old ways, he’s hardly going to be putting himself out there, especially if there’s any chance he killed to keep his secrets.”

“Aye, I thought that.” Gamble paused, frowning disappointedly. “I just wish I had more fur ye, sir.”

I patted his shoulder roughly. “You did great, Gamble. Thanks.”

Gamble smiled happily. He then wrote down an address, passed it to me, then returned to his computer. I pocketed the piece of paper and walked toward Murray. When he saw me moving in his direction, he started walking and met me halfway.

“How’d it go with Gamble?” he asked before I had the chance to speak.

“He wasn’t able to find much out on Nunn, but he found his address and that he lives locally.”

Murray nodded. “Aye, he informed the rest of us aboot that when ye and Young were out.”

“So, what do you think I should do, sir? Do you want me to help the others look into the sisters, or should I make my way to Nunn’s address and see what he has to say for himself?”

“There are plenty of us here tae look into possible connections between Jenny and Morag, so go right off and see Nunn.” Murray rubbed his double chin thoughtfully. “Who kens, he might be our guy. The sooner we can confirm or deny that, the sooner we can move on and try to put all of this dreadful business behind us.”

“I agree, sir, the sooner I can see Nunn the better,” I answered, then glanced in Young’s direction. “Should I take Young with me?”

Murray considered the question for a heartbeat. “Aye, considering yer twos history, it probably widnae hurt fur ye tae have some support. I can organise fur some PCs tae follow ye there tae if ye want?”

I shook my head. “No, just Young will be fine. The last thing we want to do is cause Nunn to panic or feel threatened.”

Murray grunted. “Aye, well, ye sort of ken the man, so whatever ye say goes.”

I debated on telling Murray that I really didn’t know the man at all, but thought better of it. Instead, I thanked him and then looked at Young. “Rory, I’m off to ‌see Nunn. Are you coming?”

Young looked in my direction in surprise. “So he is here then, eh?”

I nodded. “Gamble has confirmed it.”

Young whistled. “Maybe we have our guy then!”

“Let’s hope,” I replied. “Now, get yourself ready, and we’ll go. I’m not looking forward to seeing the man, and I want to get it over with.”

As Young grabbed his coat and hat once more, I found myself thinking of Nunn nervously. I couldn’t deny that a large part of me dreaded seeing him. I hadn’t seen him in almost two decades, but I knew Nunn would still react badly at the sight of me. However, as much as I didn’t want to deal with memories of the past, two women were dead, and I had to get answers for them once and for all.

I didn’t know if Nunn was connected to the cases, but I knew seeing him was the only way to find out.

15

The journey to Nunn’s house in Inverness took almost an hour—it should have been almost half of that time, but we hit horrific traffic—and throughout that journey we mostly travelled in silence. I didn’t know what Young was thinking, but my thoughts had been glued on Nunn. I wondered what it was going to be like when we stood face to face after such a long time.

None of my thoughts had been positive, so I knew I had to be prepared for anything that could come my way once he saw me.

As Young pulled us into Nunn’s street, I wasn’t overly surprised to see that Nunn didn’t live in the nicest area of Inverness. His house looked almost half the size of Owen’s, and from the looks of the outside, Nunn hadn’t been able to afford to give it some much needed renovation. The walls were dated and crumbling slightly, the front door had an old arch attached that looked as though it could fall at any moment, and there was ivy growing near the windows that looked as though it would be difficult to get rid of.

I glanced at the other houses down the street and saw that Nunn’s looked in the worst condition. I wouldn’t have called it a bad house, but it certainly had room for improvement, and I could imagine some of the neighbours would have looked at it with disdain, disliking the way it made their street look untidy.

Once Young finished parking up, we climbed out of his car and started to approach the house. As we walked, Young subtly looked at me.

“Are ye ready fur this?”

I nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

The closer we got to the front door, the more nervous I felt. I chided the part of me that felt that way, knowing I had to be confident and professional if there was any way I was going to get answers out of the man, but I couldn’t push it away either.

It was like the thought of seeing Nunn again was making me regress back to my childhood, back to a time where he made my life hell after I dared to stand up to him.

Once we reached the door, my nerves were mostly under control, so I knocked loudly. I then lowered my hand and faced the door, feeling like I was about to face an unfair jury at trial.

I couldn’t help but wonder how Nunn would react when that door opened. Would he instantly be angry and lunge at me, ready to throttle me for the pain and embarrassment I’d caused him all ‌those years ago? Would he be so shocked that all he could do was stare at me? Or did part of him expect me after he released that article? Maybe he’d look at me smugly, knowing it was him that had brought me there.

I stood in a defensive position, in case Nunn was overly reactive, and seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps. At that sound, Young moved in closer to me, his body tense as though he was ready to spring into action at any given moment.

I appreciated it, knowing he was ‌ready to have my back if I needed it.

The door then opened slowly to reveal the clear silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway. I realised the woman must have been Nunn’s wife. I felt a wave of guilt at the thought of her, knowing that she probably didn’t know a thing about the man she’d married. However, as much as I felt bad for her, I also felt a sense of disappointment, since I’d been mentally and physically preparing myself for a face-to-face moment with Nunn.

It made the moment feel incredibly anticlimactic.

Once the door was open and Nunn’s wife, Sophia, stepped into view, I found myself shocked at the sight of her.

I knew her… and Nunn had known her too.

Sophia was the girl Nunn had been forcing himself on when I attacked him all ‌those years ago.

So, how, how had they ended up married so many years later?

It made no sense.

Sophia’s cheeks went red, and she gasped at the sight of me. “That can’t be James Glover... can it?”

I continued to look at her for a moment, thinking about how she simultaneously looked exactly like the girl I knew but equally like an entirely different person. When I’d known her in school, she’d been a slender girl whose clothes always looked big on her, but with age her figure had turned womanlier and more curvaceous. Her blonde hair had been long and thin in her youth, but it now had a lot more volume and curled down around her shoulders. Her eyes and nose were still the same though, and she still dressed more on the tomboyish side. As I looked at her, it felt like I was suddenly fifteen again.

She continued to blush as she looked at me, and as I took in her red cheeks, I couldn’t help but feel awkward.

When we’d been in school, Sophia had always had a crush on me, but that crush only intensified after I’d attacked Nunn. I’d attacked him because I’d despised the way he treated women, but in Sophia’s mind I’d attacked him because I wanted to protect her specifically. After I returned to school, she followed me around like a lost puppy, and it had been one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life trying to respectfully deal with it.

I still couldn’t figure out how she’d gone from chasing after her future husband’s attacker to marrying the creep who made her so uncomfortable.

“Hello, Sophia,” I responded. “Yes, it’s me.”

“I must admit, I’m surprised to see you, but I did wonder if I’d ever bump into you now that you’re in Scotland.”

So clearly she knew I was here... but was that through the news, through her still looking into my life, or had Nunn mentioned it?

“I take it Nunn lives here with you, does he?”

Sophia’s red face flushed an even brighter shade. “Oh, yes... erm, we got married in the end.”

Part of me wanted to ask her either how or why, but as my priority was Nunn, I knew it wasn’t wise to go down that rabbit hole.

Especially not if it would lead her to believe I had a reason to ask, like jealousy or desire.

“Is he in at the moment, or⁠—”

My sentence trailed off at the sound of approaching footsteps. As they came nearer, I noticed the clear look of fear on Sophia’s face. Although she continued to look at me, her eyes glazed over, like she was focusing on her nerves and not me.

Seconds later, a man pushed next to Sophia and looked down at her. “What’s taking so long? Who are you talking to⁠—”

Nunn looked up and froze at the sight of me.

Similar to Sophia, there were clear differences and changes from when I last saw him. In school, he’d been working on building some muscle but was still more scrawny than brawny. Now, he was built like a house. He also had a wiry beard covering his chin and neck, whereas in school his chin was covered in pimples and cuts. He had large green eyes and short black hair, which was oddly no different to the cropped cut he had in school.

I remembered him always running his hand over his hair, like he believed he was the epitome of cool, and something told me that habit likely hadn’t left him.

It took Nunn a few seconds, but eventually he recovered and his shocked expression turned to one of pure rage. “What the hell are you doing at my house?”

“It’s good to see you too, Adam.” I gestured to Young. “Can we please come in?”

Nunn swore repeatedly, but luckily didn’t step away from behind Sophia. “No, of course you can’t.”

Quicker than blinking, Nunn pulled a shocked Sophia into the house, then slammed the door in my face.

“Well, that could have gone worse,” Young muttered sarcastically. “He could have punched us then closed the door.”

I bit back the urge to sigh. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy talking to Nunn, but equally I knew we hadn’t travelled just over an hour to give up at the first no.

I went to knock on the door again, determined to force Nunn into speaking to me, but I moved back in surprise when it suddenly swung open once more. I stood defensively, expecting Nunn to charge out of the house to attack me, but I was surprised to see Sophia. She shut the door behind her quickly, then glanced at it nervously before looking back at me.

“Maybe you two fancy a walk?” she asked timidly.

I glanced back at the house, wondering how to politely reject her. As much as it would be interesting to hear what she had to say about Nunn, we hadn’t come all of that way to speak to her.

No. It was Nunn I wanted, and his clear avoidance of us was making me more suspicious of him by the second.

Sophia watched me, and likely pre-empting my response, she continued, her voice low. “I’m happy to talk to you both, but he won’t be.”

I didn’t need to ask her who she meant.

I sighed. “I’d be happy to talk with you, Sophia, but we’ve travelled a long time to speak to Nunn.”

Sophia bit her lip sympathetically, then stepped closer to me. “I’ll be honest with you, James. You have no chance in hell of getting him to come out of that house and speak to you, so you’ve got three options. You can either speak with me away from the house, try and get a warrant so he has no choice but to speak to you, or you can both just leave.” She paused, glancing between me and Young. “The choice is yours.”

I looked at Young, who shrugged, clearly unsure of what to say.

I didn’t know what to say myself. For a moment I felt paranoid, wondering if Sophia was trying to lure us away from the house so that Nunn could make a run for it, but as the street was small, I knew there was nowhere Nunn could run where we wouldn’t be able to head him off.

I looked away from Young and nodded politely at Sophia. “Very well, let’s go for a walk.”

Sophia smiled, then started to lead the way. We walked in silence for a couple of minutes—the entire time I kept looking back at the house to make sure Nunn wasn’t doing a runner—but eventually Sophia spoke.

“I’m sorry about Adam, but I don’t think he’s ever forgotten what you did to him.”

“I haven’t either,” I admitted begrudgingly. “But that was a long time ago.”

“It doesn’t matter to him. He can hold a grudge for a lifetime if he wants to... trust me, I’ve seen it, but it’s especially worse when it comes to you.” She paused, giving me a sheepish look. “He hates you, you know. More than I thought anyone could hate anyone. I don’t ever dare bring up your name. The moment you come up he either goes into a fit of rage or goes moody and sullen.”

“I must admit I was surprised to see you’d ended up marrying him.”

Sophia looked at me, an almost hopeful glint in her eye. “Not jealous, are you?”

“Not at all,” I answered politely. “I just remember how much you didn’t like him in school. I never would have put the two of you together.”

Sophia remained quiet, pulling the odd uncomfortable expression.

I couldn’t tell if her discomfort was due to me not giving her the answer she wanted or due to her not liking the question.

I kept silent, waiting for her to reply. When she didn’t, I spoke again. “So, he still talks angrily about me?”

“To be honest, he tries not to talk about you at all, because if he does, well... you can imagine.”

“How dae ye ken he hates James more than anything if he niver even mentions him?” Young asked.

Sophia sighed. “Trust me, I just know. I haven’t brought James up in years because of the look on his face when he hears about you. You’ve been on the news a lot recently, so I’ve only had to look at him to know his thoughts haven’t changed.”

I felt tense at the thought of me on the news. I’d have been foolish to not assume they’d seen it, but now that she’d brought it up it made me extra curious.

Was Nunn reacting badly when I was mentioned on the news because he’d put all of his efforts into framing me and those efforts had failed? Was he getting worked up at the thought of me, knowing I had the ability to figure out exactly what he had done? Or was it nothing more than a schoolboy’s grudge that had lasted Nunn a lifetime?

Sophia pulled me from my thoughts by touching my arm, causing me to look at her. She smiled warmly, but as her hand lingered on my arm, I resisted the urge to pull away.

“You know, I never believed a single thing they said about you... not for a second.”

I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Thanks, Sophia.”

She squeezed my arm. Again, I wanted to pull away but refrained from doing so. “And when they were trying to imply you could have killed that woman?” She shook her head. “No. The James I knew would never be capable of such things. I knew they had that wrong too.”

I felt my heart thumping in my chest at the mention of Jenny.

If I asked Sophia questions about Nunn would she be willing to answer? The Sophia I’d known before had despised Nunn, but now that they were married it was hard to know where her loyalties would lie.

“Thanks,” I answered. “We’re working hard to find out who killed Jenny… and we do have some suspects on our list.”

Sophia’s eyes glinted curiously, but she didn’t pry.

A part of me felt suspicious, and I wondered if she didn’t want to risk me talking about Nunn’s potential involvement.

“That’s good,” Sophia replied. She paused, glancing back toward her house as we continued to walk. “So, why are you here, anyway? What was it you wanted to speak to Adam about?”

“I take it you saw the article in the paper, the one mentioning him.”

To my surprise, Sophia’s eyes widened.

“No, I didn’t see anything to do with that!” She paused. “When I got up earlier Adam chucked the paper before I had the chance to see it. I asked why, but he just said it was all a bunch of rubbish, that it wasn't worth looking at.”

Young shot me a curious look as Sophia spoke. It was clear to me that Nunn had gone out of his way to hide the article from his wife, but why? If he had gone to the effort to get it in the paper why wouldn’t he want her to see it?

“Ah, I see,” I responded, hoping the disappointment I felt wasn’t obvious in my tone. “Well, it was about the time he and I got into a fight, so I wanted to speak to him about it.”

Sophia pulled a nervous expression. “I wouldn’t, if I were you... I can’t imagine you’d be able to bring that up without him going ballistic.”

“I understand that, but as it came out just this morning, I wanted to speak to him and find out if he knew where it came from, or if he himself was the one to⁠—”

“No, no way,” Sophia interrupted. “Adam hates that moment, and he’d be the last person to want everyone knowing about it.”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering what to say next. As it was clear that Sophia was adamant that Nunn couldn’t have had anything to do with the article I knew she wouldn’t believe me if I suggested he’d been capable of other things. Questioning her would be pointless. She’d be too biased to help.

Once we reached the end of the street, we started making our way back to her house. I couldn’t help but worry about Sophia and wonder how much she knew about Nunn’s activities after school.

“Sophia, before we came here to speak to Nunn we looked into him a bit.” I paused, watching as she looked at me thoughtfully. “Were you aware he has a criminal record?”

Sophia’s eyes widened again, showing me my suspicions were correct. She had no idea. “What do you mean?”

“We found out that around fifteen years ago he was arrested on two counts of stalking... two different women, both who went to the police about it.”

I was shocked when Sophia seemed to look relieved over that news.

“Oh, I thought you were going to say he’d... never mind. That isn’t too bad then.”

I quirked a brow. “It’s still serious though, Sophia.”

“I guess, but it all happened before we’d got together, so I don’t think I have any reason to worry about it now.”

I couldn’t believe her carefree attitude over the information.

I thought Sophia hadn’t changed much since school, but considering she could hear that about her husband and not even bat an eye, I knew she was a lot more different than I realised.

However, although her words seemed unbothered, I subtly looked at her as we walked and noticed a flash of concern passing over her face.

Clearly she cared more than she dared to let on.

Once we reached Nunn’s house, I knew I needed to do everything within my power to get him to speak to me. I needed answers, and I was certain he was the only person who could give them to me.

I couldn’t deny I was worried about Sophia. From her reaction, I knew she was concerned, and the way she tried to play down her feelings showed me there was a strong possibility that she knew much more about what her husband was capable of than she dared let on.

Something was clearly wrong with Nunn, and I knew once we reached his house I’d do everything at my disposal to get him to talk to me.

16

With Nunn’s door back in sight, I knew my only available option was to try again to get him to talk to me. I was under no illusions that this would be easy—on the contrary, I was aware it was going to be very, very difficult—but I hadn’t travelled all ‌that way for nothing.

Jenny and her sister were both dead, and if the man responsible for that was only separated from me by a rectangular piece of wood, then I knew I had to see him, had to stop him.

When Young and I didn’t stop walking when we drew close to the front of the house, Sophia stopped and shot me a confused look.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you, we’re here to speak to Nunn.”

Sophia blinked slowly, looking at me as though she feared I’d gone temporarily insane. “Did you not listen to a word I said?” She glanced anxiously at her door, then back at me. “There is no way he’ll talk to you. He’s more likely to kill you than talk to you.”

“Good,” I answered, ignoring Sophia’s look of shock. “If he tries to murder me, then that gives me good reason to drag him to the station.”

Sophia sighed. “James... this isn’t a game. He isn’t the sort to just⁠—”

“No, it isn’t a game,” I interrupted, my tone harsh. “This is people’s lives we are dealing with here, and I’m not going anywhere until I speak to Nunn.”

“Lives? What do you mean people’s lives?” Sophia asked rapidly, the volume of her voice rising. “How are people’s lives at stake if you’re just here to speak about that article?”

“That isn’t the only reason I’m here, Sophia.” I paused guiltily at the look on her face. “I’m sorry, but I can’t really say anything else to you other than that... not unless Nunn speaks to me and gives me the chance to ask him some questions.”

My feeling of guilt only intensified when Sophia started to look scared.

“O-Okay, you can try your luck and see if he’ll talk, but just don’t be surprised when you get nowhere with him.” She paused, glancing with fright at her house again. “Let me get in first and give me a minute or two, though, okay? If Adam sees us here together, he’ll think we’re working together, and I can’t deal with him thinking I’m against him... I-I just can’t.”

From the way Sophia’s voice started to tremble, a part of me feared she was implying that he could turn nasty toward her. As keen as I was for information, I didn’t want to put Sophia in harm’s way either. I ignored the part of me that felt angry, that wanted to say something to Nunn on her behalf, and instead I nodded gently. I gestured to Young for us to momentarily step aside.

Sophia shot me a grateful look before making her way inside ‌her home. I stood there with Young, glancing around at the windows and the front door for any signs of Nunn watching to see if we’d gone. When I saw no sign of him after a few minutes, I gestured for us to approach the house. As we walked the final few steps toward the front door, I felt Young moving anxiously beside me.

“I dinnae ken aboot ye, but I have a bad feeling aboot this.”

I nodded, understanding his reservations.

I knocked on the front door loudly once more. I wasn’t surprised when there was no answer.

I gritted my teeth and knocked again, even louder this time.

Again, no answer.

I gestured at Young for him to knock on the door, and together we knocked in unison.

“Nunn, come on!” I shouted as the two of us continued to knock. “I’m not going anywhere until you speak to me.”

I continued shouting and knocking until I heard the rushed sound of approaching footsteps.

I smiled smugly as they drew nearer, and then moments Nunn poked his head through the door. He’d latched it to only give himself just enough room to glare at me.

“Are you insane, James?” Nunn hissed. “I could report you for damaging my property!”

“That’s DCI Glover tae ye!” Young exclaimed irritably. “Show some goddamn respect.”

Nunn scoffed. “Nah, he’ll always be James to me!” He leered between us. “What are you going to do? Arrest me for calling someone by their legal name?”

“Not if you let us in and talk to us,” I replied calmly.

Nunn glared. “You really don’t know when to quit, do you? I’ve already told you no! Now, go away before I make you!”

“Come on, then,” Young growled. “Open the door and try tae make us go.”

“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Nunn queried grouchily. “The moment I open this door you’ll try to arrest me on some bullshit charge like⁠—”

“Like stalking women?” I asked coolly.

Nunn’s cheeks went red. “I haven’t stalked anyone, James, so if you’re here to accuse me of that, you’d better have proof. If you don’t, then you can piss off.”

“We aren’t here to talk to you about stalking, Nunn,” I answered. “We’re here to ask questions about something much more recent.” I paused. “Now, why don’t you ‌do yourself a favour and let us in?”

Nunn scoffed. “You don’t get it, do you? It doesn’t matter what you say or try to do, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you in. Now, if you’re done wasting my time, I’ve got a lot of shit that needs doing.”

He went to shut the door again, but he hesitated when Young started speaking.

“Why dinnae we arrest ye and drag ye tae the station then? If ye refuse tae speak tae us here, then that’s exactly what will end up happening.”

Nunn’s eyes glistened, and from the vile simper on his face I knew he wasn’t falling for it. “We all know you can’t do that without a warrant and probable cause... and you have neither.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you, Nunn.”

Nunn looked me up and down with a small smirk. “Oh, hiding a warrant in that ridiculous coat, are you? Or is it tucked under that ugly hat?”

I maintained his eye contact, making him see he wasn’t getting to me. “You’re right, Nunn. We don’t have a warrant, but we can easily get one. It’s up to you. You can either speak to us now and get this all over with, or we can come back here with a warrant and force you to talk.” I paused. “The choice is yours, but if you haven’t done anything wrong, then I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to just get this over with?”

“Because I’m a person with rights who deserves respect just as much as you do, James.” Nunn paused. “You’re trying to take my rights away by forcing me to talk, and I’m not having it!”

“Ye are as guilty as sin, Nunn,” Young spat. “Ye just dinnae want tae speak tae us as ye ken we’re onto ye!”

“Onto me for what?” Nunn asked impassively.

“You already know,” I responded coldly.

Nunn looked at me, his expression suggesting he was fighting the urge to smile. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to fall for that old trick?”

“Actually, yes, I do think you’re stupid enough,” I answered calmly. “But I don’t have the time to stand here and debate your level of intelligence. I would strongly suggest you speak to us now instead of wasting everyone’s time by⁠—”

“I’ve already told you... no warrant, no entry.”

Nunn went to pull the door shut, but I used my hand to stop it. Nunn looked down at it in disbelief.

“Are you crazy? Get your hand off ‌my door before I rip it off!”

“Go on then, force my hand off.”

Nunn snarled. “We both know the moment I touch you that you’ll say I assaulted you or some shit just to give you an excuse to arrest me!”

I didn’t know if I was annoyed or—in spite of myself—slightly impressed with Nunn’s level of restraint and knowledge. While I kept hoping he would react in a way that would allow us to force him to speak to us, he always seemed to be one step ahead.

If I couldn’t find some way of twisting his arm, then I knew I’d be left with no choice but to wait for a warrant. We’d already wasted enough time over the past few days, and I wasn’t willing to waste any more.

“We won’t arrest you without reason, Nunn,” I responded, trying to keep my tone calm. “But you must admit your behaviour is rather suspicious, isn’t it? If you had nothing to hide, then you’d have no issue talking to us, now would you?”

“Why would I want to speak to you, James?” Nunn asked angrily. “I’ve been lucky enough to not see your face for years, and having you suddenly back in my life isn’t exactly putting me in a good mood.”

“Then why did you go out of your way to bring me here?” I asked sharply.

Nunn furrowed his brow. “I didn’t bring you here, you idiot. You turned up here uninvited. Remember that? Or are you getting forgetful with age?”

I bit back the urge to point out that Nunn was older than me, but further pissing him off would get us nowhere.

“Did you enjoy seeing Balfour?”

“Who the hell is that? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, yeah, play dumb now, Nunn. It suits you, to be honest.”

Nunn glanced between me and Young in confusion. “I honestly have no idea what you’re banging on about.”

“The article, Nunn... the one you were so desperate to stop your wife from seeing this morning.”

Nunn smirked. “Oh, the one you likely went to the press about in order to show everyone what a big man you are.”

In my moment of surprise, my grip on the door faltered. “Why on Earth would I⁠—”

Before I could realise my mistake, Nunn used my shock to his advantage and shut the door. I swore under my breath and knocked on the door repeatedly.

“Nunn! Nunn, get back here!”

I continued knocking, hoping the irritating noise would push him to come to the door like it did before, but after a while, I knew I had to accept defeat.

I’d had one chance of getting Nunn to talk to me and I’d blown it.

As I knocked, I thought about Nunn’s smug smile when I mentioned the article. I just knew he was the one who’d given the information to Balfour.

He had all but confirmed it with that one look.

However, as much as I now felt I had more fuel for my fire, I also knew Nunn was no fool. There was no way in hell he’d be answering the door again without a warrant.

I looked at Young, who was giving me a sympathetic look, then gestured for him to follow me back to his car. To my surprise, Young gaped in shock, but quickly caught up with me.

“We’re going already?” Young asked.

“What choice do we have? We both know he won’t answer that door without a warrant.”

“Aye, I guess... I just didnae expect ye tae give up so quickly.”

Feeling slightly irked by the comment, I turned to Young with a frown. “What am I supposed to do, Rory? Set up camp outside ‌his front door? Knock on the door all day and see if he eventually gets annoyed again? No, I don’t like this any more than you do, but he clearly isn’t going to answer. We need to get back and fast track that warrant.”

Young threw up his hands defensively. “Sorry! I didnae mean it like that. I kent there isnae more we can dae here, I just thought ye’d be… unwilling tae leave as all.”

I kept quiet. I really didn’t want to leave, not when we hadn’t even had the chance to speak to Nunn, but what choice did we have?

We needed answers from Nunn, and it was clear the only way we’d get them was with a warrant. I knew getting one was our current priority.

I just hoped Nunn didn’t use our absence to make a run for it.

17

We reached Young’s car and entered it. As I went to close the car door behind me, I looked toward Nunn’s house and felt my skin crawl when I saw Nunn watching me from one of the lower windows. When he saw me looking, he winked at me with a smug, satisfied expression, then quickly pulled his blinds closed. I huffed unhappily, then glanced upward to see Sophia watching me from one of the upstairs windows. Her expression was sombre, and while I didn’t know what she was trying to tell me, it felt like she was trying to communicate with her eyes. However, before I could figure it out, she flinched and quickly moved away from the window.

I assumed she must have heard Nunn approaching, but I had no way of knowing for sure.

I hope she’ll be okay, I thought nervously. She risked a lot by talking to us, especially if Nunn is just as bad-tempered as I remember him being.

I shut the car door behind me, not wanting to give Nunn any reason to believe Sophia had been looking in my direction, and kept quiet as Young drove us away. For a few minutes Young was silent as he drove, and from his thoughtful expression I assumed he was going to keep quiet throughout the entire journey.

However, I was left surprised when Young suddenly turned to me.

“I’m still surprised we amn’t staying there,” he muttered. “Who kens, if we did, maybe he’d have caved.”

Part of me wanted to shout at Young, to tell him to grow some balls and be more forthright with his thoughts if he was only going to complain. However, we’d left Nunn’s, and there was no point in speculating what could have happened if we’d stayed. There was equally no point in getting into an argument with Young, not when it felt like so many others were against me.

Instead, I looked at Young, deciding it was time to change the topic of conversation. “Well, we’ll just have to speed up that warrant. As there’s no point in thinking much about it until we can, why don’t we talk about Fenton?”

Young instantly looked uncomfortable. “What aboot her?”

As I was annoyed with him, I thought that seeing him squirm would make me feel better, but one look at him shifting awkwardly in his seat caused my aggravation to disintegrate. “I tried to help you both earlier. Before we went to the crime scene, I told you both to travel separately from me, but I’d barely finished my sentence before you insisted that we all travelled together.” I paused. “What was all that about?”

Young went red and didn’t respond right away. For a moment I thought he was trying to get out of answering at all, but after an uncomfortable few seconds he spoke. “I have tae be honest with ye, mate... ye did me nae favours by trying tae push us together.”

I quirked my brows in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Again, Young was silent for a moment. “Well, I’ve been trying tae avoid Fenton ever since... ye ken.”

“Since what?”

Young looked at me, a look that screamed of both discomfort and irritation. “Ye ken... since what I said tae her last night.”

“Oh,” I replied, quickly realising what he meant. “But... why?”

“Isnae it obvious?” Young asked me. “I said I loved her, mate. That isnae the sort of thing ye can come back from.”

“Well, why would you want to come back from that?” I snorted. “I thought you’d been wanting to tell her how you felt for a while?”

“Aye, but not... that!” He sighed. “I wanted tae… ask her on a date or something, not bloody pour ma heart out like a prized prat!” He hesitated. “What am I supposed tae say tae her now?”

“Keep avoiding her and you’ll never know,” I answered. “I can tell she’s keen to speak to you, so put her out of her misery and have a conversation with her.”

“I dinnae want tae,” Young responded stubbornly. “I have nae idea what she wants tae say tae me aboot it all, but I ken nae good could come out of us talkin’ aboot what I said.”

“You can’t know that,” I answered. “Maybe she feels the same?”

“Aye, she might, but what if she disnae?” He paused, his face paling. “We work together, ye ken? It isnae like I’ve told someone I love them and will niver need tae see them again. If she disnae feel the same and I’ve made her uncomfortable, then we will still have tae see one another every day... that’s a lot of time to be weird around one another and act like nothing has happened.”

As Young spoke, I watched him in surprise. Anyone with eyes could see that Fenton was into him, so why was he so convinced she wasn’t? Did he think she simply found him attractive and her feelings were no more than surface level? Or was he genuinely terrified that he could have ruined the dynamic of the group by proclaiming his love for her?

“I think you’re getting yourself far too worked up over this all, mate.” I squeezed his shoulder supportively. “The longer you leave things, the worse you’re going to build things up in your head. I would suggest that you just talk to her and get things out in the open. You can’t exactly avoid her forever, now, can you?”

“Hey, if we keep finding a body every few days like we have, then maybe I can! It’s been damn near impossible tae talk tae anyone with all of this going on.”

I snorted. “Maybe not wish for people’s deaths just so you can avoid the woman you like?”

Young turned to me with narrowed eyes. “Alright, Mr. Love expert over there. How’s yer love life going with Ella?”

I chuckled dryly. “True, guess I’m being a bit of a hypocrite there.” I paused, grimacing awkwardly. “The timing of these murder cases has been unfortunate. I haven’t been able to have much time with her, and if I do get to see her, it’s always with other people… or I’m not even there long enough to say much. I always get called away.”

Young frowned sympathetically. “Ella will understand that, mate. Ye ken she puts our cases first just as much as anyone else on the team.”

“I know... but that doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.” I paused. “She’s been through so much, all because of me, and I haven’t even been able to see her much.”

“I’ve felt awful aboot it tae, but there isnae anything we could have done differently.” He hesitated, smirking slightly. “Have I mentioned before that we used tae be quiet around here until ye came along?”

I smiled weakly. “Maybe once or twice.”

Young chuckled. “It isnae like we’ve had a lot of time tae see her, and ye ken how it is. Inverness is at least an hour round trip and with two bodies on our hands it isnae like we’ve had time tae spare.”

My stomach squirmed uncomfortably when I thought about the fact that we were now leaving Inverness. We were closer to Paterson then than we would be from our station, but as much as I desired to see her, I knew the cases had to come first.

I also knew Young was right. If I had even suggested to Paterson that I’d prioritised seeing her over figuring out two potential murders, she’d never let me hear the end of it.

I smiled at the thought in spite of myself, picturing Paterson’s stern words if she thought I was slacking on a case. It felt nice to think about her, to imagine being with her, and I knew that my first job once these cases were closed would be to go and see her.

The rest of the car journey went by surprisingly quickly, and in what felt like no time at all, we were driving past the annoyingly big crowd outside ‌the station and parking up close to it. I then rushed inside ‌the station with Young, and we didn’t stop until we reached our department. Young reached it first, so he shoved the door open and held it open for me. I thanked him, then stepped into the station, not feeling at all surprised when I saw that the entire team was there.

They all looked at us hopefully, causing my stomach to drop.

I had no good news for them, and I knew they’d be expecting it.

“Well, what have ye got fur us?” Murray asked immediately. “I ken ye asked fur a warrant, so does that mean ye have reason tae believe he’s our guy?”

Young and I glanced at one another before looking back at the rest of the team.

“Unfortunately, things didn’t go anywhere with Nunn, sir. We tried to get him to talk to us, but he refused.”

“Refused?” Murray repeated. “So, what, ye didnae get anything out of him?”

“His wife chatted tae us fur a bit, but we didnae get much out of her,” Young responded. “We tried tae get Nunn tae speak tae us, but he kept insisting he kent his rights and that he didnae have tae talk tae us.”

“The arrogant prick,” Murray grumbled. “I swear these ex-criminals think they ken the whole damn system after being arrested one time.” He sighed. “So, ye wanted the warrant just as a way of gett’n into his house then, I take it?”

“Pretty much, sir,” I admitted.

Murray grimaced. “I had better pass that on. I dinnae think it will help our chances of gett’n a warrant... we have nothing solid on Nunn, and I think they’ll be wanting something a wee bit more concrete before they approve it.”

I groaned. “We need a warrant, sir, it’s the only way we’ll get him to talk.”

Murray nodded understandingly. “I get that, Glover, but we cannae just ask fur a warrant tae force people tae let us into their homes... right now all we have on Nunn is a story that was released aboot ye. With all due respect, it isnae him that comes across as bad in that story, so it winnae help our case fur a warrant.” He glanced between me and Young. “So ye really got nothing from him? Nothing at all?”

“Nae, sir,” Young responded. “The trip was a complete waste of time.”

Murray swore. “Fantastic! Just bloody fantastic.”

“While we didn’t get much of a chance to speak to him, he all but admitted to being behind the article,” I said bitterly. “Once I threw it at him, he kept giving me these smug looks and saying it must have been me who published it.” I paused, sighing deeply. “Not that any of that proves anything, but it does make me certain we are on the right track.”

To move the conversation on, and to distract me from their clear disappointment, I glanced around at the team. “You know how we got on, but how did you all get on when we were gone?”

Murray glanced at Fenton, making a gesture with his head for her to go first. Fenton nodded, then stepped closer to me and Young. As she moved in our direction, I saw her give Young a nervous look before putting most of her focus on me.

“I was looking into possible connections between Jenny and Morag, but I admit I didnae find tae much.” She paused. “But I could see that Owen was right, though. The two did look really close.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked hopefully.

“Well, we ken from before that Jenny was private on everything so we couldn’y look into her much, but luckily her sister didnae share her level of online scepticism. Pretty much all of her social media accounts were accessible tae the public.” She bit her lip. “Morag didnae exactly post much that was overly helpful, but there were quite a few photos of the two together. I also noticed that she hasnae posted anything at all since Jenny died.”

“Owen suggested that Morag had been pretty depressed after Jenny died, so that’s likely why,” I answered.

Fenton nodded. “Aye, that was what I was thinking.”

“Is that it, or did you find anything else out?”

“Well, I did find a wee bit more when I looked into just Morag.”

My eyes widened. “Go on! What?”

“Well, let’s just say I found out some information connected tae her place of work,” Fenton answered.

“What’s her job?” I asked. “Well, was.”

“She worked in an office, sir.”

My brow furrowed at Fenton’s words. If Morag just worked in an office, what about her job could Fenton have found relevant to the case?

“An office...” I responded.

Fenton smiled weakly. “Now, I ken what ye are thinking, but when I looked on Morag’s Facebook, she posted a couple of cryptic posts aboot horrible jobs and people. It wisnae much, but it really stood out against some of her other posts, so I decided tae contact her workplace tae see what I could find out. Anyway, I got ‌hold of Morag’s manager, who admitted Morag had been having some issues there. I tried tae ask aboot them, but she wisnae willing tae say much on the phone and said she’d feel more comfortable talking aboot it in person.”

I tried and failed to hide my excitement at these words.

If Morag’s manager was only willing to speak to the police in person, did that mean Morag’s work-related issues were quite bad? Was it at all possible that Morag’s death wasn’t connected to her sister like I thought and instead was connected to workplace drama?

“That’s great work, Fenton! If you’re up for it, we can go and see this manager now.”

“Me, sir?” Fenton asked hopefully.

I smiled. “You were the one to find this out, so it’s only right that you come along.”

I looked around at the others. “Before we go, did anyone else find anything useful?”

Boyd shook his head. “I’m now going tae start looking into the couple that found Morag, but I had nae luck finding anything helpful when looking into other things before.”

Murray stepped closer to me. “If anyone had found anything, they’d have said! Now, hurry up and go and see that manager.”

I nodded, then gestured for Fenton to grab her coat. Fenton nodded keenly and rushed to get it.

As I waited for her to get ready, I found my thoughts trailing to Owen. I’d admitted to him the possibility that his wife’s death might not have been an accident, so why didn’t he bring up Morag’s issues at work? Was it possible Morag had hidden them from him, or did he know about them and just felt that they weren’t important enough to mention?

I didn’t know what it was about Owen, but something about him kept forming a question mark in my mind. While I knew married couples didn’t talk to one another about everything, his lack of knowledge still confused me. It made me wonder if he had something to hide.

I knew the golden rule was that in most homicides the guilty person was the spouse, but Owen had seemed genuinely shocked and devastated. Still, I had to keep an open mind.

Right now, our priority was finding out about Morag’s work issues whilst we waited for the warrant to search Nunn’s place. I just had to hope one of those options would come back with results...

If not, I might have no choice but to consider the husband.

18

As we said our goodbyes and started to exit our department, I couldn’t help but notice Fenton trying hard to catch Young’s eye, but Young, being the stubborn mule that he was, kept his gaze fixed on his computer so Fenton couldn’t see him.

I hated the look of hurt and disappointment on Fenton’s face as she looked away from him, and I made a mental note to kick Young up the arse the moment we got back.

We moved in silence out of our department and out of the station. Once we pushed out of the station’s exit, I risked a glance at the crowd and held back a groan when I saw, again, that it had increased in size.

It felt like very recent history was repeating itself. The press and the public had turned against me, and I couldn’t help but irritably think about the fact that I couldn’t seem to catch a break.

“Bloody vultures,” Fenton said with distaste as I put my belt on. “They dinnae give up, dae they?”

“No, they don’t,” I responded bitterly. “And I have a feeling this time they really won’t until they get me out of this place.”

Fenton looked at me worriedly. “Dinnae say things like that, sir! We’d be lost without ye!”

I smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks, Fenton. Don’t worry, they won’t be pushing me away from anywhere... I just know they’re going to give it a bloody good try after reading that article.”

“Ye ken what they say, sir, today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s toilet paper.”

To my surprise, I found myself laughing. “Thanks, Fenton.”

She smiled, then put her focus back onto the road. There was silence between us for a few minutes before Fenton spoke.

“So, did ye and Young get on okay at Nunn’s?” She paused awkwardly. “I ken the trip was a waste, but did ye talk much during the long drives?”

Fenton tried to sound casual, but her level of subtlety could fill a teaspoon. I knew what she really wanted to ask me was whether or not Young had said anything to me about her. I was quiet for a few seconds as I tried to figure out how to respond. “Yeah, we got on okay. It’s a shame that Nunn refused to be helpful, but at least it gave me and Young time to talk about the case.”

“Right, the case,” Fenton responded disappointedly. Fenton, clearly realising her tone, cleared her throat. “Aye, that’s good.”

I kept quiet, wondering if I should just put her out of her misery, but before I could speak, she beat me to it. “Did Young seem alright when it was just ye two then? He didnae seem, I dinnae ken, a wee bit quiet?”

I looked at Fenton, saw the hopeful look on her face, and knew I couldn’t disappoint her. The two of us had grown even closer over the past few days, so I knew it wouldn’t have been right to not offer her advice the same way I had Young.

“If you want to ask me if he spoke about you, then you can, you know.” I paused, smiling at her quickly reddening cheeks. “You don’t need to play it coy with me.”

“Aye, right... thanks, sir,” She smiled awkwardly. “So... did he speak aboot me?”

I chuckled wryly. “Well, to tell you the truth, I brought you up to see what he had to say.”

“And?” Fenton asked before I’d barely finished my sentence.

I hesitated. “This keeps between us, right? You won’t tell Rory I said anything, or⁠—”

“Nae, I promise I winnae tell a soul!” Fenton exclaimed hastily.

I nodded. “Good. Well, if you want honesty, he’s feeling a bit uncomfortable after what he blurted out in front of Arran.”

Fenton’s cheeks went even redder. “Ye mean when he said he loved me?”

“Yep, that would be it.”

“But why? Why winnae he just speak tae me aboot it?” She paused. “I keep trying tae get him alone, or try talking tae him, but…”

“He just feels awkward about it and doesn’t know what to say to you now, or what you might think about it all. I think he feels that if he avoids talking to you, then he doesn’t need to feel further embarrassed.”

“Ah, so he is avoiding me then.” Fenton sighed. “I thought it seemed like he was, but I guess I just hoped it was in ma head.”

I looked at her guiltily. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to upset you.”

Fenton looked at me in surprise. “Nae, ye dinnae have anything tae apologise fur! I’m glad tae ken, but I just wish I kent what I could dae tae get him tae talk tae me.”

“We both know what Rory is like... if you want my advice, I’d suggest that you’re going to have to talk to him first.”

“I’ve been trying tae catch his eye, sir, but he’s been⁠—”

“That’s where you’re going wrong,” I interrupted. “Young will keep avoiding you if you do that, but if you get him in a position where he has no choice, he can’t run away. Then, once you have him, just… tell him how you feel.”

“That disnae sound easy,” Fenton said nervously.

“It won’t be, but you’ll be glad when it’s done and you two can act normally around one another again.”

“Aye, that’s fur sure.” Fenton paused, smiling slightly. “I always thought if it came tae it that he widnae have the guts tae tell me, that I’d have tae go first... so when he said what he did.” She paused again, looking embarrassed. “I cannae deny it surprised me.”

“I think it surprised him,” I said playfully.

Fenton giggled, then looked at me. “Thanks fur this, sir.”

“Don’t mention it,” I answered. “Seriously, don’t mention it, okay? Because Rory would probably murder me if he thought I—” I trailed off as my phone started to ring. “Sorry, Fenton, I’d better get that.”

“Aye, of course!”

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and frowned at it. “It’s a number I haven't got saved.”

Fenton opened her mouth to speak, but I answered the phone and put it on speaker before she could.

“Hello, DCI Glover speaking.”

“Hey, it’s Lin, the officer ye left with Owen.”

I looked at Fenton eagerly and gestured for her to turn the radio down. “Lin, hi. What can I do for you?”

“You asked me to call once we’d been to see Fiona, so I’m doing just that.”

“How did it go?”

Lin paused. “Owen confirmed that the body is definitely his wife, Morag.”

I whistled quietly. “We thought that was the case, but it’s good to know for certain... how is he coping?”

“As ye can imagine, he isnae coping much at all... he broke down a lot when he saw the body.” She paused again. “He’s still with it now and with someone from Fiona’s team, so I thought I’d step out tae call ye.”

“I appreciate that, thank you. Have you got anything else you can tell us?”

“Nae, sorry. I will keep with Owen until he tells me tae leave, but at least now ye ken what ye’re dealing with.”

“Thanks, Lin. Call me again if you have anything else for me or if Owen wants to ask me anything.”

“Will dae. Good luck.”

Lin hung up the phone. The moment she did, I pocketed it and looked at Fenton.

“So... now we ken fur sure what we’re dealing with, eh?” Fenton asked nervously.

I nodded. “I was pretty confident the body was Morag’s after seeing photos, but a formal ID always does help matters.”

Fenton sighed. “Poor Owen.”

I nodded again, unwilling to admit to her my slight reservations about him.

The poor man was grieving his wife, and yet I couldn’t help but keep looking at him as a suspect.

Guilty until proven innocent, I thought calmly.

I pulled myself from my thoughts and looked at Fenton.

“I better call the others and let them know.”

Fenton nodded. “Aye, good idea.”

Fenton nodded.

Luckily Murray answered quickly. “Glover, what’s wrong? Why are ye calling us already?”

“Sorry, sir, it’s just a quick one. Lin from Family Liaison has just called me. Owen has officially confirmed the victim is Morag.”

Murray grunted. “Aye, well, I guess we already kent that, but it’s good tae ken fur certain.” He paused. “Was there anything else?”

“No, sir, that was it⁠—”

“Then get back tae work and I’ll speak tae ye soon!”

Murray ended the call quickly, causing me to shake my head.

“That man’s always in a hurry, I swear.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he was, sir, because we’re here.”

I looked ahead to see a large office between several smaller buildings. As Beauly wasn’t the biggest city, I was slightly surprised when I took in the size of the office. It was a tall, wide building with at least a hundred windows. It was painted a dull grey, and nothing about it seemed inviting. From the looks of the place, I could imagine it employed a great deal of people.

Amazing... means a longer list of potential suspects for us to deal with, I thought irritably.

Fenton parked up in front of the office, and together we climbed out of her car. I looked up at the building, hoping that the place was going to hold answers for us. We needed to know if it was simply an office fallout, or something much more deadly.

19

Once we entered the office’s main door, I heard Fenton whistle loudly.

“Jesus, sir! And I thought it looked big from the outside.”

I nodded briefly as I gazed around at the reception. I immediately caught the receptionist’s eye. She had a worn out look to her, like she’d lost all passion for her job years ago, and stared at us with small, unbothered eyes.

“Can I help ye?” she asked, her tone monotone.

“Aye, we are here tae speak tae Janine Hammer,” Fenton asked. “Can ye tell us where we can find her, please?”

The woman nodded, her movements slower than a sloth. “Aye, her office is on the fifth floor... ye cannae miss it.”

“Thanks,” Fenton and I said in unison.

As we walked away, Fenton muttered to me.

“Who hired Happy over there?”

I smiled and bit back a laugh.

As we walked, my smile quickly vanished. Anytime I looked at someone, I couldn’t help but feel as though they looked completely sapped of energy. Everyone seemed devoid of any cheer.

Fenton tapped my elbow, causing me to turn and look at her. Her expression looked grave.

“Have ye seen the people we’ve passed? They all look miserable as sin.”

I nodded grimly. “Yes, I was just thinking the same thing.”

Fenton glanced around, as though she was checking if anyone was nearby. “I wonder if Morag felt like that when she was here.”

I knew it was likely that Morag had felt like that working there, especially as she’d suggested unhappiness on her social media. Owen’s words suddenly sprang to my mind.

Ye dinnae think that Mag went tae the loch because she was depressed... dae ye?

I hadn’t seriously considered suicide as an option before, but in that moment I didn’t know what to think. Owen had admitted she was struggling after her sister’s murder, and it also seemed as though she was having issues at work too.

Was it possible that Jenny’s murder was the cherry on top? Maybe she thought there was only one way to get away from it all?

Even as the question entered my mind, I found myself quickly brushing it aside. While I knew I had to keep an open mind to the idea that Morag could have killed herself, my gut was telling me that her death wasn’t a suicide.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard someone gasp. I looked up, and to my great annoyance, saw a middle-aged woman looking at me in surprise. The moment she saw my eyes on her, she lowered her head fearfully and quickly walked away. I tried to ignore it, but it soon became apparent that several people were looking at me in shock, muttering and pointing as I passed.

“Ignore them,” Fenton muttered to me under her breath, showing me that she’d noticed their stares too. “Just ignore them, aye? We’ve got a job tae dae after all.”

I did what she said, but avoiding peoples’ gazes wasn’t actually making me feel any better.

I was annoyed at Balfour, annoyed over the article, and hated the fact that it was already causing me issues. I just had to hope that those issues wouldn’t increase and make working on the case even more difficult than it already was.

Eventually we made it to the right floor, and it became clear why the receptionist said that Hammer’s office would be hard to miss. We’d barely reached the top of the stairs when, just to the right, there was a door with a large gold plaque on it with the name ‘Janine Hammer’ carved into it.

It looked far too ostentatious for my liking, but I knew some people liked to show off.

I looked away from the door and toward Fenton. Fenton was waiting beside me, giving me a look that plainly said she was waiting for me to take the lead. I edged toward the door then knocked on it loudly.

“Enter,” a woman’s deep voice barked impatiently.

I pushed open the door and held it open for Fenton. She smiled at me gratefully as she passed, then waited near the door for me to enter. I then stepped into the office myself and looked around the room with a mixture of revulsion and horror.

It had been impossible to tell from the outside, but the entire office was decorated in an array of purples and pinks. There were flowers everywhere, odd pieces of brightly colored art and decorations, and a large pink rug that separated the front door from the desk. The color was such an affront I had to look down at my shoes for a moment.

However, as weird as the aesthetic of the room was, it became even weirder in comparison to Hammer herself.

The room was feminine to every degree, and yet Hammer didn’t look overly feminine herself. If anything, she reminded me oddly of Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. She had long, dark hair that was tied back in a bun so severe I was surprised the skin around Hammer's face wasn’t being stretched backward. Her build was on the larger size, but due to her suit I couldn’t tell if her bulk was from muscle or just being overweight. Her suit reminded me of a headmistress that had been asked to retire for many years but had refused to step back. There were lines on her face and greys in her hair, and if I had to hazard a guess, I’d have put her down as being in her late fifties to early sixties.

Hammer narrowed her thick eyebrows, looking between me and Fenton suspiciously. “Who are ye? I ken fur a fact that neither of ye work here.”

As much as Hammer gave off sharp, impatient energy, if anything she also came across as focused and intelligent too. All the ingredients for a good, albeit stereotypical manager.

“Hello, I believe you spoke to my colleague here on the phone a little while ago.” I gestured toward Fenton. “My name is DCI James Glover, and my colleague here is DC Eleanor Fenton. She’d spoken to you about⁠—”

“Aye, aye, of course I remember that,” Hammer interrupted snappishly. “I’m not senile, ye ken.”

I smiled. “I wasn’t implying you were, Janine. I was merely letting you know who we are and⁠—”

“Aye, well, I ken who ye are, but I’m more bothered by why ye are here.” Her green eyes darted suspiciously between me and Fenton. “I was being asked questions aboot Morag, but I want tae ken why? She isnae in today and she hasnae been answering ma calls or emails, so what’s going on?”

I hesitated for a second, feeling slightly taken aback by how astute and to the point she was. I had no doubt in my mind that there’d be no point in lying to her. She’d be able to see through that quickly, so I recovered and answered.

“I’m sorry to break this to you, but we found Morag’s body this morning so we’re now trying to⁠—”

“Dead?” Hammer interrupted, her tone showing the first signs of softness. “She’s really dead?”

I frowned sympathetically. “I’m afraid so. Her husband has confirmed the body... I’m sorry to break this to you.”

Hammer, who had been standing since we’d arrived in her office, slowly sunk into the chair behind her desk. She stared into the distance, looking in total disbelief. “I cannae believe she’s dead...”

Hammer had taken me aback many times in the short space of time that I’d been in her office, but I was more surprised than ever to see the clear sorrow etched across her features. From seeing her staff I assumed she was a tyrant of a boss, one who overworked her employees and could barely remember their names, and yet here she was seeming genuinely devastated that one of them had died.

“I can imagine this is quite a shock,” I answered. “I’m sorry to cause you such upset, but with Morag being dead we are trying to gather as much of a picture of her life as we can, and as you’re her boss, we believe you⁠—”

“How did she die?” Hammer interrupted, her tone still gentle.

I hesitated. “Before I answer, I must warn you that news of her death isn’t yet public knowledge, so I would appreciate it if anything we speak about in here is kept in the strictest of confidences.”

Hammer nodded slowly. “Aye, of course. I just want tae ken what happened tae her.”

You aren’t the only one, I thought tiredly.

“We still don’t know full details on her cause of death. Our pathologist is still working on the postmortem, but Morag’s body was found in the waters of Loch Ness.” I paused, considering how much to say. “We don’t currently know if this death was accidental or suspicious, but as things stand we are considering all options until we know more. We just hope you might be able to help us.”

“I dinnae ken how I can, but I can assure ye I will dae anything I can.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “Now, would you say you two were close?”

Hammer hesitated thoughtfully. “Not exactly close, but she was an employee I’d have said I kent more than most I suppose.”

I nodded. “Owen mentioned she’d been depressed lately, struggling after the death of her sister. I believe he has concerns that she might have decided to take her own life after⁠—”

“Nae,” Hammer interrupted.

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Ye are going tae ask me if I believe she could have killed hersel, Detective, so I’m telling ye that nae, I dae not think she wid have done that.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I might not have been exactly friends with Morag, but I kent her well enough tae ken she had a strong spirit.” She paused. “I’ve seen her go through some difficult times and she has always shown nothing less than strength. Most people wid want time off after suffering a bereavement, but Morag was determined tae keep hersel busy and be here." She paused, glaring between me and Fenton. “Does that sound like someone who wid hurt themselves tae ye?”

“I’m not saying I believe that’s what she did, Janine, I’m just saying it’s a theory of ours that we are floating whilst we⁠—”

“Well, I can tell ye now ye can remove that theory from yer lists, detectives,” Hammer interrupted. “I may not ken everything, but that is one thing I’m very certain of.”

I nodded, unsure how to respond. Hammer spoke with such confidence and certainty over her belief that Morag wouldn’t have killed herself, and yet Morag’s own husband believed she could have done it. I knew logically that Owen would have known Morag better, and yet I couldn’t deny that Hammer’s certain tone was winning me over.

“Well, as you know the main reason we are here is because of what you said to my colleague here on the phone.” I paused. “You mentioned that Morag had been having some difficulties in the office. What sort of thing are we talking about here? Just general office disagreements or more than that?”

Hammer’s face darkened. “Dae ye think I’d have mentioned it if it was just office hijinks, Detective? I’m nae fool, when yer colleague there was asking me questions aboot Morag I kent something couldn’y be right.” She paused. “I didnae think fur one second she wid be dead, but I did fear something was wrong.”

“And ye mentioned her issues at work as ye believe they’re relevant?” Fenton inquired.

“They might be, aye.”

“Then tell us, please,” I replied.

Hammer nodded. She gestured with her hand for me and Fenton to take a seat. Fenton glanced at me, but the moment she saw me grabbing a chair and pulling it toward Hammer’s desk she did the same. Once we were sitting down and facing Hammer, she spoke.

“A few months back I made a stupid decision,” Hammer said bitterly. “I always dae a great deal of research into ma staff, so when I needed a new assistant manager I made sure I only took someone on who had the right credentials. I found a man who seemed perfect on paper, but in reality he was… far from that.” She paused, and for a second I felt sorry for Hammer. I could tell from the way she looked into the distance that she was blaming herself for picking wrong, and her insistence on taking the blame when anything happened in her own team matched how I dealt with things exactly. “It was soon brought tae ma attention that while he had the right credentials, he didnae have a clue how tae treat the staff. He was rude tae them, treated them poorly, and made them feel awful. It was Morag who first brought this up tae me, and I took her allegations very seriously.”

“What did she accuse him of exactly?” I asked.

“Let’s just say he seemed tae think because of his position that he was better than everyone else,” Hammer answered, her tone laced with disgust. “Morag said he was treating her more like a servant than a colleague, forcing her tae run errands fur him, gett’n her tae dae things that were below her station just because he couldn’y be bothered tae dae them himsel.” She sighed. “I spoke tae some other colleagues who agreed with Morag, so naturally I made the decision tae fire him.”

I listened intently. If the man had been fired after a short period of time then why was Hammer so concerned about him? Had he been more awful than she was admitting to, or was there something else I was missing?

I went to ask her, but she began to speak again.

“He took that badly and refused tae leave the building. I only managed tae get him out once security got involved!” She hesitated. “I still have nae idea why he thought Morag was the one tae complain aboot him, but when I fired him he kept asking aboot her, calling her a liar and saying that he haedna done anything tae her. I certainly niver told him aboot Morag. I’d niver break confidentiality like that, but somehow he seemed tae ken it was her… and when he was taken away, he kept screaming aboot her, making threatening comments and saying he was going tae make her suffer.”

I sensed Fenton looking at me nervously. I had to admit I was feeling concerned too. What Hammer was describing was the behaviour of a man who wanted Morag punished, maybe even dead.

“When did this happen, when did he lose his job?” I asked.

“Around four days ago.”

I nodded, knowing the timing would make sense with Morag’s death. The man could have bided his time, spending the past few days coming up with a revenge plan before enacting it.

“And have you seen or heard anything from him since he was fired?” I pressed.

“I havnae... but he didnae leave poor Morag alone,” Hammer answered darkly. “Pretty much from the moment he was pulled out of the building he started tae harass her. He sent her numerous threatening emails and I ken it was gett’n tae a point where Morag was feeling frightened.”

I frowned. “If this was happening then why wasn’t it reported to the police?”

Hammer held up her hands defensively. “Hey, dinnae blame me here! I can assure ye the moment it was brought tae ma attention I pulled Morag in and told her tae go tae the polis and show them, but Morag didnae want that.” Her hands dropped and so did her bottom lip. “If I kent things could have gotten this bad, I’d have forced her tae go tae the polis, but she told me she didnae want tae... I just wish she listened now, but she insisted it wid be a waste of polis time. She said that ye all had much more serious cases tae occupy yer time and she didnae want that taken away.”

I grimaced, knowing Morag likely refused to go to the police because she wanted the entire force to focus on her sister’s murder.

“Of course,” I answered. “I didn’t mean to imply that any of this was your fault.”

“It is though... tae an extent.” She sighed. “I should have pushed her tae go tae the polis instead of accepting her decision, but the past couple of days she’d barely mentioned the emails. She’d been tae upset over her sister’s death. I guess as she wisnae bringing it up as much I thought maybe he’d stopped, but maybe he haedna.”

“She shouldn’y have been at work after what she’d been through with Jenny,” Fenton said sternly.

Hammer looked at her. “Trust me, I agree with ye. I told her tae take as much time as she needed and that she’d still receive full pay, but she point blank refused. Said she wid rather keep hersel busy.”

The more I listened to Hammer, the more I felt guilty over my initial assumption of her and the office environment. I’d been convinced the place gave off a bad vibe, but now it was clear that her assistant manager was the one who had caused such upset in the place, not Hammer herself.

It was clear she cared about her staff, and I’d been wrong to assume she could have had anything to do with Morag’s death.

“You’ve mentioned Jenny, did Morag ever say much about her?” I asked.

Hammer smiled sadly. “Aye, she spoke aboot her sister a lot. When Jenny was killed, it was like a part of her died with her.”

“But ye still dinnae think there’s any way that she could have committed suicide?” Fenton inquired.

Hammer instantly shook her head. “Nae, not even fur a second!”

“So, tell us about this assistant manager. What is his name?”

Hammer looked at her computer and started typing. “Zayn Cook. Here, this is him.”

Hammer turned her computer around and showed us a photo of Zayn. The photo was clearly one that had been taken for staff purposes and was saved as a thumbnail on her computer. Still, I froze as I looked at the small image, and I felt Fenton tense beside me.

The Zayn in the photo was the same Zayn who’d found Morag that morning.

I kept my expression impassive, not wanting Hammer to know this, but as I kept my eyes fixed on Zayn’s face I couldn’t help but feel annoyed with myself. When I’d met him at the crime scene, I knew there was something about him that felt off, but instead of trusting my instincts I let him go. Had he somehow lured Morag to the loch in order to kill her? And, if he was our killer, was there any way he’d killed Jenny too?

I just had to hope that he hadn’t done a runner by now.

I looked away from his photo and at Hammer. “Did Zayn himself ever mention Jenny?”

“Aye, he did,” Hammer answered. “Morag showed me the emails he was sending. He mentioned Jenny in one of them.” She paused, and to my surprise, her body seemed to tremble with anger. “It was because of that mention of Jenny that Morag showed me the emails in the first place, and I was disgusted by what he said.”

“What did he say?” I asked curiously.

Hammer looked between me and Fenton with a face like thunder. “He said that if she didnae tell me that she’d lied aboot his behaviour then she’d meet the same end as her sister.”

Fenton gasped in horror, causing Hammer to nod agreeably.

“Aye, I felt the same, and it was when I saw that email that I really urged her tae go tae the polis... but she still refused.”

Fenton responded to Hammer, but as I was lost in my own thoughts, I couldn’t catch what she was saying.

I knew the two deaths were different, but as Zayn brought Jenny up, I couldn’t help but feel more concerned that he’d killed both women.

Was he our double murderer? Or was he just a petty, annoyed little man who was saying vile things to Morag because he couldn’t accept the fact he hadn’t gotten his way?

I pulled myself from my thoughts and focused back on the conversation. Hammer was talking then, and her face looked grim.

“I just really hope he has nothing tae dae with this... because if he does I dinnae think I’ll ever be able tae forgive masel fur not daein more.”

“I can assure you that you’ve done nothing wrong, Janine. As I said, we still don’t know whether or not Morag’s death is suspicious, but I can promise you that we’ll go and speak to Zayn just to be safe.”

Hammer nodded. “Thank ye... I dinnae ken what else I can tell ye, but I will help in any way I can.”

I smiled appreciatively. “Thank you, Janine. I think we’ve taken up enough of your time for now.” I gestured for Fenton to stand. “Thank you for this, it’s been helpful.”

Hammer stood up. “Aye... just call me the moment ye ken anything, aye?”

“I will dae, I promise,” Fenton answered.

We said goodbye to Hammer, then started to exit the building. As we moved, I couldn’t stop thinking about Zayn and my irritation over ignoring the odd feeling I had about him.

Zayn had been given ample opportunity to run for it, but I just had to hope he hadn’t...

We might never be able to find him.

20

“We need to speak to Zayn right away! I knew something was off with him, I knew it, and yet I still let him walk away!” I exclaimed as soon as we were safely back in Fenton’s car.

Fenton nodded, her expression unhappy. “Clearly yer instincts were correct, sir.”

“Well, one thing’s for sure... he definitely lied when he said he didn’t know the victim,” I answered. “And why would he lie if her death was an accidental drowning?”

Fenton turned on her engine. “I see yer point, sir. We need tae find him right away and see what he has tae say fur himsel.” She paused. “But we dinnae have his address, dae we? What should we dae? Dae we go back tae the station tae get it, or⁠—”

“No, no going back to the station,” I interrupted. “We don’t want to waste any time. I’ll just call the team and get one of them to send me the address.”

“Good thinking,” Fenton replied.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, wondering whether to call Murray or Young, but the moment my phone was in my hand I jumped as it started to ring. I looked down at it and saw, to my surprise, that it was Gamble.

I accepted the call and put it on speaker. “Gamble, hi. I was just about to call you guys actually.”

“I had tae call ye, sir,” Gamble responded. “I’ve got big news fur ye and it couldn’y wait.”

Fenton and I shared a curious look.

“What is it, Gamble?” I replied.

“Well, ye ken ye wanted us tae look into the couple that found Morag? Well, we did… and Zayn used tae work with Morag! He was fired a few days ago, but⁠—”

“Sorry to interrupt you, Gamble, but Fenton and I know,” I interrupted. “We’ve just left Morag’s workplace, and her manager confirmed this. She also confirmed that he’d been sending Morag threatening emails, so we want to see him right away. We need to find out why he lied to us at the scene.”

“Oh,” Gamble responded, sounding slightly put out. “Aye, well, that’s good! I have the address already…”

Gamble read me the address, which I typed into Fenton’s satnav. Once I’d put it in, Fenton nodded and started to drive.

“Thanks, Gamble, we’re on our way there now.” I paused. “Did you have anything else for us?

“Nae, sir,” Gamble answered. “I ken Murray has been chasing up the warrant fur Nunn’s house, but it still hasnae been approved yet.”

I resisted the urge to swear. I knew it wasn’t a good sign when it took time for a warrant to be approved.

“Thanks, Gamble,” I answered. “Call me when you hear anything.”

“Will dae, sir! Good luck with Zayn.”

I thanked him and then ended the call. The moment I ended it, Fenton huffed.

“What are they playing at? Why winnae they just give us the warrant?”

I sighed. “Murray was probably right earlier. They likely think we don’t have a good enough reason for it... still, there’s no sense in us worrying about that right now. Let’s focus on Zayn and what our plan of action is once we get to his house.”

Fenton bit her lip thoughtfully. “Dae ye think he will even be there, sir?”

From her question, I knew she, like me, was fearing he’d pulled a runner.

“Let’s hope so, Fenton. If not, we’ll have no choice but to put in place a full-scale manhunt.” I paused. “Innocent men don’t run, so if we do see clear signs he’s gone, then we’ll do everything we can to track him down.”

Fenton nodded nervously.

I glanced down at the satnav and was relieved to see that Zayn didn’t live too far away. He was only twenty minutes away from us, and as Fenton drove, I couldn’t help but watch the time count down until we reached him.

Once his house came into view, the first thing I spotted was a car parked outside of it.

I just had to hope that meant they were in.

The house was nice—much nicer than I’d have expected for a young couple—and it looked clean and modern. It wasn’t overly big, but it was in great condition and looked as though it had only been built within the past few years.

Fenton parked up a safe distance away from the house, then together we walked toward it. As we walked, I spoke to her in a hushed tone.

“Be prepared for anything, Fenton, yeah? As we’ve come back, they’ll be aware something isn’t right, and we both know what someone can do when they’re scared.”

“Will dae, sir.”

“We already know he has it in him for at least threatening behaviour, so we have to assume he could be capable of much worse.”

“Like potential murder,” Fenton muttered coldly.

I nodded.

We reached the house. As we stood at the front door, I gave Fenton one final look to see if she was ready. She nodded curtly, so I rang the doorbell. It chimed loudly, and for what felt like an eternity, we stood there... waiting.

I frowned when I heard no sound of approaching footsteps.

I glanced at Fenton. “Take a subtle look inside, see if you can see anyone.”

Fenton nodded, then walked toward the window.

Once she started to move, I faced the door again and knocked loudly. I then listened carefully for any sound, but I heard nothing. Not even Fenton.

At least that shows that she’s being quiet, I thought approvingly.

Seconds later Fenton was back at my side, shaking her head. “I couldn’y see much, sir. It was hard tae tell, but I thought I might have seen someone leaving the living room when I looked into the window, but I cannae say fur certain.”

I frowned, quickly losing my patience.

“Someone is in there, and we aren’t leaving until they come out,” I muttered.

As soon as I finished my sentence, I knocked again. “Zayn, Ophelia! It’s DCI James Glover here. We know you’re in there, so open the door, please. We just want to⁠—”

I abruptly stopped speaking and looked at Fenton in surprise when she gripped my arm. I narrowed my brows confusedly, but she pointed to the house, her eyes wide with concern.

I looked toward the house and listened, and as I did, I heard the unmistakable sound of the back door opening. At the same time, I heard someone approaching the front door.

It was clear that Zayn was trying to escape from the back, and that he’d sent Ophelia to answer the door as a way of distraction.

I looked toward Fenton, ready to tell her to stay put while I went around the back, but before I could say anything, Fenton nodded at me and started to move. As Fenton had gone first, I had no choice but to stay where I was in the hope it would trick Ophelia into believing that Zayn was safe.

The door opened, and my theory was proven right when Ophelia faced me. When I looked down at her, I was shocked to see that, somehow, she looked even paler and more uncomfortable than she did shortly after seeing a dead body.

Had my presence at the house really scared her that much? Had she known what Zayn had done, or worse, had she even helped him? Was she now covering her own arse as much as protecting Zayn?

Ophelia opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.

“Where is Zayn?”

“H-he isnae in, Detective,” Ophelia answered nervously. “H-he went out around twenty minutes ago.”

“Don’t lie to me, Ophelia,” I said harshly. “I know he is in, now tell me⁠—”

“Sir! Sir, quick!” Fenton shouted, causing me to stop speaking. “He is trying tae escape!”

Fenton hadn’t even finished her sentence when, to my surprise, Ophelia grabbed my wrist. She gripped it with a surprising strength that I wouldn’t have expected from her.

“Leave him alone! He hasnae done anything!”

Although her grip was strong, her strength was nothing compared to my own, so I pulled out of her hold as easily as breaking through a paper bag. Once I was out of her grasp, I didn’t bother to say anything to her. Instead, I ran around the back of the house in the direction I’d seen Fenton go moments before. As I ran, I thought in shock about Ophelia’s behaviour, wondering if she truly had no idea what her boyfriend had been up to, if she was helping a murderer, or if she had been involved in it all from the beginning.

If any of that was true, that made her a person of interest too. She now had the chance to run away if she wanted to, but I knew between her and Zayn that he was the main person I was interested in. I’d rather see her try and escape than him.

I was certain of Zayn’s part in all of this, and there was no way in hell I was letting him get away.

21

As I approached the garden, my thoughts went to Zayn and Fenton. I knew Fenton was more than capable, but I just had to hope she’d been able to hold him off until I got there.

It barely took me a few seconds to reach the garden, and once I did I quickly spotted Fenton and Zayn. However, I looked in shock to see that, instead of running, Zayn was grabbing Fenton and forcing her to the ground. I ran over to stop Zayn, but Zayn was so fixated on Fenton that he didn’t seem to register that I was charging toward him. I watched in horror as Zayn glared down at Fenton with wild, manic eyes.

“It wisnae me!” he roared. “It wisnae me!”

Zayn was like a broken record, repeatedly saying the same three words as he looked down at Fenton. As I drew nearer to him, watching him look down at Fenton, I had no idea what he was planning, or indeed if he even knew what he was planning.

However, when I was getting closer, I watched in outrage as Zayn lifted his foot above Fenton. Fenton was gaping up at him in horror, holding up her hands to protect her face.

“Nae!” she shouted. “Dinnae dae it!”

“It wisnae me! It wisnae me!” Zayn repeated, his eyes growing wider by the second as he looked down at Fenton.

As I watched Zayn’s foot moving, I was certain he planned on stomping down on her to escape. Thankfully, I knew I would reach him in time. It wasn’t until I was barely an inch away from him that he finally looked in my direction and seemed to realise I was there, but by that point he was too late. I was already in the air.

I tackled him around the waist and forced him to the ground. Zayn, still in shock by my sudden presence, had no time to react and just let it happen. He still didn’t react when he was on the ground, meaning it was an easy job to force his hands behind his back to cuff him. As I cuffed him, I glared at his back.

“I will be taking you to the station for questioning, Mr. Cook,” I said coldly. “I think there’re a few things you forgot to mention earlier, aren’t there?”

Zayn swore repeatedly, his voice breaking with panic. “W-wait! We can talk inside! I’ll cooperate now, I swear!”

I laughed harshly. “No, Mr. Cook. It’s far too late for that! You had your chance, but instead you tried to do a runner.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Ophelia ran out ‌the back door and approached us. “Wait! Zayn couldn’y have hurt Morag! He was with me last night! I will tell anyone that if he is questioned! I will swear it in front of⁠—”

I glared at her, causing her to instantly stop speaking. “How do you know Morag’s name? You claimed not to know the victim a few hours ago.”

Ophelia’s face went bright pink. “I’m s-sorry. I shouldn’y have lied before, but⁠—”

I held up my hand to cut her off, then looked toward Fenton, still speaking to Ophelia as I did so. “Your boyfriend has just assaulted my DC, so he will be ‌taken straight to the station for questioning. He should consider himself lucky it isn’t going to be a cell.” Once I looked at Fenton, my face dropped. “Are you okay, Fenton?”

Fenton, thankfully, was already on her feet and patting herself down. She didn’t seem to be injured.

“I’m fine, sir.”

I nodded. “Good, then would you do the honours of cuffing Ophelia, please? If she’s so determined to lie for her boyfriend, she can pay the consequences for lying to the police.”

Fenton moved instantly toward Ophelia, who put on a panicked expression.

“I’ve already told ye that he couldn’y have hurt Morag! We were together last night!”

“How do you know how long she’s been dead for?” I asked bluntly. “We never told you that.”

Ophelia stammered, but before she could speak, Zayn looked up from the ground and interrupted her.

“Shut up! Dinnae say another word tae them!”

I glanced at Zayn in surprise at his harsh tone toward Ophelia. The girl had tried to create a diversion and had done nothing but try and help him escape, and yet he’d been able to turn and snap at her easily.

As he was keen to stop her from speaking, it made me more suspicious of the two of them. I wondered if I was right to believe that Morag had been murdered all along. While we still didn’t have confirmation of that, I knew Zayn and Ophelia’s behaviour gave me enough grounds to bring them in for questioning.

Especially Zayn, who had seemed willing to attack Fenton so easily.

I glanced between Zayn and Ophelia, who seemed to be having a silent conversation with one another, and felt confident that they’d been speaking about Morag ever since they left us at the loch. They clearly knew more than they’d let on at the time. They’d both wasted our precious time.

I pulled Zayn up onto his feet and hissed in his ear. “Any more funny business and you’ll be straight into a cell, is that understood?”

“I havnae done anything!” he spat.

I laughed coldly. “Really? So why try and run, Mr. Cook?”

“I didnae!”

“Yes, you did, Mr. Cook! Not only did you try and run, but you also attacked my colleague!”

“I wisnae going tae hurt her! I wisnae!”

“Why did you keep saying ‘it wasn’t me,’ Mr. Cook? What wasn’t you?”

“Nothing!”

I pulled at his cuffed hands as I pushed him toward Fenton’s car. I looked at Fenton and jerked my head in a gesture for her to follow me with Ophelia. We walked for a couple of seconds before I spoke again.

“You were trying to tell us it wasn’t you who killed Morag, weren’t you?”

“Aye! I mean, nae! I mean... I dinnae ken!”

“Save your breath until we get you to the station, Mr. Cook,” I said coldly. “And for your sake, you better have a good reason for lying to us... because if you don’t, then I can assure you that you won’t be seeing the light of day for a long, long time.”

Zayn trembled nervously in my hands. “I have nothing tae say! I didnae dae anything!”

“We will find out soon enough, Mr. Cook,” I answered impassively.

Ophelia sobbed as we approached Fenton’s car, but I ignored her. Once we reached the car, we pushed Ophelia into the car first, then walked around to the other side with Zayn. I glared at Zayn as I opened the door.

“I’ll be sitting between you both, just to make sure you behave yourselves.”

Zayn didn’t respond, but the look he gave me was one of deep loathing.

Before I entered the car, a look passed between me and Fenton, and from the glint in her eye, I could tell she felt confident that we were soon going to be able to close the case.

I just hoped she was right.

I stepped into the car and dragged Zayn in behind me. Fenton then shut the door behind us and got herself‌ in the driver’s seat. Once she was ready, Fenton pulled us away from Zayn and Ophelia’s house. As she did, I kept my eye on the couple in order to stop them from trying to communicate privately. As I glared between them both, enjoying the fact that I was causing them to keep a distance from one another, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Fenton was right to be excited.

It was clear the couple had secrets, secrets I was keen to expose, but did those secrets point to murder?

22

We made it to the station, and as soon as Fenton parked up she jumped out of her seat in order to help me. I could tell she was eager for us to get inside the station as soon as possible. I had a feeling I knew why, and that feeling was confirmed once I followed Zayn out of Fenton’s car and saw the crowd looking in our direction.

I wasn’t surprised to see them there, but I couldn’t deny it was unwelcome knowing they were going to be close to us when we took Zayn and Ophelia in.

I grabbed Zayn’s cuffed hands and urged him forward. I glanced back toward Fenton and was happy when I saw that she was pulling Ophelia out of the car. We moved quickly, even with Zayn trying to stop me, but the moment he looked forward and saw the crowd he instantly stopped resisting.

“What are they daein there!” Zayn exclaimed nervously.

“Why do you think, Mr. Cook?” I asked coolly. “They must have heard I’ve found a suspect.”

Zayn blanched, but I quickly egged him on. As we moved, I grimaced when I could make out some of the words being hurled toward us from the crowd.

“Ye should be ashamed of yersel!”

“What sort of establishment wid still be working with the likes of ye after what ye’ve done, Glover!”

I moved quickly, silently praying that Zayn and Ophelia would be so focused on themselves that they wouldn’t pick up on anything the crowd was saying. Luckily, we made it into the station without the crowd getting too near us, and once we were inside, the station’s doors mostly shut off the noise of the crowd.

However, the silence of the station also seemed to have woken up Zayn—either that or the reality of being inside ‌a police station. He turned and looked between me and Fenton worriedly.

“It wisnae me, I’ve already told ye that! I shouldn’y be here!”

I faked a confused expression. “What do you mean, Mr. Cook? What wasn’t you?”

Zayn swore and turned away from me. “Ye ken perfectly well what I’m on aboot! How many people does that cheap trick work on, anyway?”

“You’d be surprised how many,” I answered playfully.

Zayn glared at me. “Aye, well, I fur one amn’t that stupid!”

“You could have fooled me,” I answered, gently pushing Zayn forward as I spoke.

Zayn didn’t say another word and Ophelia didn’t even try to speak once as Fenton and I ushered them toward our department. Once I got there, I looked at Fenton and gestured for her to pull Ophelia away from us. The couple began looking at one another anxiously.

“What’s going on?” Ophelia asked as she was gently pulled away from Zayn.

“DC Fenton is going to take you away and question you separately from your boyfriend,” I answered impassively. I looked around the department and caught Boyd’s eye. “DC Boyd, are you happy to sit in on that interrogation for me?”

“Aye, sir, I’d be glad tae,” Boyd answered with an eager grin.

“I-interrogation?” Ophelia stammered.

I ignored her. As Boyd joined Fenton and helped her usher Ophelia onward, I felt Zayn pulling against my hold. He was looking toward Ophelia, trying to get to her.

“Enough, Mr. Cook.” I paused. “I’d suggest you stop wasting your energy.”

“Dinnae say anything tae them, Ophelia! Dae ye hear me?” Zayn shouted angrily at Ophelia’s retreating form.

The moment Zayn finished his sentence, I yanked back on his cuffs, causing him to groan in pain.

“Ow! That hurts!”

“Then I would suggest you stop shouting and making threats in my station.”

“I didnae threaten anyone!”

“Of course you didn’t,” I answered sarcastically, then glanced around the department until I caught Young’s eye. “Care to join me, DI Young?”

Young nodded curtly as he rose out of his seat. I then pushed Zayn forward and stepped toward the interrogation rooms. Young moved ahead of me and held open the door. I thanked him, then stepped inside, but as I passed him, I heard him speak.

“I’ll just go grab some PCs to stand in here and in Fenton’s room.”

“Thanks, Young.”

I pushed Zayn into a seat and stood close to him while I waited for Young to return. Zayn kept silent and looked straight ahead, remaining that way until Young eventually came back. I watched as the PCs moved near Zayn, keeping close enough to grab him if he tried anything but far enough away to not feel part of the interrogation. Young moved away and took a seat opposite Zayn. Once Young was seated, I joined him, meaning we were both glaring in Zayn’s direction.

“You’re aware you have the right to a lawyer, Mr. Cook?” I asked.

“I dinnae need one, I’m innocent.”

Young snorted, then looked at me. “How many times dae ye reckon we’ve heard that in this room, DCI Glover?”

“Oh, a fair few, DI Young.” I hesitated. “Maybe at least five or six hundred?”

“Aye, at least,” Young agreed.

Zayn shot us a filthy look. “I dinnae care what anyone else has said in here! I ken I have nothing tae hide.”

“Yes, lying to the police always screams innocence,” I answered.

Zayn opened his mouth, but I held out my hand to stop him. When I could see Zayn had the sense to be quiet, I started the interview tape. Once all ‌the formalities were out of the way, I put my focus back onto Zayn.

Zayn looked as though he was doing everything he could to play it cool. He was pushed back in his seat, staring pointedly into the distance, and he kept his face void of any expression. This would have been effective if not for the way his body trembled and betrayed him every few seconds.

In Fenton’s car, he’d been as still as a statue, but I could tell the nerves had really started to kick in now. With any luck, those nerves would push Zayn to crumble and tell us everything.

“So, Mr. Cook. You know why you are here, don’t you?”

“Nae comment.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was used to suspects throwing those two irritating words at me, but that didn’t make me happy to hear them.

“If you don’t want to comment on it, then I can tell you.” I paused. “You’re here because we believe you know more about Morag Spinter’s death than you’re letting on.”

“Nae comment.”

“Not only that, but when we came to your address earlier to ask you about this, you tried to make a run for it. Didn’t you, Mr. Cook?”

“Nae comment.”

“Why did you try and run, Mr. Cook?” I asked.

“Nae comment.”

“Was it because you knew we were onto you?”

“Nae comment.”

“Not only did you try to run, Mr. Cook, but you also threatened my colleague, DC Eleanor Fenton. Didn’t you, Mr.—”

“Is she alright?” Young interrupted me, looking at me worriedly.

I shot Young a look, and he nodded embarrassedly. Once he was quiet, I looked at Zayn and repeated the question.

“Nae comment.”

“You pushed her to the ground and raised your foot. Didn’t you, Mr. Cook?”

This time Young kept quiet, but from the way he glared at Zayn and clenched one of his fists under the table, I knew it was taking him a lot of restraint to remain silent.

“Nae comment.”

“If I didn’t stop you, I believe you’d have attacked DC Eleanor Fenton. I believe you’d have tried to cause her serious harm and⁠—”

“Nae, ye’re wrong!” Zayn interrupted, instantly looking annoyed at himself for speaking.

“Ah, so you do know more than two words in the English language? That’s good.” I paused. “So, Mr. Cook, now you’re speaking, I think it would be best if you started talking to us. Right now you’re here being accused of murder, of assaulting a detective, and⁠—”

“Woah! Murder?” Zayn blanched. “I didnae murder anyone!”

“A woman is dead, Mr. Cook, a woman that you lied about your connection to. Surely you must understand just how bad that⁠—”

“I want a lawyer! I’ve changed ma mind!” Zayn exclaimed hurriedly.

Young frowned at him. “I thought innocent people didnae need lawyers?”

“Aye, well, they dae when they’re being accused o-of that!” He looked between us worriedly. “I had a feeling ye wanted tae ask me some questions, but I didnae think ye were thinking I’d killed her!”

“If you didn’t kill her, I would suggest you start explaining yourself, Mr. Cook. It will be the easiest way to⁠—”

“I’m not saying another word tae either of ye until I have a lawyer!”

I hesitated, looking at Zayn with searching eyes. “As I explained to you earlier, you are entitled to one, Mr. Cook, but if you’re innocent like you claim to be, then it will be quicker and easier if we just continue and⁠—”

“Nothing until I have a lawyer! Ye hear me? Nothing!”

I looked at Young, who jerked his head toward the door. I knew he meant that we had no choice but to do as Zayn asked, so I sighed and paused the tape.

“Very well, Mr. Cook. You will be staying here until we return with a lawyer for you, okay?” I looked at the two PCs. “Keep an eye on him, will you?”

“Of course, sir,” one replied.

The other simply nodded.

I thanked them, then followed Young outside. Once we were a safe distance away from the room, I turned to him.

“What do you think caused his sudden change of heart?”

Young shrugged. “Either he’s guilty and thought he could deal with the pressure… then realised he couldn’y, or he’s innocent and genuinely had nae idea we were accusing him of something so serious.”

“Which do you think it is?”

Young hesitated. “I really dinnae ken, mate. It wid be great if he was our guy, but I just dinnae ken if I can see him gett’n Morag tae the loch tae drown her.”

I grimaced, knowing I could understand his point. “Are you happy to go sort the lawyer out for me? There’s something I want to do quickly.”

“Sure thing, pal.”

Young clapped me on the back, then went off with his phone. I continued walking toward our department until I found Gamble and Murray.

Murray looked at me in surprise. “I’m guessing ma hopes wid be up tae high if he’d already confessed?”

“I’m afraid they would be, sir. He requested a lawyer the moment I mentioned the word murder, so Rory is now off to sort that.” I turned to Gamble. “Do me a favour, Gamble. Contact Morag’s employer and get her to forward me the emails she told me that Zayn had sent to Morag, please. I’d like to see them, and they might come in handy during the interrogation.”

“I’ll sort it right away, sir.”

I thanked him, then went to have some coffee from my flask. My patience was wearing thin, and I knew that the moment Zayn’s lawyer ‌arrived, I’d be wasting no time in getting him to speak.

23

Once the lawyer finally arrived, he approached me and Young with slow, methodical steps. He was a short, balding man who I hadn’t dealt with previously. He had a large moustache, and, due to his overall appearance, I couldn’t help but think of a walrus shoved into an overly tight suit.

Once he reached me, I went to hold out my hand, but I stopped quickly when he abruptly huffed. “Well, I’m here tae see Zayn Cook. Take me tae him and we can get this over and done with.”

His grumpy attitude put me in a good mood, especially as it showed he was simply keen to get things over and done with.

I nodded, then gestured for him to follow me and Young. As we walked toward the interrogation room, I looked over my shoulder at him.

“Would you like one of my colleagues to bring you a drink, Mr... erm, sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Harrolds, and nae, that winnae be necessary. I doubt I’ll be here tae long.”

As the man was already sweating profusely, I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t fancy a hot beverage.

I nodded, then pointed ahead. “Your client is in the second door to the left. Do you require some alone time with him, or do you⁠—”

“Nae. Yer colleague explained everything on the phone tae me so I dinnae need a debrief.”

I turned back toward the door, holding back a smile at my good fortune. Zayn was getting the world’s most unbothered lawyer. “Very well, Mr. Harrolds.”

We made it back to the interrogation room, and we all took a seat. As I resumed the tape, I looked at Zayn and was happy to see the uncertain look he gave to Harrolds.

It was clear that even Zayn realised he’d likely been given a dud of a lawyer.

“Right,” I said loudly before Zayn had the chance to speak. “Now that you have a lawyer present, I think we should begin properly. Don’t you?”

Zayn kept silent. He gave his lawyer an imploring look, but all Harrolds did was shuffle some paperwork in his briefcase.

“We’ve already wasted enough time here, Mr. Cook, so I’m going to jump straight to the point.” I paused, leaning closer to him. “Did you murder Morag Spinter?”

Zayn, again, looked to his lawyer first, but once he saw that his lawyer was as helpful as a spoon with holes in, he looked back at me. “Nae, of course not! I-I didnae even ken she had been murdered.”

Young quirked a brow. “But ye and yer girlfriend were the ones tae find her body this morning, werena ye?”

“Aye, but we didnae ken she’d been murdered! We just thought she’d drowned!”

To my surprise, Harrolds cleared his throat and looked at me. “What proof dae ye have that Morag Spinter’s death was murder, Detective?” He paused. “I’ve done a wee bit of digging, and from what I’ve found there is nae evidence tae suggest her death was anything other than a tragic accident. Now, if it wisnae fur him ye widnae even ken aboot Mrs. Spinter’s death, wid ye? So, if ma client was going out of his way tae help ye it makes nae sens fur him tae dae so if he was involved in those events.”

Zayn’s eyes widened in shock, and he smiled at Harrolds like he was an angel on earth. He then looked at me smugly. “Aye, explain that!”

Damn, I thought irritably. Clearly Harrolds is more clued on than I expected.

“We still have no concrete evidence that Morag Spinter’s death was murder. That being said, we are treating her death as suspicious until we have evidence to the contrary.” I paused. “During our investigation it came to our attention that your client here has a connection to Morag, yet when we spoke to him at the scene and asked if he knew the victim he said no.” I looked at Zayn. “Why did you lie, Mr. Cook?”

“Nae comment.”

Harrolds narrowed his thick eyebrows. “But I dinnae understand, Detective. How can ye accuse ma client of murder if ye dinnae even ken if yer victim was murdered?” He started to put some of his paperwork away. “Sorry, but if there is nae evidence of the crime of which ye are accusing ma client, then he has every right tae leave here.”

Zayn gaped at Harrolds, looking as though he couldn’t believe his luck. However, when Zayn went to stand and moved his cuffed hands toward me, I stood up abruptly.

“Sit down, Mr. Cook.”

Zayn, looking terrified, quickly did as I asked. Once he sat down, I looked at Harrolds.

“We have every right to keep your client in, as his behaviour and actions have made him a suspect capable of murder. This gives us reasonable cause to keep him and question him until we feel it is safe to let him back out.”

The lawyer waved his hand through the air. “Show us what gives ye reasonable cause then.”

“Earlier today we went and spoke to a woman called Janine Hammer.” I hesitated, looking at Zayn. “Do you know who that is?”

Zayn shrugged.

“Fur the benefit of the tape, Zayn Cook shrugged,” Young said.

“Lying about not knowing someone else, I see?” I asked shrewdly. “Clearly you’re on form, Mr. Cook. We know for a fact you know Janine Hammer because until a few days ago she was your manager, wasn’t she?”

“Nae comment.”

“Ah, back to that game, are we? Very well.” I paused. “Janine Hammer fired you a few days ago, didn’t she, Mr. Cook? And can you please tell us why she fired you?”

“Nae comment.”

“Fine, I will tell you then. She fired you because you were abusing her staff, weren’t you?”

“Nae comment.”

“You treated the staff under you like dirt, Mr. Cook, but when they decided to report you, for reasons only you will know, you took it upon yourself to blame Morag Spinter for this. Is that correct?”

“I kent it was her! I⁠—”

Zayn quickly shut up, flushing slightly over his moment of lost control.

“I don’t know how you came to assume it was her, but you did, and due to that assumption you started to threaten Morag, didn’t you?”

“I did nae such thing!” Zayn exclaimed.

“You did, Mr. Cook. You sent her various emails, blaming her for your job loss and threatening to harm her unless she told Janine she’d been lying about your behaviour.”

“That’s not true!” Zayn spat.

Harrolds looked up at me. “Dae ye have any proof of this? Or is this also some fabrication that ye currently cannae prove?”

Zayn laughed coldly, shooting his lawyer a pleased look.

I smiled. “Actually, on this count, we do have proof.” I looked at Zayn, whose laughter quickly fell from his face. “You didn’t realise that Morag had forwarded those emails to Janine, did you? Well, we spoke to Janine, and she was only too happy to give us access to them.”

Zayn looked horrified as I opened the folder on the desk in front of me and pulled out a few pieces of paper.

“We have the proof right here, Mr. Cook, so if I were you, I’d start talking.”

“Nae,” Harrolds said quickly, taking everyone in the room by surprise. “They are bluffing, Mr. Cook, so if I were ye I widnae say a thing.”

Zayn looked hopeful, but the moment Harrolds finished his sentence, I started to turn the pages over.

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Cook.” I paused as I finished flipping the pages over. “As you can see here, we very much have access to those emails, but if you still don’t believe me, I’d be more than happy to read some of them out to you?”

Zayn blanched, looking like a fish out of water.

“Perhaps I can read the one where you called Morag a fat troll? Or the one where you told her that you’d burn down her house if she didn’t help you ‌get your job back.” I paused dramatically, making a meal out of reading the pages. “Or maybe the one when you mention drowning her if she doesn’t help you?”

“Drowning, ye say?” Young asked impassively. “Interesting choice of words there, considering what happened tae her, widnae ye say, DCI Glover?”

“I would indeed, DI Young.” I stared pointedly at Zayn. “Should I read one of those to you, Mr. Cook?”

“N-nae comment!” Zayn muttered nervously.

I hit my fist down on the table, causing both Zayn and Harrolds to jump. “I’m tired of those two words, Mr. Cook! So, I’m going to give you two options here. You can either be taken to a cell where we will hold you until we get the postmortem back, or you can start telling us the truth!”

Zayn glanced at his lawyer, but Harrolds didn’t say anything.

I huffed impatiently. “The postmortem could take days, Mr. Cook, so if I were you, I’d seriously start thinking about telling us the truth. If you don’t, we will have no choice but to think you murdered Morag and hold you for⁠—”

“I didnae kill her! I swear!”

“Then start talking!” Young snapped.

Zayn looked at his lawyer again, only this time he pointedly stared at him until Harrolds looked at him. Harrolds moved near him and muttered something in his ear. I couldn’t hear what was said, but whatever Harrolds said must have had an effect on Zayn as he instantly turned to us.

“Alright, I admit I sent the emails, but that is all I did!”

“Okay, now we are finally getting somewhere,” I answered. “Tell us more about these emails.”

“I was angry, alright?” He paused, and there was a glint in his eye that showed me the rage he felt was still burning inside ‌him. “Ye have nae idea how hard I’ve worked, what it took fur me tae get the chance tae be an assistant manager, then it was all taken away from me! Morag always had an issue with me, always, so I kent it must have been her who complained aboot me. Her and Janine spoke a lot tae, so it wisnae exactly hard tae put two and two together.” He paused again, his body shaking. “I was angry and hated her fur what she did! I ken it wisnae right, but I was angry, desperate… just wanted tae punish her fur hurting me. I just thought if I kept bothering her then she wid end up going tae Janine tae help me get ma job back. That was it.”

“And why wid she have done that when ye were being horrible tae her?” Young asked coldly. “Are ye in the habit of bullying people tae get what ye want?”

“Nae, of course not! But as I said, I was desperate and I wisnae thinking straight. I only thought aboot gett’n back tae work.”

“And you honestly thought threats would work?” I queried with a frown.

Zayn sighed. “I was desperate, alright? I was a desperate, angry man who wanted ma job back but equally needed tae vent tae!” He paused. “It felt safe behind the keyboard, ye ken? It made me feel better tae get ma anger out that way.”

“Better for you, but not for Morag,” I answered harshly. “You were vile to her.”

“Well, she shouldn’y have got me fired, should she?”

A few things about Zayn had surprised me, but hearing him talk about a dead woman with such bluntness was the most shocking.

“Nae, Mr. Cook. It was yer vile behaviour that got ye fired, so dinnae sit there and try tae blame people who defended themselves against ye!”

He scoffed. “Some people just cannae take office banter. It’s hardly ma fault people are overly sensitive these days, is it?”

“A woman is dead, Mr. Cook. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that?”

Zayn pulled an unreadable expression, but didn’t respond.

“I’m going to ask you something one last time, Mr. Cook, and for your sake, you’d better be honest this time.” I paused. “Now, tell us why you lied to us when we asked you if you knew the victim?”

Zayn flexed his cuffed hands for a few seconds before responding. “I meant it before when I said Ophelia and I had gone out fur one of our usual swims this morning, and I was honest when I said I suddenly felt something near me and realised it was a lass in the water. She was face first in the water so I didnae realise it was Morag until I pulled her out of the water and tried tae save her.” He paused, and from his expression I could tell he was reliving the moment. “Ye cannae imagine ma shock when I saw it was her! I didnae ken what tae dae or think when I saw her looking at me.”

“I bet it made ye want tae leave her, didnae it?” Young asked.

Zayn shook his head. “Nae, of course not!”

“But you said yourself you were angry with her.” I paused. “It would only make sense to see her and want to leave her.”

“Look, I’m not going tae sit here and say I was suddenly best pals with her, but that didnae mean I was going tae leave her tae die either! I could tell when I looked at her that she was likely dead, but that didnae mean I didnae try everything I could tae save her... but when I realised there was nothing I could dae… I winnae deny I felt a wee bit of panic.”

“And why was that?” Young asked.

“Because I kent her and had been threatening her!” Zayn exclaimed. “I kent if anyone kent aboot our connection that things wid look really bad fur me, so before I called the polis I told Ophelia that we had tae keep that information between ourselves.” He paused. “She didnae like it and she took some convincing, but after a while she agreed tae not say anything.”

“Why convince her to lie?” I asked. “Why not just tell us the truth? You said yourself you were certain Morag’s death was an accident.”

“Aye, I was, but I just panicked! I knew I’d instantly be pulled in as suspect number one.” He paused and looked around the room. “I mean, look at us now! The moment ye kent aboot our connection ye dragged me in here right away, so clearly I was right tae worry aboot it, wisnae I?”

“Mr. Cook... the reason we were keen to see you after finding out about your connection was because it proved you’d lied to us, and we felt if you could lie about that, then there could be other things you’d lied about. If you truly didn’t kill her and if you’d told us everything from the start, then all of this could have been avoided.”

Zayn lowered his head. “I ken it was stupid! But I panicked, alright? I panicked and just didnae ken what tae dae.”

The more I looked at and listened to Zayn, the more I didn’t know what to think. His fear made sense and felt genuine, but if he hadn’t killed Morag, then who had? Was there someone else we hadn’t met yet, or had I got all of this wrong and Morag’s death really was either an accident or a suicide?

As much as I was starting to question if Zayn was a suspect, I knew I couldn’t count him out just yet.

Not when there were still questions to ask.

“What can you tell us about Jenny Starling?”

Zayn looked confused, and so did his lawyer.

“Who?” they asked at the same time.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Mr. Cook, not when you were just doing so well.” I paused. “Jenny. Morag’s sister.”

Zayn continued to look confused. “All I ken aboot her is that she’s Morag’s sister, and she was killed a few days ago.”

I nodded. “Interestingly, you mentioned Jenny in one of your emails to Morag, didn’t you?” I paused. “Now, let me see if I can find it.”

Zayn opened and closed his mouth a few times, but it was clear he had no idea what to say. After a few seconds, I found the right email and started to read it to him.

“Ah, here we go. What you said about Jenny was as follows... ‘if you don’t tell Janine that you’ve made everything up, then you will go out the same way as your sister’.” I paused, taking in Zayn’s frightened expression. “That makes it sound like you know exactly how Jenny died and was threatening the same to Morag, doesn’t it?”

Zayn shook his head. “They were just empty threats! A-as I said, I was angry, and I just wanted tae s-scare her.”

“I dinnae ken aboot ye, DCI Glover, but that almost sounds like a written confession tae me,” Young said calmly.

Zayn looked between us worriedly. “W-what dae ye mean?”

I shrugged. “It could well be, DI Young, it could well be.” I looked at Zayn for a few seconds. “How would you know how Jenny died unless you were the one to kill her, Mr. Cook?”

“I didnae ken! I just wanted tae scare Morag, I swear!”

“How can we believe that, Mr. Cook?”

Harrolds cleared his throat. “There is a lot of information circling around aboot Jenny Starling’s death right now. Everyone kens she was murdered, so ma client didnae dae anything wrong by mentioning that. He niver exactly said how she was killed, did he? He merely suggested Morag could meet the same fate.” He paused. “A childish, stupid email tae send, but not exactly damning evidence of a double homicide either.”

Zayn nodded gratefully. “Aye, I can admit I was an idiot, but I’m nae murderer!”

Harrolds looked at Zayn and pushed him a piece of paper. “This is the date that Jenny Starling was killed. Can ye provide the detectives with an alibi fur that night?”

Zayn looked down at the paper. For a second he looked like he was frantically thinking, but after another second he grinned. “Aye, I can! Ophelia and I were in Glasgow that night. We went tae a gig!”

“Who did ye see and can ye prove it?” Young asked.

To my surprise, Zayn went red. “We went tae see Ariana Grande, but I only went fur Ophelia as she wanted tae see her! I can prove it tae. There are photos of us there on ma phone. I have an iPhone so it will tell ye where they were taken tae.”

Harrolds looked at me. “Are ye able tae un-cuff ma client so he can show ye his phone?”

I looked at Young and nodded. Young took the key from me and uncuffed Zayn’s hands. Zayn instantly grabbed his phone, unlocked it, and passed it to Young.

“See! Look on there and ye will see I couldn’y have killed Jenny.”

As Young looked through Zayn’s phone, Harrolds looked at me.

“What reason wid ma client have fur killing Jenny Starling? The two amn’t connected like he and Morag are, so why wid ye assume he killed her?”

“Two sisters are dead within the space of a week,” I responded. “I don’t believe in coincidences, so anyone who is connected to one of the sisters we will be checking if they are connected to the other.”

“James,” Young muttered.

I looked at him and watched as he approached me. He passed me the phone and as I looked down at it, I quickly noticed several photos of the couple at a concert, I checked the timestamp on the photos and bit back a frustrated groan when I saw it was around the time Jenny had been killed.

“Well?” Harrolds asked. “Does that prove ma client couldn’y have killed Jenny?”

“It does, but it doesn’t prove he didn’t kill Morag.”

“But I didnae!” Zayn exclaimed frantically.

Harrolds gripped Zayn’s shoulder, likely to silence him, but kept his eyes on me. “And as we have already established, Detective, ye still dinnae even ken if Morag Spinter’s death was murder.” He paused. “I feel for the lass, I dae, but unfortunately fur ye if ye cannae give us anything tae prove she was murdered then we all ken ye have tae let ma client go. Ye have these emails, aye, but all that shows is the behaviour of a stupid young man who disnae ken how tae talk tae people, but it disnae show a murderer.”

Zayn opened his mouth, shooting an annoyed look at Harrolds, but from one sharp look from the lawyer Zayn closed his mouth and looked away from him.

Harrolds watched Zayn for half a second, likely to ensure the lad kept silent, then he looked back at me. “Ma client will give ye his assurances that he winnae go anywhere and will come back here if ye need tae further question him, but fur now we will be going until ye have anything more solid tae hold him here.”

Young opened his mouth indignantly, but I shot him a look to silence him.

As much as I didn’t like it, I knew Harrolds was right, and we had no further grounds to hold Zayn in. I now knew he couldn’t have killed Jenny and, while there was still a chance he could have killed Morag, I wasn’t convinced that was the case.

The lad was clearly vile and stupid, but he was also a coward, and I couldn’t imagine him having the guts to face Morag himself when all of his previous bad behaviour was done either behind a keyboard or when he felt the safety of having authority in the office.

“Very well,” I answered. “Mr. Cook’s house is currently being searched, but once I have word that the PCs have finished looking and haven’t found anything then I will let him go.” I paused. “If they do find anything, however, or if Mr. Cook’s girlfriend confesses then they will both have to stay.”

Zayn looked outraged. “Yer lot are in ma house! Ye cannae just⁠—”

“That sounds fair tae me,” Harrolds interrupted, turning to Zayn as he spoke. “Ye are innocent, right? So they winnae find anything then ye can go home.”

Harrolds spoke to Zayn in a sharp tone to calm the lad, and luckily Zayn saw sense and nodded.

I ended the tape then stood up. “You will stay in here for now, Mr. Cook, but once I receive word, I will inform the PCs in here of what I know then they can either let you go or take you to a cell.”

I’d barely finished my sentence when Harrolds was standing and leaving.

Zayn looked at him in horror. “Ye’re leaving me!”

“The interrogation is over. If ye have further need of me, the polis can call me back, but I’m sure ye will be out of here in nae time.

Harrolds then left without looking back.

I followed him out of the room, Young got in place behind me, and as I left the room, I shot one last look at Zayn. While he looked angry again, his anger seemed that of a petulant man who hadn’t gotten his way, not that of a murderer.

I knew there was still a chance he was our killer, but I wasn’t as convinced as I was before. It now looked more as though Zayn had been a frightened man who acted stupidly in order to try and save his own arse.

A man who had taken up far too much of our time and delayed us from finding the real killer.

24

We made it back to the department and part of me was surprised when I saw that Fenton and Boyd still hadn’t returned. I looked around to see if they were somewhere other than at their desks, but before I could inquire about anything, Gamble rushed towards me.

“Sir!” He twisted his hands in front of him nervously. “Sorry tae spring this on ye, I wanted tae wait until ye’d finished, sir… but when ye were interrogating Zayn someone came here tae speak tae ye.”

I furrowed my brow. “Who?”

“A lass, sir. She said she thinks she can help ye with everything.”

As confused as I felt, my curiosity soon took over, and I wondered what information they had.

“Where are they, Gamble?”

“Interrogation room three, sir.”

I thanked him, then walked toward the right room. Once I reached it, I quickly hesitated when I saw Sophia sitting in the room, looking anxiously around. However, the moment the door opened, she turned toward the door, and the moment she saw me she seemed to relax.

“Oh, James! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to show up.”

“Sorry, Sophia, I was in the middle of an interrogation.” I paused. “What’s wrong? What’re you doing here?”

I moved and sat near her, and once I got closer, I was able to see her properly. The first thing I noticed was that her eyes were red and watery, like she’d recently been crying, and her hands were fidgeting with a nervous energy that made my heart ache for her.

I didn’t know why she’d come to see me, but considering how Nunn could be, I knew it must have taken her a great deal of bravery to do so.

“I’m so sorry about what happened before, James. I hated ignoring you when you were outside, but Adam just can’t deal with me talking to you.” She hesitated, avoiding my eye contact. “He knows how I felt about you, and he’s still jealous over that even now.”

I continued to look at her red eyes, feeling angry at the thought of Nunn upsetting her.

“Are you okay, Sophia? Did Nunn do anything to upset or hurt you?”

Sophia slowly shook her head. “N-no, nothing like that. I mean he was really angry, and he s-shouted a lot, but that was it.”

“Are you sure?” I pressed worriedly.

“Yes, I swear he didn’t hurt me,” Sophia answered.

I nodded. “Okay, then. What brings you here, Sophia?”

“I needed to speak to you.” She hesitated, fidgeting with her hands again awkwardly. “I want to help. I don’t know if I can, but I want to try.”

“Any help would be much appreciated.”

Sophia looked at me, smiling weakly. She then blinked a few times, and the smile fell from her face. “After you left, I wanted to speak to Adam, see if he could tell me anything. I asked him about the article in the paper and if he knew anything about it, but he got defensive. I then tried to ask him why you wanted to see him, but he just got even angrier and said you’d obviously turned up to-to try and win me over.” Sophia hesitated, her cheeks flushing. “I admit I thought it was a stupid thing to say, so I laughed, but my laughter only made him angrier.”

“What happened next?”

“He went ballistic, A-Adam did,” Sophia answered, her voice trembling. “He asked why I’d gone out to meet you and s-started to accuse me of things. He said he was convinced something was happening between us, and I-I tried to calm him down, but he just wouldn’t listen.” She paused to wipe a stray tear. “He got paranoid, really paranoid, and started accusing me of having an affair with you. I told him that was crazy, that I hadn’t even seen you in years until you turned up at our door, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

As I listened, I thought about Jenny’s killer and how, whoever they were, they clearly disliked me and desired to frame me. Nunn had always disliked me, but now it sounded as though he had concerns over me and Sophia. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been having them ever since he realised I was in Scotland.

Was that why Jenny was killed? Had she been simply a pawn in Nunn’s game to do anything within his power to get me as far away from Sophia as possible? Had he made sure the article was out there again as another way of trying to stop me from being able to get to her?

While I knew that would be extreme, it was clear there was a lot about Nunn’s behaviour that was extreme.

I looked back at Sophia, but just as I was about to speak, I hesitated when I saw her face paling. Her hands were moving more frantically than ever, and her left cheek kept twitching.

Something was wrong, and I knew Sophia hadn’t even begun to tell me exactly what was wrong.

“What is it? What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.

Sophia turned to me, and she started to silently cry. “H-he just kept going on about us having an affair, James! I told him it wasn’t true, I did everything I could to c-calm him down, but he just w-wouldn’t listen to me, J-James!”

My eyes widened with fear. “What’s happened? What did he do to you?”

Sophia shook her head. “N-nothing to me, James.”

I clenched my fists on my knees, trying hard to analyse her words.

“What do you mean, Sophia?”

Sophia looked at me guiltily. “He was just s-so convinced that we were having an affair, James. He was screaming that he hated you, that you were t-trying to take everything away from him.” She paused. “He started to say things about how you needed taking care of, how he needed to hurt you like you’d hurt him.”

“So, what, is he on his way here?”

Sophia shook her head. “N-no, I don’t think so. He was talking about how as you were trying to take away the woman he loved, h-he was going to do the same to you.”

My eyes widened in horror.

Surely he didn’t mean... surely he couldn’t know about...

“Sophia, is he going to Inverness hospital? Is he going to try and find my colleague, Ella?”

To my surprise, even in her shock and upset, Sophia looked at me with a small frown. “Who is Ella?”

Her tone reeked of jealousy, and from her expression alone I could see why Nunn was getting jealous and assuming things. If she was like this in front of him, I know I’d have not liked it either.

“She’s a colleague of mine, one who was mentioned a lot on the news recently. She was kidnapped.” I looked at her imploringly. “Is Nunn going to see her, Sophia?”

Sophia looked at me. “H-he didn’t say, James, but I knew I had to speak to you. I don’t know w-where he’s going, but he was angrier than I’ve ever seen him. I don’t know what he could be capable of. He could—what are you doing?”

I abruptly stood up before Sophia had finished speaking. I didn’t know how Nunn could know about me and Paterson, but considering she was on the news a lot recently and it was public knowledge that I was fighting tooth and nail to find her, he may have put two and two together.

Even if there was only a slight chance of him going after her, I knew I had to get to her and make sure she was okay.

“Thanks for this, Sophia,” I answered hastily. “But if my colleague could be in danger, I’d better get going.”

Sophia opened her mouth to speak, but I didn’t wait. Instead, I ran out of the room, eager to get to Paterson as soon as possible.

As I thought of Paterson, my body was consumed with guilt. I’d already put her in harm’s way because of my feelings for her, and now it looked as though the same thing was happening again.

I just had to hope I could get to her before Nunn could... otherwise, this time she might not have the strength to make it out alive.

25

Cardio had never been one of my strengths, but with Paterson on my mind, I ignored the complaints my body hurled at me and continued running like her life depended on it.

Because there was a very high possibility that it did depend on it.

I didn’t stop to speak to the others, even though they were all in our department and looked confusedly in my direction as I raced past them. I didn’t stop to say anything to them, even though I heard at least one of them shouting after me.

Instead, I kept running, ensuring nothing stopped or delayed me from getting to my car.

I zoomed past the receptionist, Ainsley Craggs, who looked at me worriedly as I sprinted toward the exit. I paid him no mind and kept my eyes focused on my destination. I pushed the station’s door open, then rushed past the crowd still growing outside, ignoring them as thoroughly as I ignored everyone else. Once I made it to my car, I jumped into it and started to drive out of the station before I even had my belt on. As the station hastily vanished, I put my belt on and kept repeating the same four words in my head.

She’d better be okay. She’d better be okay.

I’d barely been in the car for a couple of minutes when my phone started to ring. I instantly felt a sense of panic, wondering if it was going to be someone from the hospital calling to inform me that Paterson had been attacked, but that panic soon evaporated when I saw that the caller was Young.

I accepted the call and spoke immediately. “Rory, hey, I⁠—”

“What the hell is going on, James?” Young interrupted. “Ye ran out of the station like a bat out of hell and ignored us when we tried tae talk tae ye!”

“I’m sorry, mate,” I answered guiltily. “I didn’t have the time to explain.”

“Explain what?” Young asked concernedly. “Keep us in the loop here, mate.”

I frowned as I listened to Young.

Surely Sophia had explained to them what had happened the moment she left the room?

“Have you not spoken to Sophia?” I queried.

“Nae, mate,” Young answered. “We were all so focused on ye and what ye were running off fur that by the time we went tae go and speak tae Sophia she’d already left.” He hesitated. “I have nae idea how she managed tae get past us without anyone noticing, but we were all so preoccupied by yer dramatic exit that she must have taken advantage of that.” He paused again. “Ye werena wanting her tae stay here, were ye?”

I listened carefully, feeling surprised to hear that Sophia hadn’t felt the need to talk to the others. I had barely left the department a few minutes ago, so for Sophia to have left without anyone seeing her, I knew she must have left as soon as I did.

But... why? Why did she rush out of the building? Was it at all possible that she had lied to me? I didn’t know what she was doing, but at that moment I didn’t care.

Paterson was the priority, and even if there was only a five percent chance that she was in danger, I was still going to be there to make sure that she was okay.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter that she’s gone,” I responded. “What does matter is that Ella might be in trouble, so I’ve gone to⁠—”

“What dae ye mean she might be in trouble?” Young asked loudly.

As he spoke, his voice altered slightly, which made me relatively certain he’d put the phone on speaker so that the rest of the team could hear everything.

“Sophia came to see me… she believes that Nunn could be after Ella,” I answered. “Apparently after we left theirs earlier, he got into a fight with Sophia and started accusing her of being interested in me. They argued, and apparently he said that since I was taking away someone he loved, that he would do the same to me.” I hesitated, feeling awkward at the thought of discussing my feelings with the entire team. “I asked her if he’d meant Ella, but she didn’t know. All she knew was that he was going to go after a woman he thought I could have feelings for. I can’t think who else it could be, so I just want to go and check and make sure she’s safe.”

I heard Young utter a few swear words. “Poor Ella. She cannae catch a break!”

I ignored the feeling of guilt squirming inside ‌me at those words.

Young was right... Paterson couldn’t catch a break recently, and everything bad that had happened to her had all been because of me. Me and my feelings had put a massive target on her back.

I ignored the voice in the back of my head telling me that what was best for her wasn’t me.

I went to speak, but hesitated when I heard someone talking on the other line.

“Glover, there should still be PCs guarding Paterson’s door,” Murray said loudly. “I’ll call them now and ask them tae be extra vigilant.”

“Thanks, sir,” I responded. “I’m on my way to see her now. I know she has the PCs, but I wouldn’t feel right not checking on her myself.”

Not when it’s my fault she’s in this position in the first place, I thought darkly.

“I agree, it’s best that one of us quickly makes sure she’s okay,” Murray replied. “Then once we ken she’s safe, we can get all hands on deck and figure out what happened tae Jenny and Morag.”

“We currently have no real leads on either, so unless we find out that Zayn and Ophelia really did kill Morag, then we will⁠—”

“Aboot that,” Murray interrupted. “Young had an update on that fur ye. He can tell ye now.”

I heard Murray muttering, then less than half a minute later, Young was speaking.

“The tech team made quick work of Zayn’s phone, and they found nothing on there that wid suggest he met with Morag last night,” Young said, his tone laced with disappointment.

I sighed. “That’s unfortunate, but I guess we weren’t overly convinced on him anyway.” I paused. “What about his house, though? Has that been checked?”

“The PCs are still there now, but hopefully they’ll get back tae us soon,” Young answered. “The moment we hear from them I’ll let ye ken.”

“Thanks, mate,” I answered. “And what about Ophelia?”

There were some mumbled words before I could properly hear Fenton speaking.

“She was nervous, sir, like ye’d expect, but she was adamant that they couldn’y have killed Morag as they were at home together last night.” Fenton paused. “Not the best alibi in the world, I ken, but I didnae exactly get a killer vibe from her either.”

“I guess unless anything is found at their home, we will have no choice but to let them both go.” I sighed. “I’ll leave you all to get on, anyway.”

“Let us ken the moment ye ken that Paterson is alright,” Murray responded quickly.

“Will do, sir. Speak soon,” I said, then ended the call.

As I drove and thought about the cases, my thoughts kept dwelling on Nunn. So far, he was the only person who could potentially be a suspect. We knew he had a history with me, knew he hated me enough to frame him, and it was evident he had enough of a temper to have it in him to stab Jenny to death.

Still, there were many pieces of the puzzle missing, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t figure out a solid enough reason for Nunn to want to kill Jenny.

After a long drive, I eventually saw Inverness Hospital in my line of sight, and the moment I could see the building was when I started to think worriedly about Paterson again.

What if we had warned the PCs too late and Nunn had already managed to hurt Paterson? What if Nunn was in the room with Paterson now, currently holding her hostage as he waited for me to arrive so that he could hurt her in front of me?

I didn’t know what was going on in that room, but I knew I wasn’t going to wait to find out.

I hurriedly parked up my car and started walking toward the hospital. As I did, I passed a few people and saw them looking at me with curious glances. I couldn’t tell if that was because they recognised me from Balfour’s article, or if it was because I was walking frantically toward the hospital. I didn’t give anyone I passed a second glance to figure it out.

However, as much as I tried to ignore the glances in my direction, it became impossible when one man decided to step in front of me and block me from continuing down the hallway toward Paterson’s room. He was a middle-aged man who wore a constant frown, and his eyes were narrowed at me as though I were his worst enemy. He seemed unsteady on his feet, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have assumed he’d been drinking.

Not willing to get into a fight and further delay my arrival at Paterson’s room, I tried to politely sidestep the man, but anytime I tried he moved and blocked me.

After three failed attempts, I sighed. “Can you move, please, sir? There’s somewhere I need to be.”

“Oh, aye?” the man asked harshly. “Got someone else tae beat up, have ye?”

I bit back the urge to groan, knowing the man had clearly seen the article.

“No, sir, I just have a patient to visit. Now, if you wouldn’t mind stepping aside so that I⁠—”

“Actually, I dae mind. I mind very much.” The man stepped closer to me. I immediately took a step back, causing the man to laugh. “Not so brave when ye amn’t confronted with a bairn tae fight, now, are ye?”

“Sir, please step aside,” I repeated, slowly losing my patience.

“Nae!” the man exclaimed so loudly that he staggered more than before. “See, I always thought the polis were bullies, and now I’ve been proven right, havnae I?”

I sighed and went to move past him at a quicker pace, but the man was surprisingly quick to block my path again. Only this time he stood right in my face, refusing to move.

“Sir, I won’t ask you again.”

The man chuckled. “Why? What are ye going tae dae aboot it? Are ye going tae hit me like ye hit that lad repeatedly all of those years ago?”

“Sir, you’re clearly drunk and shouldn’t be here,” I said loudly, glancing around to see if I could catch the eye of someone who could help. Luckily, I saw a security guard nearby who glanced in our direction. “Security! I’m a DCI and I want this man taken out of here immediately.”

The security guard, to my great relief, listened to me immediately and stepped toward me with one of his colleagues. Once they were near us, I stepped aside and felt grateful when the drunken man was too stunned to move.

“This man has clearly been drinking, so I would appreciate it if you got him out of here,” I said calmly.

The taller of the two guards nodded. “Right away.”

I ignored the man as he shouted after me. Instead, I continued forward toward Paterson’s room, cursing under my breath over the time that man had wasted.

If Nunn was in the room with Paterson, then that drunken fool had allowed him valuable time to do whatever he wanted to her.

I moved with more urgency to Paterson’s room, silently hoping that she was safe. I made it there, then saw two PCs standing outsid‌e it. They tried to catch my eye, but I was too eager to see Paterson to even give them a second look. I pushed the door open and was relieved to see Paterson laying in her bed. The moment she saw me, she sat up straight and gave me a worried look.

“What’s wrong, James? Why dae ye look so stressed?”

At first I ignored her as I started to search the room—just in case Nunn had decided to hide somewhere in order to surprise me—but once it became clear it was only the two of us there, I took a seat next to her, my eyes still darting around the room every now and again.

“Has anyone you don’t know been here to see you today?” I asked.

Paterson quirked a brow. “What are ye talking aboot?”

“Have you had any new visitors today?” I repeated.

Paterson shook her head. “Nae... what’s going on, James? Why are ye asking me this?”

For several minutes, I spoke and told her everything. Paterson remained silent as I went through everything, and she only spoke once I was finished.

“I cannae see why Nunn wid have come here. Ye said yersel he had nae reason tae think anything aboot ma relationship with ye.” She paused, her cheeks pinkening. “But I dae appreciate yer concern and that ye came here tae see how I was, so thank ye fur that, but ye should go back tae the others. Ye have a lot on at the moment and⁠—”

“No,” I interrupted stubbornly. “Nunn could still turn up here at any moment. I’m not leaving until I’m certain he isn’t coming.”

“James,” Paterson said tiredly, but from one look from me she sighed. “Alright, fine, but ye’re only wasting yer time.”

I stayed in Paterson’s room for half an hour, my eyes more on her door than on her. Paterson tried a few times to engage me in conversation, but as I was so preoccupied with the thought of Nunn’s arrival, it was hard for me to speak to her. I could tell she was getting impatient, but just when she turned to me and opened her mouth irritably, we both froze when my phone started to ring.

I hurriedly grabbed it, hoping for an update from the team, but I hesitated when I saw a number I didn’t recognise calling me. For a brief moment, I debated ‌ignoring the call, not wanting to be distracted if Nunn arrived, but as I thought about Nunn, I wondered if it could be him, so I answered it.

“Hello, DCI James Glover speaking.”

I listened intently to the phone, feeling confused when I heard what sounded like someone sobbing lightly on the other end. I gave it a few seconds, hoping the person on the other end would speak, and luckily they did.

“J-James.”

I froze, knowing I instantly recognised the voice.

“Sophia? You don’t need to worry. I’m with Paterson now and she’s okay, so you did the right thing by telling me about⁠—”

“No, James, no! I didn’t!” Sophia sobbed. “I’m so, so sorry, James! But Adam p-played me. He played b-both of us!”

I quirked a brow. I felt Paterson looking at me confusedly, so I glanced in her direction. “Just calm down and tell me what you mean, Sophia?”

“I-I’m in my room at the moment. I-I’ve locked the door because Adam is here and he’s going crazy!”

I hesitated for a second before answering. I listened intently and could hear the sound of Sophia sobbing and what sounded worryingly like someone smacking a door. “Wait, so Nunn is with you? What about going after Paterson?”

“I-it was all a lie, James! W-when I got back home, Adam was here, and he gave me a smug look. H-he told me that he knew I’d run straight to you and that it was a test!” She paused, so for a second all I could hear was her crying. “H-he said I failed it and that by me going right to you it proved him right and that something must be going on between us! H-he went crazy, J-James, and he won’t listen to reason!” She hesitated again. “I’m s-scared! He keeps shouting about how I’ve b-betrayed him and I really don’t know what he will do if he gets past this door!”

As I listened to Sophia speak, I felt a range of emotions. I was angry and annoyed over my wasted journey to Inverness hospital, I was scared for Sophia’s welfare, and I was confused over Nunn’s behaviour.

Was he really so insecure about Sophia’s crush on me from all ‌those years ago that he felt the need to waste everyone’s time? Was he truly so concerned about me and Sophia that he was going to hurt her?

Nunn’s behaviour was mad, drastic, and made me more inclined to believe that he would have had it in him to kill Jenny purely as a way of getting to me.

“Don’t worry, Sophia, I’ll leave the hospital now and be on my way there! Just keep the door locked and don’t come out until I get there, okay?”

“J-just hurry, J-James! Please!”

“I will! I promise!”

I ended the call, and as I pocketed my phone, gave Paterson an apologetic look. “So it seems as though Nunn was never planning on coming here, and I was fooled.” I sighed. “I’m sorry this wasn’t exactly much of a catch up and that I didn’t get the chance to see how you are or⁠—”

Paterson waved her hand hurriedly toward her door. “That sounded urgent, James, just go!”

I hesitated for half a second as I looked at her, my mind rolling through the dozens of things I’d like to say to her, but with Sophia’s tearful voice still stuck in my head, I knew I didn’t have the time.

There would be time enough to speak my mind with Paterson, but that time had to wait.

I grinned at her awkwardly, then rushed out of her room. I moved as quickly as I could to my car, feeling irritated about all ‌the time I’d wasted. As good as it had felt to see Paterson, I had too much going on to be able to afford any of these distractions.

I made it to my car, and as I unlocked it, my thoughts went to Sophia.

She sounded terrified on the phone, and I just had to hope that she was okay... because if she wasn’t, then I’d never forgive myself for falling for Nunn’s trick in the first place.

26

The moment I was in my car, I started driving hurriedly toward Nunn’s house. As I drove, my thoughts kept straying worriedly to Sophia and the danger she’d potentially put herself in all because she tried to help me.

Luckily, the hospital was in Inverness, the same area that Nunn and Sophia lived, which meant it would be quicker for me to get to her than it would have been if I was at the station. However, although I was close, roughly twenty minutes away according to the satnav, after hearing the sound of Nunn attempting to break down the door to get to Sophia, I knew that was likely twenty minutes she didn’t have. As I drove, my thoughts went to my team. While I was closer than the others were and I knew it would take them some time to get to me, I couldn’t help but think of them and wonder if it wouldn’t be a wise idea to get some form of backup.

Nunn was clearly in a fit of rage and, as he looked to be much stronger than he was as a lad, I knew it would be hard for me to take him alone.

I quickly found Young’s contact information and started to call him. Luckily, he answered on the first ring.

“James, what is it?” he asked frantically. “Is Ella alright? Was it Nunn? I swear if he’s hurt her, I’ll hurt him!”

I ignored my guilt at the thought of not contacting them as soon as I got to the hospital and saw she was okay. “Yeah, she’s fine! That’s why I’m calling though. It turns out that Nunn was playing a sick game with Sophia and only told her I had someone in danger just to see if she would come to me with that information. Ella was never in any real danger.” I paused. “Sophia’s just called me… she’s locked herself in her room and Nunn is attempting to get to her. She said he’s really angry, and she’s scared, so I’m on my way to Nunn’s house to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“Jesus! That poor lass!” Young exclaimed. “I ken ye’re closer, but if I leave now and drive quickly I can try and meet ye there?”

“That’s exactly why I called, mate. If Nunn is as angry as Sophia said he is, then I think I’d be a fool to turn up without backup.”

“Say nae more, mate,” Young answered rapidly. “I’ll meet ye there as soon as I can.”

“Thanks, Rory! I’ll see you soon! Don’t drive stupidly, but try and get there as quickly as you can.”

“I will, mate. Dinnae ye worry.”

The call ended, and I felt better knowing I wouldn’t be facing Nunn alone. However, with Young being in Beauly, the realist in me knew I wouldn’t be able to sit back and wait for Young to arrive.

No... I’d have to charge in and save Sophia and just hope that Young would arrive in time to save me.

The drive wasn’t overly long, but with my concerns for Sophia’s safety, it felt much longer than it really was. As I drove, I found it hard to not think about Nunn and picture him as a killer.

I was now certain he had it in him to stab someone to death, but was he the one responsible for Jenny’s death? Or was he just a man who was able to hold the world’s longest grudge?

Eventually, I made it to Nunn’s house, and as his house came into view, I felt more concerned about Sophia than ever.

It was possible that Nunn had killed one, maybe even two women, but was Sophia about to be his third murder victim?

I parked up away from their house and walked hastily toward it. I had no plans of knocking and announcing my presence. I went to open the door and swore under my breath when I felt resistance. The door was clearly locked, which meant my plan of getting into the house without pre-warning Nunn was impossible.

I guess I’ll have to knock then, I thought unhappily.

I glanced behind me, then chided myself, knowing there was no way that Young would have managed to get there so quickly. I’d have preferred to enter the house with him, but with Sophia in danger, I knew I couldn’t afford to wait.

I raised my hand and knocked loudly on the door. I waited for a few seconds, but there was no answer.

I groaned impatiently and knocked again. “Nunn! Nunn, I know you’re in there!”

When Nunn didn’t answer, I repeatedly knocked on the door, hoping he’d feel irritated enough to force the door open ‌like before. However, after a few minutes, there was still no sign of him.

Was it possible in the time it took me to get there that Nunn had managed to break through the door, attack Sophia, then drag her away from the house? Was I too late? Was she even still alive?

I thought rapidly for a second, figuring out my next move. I knew I hadn’t tried around the back, but just as I went to walk away from the front door, I hesitated at the sound of an approaching vehicle. After looking up, I grinned at the sight of Young’s car zooming down the road.

Seeing me standing there, Young didn’t bother with parking away from the house and instead drove speedily toward me and parked just outside ‌it. He then wasted no time in getting out of the car and approaching me.

The moment I saw him, I noticed his worn out expression, and I knew he must have done everything within his power to get to me.

“You got here quick!” I praised.

Young smiled, but if anything, it only emphasised his exhausted features. “Aye, well, it sounded important, so I rushed here! I put ma lights on fur most of the drive, so people quickly moved out of ma way. I turned them off when I got close, as I didnae want tae alert Nunn tae the fact I was coming.” He glanced up toward the house. “I thought ye’d have been in by now.”

“So did I,” I responded bitterly. “But the door is locked and Nunn is ignoring me.”

“Come on, let’s go and bother the prick together then!”

I nodded appreciatively at Young, then together we approached the front door. As we walked at a brisk pace, I looked toward Young.

“I had no luck with that door before. Do you think we go straight for the back door?”

“The front, I think,” Young responded. “He cannae escape from the back so he wid have nae where tae run even if he did go out that way.”

I agreed.

We knocked loudly on the door, but once again no one answered.

However, as we stood there, debating ‌what to do next, I froze at the sound of a loud scream coming from inside‌ the house.

I looked toward Young. “That’s Sophia!”

Young gave me a panicked look before we both decided at the same time to charge around towards the back of the house. We made it to the back door, but when I tried to open it, I realised it was on a latch, so it could only open slightly.

“Damn it!” I exclaimed. “No way are we squeezing through that gap!”

“Stand back!” Young demanded.

I turned to him and saw he was preparing his elbow. I had less than a second to move out of the way as Young quickly darted toward the door. Luckily, the latch was weak, and with one hit, the door swung open.

“Good job, Rory!” I praised as I ran into the house and helped to steady him. “Now, let’s go!”

The moment I grabbed Young’s elbow and helped him, he nodded, and together we ran into the house. I didn’t know where I was going, but as Sophia had said she’d locked herself in her bedroom, I knew logically she’d be upstairs. Young followed me up the stairs, then once we reached the top, I saw what looked like a door that had been forced open. While I didn’t know if that was Sophia’s bedroom, my gut told me it was, so I made a beeline straight for it.

Once I reached the room, I saw Nunn’s form towering over Sophia. I moved speedily around him, getting between them and pushing him back. Young quickly got in place beside me so that the two of us made a barrier between him and Sophia.

I glanced between Nunn and Sophia, and to my surprise, saw that Sophia had a tear-stained face, but otherwise seemed okay.

I went to ask her how she was, but before I had the chance to, Nunn grabbed the scruff of my shirt and pulled me near him.

“How dare you come into my house, James!”

“Adam, don’t!” Sophia shouted.

I shoved Nunn away, but before I could speak, he was already making to grab me again. I kept resisting his hold, but after a couple of seconds of this, Nunn grew angry and started throwing punches instead.

“Adam! No!” Sophia kept shouting as I blocked Nunn’s punches.

I continued to push Nunn away, watching as Nunn tried to attack me while Young teetered near both of us, looking too concerned about joining in case he accidentally hit me. As Nunn threw punches and I blocked them, he started shouting at me.

“Why couldn’t you just leave us alone, James! We were happy without you, but you just had to swoop in and ruin our relationship, didn’t you!?”

“It’s DCI Glover to you, Nunn!” I spat. “And how could I when you were threatening and terrifying your wife?”

“I would never threaten her! I would never hurt her!” Nunn snarled. “You just want to come play the hero so you can worm your way back into her life, right? You’re pathetic, and you can’t accept the fact that she chose me!”

I ducked a punch and pushed Nunn back. “You aren’t talking any sense, man! Just calm down so we can all speak!”

“No chance!” Nunn exclaimed. “We all know the moment I stop you’ll just try and arrest me!”

“It doesn’t need to be that way, Nunn! Just calm down!”

“Adam!” Sophia sobbed. “Just listen to him! Please!”

Nunn snarled at me. “You’ve got her exactly where you want her, haven’t you, James? You come here trying to blame me for some stupid article when I bet you were the one to publish it in the hopes of reminding Sophia of that time! Do you really think I can’t see through you? You’d stoop to any level to try and turn her against me!”

There was silence for a couple of seconds as Nunn swung out his leg to try and trip me, but luckily I moved quickly and dodged it.

“Only you would be stupid enough to release that article after so many years, Nunn! We all know it was you and that you did it as a way of getting at me, so just admit it!”

As I dodged out of the range of Nunn’s leg, I moved backward, providing more of a gap between us. When there was more space, Young quickly got between us and helped me to overpower Nunn. Nunn roared as the two of us eventually pinned his arms behind his back, and I sighed with relief when Young put cuffs on him.

The moment the cuffs were on Adam, he stopped trying to attack us. He shook with rage, but I was glad he had the sense to stop fighting.

“Now that you can’t attack us anymore, maybe you’ll finally start talking,” I said tiredly.

“I have nothing to say to you!”

As soon as Nunn finished speaking, he spat in my direction, and I felt his saliva smack me on my right cheek.

Sophia wailed louder than ever. “Adam! Adam, stop it! You’re going to be arrested if you keep doing things like⁠—”

Adam turned to her with a sharp look, instantly silencing her. “Oh, and you’d love that, wouldn’t you? If I was arrested, you two would be free to be together, just like you’ve always wanted!”

“I keep telling you that you’re being p-paranoid, Adam! Why can’t you see that?” Sophia asked desperately.

Adam roared and started thrashing against mine and Young’s hold. He was strong, stronger than I expected, and it took both of us to stop him from pulling away.

“Adam Nunn, I’m arresting ye fur assaulting a detective!” Young hissed angrily. “Ye dae not need tae⁠—”

I zoned out the rest of Young’s words as I was too focused on controlling Nunn. It was an impossible task, and me and Young had to struggle to get Nunn downstairs. As he was uncontrollable, I turned to Sophia and asked her to call the police and tell them we would need some PCs and a panda car to contain him. Sophia, although looking miserable, did as I asked.

I held Nunn tightly as Sophia called for backup, and as she did, I kept my eyes fixed on Nunn.

His behaviour was completely over the top and irrational, and as he was being so extreme, I just hoped that meant that he knew he was guilty of murder and that we’d finally caught him.

27

We managed to get Nunn to the front of his house—a difficult task due to the way he constantly thrashed and kicked—and shortly after that a panda car arrived. There were four PCs in the car, and as they forced Nunn into the back of it, I knew I didn’t envy them the journey they’d have back to Beauly station with Nunn.

“Thanks,” I said to them all gratefully as Nunn was shut in the car. I then finally wiped the spit off‌ my face and looked at it in disgust. “He had no intention of coming quietly.”

“Nae problem, sir,” a breathless young PC answered. He had a few beads of sweat dripping down his forehead from the exertion of forcing Nunn into the car. “We’ll get him straight tae the station.”

I thanked him, then turned to Young. “Come on, let’s get going.”

Suddenly, Sophia grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

“What’s going to happen to him, James?”

The concern in her voice took me by surprise.

“I don’t know, it depends if he is willing to cooperate... but from what we’ve seen, that isn’t looking very likely, is it?”

“No, it isn’t.” Sophia bit her lip and looked worriedly at the panda car. “He isn’t a bad person, James, he’s just⁠—”

“You called me in tears to say he was attacking you, and now you’re saying he isn’t a bad person?” I asked sceptically.

“I never said he was attacking me... not really.” She paused, avoiding my gaze. “It was just scary when he was shouting, that’s all, but he’s never raised a hand to me before. Never. I guess when he was yelling… I thought back to before, and I knew you’d come here and save me.”

I continued to look at her in disbelief. Before I’d been worried about her, frightened that she could come to serious injury, and now I couldn’t help but look at her and see the silly girl who used to follow me around everywhere.

It was like she hadn’t grown up at all and still craved me to be the hero I never actually was.

“You are aware I’m a busy detective trying to solve at least one homicide?” I asked coolly. “I came here because you made me believe your life was in danger, but now you’re telling me you never believed it was? I’m not just someone at your beck and call, Sophia. I’m a busy man with real issues to solve.”

She slowly looked at me, blinking gently. “I know that, and I appreciate the way you rushed to my aid, James.” She looked at me warmly. “It was really brave!”

I took a step back, looking at her angrily. “Well, don’t expect it again, Sophia! You’ve wasted enough of my time today.”

Before she had the chance to reply, I turned my back on her and charged toward my car. As I got into it, I saw that Young had already left. I muttered unhappily under my breath, then quickly made to follow him and the panda car.

As I drove to the station, I kept thinking about Nunn and whether or not he was our killer. Sophia had been quick to state that he’d never hurt her, which meant on some level he could control his temper, but had Jenny been as lucky as Sophia, or did Nunn not care enough about Jenny to resist the urge to give in to his anger?

Luckily, I wasn’t far behind the others, and by the time I’d finished parking up, it only took me a few seconds to catch up with them all. Nunn, to my surprise, was no longer attempting to punch or kick anything within a one foot radius, and was now silent and sullen.

I hoped that wasn’t an indicator of how he was going to be once we had him in the interrogation room.

I followed the others into the station, ignoring the jeers from the crowd as we moved, and we all kept silent as Nunn was ushered forward. As we stepped past the reception, Young and I moved ahead so that we could open the door to our department. As I held it open, Nunn didn’t look at me as the PCs urged him onward and thanked me. We continued toward the interrogation rooms, and as we did, we passed Murray, Boyd, Gamble, and Fenton, who all eyed Nunn with curiosity. I shot them all a look to let them know I’d explain more when I could, then kept walking until we reached the first interrogation room.

I gave Young a look, and he quickly got the hint, moving ahead so that he could get the door for us. As Young held the door, I stood aside and allowed the PCs to enter the room with Nunn first. They ushered him to his seat, but as they tried to push him into it, he pulled away from them.

“How do you expect me to sit here when I’ve got my hands cuffed behind my back?” he spat.

“Ye should have thought of that before ye started kicking off!” a PC answered bluntly.

I looked toward Nunn, who, to my surprise, was looking right at me.

“You want to talk to me, right? Well, take off these cuffs then. I won’t be able to think, let alone do anything else with this metal cutting into me.”

Young scoffed as he closed the door behind him. “Aye, like we’ll be daein that after how ye’ve behaved.”

For a moment, Nunn and I just looked at one another. There was still dislike in his eyes as he looked into my own, but his anger seemed to have ebbed away.

After a few seconds, I broke the silence. “Say we do take them off of you, Mr. Nunn. How do we know you won’t start to attack us all again?”

I could sense Young looking at me in disbelief, but I ignored him and kept my eyes focused on Nunn.

“Because I’m not an idiot.”

Young scoffed again. “Oh, aye, well ye proved that before, didnae ye?”

Nunn ignored Young’s sarcastic tone and continued looking at me. After another couple of seconds, I looked at Young.

“Take the cuffs off ‌him, DI Young.” I paused, but just when Young opened his mouth to argue, I continued speaking. “But keep an eye on him. The moment he even looks close to doing anything stupid, put them back on... and tighter this time.”

Young still didn’t look happy, but he did as he was asked. Once he took the cuffs off ‌Nunn, he made some dramatic noises as he flexed his wrists.

“Much better! They were bloody killing me!”

“Yer own fault fur acting a prat,” Young answered. He then pointed to the chair next to Nunn. “Now, take a seat and behave fur once.”

I was left surprised when Nunn grunted but did as he was told. Once he looked settled in his seat, Young stepped to the opposite side of the table and sat down. I remained standing for a couple of seconds, watching Nunn to see if he was about to do anything, but when he remained calm in his seat I sat down next to Young.

I got myself comfortable, then started the interview tape. I wondered if Nunn had any intention of speaking. He’d been quiet the entire walk to the interrogation room, but I didn’t know if that was a sign he was willing to cooperate or if he was just willing to say anything to get his cuffs removed. Any time I caught his eye, he gave me a look of pure hatred, but he would only hold my eye contact for a second before looking away.

I had a feeling this interrogation was going to be far from easy, but I had no intention of giving up either.

“Got much to say for yourself, Nunn?” I asked.

Nunn remained silent.

“Do you think the silent act is going to work for you?”

Again, silence.

“Because if you do, you’re sorely mistaken.”

Nunn made a noise in the back of his throat, but didn’t speak.

“You assured us that if we removed your cuffs, you would behave, Mr. Nunn. If you continue this silent act, then we will have to put them back on.” I paused. “We showed an act of faith and kindness toward you by removing those cuffs, Mr. Nunn, but we can just as easily get them on you again.”

After another silence, Young glared at Nunn.

“Fur the benefit of the tape, Mr. Nunn is being an awkward wee prick and isnae saying a word.”

I bit back the urge to smile as Nunn shot Young a filthy look. “You can’t talk to me like that! You’re supposed to be professional!”

“Aye, well, it’s hard when dealing with people like ye,” Young said coolly. “I can be a lot nicer if ye cooperate with us though, so, what dae ye say?”

Nunn kissed his teeth and looked away from us.

I tried a few more times to push Nunn to speak, but when it was clear he had no intention of doing so, I lost my patience.

“Very well, Mr. Nunn. As you have no intention of helping yourself, I’m left with no choice but to arrest you for murder and leave you to the courts to⁠—”

Nunn looked at me hastily. “Murder? What are you on about?”

I smiled. “Did you think I was wasting my time with you purely over that article, Nunn?”

Nunn huffed. “Well, yeah, what else would you want to speak to me about? I didn’t expect murder, for Christ’s sake! Why would I?”

“Well, considering ye have just committed murder, it isnae tae much of a stretch tae think ye might be asked aboot it,” Young responded matter-of-factly.

Nunn looked between us angrily. “Is this your idea of a joke? Try accusing me of the worst possible thing in the hopes it will force me to speak?”

“Do either of us look like we are joking, Mr. Nunn?” I asked.

Nunn started to look worried. “I really have no idea what this is all about, but it isn’t funny.”

I smacked the table, causing Nunn to flinch. “You’re right, Mr. Nunn. It isn’t funny. Two women are dead, and⁠—”

“Two! You’re accusing me of two murders?”

“Yes, Mr. Nunn, that’s exactly what I’m accusing you of.”

Nunn looked between us, looking visibly stunned. “You need to go back a bit then because you’re accusing me of something I don’t have a clue about!” He paused. “Who apparently have I killed?”

“Jenny Starling,” I answered.

“Who?”

“Cut the bull, Nunn,” Young answered bluntly. “Ye ken perfectly well who she is!”

“Clearly not!”

I rolled my eyes. “Be smart here, Mr. Nunn. Even if you hadn’t killed her, then we would never believe you don’t recognise her name. It’s been all over the news recently, so you can’t tell us you haven’t heard of her.”

“What, the woman who worked here, do you mean?” Nunn queried.

“Ah, now he starts to use his brain,” I responded. “Yes, Mr. Nunn, the counsellor whose name is everywhere right now.”

Nunn gently shook his head. “I knew she’d died, but I didn’t remember her name!” He paused, looking between me and Young as though he expected us to jump in, but when neither of us did, he continued. “Why would I have killed her?”

“We know that the person who killed Jenny Starling has a vendetta against me, and they attempted to use her murder as a way of framing me,” I responded. “And as you aren’t exactly my biggest fan, it makes you a prime candidate.”

To my surprise, Nunn laughed. “Yeah, me and over half of the population! If your only reason for dragging me in is because I don’t like you, James, then you’ll have a long list of⁠—”

“That’s DCI Glover tae ye! Show some respect!” Young hissed.

I gave Young a gentle look, reassuring him that Nunn’s words didn’t bother me. “It’s okay, DI Young. Mr. Nunn here doesn’t have any respect for anyone in this field, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” Nunn answered venomously.

“So, is that why you killed Jenny? Because she was just some other⁠—”

“I’ve already told you I didn’t kill her!” Nunn interrupted. “Why would I?”

“We’ve already told ye, Mr. Nunn, because ye cannae stand the fact that DCI Glover here is better than ye in every conceivable way.” Young paused, looking at Nunn intensely. “Ye hate him, dinnae ye, Mr. Nunn?”

Nunn glared at me. “Yes, I do, but so do a lot of⁠—”

“And when ye realised he lived in this area ye hated that, didnae ye? Ye moved here tae get away from the likes of people like him, and yet he somehow ended up here tae! That must have driven ye mad?”

Nunn kept silent, looking at Young as though he was nothing but dirt on his shoes.

“I bet ye were trying tae forget aboot DCI Glover, trying tae act like he wisnae here, but then Jenny contacted ye tae talk aboot him, didnae she? And ye couldn’y believe that someone wanted tae dae that. That someone wanted⁠—”

“That woman never contacted me!” Nunn interrupted. “I’ve never spoken to her or anyone connected to her a day in my life.”

“So ye’ll have nae issue with us going through yer phone tae prove that?” Young asked.

Nunn chortled. “Be my guest! I’ve never spoken to the woman.”

For a second I looked at Nunn, feeling consumed by doubt.

Was he a cocky little man who was convinced he’d covered his tracks, or was he genuinely telling the truth and had never spoken to Jenny before?

If he had never spoken to her, then there was no way he could be our killer.

“Who else is apparently dead?” Nunn asked coldly. “You’re trying to accuse me of two murders, but you’ve only mentioned one.”

“The other victim is her sister, Morag.” I paused. “She was murdered last night.”

Nunn looked confused. “And why would I want her dead?”

I hesitated, unsure what to say.

The fact of the matter was that I didn’t know why he would have killed Morag, but I didn’t want him to know that.

“Morag and Jenny were as thick as thieves,” I eventually answered. “The two spoke about everything, so we believe Jenny had confided in Morag, who she was meeting the night that she was killed, and that word somehow got back to you.” I paused. “I don’t know if Jenny told you that herself when you were killing her, or if Morag had reached out to you, but somehow you found out and that was why you killed her too.”

“Madness,” Nunn muttered, looking between me and Young with an expression mixed between completely disturbed and awed. “You’re absolutely bloody mental if you think that makes any sense!”

“It makes a lot of sense, Nunn, and you know it,” I replied coldly.

Nunn moved his hand. I tensed in my seat, ready for him to lash out, but instead he grabbed his phone and thrust it across the table. “There. You’ll find proof on there that I didn’t do these crazy things you’re accusing me of!”

I looked at Young, who put on gloves, then grabbed the phone. As Young looked at it, I continued looking at Nunn.

Nunn’s eyes flickered to Young a couple of times, but nothing in his expression suggested he was nervous or fearful of what Young could find.

Was it possible that he was telling the truth? Was Nunn not our killer?

But... if he wasn’t, then who was?

“While DI Young looks through your phone, let’s talk about that article.”

Nunn slowly looked away from Young and toward me. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

Nunn’s voice shook with anger when he spoke, but I held his gaze.

“I think you’ll find you don’t have much of a say about what we talk about, Mr. Nunn.”

Nunn laughed darkly. “You still think that was somehow to do with me, do you?”

“It had to be,” I responded. “We both know that the information surrounding our fight was removed online, so only someone who was there could have passed it on.”

“Which is why I think it was you,” Nunn snarled.

“Me?” I asked in disbelief.

“Of course it was you, and you just don’t want anyone knowing you’re sly and stupid enough to put that out there.” He paused. “I bet you couldn’t wait to embarrass me again, could you? You knew what that time did to me, knew how it destroyed me, and you felt the need to destroy me again! Well, I’m a grown man now, James, and your pathetic attempts to ‌get under my skin won’t work anymore.”

The more I listened to Nunn, the more confused I felt. Nunn spoke with such passion and genuinely seemed miserable to have read that article, so if it upset him so much, how could he have been the one to put it out there?

It made no sense.

“You practically admitted to being the one behind the article earlier, Nunn.”

Nunn shrugged. “I was just trying to get a reaction out of you... I never thought you’d be stupid enough to believe it.”

I went to speak, but Young beat me to it.

“I can see why he was happy fur me tae look through his phone now,” Young said coldly. “He has a lot of privacy settings on here, so I cannae see much at all.”

I looked at Nunn. “Are you going to give my colleague the information he needs to unlock your privacy settings?”

“No.”

I quirked a brow. “No?”

“Exactly that.”

I folded my arms. “I thought you had nothing to hide?”

“I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy for you to go through my private things.”

“Two women are dead, Nunn, and you’re supposed to be proving that you didn’t kill them.”

“He can see my messages and he can see my call log.” Nunn paused. “That should be enough.”

“Well, it isn’t,” I snapped. “We need to see all forms of messages. Emails, Messenger, really anything that you could have used to contact either woman to organise a late night meeting.”

To my surprise, Nunn looked at me hopefully. “Late night meeting?”

“Yes, both women were killed at some point during the late evening or very early hours of the morning.”

Nunn grinned. “Well, then, it couldn’t be me. I work nights!”

“Can anyone confirm that?”

“At least six people, yeah!” Nunn exclaimed happily. He pointed to his phone. “You can see my contacts. Call Sam, he’s my manager, and he can tell you I’ve been working nights the past seven days in a row.”

Young looked at me. “I can go call him now if ye want?”

I nodded. “Yes, let’s see if this isn’t another of Nunn’s fabrications.”

Young confirmed the right name with Nunn, then left. Once he left the room, Nunn smiled at me smugly.

“Guess you can’t pin this on me now then, James.”

“DCI Glover. And we shall see.”

Nunn snorted. “You just can’t bear to see me beating you, can you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “This isn’t about winning or losing, Nunn. It’s about stopping a killer.”

“Whatever.” Nunn paused. “I’m sorry for the victims, but they’re nothing to do with me.”

“I see you’re just as compassionate toward women as you were in school, Nunn.”

Nunn glared at me. “Don’t talk to me about school, James.”

“Fine... what would you like to talk about then? Your stalking charges? Your clear temper and aggression? Your⁠—”

Nunn stood up abruptly. The PCs were quickly on him, but when it was clear Nunn had no intention of taking a swing at me, I gestured for them to back off. Nunn grunted as he sat back down.

“Those charges were a long time ago, James.” He paused and chewed on his lip. “I won’t pretend I like you, James, but I’m not going to lie and say I killed a woman for talking to me about you when it isn’t true.” He paused. “I thought no one could hate you like I do, but clearly someone does.”

There was silence between us as I looked at Nunn. As much as I didn’t like it, the more I spoke to him, the more I was convinced he wasn’t our killer. He was convinced he had an alibi, seemed genuine when stating that he didn’t know Jenny, and we had yet to find any evidence of any connection between him and either of the victims.

But, if he wasn’t our killer, then why had he decided to publish the article about us? He seemed genuine when he said it wasn’t him, but if he didn’t do it, then who else could have? I knew Jenny’s killer must have been someone from my past, but did that mean someone else I’d known since childhood was now in Scotland too?

I leaned closer to Nunn, looking at him intently. “I can’t say I trust you, Nunn, but… I believe that you aren’t our killer... well, I’m trying to figure out if this article about us is connected to our killer or just something random to get at me.” I paused. “If you are behind the article, you won’t get in trouble, Nunn... but I need to know if you did it or not. If you aren’t our killer I don’t want to waste time chasing after information on that article if it isn’t relevant.”

Nunn scoffed. “And why should I help you? The man who has done nothing but try to steal my wife ever since he found out we were here?”

I bit back the urge to argue with him, knowing I needed him on side. “Don’t do this for me then, Nunn. Do it for those two murdered women who deserve justice.”

Nunn pushed back in his chair and clicked his tongue. He was silent for a few seconds, but eventually, he spoke. “I don’t care about you, James, but I don’t want to stop two women from being honoured either... you clearly don’t believe me, but I had nothing to do with that article.”

“Then why did you hide it from Sophia?”

Nunn looked at me. “Think, man. If I had gone out of my way to get that information out there, why would I hide it from her? If I wanted it out there, then surely I’d want everyone to see it?”

“Because you’re a jealous arse when it comes to her, Nunn.” I paused as Nunn looked ready to stand again, but as he had the sense to remain seated, I continued. “You hate me for defending her back then, so you wouldn’t exactly want her to be reminded of that time, now would you?”

“I guess not,” Nunn admitted begrudgingly. “But that time was hell for me, and I wish I could have hidden it from myself as much as I hid it from her. Believe me, don’t believe me, that’s up to you, but I know for a fact I had nothing to do with that article. Seeing it again only put me through hell.”

I tried to figure out how to respond, but I was saved the trouble of doing so by Young’s arrival. He closed the door behind him, then looked at me, his expression anything but happy.

“Well?” Nunn asked impatiently. “Did he confirm what I said or not?”

Young sat down next to me. “Aye, he confirmed ye have worked nights fur over a week and that he and his staff can account fur yer movements.”

Nunn fist pumped in the air. “Yes! See? I told you! You’d better let me go now that you know I’m innocent!”

“Ye still spat at a detective, Mr. Nunn!” Young exclaimed coldly. “Ye amn’t going anywhere.”

Nunn looked at me coldly. “You know I’m innocent.”

I nodded, sensing Young’s shocked expression. I ended the tape, then spoke. “Very well. The PCs here will escort you back home... but a word of warning, Nunn. If you continue to behave how you did today, then you will be in a cell very soon.”

Nunn held up his middle finger, then looked at the PCs. “Well? You heard the man! Get me the hell out of here!”

I watched in bitter disappointment as Nunn and the PCs left the room. They’d barely closed the door behind them when Young was rounding on me.

“I cannae believe ye let him go!”

“He has an alibi, Rory. He can’t be our killer.”

“Aye, but he is still a wee prick who should be detained!”

“Usually I’d agree with you, but we have enough on our plates without needing to worry about babysitting him.” I sighed. “He and Sophia have wasted enough of our time today, and we’re now further away from finding Jenny and Morag’s killer than ever before.”

Young huffed. “Aye... I guess ye’re right.” He paused. “From Nunn’s behaviour, I was convinced he was our killer! That and how many other people around here have that long of a connection with ye?”

“I know,” I responded glumly. “Well, we’d better go tell the others the bad news.”

“Fantastic,” Young muttered sarcastically.

As we walked to meet the others, I couldn’t ignore the feeling of disappointment settling in my chest. Nunn had been our top suspect, and now with him and Zayn both proven innocent, we were back to having no suspects.

If this continued, we’d have no chance of finding out who had killed Jenny. We needed a miracle, but I had no idea where we could find one.

28

For around half an hour, we spoke to the others and caught them up. During that time, I finished my flask of coffee and waited as Fenton went to make me another cup. I then drank it as we finished up.

“And that’s when we realised that Nunn couldn’t be our killer… and that he couldn’t have been behind the article either.”

Murray sighed. “Well, that’s disappointing, but at least while ye were chasing dead ends we made some real progress here.”

“What progress?” I asked hopefully.

Murray gestured toward Fenton. “Well, as it was Fenton who found this out, she can be the one tae tell ye.”

Fenton went pink as she finished passing out the drinks. I looked at her eagerly, so she glanced between me and Young.

“Well, Murray got me looking into Morag’s bank account, and when I did I found something rather interesting.”

“What?” Young asked before Fenton had even finished her sentence.

“Well, Morag has two accounts, one that is hers and one that is joint with her husband. When I looked into her joint account, it looked like the entire account had been emptied yesterday.” She paused. “I called the bank tae confirm this and they said Morag had been there and emptied it.”

“How much was in there?” I asked.

“Just over thirty grand.”

Boyd whistled. “That isnae exactly small change, now is it?”

“Did the person you spoke to say why Morag emptied it?” I pressed keenly.

Fenton shook her head. “Nae, sir. Even if they did, they widnae be able tae say due tae confidentiality.”

I wondered if Owen knew about this, and if he didn’t, why Morag would have felt the need to take that sort of money out. Was she trying to run away with it? Was she trying to steal from him? Or had she found herself in a desperate situation? It made an accidental death seem even less likely‌.

“Has anyone tried to ask Owen about this?” I asked.

“Nae, sir. I didnae want tae until I found out what ye thought aboot it all,” Fenton answered.

“Plus, we didnae want tae warn him in any way if he is somehow involved,” Murray added.

I nodded. “Good. That’s good. This is definitely more than we had before. I think we need to chase it up immediately.”

“Agreed,” Murray replied. “Ye get over tae Owen’s right away and see what the man has tae say fur himsel.”

I nodded, then glanced around the room. My eyes fell on Boyd, who was staring at me with a hopeful expression.

“Boyd, you’re with me.”

Boyd grinned. “Great!”

He instantly downed the rest of his coffee, then jumped out of his seat. We quickly put our coats on and made our way out of our department.

“Good luck!” Murray shouted after us.

I put my hand up in a gesture of thanks, then kept going. As Boyd and I walked, I noticed Boyd had a spring in his step and seemed keen to get out of the building.

I knew Boyd loved fieldwork, so this didn’t surprise me.

“Want me tae drive, sir?”

“That would be good. Thanks, Boyd.”

“Nae bother, sir.”

We made it to Boyd’s car, and as we walked past the crowd, I almost hesitated when I heard a familiar voice.

“Glover! Glover, wait!”

I knew it was Balfour, and his voice sounded desperate. However, as he’d let me down by posting that article, I knew I didn’t owe him anything, so I kept walking until I reached Boyd’s car. Boyd then drove us away from the station, and as he did, I didn’t once look in the direction of the crowd.

I hoped Balfour did feel guilty over what he’d done, but I had far too much on my plate to be worrying about him too.

As Boyd drove us to Owen’s house, I pushed Balfour from my mind and focused on the cases. I hated that we were back to no suspects on Jenny’s case, and now with the information that Morag had emptied her and her husband’s account, I couldn’t help but wonder if my assumption of the deaths being connected was wrong. Why would someone blackmail Morag if they were responsible for Jenny’s death? Had Morag been so upset recently not just because her sister had died, but because she’d got herself into some serious financial trouble too?

I didn’t know if Owen had any awareness about any of this, but something about him had always struck me as odd. I didn’t know if he was our killer or if he’d just always known more than he’d let on, but I knew he was holding back in some way. I cursed myself for not looking into that earlier.

You idiot, James, I thought darkly. You knew Zayn was lying, but you didn’t act quick enough, and you knew Owen was unusually vague and you didn’t act instantly on that either! If you did, you could have closed these cases by now.

As we drew closer to Owen’s house, I vowed to myself that the next time I had a gut reaction, I wouldn’t ignore it.

Moments later we made it to Owen’s house, and as Boyd drove closer to it I was surprised to see a car I didn’t recognise parked up in front of it.

Was it possible the family liaison officer had been swapped out, and we hadn’t been informed? Lin’s car was no longer there, so I knew it was possible. As Boyd parked up, I pondered this thought out loud with him.

“Aye, that’s odd,” Boyd agreed. “They dinnae usually swap over in such a short space of time, dae they?”

“No, they don’t... but I guess Lin could have had something come up.”

“Aye, like a family emergency or something... only one way tae find out, sir.”

The two of us climbed out of Boyd’s car and started walking toward Owen’s house. As we walked, I muttered to Boyd quietly under my breath.

“Remember... we don’t know if Owen might be a potential suspect now, so we need to watch him carefully. Look out for any unusual reactions.”

Boyd nodded.

We reached the front door, and then I knocked on it. Seconds later the door swung open and Owen stood there, looking between me and Boyd in surprise.

“What brings ye here?” Owen asked, his eyes widening with worry. “Have ye got news fur me?”

“Potentially, yes,” I answered.

Owen's nervous expression intensified. “Ye’d better come in then.”

Boyd and I thanked him as we entered his house. He shut the door behind us, then looked between us.

“Can I get either of ye a drink?”

“We’ve just had one, but thank you.” I looked behind me, deeper into the house. “Maybe we can go sit down somewhere?”

Owen’s face paled. “A-aye, of course.”

As he led us into the living room, he kept looking over his shoulder at us. “I ken ye must have news tae be here and I’m keen tae hear what it is.”

As I walked, I analysed Owen’s nervous movements and speech, wondering if he was nervous for himself, or just nervous about potentially finding out more information on how his wife had died.

Owen reached the door of the living room, then gestured for us to go inside. I thanked him, then passed him, but I had barely stepped into the living room when I paused at the sight of a man sitting down on the largest sofa in the room. He looked to be a similar age to Owen and was just as handsome. He had sprinkles of salt and pepper colouring in his short brunette hair and a beard as neatly trimmed as Owen’s own. I assumed he was a family liaison officer, but from the way he sat so comfortably in Owen’s chair, I wasn’t certain.

The moment he saw us, he stood up from the chair and nodded nervously.

“Detectives, this is ma friend, Douglas,” Owen said tiredly. “Once I told him aboot M-Morag, he came right over tae see me.”

Douglas smiled awkwardly, then held out a hand. “Hello.”

I nodded and shook his hand. “Pleasure. I’m DCI James Glover and my colleague here is DC Boyd.”

Douglas shook Boyd’s hand, then looked between us all uncomfortably. “Thank ye fur letting Owen ken aboot Morag quickly... we were, I mean he was worried sick aboot her, but now he kens... even if the news is dreadful. I just c-cannae believe she’s really gone.”

As Douglas spoke, I was surprised to see genuine sorrow in his eyes. It looked as though he was fighting back tears, and the fight seemed more pronounced the moment he mentioned Morag’s name.

I couldn’t tell if his sorrow was his own over Morag’s death, or if he simply felt upset on behalf of his friend.

“We were sorry to give Owen such upsetting news, but I can assure you we are doing everything we can to honour her.”

Before Douglas could answer, Owen beat him to it.

“Douglas and his wife are good friends of mine and Morag’s. We’ve all been friends fur, God, ten years now?”

“More like twelve,” Douglas replied. “But who’s counting, eh?”

Douglas chuckled awkwardly, and I could tell he felt uncomfortable‌ being near the police. As he spoke, he stepped toward the living room door and looked between us all. “Can I make ye detectives a drink? I was then aboot tae put the kettle on fur Owen.”

“I asked them before and⁠—”

“Actually, a tea would be great, thanks,” I said, quickly speaking over Owen.

While I hadn’t fancied one before, I knew it would be good to have the opportunity to speak with Owen alone.

“Aye, I’ll have the same,” Boyd said.

Douglas nodded then walked toward the kitchen. I could still hear his movements when I turned toward Owen.

“What happened to Lin from our team? Why isn’t she still here with you?”

Owen sat down in one of his armchairs and faced me. “It isnae her fault, I told her tae go after I spoke tae Douglas. Once he heard aboot Morag, he told me he’d come right over. I told her it was alright fur her tae leave as I’d be fine.” He paused. “As ye can imagine, I felt a bit more comfortable around a friend during this time than a stranger, and she said it was fine.”

I smiled weakly. “Of course, I can understand that completely.”

Owen pulled a worried expression. “She winnae get in trouble fur going, will she? Because it was me who told her tae go! I dinnae want her⁠—”

I held up a hand to stop him. “I can assure you Lin won’t be in trouble, Owen. She did as you asked, and that was the right thing to do.”

Owen sighed. “Good, that’s good.”

Douglas returned to the room, carrying a large rectangular tray filled with our drinks. He left the tray on a coffee table to the side of the room, then started to hand the drinks out. Once we were all holding a mug, he sat on a sofa at a surprisingly far distance away from Owen.

I wondered if that was so Owen could speak to us freely without Douglas feeling like he was involved, or if Douglas wanted to subtly avoid us himself.

However, although Douglas sat away from Owen, I couldn’t help but notice his eyes kept darting to his friend with concern. It was like he was having a constant battle with himself to fuss over his friend.

As if in answer to my thoughts, Douglas looked at Owen. “Dae ye want me tae go into another room so ye can speak tae the detectives alone? Or wid ye like me tae be here fur ye?”

Douglas’ voice was filled with concern, so I could tell he genuinely cared for Owen and wanted to do what was right by him.

Owen looked at me. “I-is it alright if he stays?”

I hesitated for half a second, wondering if it was okay for Douglas to hear everything I had to say. However, as Douglas was clearly close to the couple, it might be a good idea to keep him there. That way I could analyse his body language too, see if Owen had told him anything when they’d been alone together.

“Of course,” I answered. “It’s good for you to have a friend here when you need one.”

Owen nodded. “T-thank ye... so, what brings ye back here?”

“First of all, we’d like to know how you’re holding up, Owen,” I responded, deciding quickly to ease Owen in before asking him the more difficult questions.

“N-not very good, if truth be told,” Owen muttered shakily. “I j-just can’t seem tae stop picturing seeing... seeing...”

Owen couldn’t finish his sentence, but I knew he didn’t need to.

I could only begin to imagine how it must have felt when he saw Morag’s vacant eyes staring at him from Fiona’s table.

“It will take some time for you to forget that,” I answered kindly. “Just remember, we have a team available twenty-four seven, so if you ever need to talk to anyone about any of this, then please do so.”

“Thank ye, Detective.” Owen paused, turning to look at Douglas. “I was just so lucky that Douglas was able tae come right over and be here fur me.”

I turned to Douglas. “You were close to Morag, were you?”

Douglas blanched for half a second. “Erm, well, aye, as Owen said, we were all close.”

Owen looked at Douglas. “Dinnae be playing it down, Doug! Ye and Morag always got on, didnae ye?” Owen turned back to me. “Ye should have seen him before ye got here, Detective. He was almost as devastated over it all as I was, which is understandable after years of friendship.”

Douglas didn’t look at any of us as Owen spoke. Instead, he looked into the distance with an unreadable expression, and although I didn’t know what he was thinking, I had a feeling he wished he was as far away from us all as possible.

I kept quiet and silently prayed that Boyd would do the same, hoping that the silence would push Douglas to speak. Luckily, Boyd took my cue, and after another minute Douglas spoke.

“Aye, yeah, we got on well... Morag was a good lass, ye ken? And she and ma wife got on so well.” He paused, his eyes watering. “She will be devastated when she hears aboot this.”

I could tell Douglas was trying and failing to refrain from showing emotion. The more I watched him, the more it seemed his sorrow was for himself and not for Owen. Owen had admitted they were all friends, so why was Douglas so determined to play that down? Was he displaying the classic male trait of not wanting to show much emotion? Or was he not willing to let us see how much he cared for Morag?

I didn’t know what it was, but the more I looked at Douglas, the more I felt convinced he was trying to hide things from us.

“I thought you’d have told your wife the moment you found out,” I answered.

“I wid have done, but she was out and, well, when I received the call ma priority was gett’n tae Owen... I-I ken she winnae take it well.”

I nodded, feeling unwilling to let the conversation get too distracted by Douglas’ wife.

“When did you last see Morag, Douglas?” I inquired.

“Oh, erm, I cannae remember... it’s been a few weeks now, I think.”

As Douglas spoke, he once again seemed to avoid my gaze. However, before I could start to ask him more questions, Boyd started to speak.

“What have ye told Douglas aboot all of this, Owen?”

Douglas shot Owen a confused look. “What does he mean?” Douglas looked between me and Boyd. “I ken Morag drowned... but ye are making it sound like there’s more tae it than that?”

I looked at Owen, giving him a look to say that he could answer if he wanted to. Owen then slowly turned to face Douglas.

“I didnae want tae say before until I kent more... but the detectives dinnae ken fur certain that Morag’s death was an accident.”

Douglas’ eyes widened. “What? She might have been killed?”

“That is a theory we are looking into, yes,” I responded.

Douglas rubbed his face, his eyes watering more than before. “I cannae believe it...”

I watched as Douglas, once again, tried and failed to mask his emotions. I then saw Owen looking at Douglas as confusedly as I had been, so I quickly spoke to get both of their focus back on ‌me.

“We don’t know anything for certain right now, and there is a chance that Morag’s death was a tragic accident, but it wouldn’t be fair to Morag if we didn’t consider every possibility.”

Douglas nodded slowly. “Aye... of course.”

Douglas stared into the distance, looking like he’d lost the ability to speak, but thankfully Owen’s focus was firmly now on me.

“I-is that why ye’re here, Detective? Have ye found evidence tae confirm her death w-was murder?”

“Not quite,” I replied. “However, we have discovered something unusual that we wanted to get your opinion on.”

“W-whatever I can dae tae help, I will,” Owen answered quickly.

I thanked him. “When looking into things, we couldn’t help but notice that Morag had emptied your joint account yesterday afternoon... I don’t suppose you can tell us why?”

As I spoke, Owen’s mouth gaped open. “She emptied our account? S-she took everything out?”

I nodded. “I take it you didn’t know this?”

Owen shook his head. “N-nae... last night I was tae distracted by Morag being gone, then today after everything… the last thing I thought tae dae was check one of ma accounts.”

As Owen spoke, I found my eyes focused on not him, but Douglas. While Owen looked shocked and confused over the revelation that Morag had emptied their account, Douglas didn’t react to the news at all.

It was almost as though he already knew.

“Well, she took out everything, Owen, and considering she ended up dying a few hours after that, it makes us curious.” I paused. “Can you think of any reason why she’d have emptied that account?”

Owen slowly shook his head. “Nae... not at all.”

“Had she suggested any issues recently? Any financial difficulties?”

Again, Owen shook his head. “She niver mentioned anything... and she wid have done if she’d been having problems, right?”

As Owen asked the question, I found his gaze shifting to Douglas. Douglas awkwardly shuffled in his chair and shrugged.

“Ye’d like tae think so, aye... but ye ken lasses and their secrets.”

I shot Douglas a dubious look. “In my experience, men are just as likely to have secrets as women.”

Douglas blushed. “Aye, of course... sorry, I didnae mean tae sound sexist.”

I nodded politely, then looked back at Owen. “As you can imagine, we found this very strange and just hoped you’d be able to clear it up for us.”

“I wish I could... but I cannae.” He paused. “If she took that money out, dae ye ken what she did with it?”

I shook my head. “No, we were hoping you might have been able to help us with that.”

Owen rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. “I wish I could... but I really cannae figure out why she did that. She kens if she needed money fur anything all she had tae dae was ask me.”

“You told us before that Morag said she was nipping out when you last saw her, but we need you to try and think harder about that,” I responded. “Did she not tell you where she was going? Did you not see her with the money?”

“Nae, of course not! If I did, I’d say, widnae I?”

I shrugged. “Not if you felt there was something to hide.”

To my surprise, it was Douglas who answered.

“Now hold on a second! Owen has just lost his wife, fur Christ’s sake! What are ye trying tae accuse him of here?”

I looked between him and Owen. “Look, there aren’t many reasons for a person to empty a bank account. One reason would be that she was unhappy in the marriage and was trying to run away⁠—”

“Niver!” Owen interrupted. “Morag loved me, we were happy!”

“Which leaves financial trouble,” I responded. “Did you owe money to anyone? If you did, you need to tell us now.”

Owen quickly shook his head. “Nae, I swear! I cannae vouch fur Morag, but I ken I didnae ken anything aboot anything like that.”

“So, why did she take the money out, Owen?”

“I dinnae ken!”

“And why didn’t you try and find out where she was heading last night? You said yourself she rarely went out, so wouldn’t it have struck you as odd?”

Owen blanched for a second, but I was left surprised again when Douglas intervened.

“Owen, just tell him the truth, man. Ye amn’t helping yersel here.”

Owen shot Douglas an irritated look.

“Tell us the truth about what, Owen?” I pressed.

Owen hesitated for a fraction of a second, shooting frantic glances between me and Douglas. However, eventually he sighed and kept his gaze on me.

“Morag is d-dead, so I didnae exactly want tae speak badly aboot anything... but our marriage wisnae as happy as I’ve painted it tae be.”

“Go on,” I pressed gently.

“We’d been having some problems the past few weeks, problems that had been especially worse over the last week or so... we’d been arguing a lot, and since Jenny died Morag had become... sullen, withdrawn, and I found it hard tae deal with.” He hesitated, grimacing uncomfortably. “I ken that makes me sound like the most selfish man alive…”

“Aye, I can imagine Morag being upset that her sister had been murdered must have been difficult fur ye,” Boyd said coolly.

Owen looked at Boyd uncomfortably. “I’ve already said it was selfish, alright?”

“So, you’d been arguing... had you argued yesterday?”

Owen looked to the ground. “Aye... we had. I tried tae speak tae her, but when she started talking aboot Jenny again, I lost it and told her I couldn’y keep hearing it. She was upset, understandably so, and stormed upstairs. She then came downstairs with a bag and told me she was going tae stay away fur the night and fur me tae not follow her... I’m ashamed tae admit I listened tae her, so when she wisnae back here last night I didnae think it was odd. S-She’d practically told me she wisnae going tae be back... but then after a while when I couldn’y get a hold of her I started tae worry.”

As Owen spoke, I thought about how this version made a lot more sense. I’d always questioned why it took Owen an evening to report his wife missing. However, although on some levels it made more sense, it didn’t explain how Morag had ended up in Loch Ness.

Had she been having an affair? Had someone kidnapped her after she left the house and forced her into the loch?

So much of the story still made no sense, but I felt confident we were at least finally getting somewhere.

“One thing I can’t understand is how she ended up in Loch Ness,” I answered. “I get her wanting to stay away from here for the night, but why did she end up there?”

“Tae be honest, I’ve been thinking aboot this a lot since ye told me she was there, and I’ve only been able tae come up with one reason,” Owen replied.

“And what’s that?” I inquired.

“I dinnae ken how likely this theory is, but as we’ve been having problems recently I wondered if in her upset she decided tae go tae a place where we’d been happy… remember, right after we’d gotten married?” He paused. “I dinnae ken, but maybe she wanted tae go back tae a time where we were happy… then ended up drowning there.”

Although this theory had legs, I wasn’t entirely convinced by it. We knew that Morag hadn’t driven to the loch herself, which meant someone had to have taken her there, but who did and why?

Douglas interrupted my thoughts abruptly as he stood. I looked at him in surprise and sensed Owen doing the same, but before we could say anything, Douglas spoke.

“I’d best be off, anyway.”

“Ye’re leaving?” Owen asked, his tone dripping with hurt. “I thought ye were going tae stay with me fur a while?”

“Aye, well, I’ve been thinking aboot Samantha and should see if she’s home yet... I dinnae want her finding out the news aboot Morag from anyone other than me.” He paused. “Sorry… sorry tae leave ye.”

Douglas then put down his mug—which I instantly noticed he hadn’t taken a single sip of—and said a quick goodbye before he made his way toward the front door.

“D-Douglas...” Owen muttered, watching his friend leave with a shocked expression.

As Douglas walked past me, I couldn’t help but look at him suspiciously.

Something had caused him to want to get away from us quickly, and I wanted to know why.

29

As I didn’t want to risk losing the opportunity to speak to Douglas, so I stood up leisurely, not wanting to tip off Owen. I gave Boyd a pointed look.

“DC Boyd, can you please stay here with Owen for a moment? I’ve just remembered something I need to do."

I was grateful to Boyd when he didn’t react and instead instantly nodded. “Of course, sir.”

I passed him my half-drunk cup of tea, then moved after Douglas. I didn’t want to make Owen suspicious, so I stepped out of the house at a calm pace. With each step, my heart raced, and I mentally prayed that Douglas wouldn’t move too quickly for me to catch him.

My racing heart only intensified when I made it out of the front door and saw that Douglas was already stepping into his car.

No! I thought aggravatedly. He can’t leave!

As Douglas was already getting into his car, I knew he must have exited Owen’s house speedily, making me even more suspicious of him.

“Douglas! Wait!” I said loudly, hoping that Boyd would be engaging Owen in conversation so he couldn’t hear me.

At the sound of my voice, Douglas stepped out of his car and looked at me. He then gave me a weak smile and stepped toward me. “Detective, what can I do for you?”

For a split second, I looked at him, knowing I had to be careful and couldn’t just blurt out my suspicions to him.

“I know you’re keen to get back to your wife, but I just wanted to speak to you away from Owen quickly, if you don’t mind?”

Douglas looked like he minded a lot, but he nodded.

“Thank you. You clearly know Owen and Morag well, don’t you?”

Douglas shuffled one of his feet across the ground. “I know Owen more.”

His tone sounded defensive, and I couldn’t deny how odd I found the sentence.

Was he not wanting me to know anything about his relationship with Morag?

“But you knew Morag, right?”

“Aye, I saw her from time to time.”

“Only ever with Owen?”

Douglas hesitated. “Of course.”

“And who did you know first?”

“Owen... why?”

“I’m just establishing your relationship with both of them, Douglas,” I responded.

“I was friends with both of them. That’s it.”

I paused, looking him up and down. “Is everything okay? You seem a bit... defensive.”

“N-not at all,” Douglas responded. “Sorry, I’ve just found out a friend of mine is dead and another is now widowed. It’s a lot to deal with.”

“Of course,” I replied gently. “I understand this must be a difficult time for you.”

“A-aye, it is.”

“Owen even said how upset you were when you heard that Morag had died,” I added.

“Of course I was upset, ye cannae hear aboot someone ye ken drowning and not feel anything over it.”

“Absolutely, especially when she meant a lot to you.”

“What does that mean?” Douglas asked abruptly.

“You said she was your friend, right?”

Douglas paused awkwardly. “Aye, ma friend.”

“So, as your friend, had she confided in you the issues with her marriage?”

“Nae, it was Owen who told me aboot it. Morag niver said anything tae me.”

“Did you think they seemed happy, well, before Owen said anything?”

Douglas hesitated, and there was no hiding his uncomfortable expression that time. “I guess so, but some couples just amn’t as happy as ye think, are they?”

As I listened to Douglas answer my questions, my suspicions only rose. He was only defensive when asked questions about Morag, but when it came to the matter of marriage, he was happy to admit some people just weren’t happy.

I had no evidence, but my gut was telling me that he was closer to Morag than he was letting on, and I was convinced that closeness was far from platonic.

A part of me longed to ask him this outright, but as I had no evidence, I didn’t want to risk spooking him or giving him the opportunity to hide evidence while I did some digging.

No... I would have to be patient and let him think I wasn’t onto him.

At least for now.

“Very true,” I responded. “Now, before you go, I have just one last question for you.”

“What is it?” Douglas asked, not even trying to hide his relief.

“Do you know why Morag took out that money and where she went last night after she left Owen’s?”

“Nae, I dinnae.”

Douglas answered quickly, too quickly.

I was certain he knew more than he was letting on, and I just had to hope a bit of digging would reveal everything.

“Very well, Douglas... sorry, I didn’t catch your surname?”

“Because I didnae give it,” Douglas replied, smiling weakly.

I smiled back. “Can I have it?”

Douglas hesitated, and for a wild second I was convinced he was going to refuse to give me it.

“Bowers,” he eventually replied. “But why dae ye ask?”

“As I mentioned earlier, I’m doing everything I can to figure out exactly what happened to Morag. We don’t know if her death was accidental or murder, so while we investigate, I might need to contact you at some point. It will be easier to do with your full name.”

“Alright, fair enough,” Douglas answered cautiously. He then paused. “Dae ye really think there’s a chance it wisnae an accident?”

“I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be investigating it.”

Douglas nodded, avoiding my eyes. “I best be off then... I dinnae want tae risk Samantha finding out aboot this from just anyone.”

“Of course, you’d best get going.” I nodded. “I’m sure we will be in touch very soon, Mr. Bowers.”

I walked away, resisting the urge to smile at the worried look Douglas gave me before I turned away. I entered Owen’s house and rejoined him and Boyd in the living room. The moment I stepped through the door, Owen looked at me.

“Did ye see Douglas go, Detective? Did he seem alright?”

I was taken aback by the question, but I didn’t let it show. “He seemed okay. Why do you ask?”

Owen rubbed his face awkwardly. “I was just under the impression Douglas was going tae be here with me fur the rest of the day, so when he jumped up and left like that… I was worried.”

Owen looked genuinely upset by Douglas’ departure, showing me he was telling the truth. While it showed me Owen was being honest, it also showed me that I was right to be suspicious of Douglas.

He’d promised Owen he would stay with him, yet the moment we started to suggest Morag’s death might not have been an accident, he ran for the hills.

Douglas is connected to this in some way... he just has to be, I thought suspiciously.

I looked at Owen for a second, wondering how far I could question him about Douglas without him getting suspicious. I didn’t want to risk upsetting Owen, or making him think something which could potentially be untrue, but Owen would have seen Douglas and Morag together. I couldn’t leave until I’d asked him about their relationship.

I sat down next to Boyd and looked at him. “I think he would have stayed, but clearly losing Morag affected him more than he thought it would.”

Owen nodded slowly. “I can understand that... this has been an a-awful day.”

I nodded back. “You said Douglas knew Morag well, didn’t you?”

“Oh, aye, they’d been around each other a lot over the years.”

“So they were close then? The type to hang out and have catch ups?”

“They got along, but I dinnae think they ever did anything without me or Samantha.”

“Ah, I see. I guess when you said they were close, I assumed they sometimes did things alone.”

Owen looked at me slowly. “Why are ye asking this?”

His tone was laced with suspicion, so I knew I had to be careful.

“I’m just trying to get a gauge on Morag and who she could have opened up to if going through difficulties, that’s all.” I paused. “I mean, he was the first person you called, right? So I wondered if it would have been the same for her.”

Owen laughed coldly. “The only person wid have been Jenny... but Mag didnae exactly have her anymore, did she?”

“No, she didn’t.”

There was a brief silence, then Owen sighed. “I kent they got on when we all went away together, but as far as I’m aware they niver spoke without me or Samantha.”

I nodded. It was clear Owen wasn’t going to change his story, and as my thoughts were preoccupied by Douglas, I knew I had to get back to the station and put all of my energy into looking into him.

Even if that meant leaving a grieving man alone.

“As Douglas has gone, would you like me to see if Lin can come back?” I asked.

Owen shook his head. “Nae... I’m sure Douglas will be back soon. That man loves tae fuss.”

I smiled weakly. “Okay. Thanks for your time, Owen. If you have any more thoughts about that money, then give us a call, yeah?”

“Will dae, detectives.”

We said our goodbyes, then Boyd and I left Owen’s house. As we entered Boyd’s car, I thought about Douglas’s reaction to the missing money and wondered if he knew where it was.

I’d been working this case believing Morag’s death was linked to Jenny’s, but what if money had been the motivation all along?

I didn’t know if Douglas had tried to get the money from Morag, then killed her once he had it, but I knew looking into Douglas Bowers was my number one priority.

I knew he was hiding something... I just didn’t know what.

30

We’d already wasted a lot of time, so I called the team on the journey home and gave them Douglas’ name. If the others could get some research done before we got back, then that would help us out a lot.

Eventually, Boyd parked up the car, then we moved speedily to join the others. Once we made it to our department, I was glad when I saw that everyone except for Murray was glued to their desks. Murray, in classic form, was prowling around the others like a lion, breathing down their necks and making them feel uncomfortable as they worked.

After a brief greeting, I cut right to the chase. “Did any of you find anything on Douglas Bowers while we were gone?”

Fenton stood up. “I didnae find out tae much, sir. He does some tech work fur Apple, some pretty complicated stuff, and has been fur a few years.”

“So the money for a job like that, what would that be like?”

Murray snorted. “More than ye or I wid ever make, put it that way.”

I nodded solemnly, disliking the fact that my finance-based theory was slowly going out ‌the window.

If Douglas had a good job and was on great money, then it would make no sense for him to somehow force Morag into giving him more.

“Great, so he would have no reason to want Morag’s money then,” I muttered bitterly. “What else have we got?”

There was silence.

“That was all we’d found so far,” Murray eventually replied.

I went to respond, but before I had the chance, I noticed Gamble approaching me. “Yes, Gamble?”

“I just thought ye’d want tae ken, sir, that when ye were gone we heard aboot the search into Zayn’s house. The PCs found nothing there tae link either Zayn or Ophelia tae Morag’s death.”

I sighed. “Well, I think we’d all figured out it couldn’t be them, anyway.” I paused. “Can you please go and tell Zayn and Ophelia that they’re free to go?”

“Of course, sir,” Gamble replied.

Once Gamble left, Murray turned to me.

“So, ye were vague on the phone, so now ye’re here are ye going tae tell us why ye were so keen fur us tae look into this Douglas anyway?”

I opened my mouth, ready to tell them all my theory about him and Morag having an affair, but before I had the chance, Murray’s phone started to ring.

Murray huffed. “Great, what now?”

He grabbed his phone, but his irritated expression soon vanished as he looked at it.

“It’s Fiona.”

“Put it on speaker, sir,” I responded.

Murray nodded, then answered the phone. “Fiona, what can we dae fur ye?”

“I just thought ye’d want tae ken that I’ve finished ma postmortem.” She paused. “And I wid like some praise fur gett’n it done within twenty-four hours.”

“Aye, that’s great,” Murray answered hastily, his tone void of any real praise. “So, what have ye got fur us?”

“From what I’ve seen on the table, I believe I was right with ma initial assessment and that Morag died from drowning.”

There was a sense of disquiet as everyone looked around at one another. As they did, I caught Boyd looking at Gamble, and he mouthed the words, ‘have we been wasting our time?’ Gamble shrugged, but I quickly looked away, feeling annoyed by the interaction.

“Fiona, it’s James here,” I said loudly. “Do you have any reason to suspect foul play?”

Fiona paused thoughtfully. “I cannae sat anything fur certain, but I believe her death tae be accidental.”

“Why? What makes you so sure?” I asked rapidly.

“Because I couldn’y find anything tae suggest force.”

“Nothing at all? No unusual marks or anything?” I pressed.

Fiona paused again, causing my heart to beat faster. “The only mark I saw was a slight red mark around her ankle. Ye ken, the one with the missing flipper. However, there is nae way of kenning what it is, and as the mark is small, it disnae suggest anyone pulled her down with force. It’s more likely something inflicted just before she died, like something hitting her in the water.”

“Is there no chance at all that a person could have done it?” I asked, ignoring the irritated look Murray shot me.

“Anything is possible, James, but I believe Morag was either pulled under by a strong current or swam out tae far. We will niver ken fur certain, but there is nae evidence of murder. I believe she either died an accidental death or she went out there with the intent of killing hersel.”

The team mumbled words of agreement, looking around at one another happily. I watched them all, unable to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in my chest. While I knew it was possible she’d died accidentally, there were a few things that didn’t make sense.

What about the money she’d taken out hours before her death?

If she’d planned on killing herself, or planned on risking her life by swimming dangerously, then what was the point of taking the money away from Owen? Had she simply wanted to punish him as they’d been arguing, or was there more to it that we hadn’t uncovered yet?

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of Fiona’s voice.

“As that’s now over, I’ve decided I’m going tae put all of ma focus on Jenny. I ken I looked at her body before, but with yer permission I’m thinking of having a more thorough look, just tae see if there is anything I can find that can help pinpoint who killed her. I can open her up more extensively and see if there is anything unusual that could help us.”

“That’s an excellent idea, Fiona,” Murray responded. “We have nae clue who killed her, so anything ye could potentially find will be a big help tae us.”

“Excellent, I will get started on that right away then.” She paused. “At least ye can now close one of yer cases, but I promise I will dae what I can tae help ye close her sister’s.”

Murray thanked her, then ended the call. He’d barely hit the end call button when he looked around at us all. “Well, I guess that’s that on Morag then.”

“What, so we amn’t going tae keep looking into Douglas Bowers?” Gamble asked in surprise.

“There’s nae point if nae one killed her,” Murray responded.

“But we don’t know for certain that isn’t the case, sir.”

Murray rounded on me, his eyes narrowed. “So ye suddenly ken more than a pathologist with years of training, dae ye?”

“Of course not, sir, but⁠—”

“But nothing, Glover,” Murray interrupted. “Fiona has put this down as an accidental death and we will dae the same. I winnae have us keep wasting our time when we have a murderer tae find.”

“We could have two to find, sir,” I replied.

“Jenny’s death has tae be our priority, Glover.” Murray paused. “Are ye really going tae take time away from her case tae look into what everyone else believes tae be an accidental death?”

I sighed guiltily, ignoring the voice inside ‌my head calling me a hypocrite. That morning I’d wished for no more distractions so that I could give Jenny the focus she deserved, yet I was doing all I could to pull attention away from her case.

However, as bad as I felt, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to Morag’s death than met the eye and that we’d be making a big mistake by leaving it.

I turned to Murray, my expression firm. “I care about Jenny and I can assure you I haven’t just forgotten about her, but something about Morag’s death doesn’t feel right. Fiona doesn’t know about Morag emptying her account out, or about Douglas’ unusual behaviour.” I paused. “Two sisters have died within the space of less than a week, and I can’t believe that’s a coincidence... or that Morag would make a stupid decision so soon after removing that money. If you want to have the others all focused on Jenny, then fine, but I want just another hour or two on Morag... just so I can close that case with the peace of mind that I did everything I could.”

Murray stared at me unhappily for a few seconds, but eventually he huffed. “Ye have until the end of the day, Glover, but once ye realise Fiona was right ye have tae drop this... is that clear?”

I nodded keenly. “Thank you, sir!”

Murray mumbled under his breath, then told the others to get to their desks and look through their notes on Jenny. As they rushed to their desks, I looked around at them all as I tried to figure out what to do next.

I was certain Morag’s death was murder... and I only had just a few hours left to prove it.

31

Iglanced toward our department’s clock and was shocked to see it was already getting close to four. While I knew we’d had a busy day—a day that had, annoyingly, been taken up by a lot of pointless back and forths to Nunn’s house—it still shocked me to know that I didn’t have long left to prove that Morag’s death wasn’t an accident.

With only a few hours left, I couldn’t afford any distractions or unnecessary tasks, so I knew I had to quickly figure out essential jobs I could do that wouldn’t take a lot of time.

I glanced around at the others, then felt Murray’s eyes on me. His expression wasn’t readable, but as he suddenly looked in my direction the moment I thought about talking to the others individually to figure out if there was anything else they could tell me about Douglas, I could tell that was a bad sign.

A sign that said if I dared interrupt the others when they were doing what Murray asked that I’d be at great risk of Murray ripping my head off.

I didn’t want to look into Douglas myself, as research could take hours that I didn’t have, and it looked as though speaking to the others was off limits. I thought quickly, trying to figure out what to do. Above all else, something about that money was important, it had to be, so I decided to focus on that.

As I couldn’t talk to the others, I made the quick decision to go and speak to the tech team. I knew they’d be able to use their skill set to find out exactly where Morag took the money out, and with any luck, where she ended up taking it.

A part of me knew it was possible she’d taken it home, but my gut told me that Morag wouldn’t have taken it there if she hadn’t told Owen about it.

I shot one last look around at the team, then walked out of our department. As I walked toward the tech department, my mind working fast to figure out what to say to them, I hesitated when I heard my department door opening behind me.

I turned around and, to my surprise, saw Gamble moving toward me.

“Gamble?” I asked worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, sir,” Gamble answered. “Where are ye going?”

I quirked a surprised brow. “I’m off to see the tech team.”

Gamble nodded. “Aye, let’s get going then.”

My brow rose higher. “Do you need to see them about something, too?”

“Not exactly, sir...” He hesitated. “I’ve just been thinking aboot everything ye said in there and… I also cannae shake the feeling that there must be more tae Morag’s death.” He paused again. “Anyway, I spoke tae Murray and while he wisnae happy he’s given me permission tae help ye. I dinnae ken what we’ll find or if we will even find anything, but I want tae dae right by Morag. I’m willing tae follow ye until ye decide tae call it a day.”

I couldn’t deny my surprise at Gamble’s words. Gamble had always been the sort to follow rules and do what he was told, so to know that he also felt strongly about Morag’s death made me realise how much the lad’s confidence had grown.

“Thank you, Gamble,” I answered sincerely. “I admit it would be good to have help in all of this.”

I gestured with my hand, and together we walked toward the tech team. Once we started walking, I continued.

“The main thing that’s making me doubt Fiona’s assessment is the fact that Morag emptied out her joint account several hours before her death.” I paused thoughtfully. “I mean, why would she do that if she planned on killing herself a few hours later? After seeing Owen earlier, he admitted that their marriage was far from picture perfect, but that still doesn’t explain her choice to take their money then go for a late night swim.”

“Nae, it disnae,” Gamble muttered curiously.

“So, my thought pattern right now is to follow the money,” I continued. “Hopefully, the tech team can work their magic and follow her movements. If we can find the money, we might be able to figure out how it’s connected to her death.”

“Good thinking, sir.”

As we walked, I turned to Gamble. “I wanted to ask before, but I didn’t want to risk Murray’s wrath.” I paused as Gamble chuckled. “Did you find out anything else on Douglas? Anything at all that could connect him to this?”

Gamble shook his head. “Nae, sir, we didnae. He has nae criminal record, and if anything it looks as though he’s done a lot of good in the world, helped a lot of charities etc.” He paused. “Nothing that wid suggest he wid turn killer.”

I nodded. “Right now my theory is that he and Morag were having an affair. Morag clearly wasn’t happy with Owen, so maybe she emptied their account and the two planned on running away together.” I paused. “I don’t know what led to Morag’s death, but maybe something caused Douglas to change his mind. Maybe she got too serious, and he decided he had to kill her before she ruined his marriage. Either way, I think the money will connect us to him in some way. I just pray the tech lot can prove that.”

“Wow,” Gamble replied. “It wid be bad if Douglas was sleeping with his best mate’s wife, widnae it?”

“It would, but I’ve lost count of the number of times a case has revealed something like that,” I answered. “Douglas was certainly keen to get away from me at Owen’s house, and he seemed eager to get away from Owen too, even after promising to keep with him for the rest of the day. He started to get like that the moment I mentioned the money and what reason Morag would have to take it out.”

“Aye, sounds like he ran away due tae guilt tae me, sir.”

“I guess we will soon find out.”

We made it to the tech team and once we arrived, I was surprised to see that only the men were in. I glanced at Gamble and held back a smirk at his disappointed expression.

The moment we opened the door, the man closest to me, a young, tall man with shockingly ginger hair, looked at Gamble.

“Ye’ve just missed her. She’s gone home fur the rest of the day.”

Gamble went red and looked at me, his eyes pleading with me to get the focus onto the case.

I looked at the man. “We actually need your help.”

The two men in the room looked at one another eagerly.

“Aye, we’d be happy tae have some proper work tae dae!” the young man exclaimed hopefully. “What have ye got fur us?”

“I technically have two jobs for you, though both are following a trail.” I paused. “Morag drowned at the loch sometime last night, but before then she emptied her bank account. We want to see if you can identify the bank she took her money out of and then try and use local CCTV to follow her, maybe see if we can figure out where she left the money.”

“And the second job?” the other man asked.

“We know Morag arrived at the loch at some point last night, but we don’t know when, and more importantly, how she got there. We were hoping you could access some CCTV near Loch Ness that would show how she got there.”

The two men looked at one another eagerly before they both looked back at me.

“Aye, we can dae that,” said the other man again.

I looked between them both, feeling guilty over the fact that I hadn’t made much of an effort with them before. “Sorry, I don’t believe I’ve ever caught either of your names?”

The younger of the two, the one with the ginger hair, pushed forward in his chair. “Ma name is Rory.”

“Great, another Rory,” I muttered sarcastically, causing Rory to laugh.

“It’s rather a popular name around here, so expect tae meet quite a few of us!”

I smiled, then looked toward the other man, who nodded politely.

“I’m Jace.”

Where Rory looked to be around his late twenties, I’d have said Jace was closer to his mid-thirties. He had wavy blonde hair, blue eyes that shimmered behind his square rimmed glasses, and a build so skinny he looked as though he hadn’t eaten in days.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both properly,” I responded. “So, can we get started, do you think?”

“We’d love tae!” Jace answered as he rubbed his hands together keenly. “What shall we start with? Loch or money?”

“Money, I think,” I answered.

“Money it is!”

There was silence for a few minutes except for the whirring noise of the computers’ fans and the rapid typing on the keyboards. As Rory and Jace worked, Gamble and I would look at one another every now and again, keeping silent so as not to distract the men from their work.

After what felt like a lifetime, Jace made a noise of triumph.

“Ah, think I’ve found her!” He then turned and looked at me and Gamble. “Can you come and take a look tae see if it’s her?”

We stepped toward his computer, and I didn’t need to look for long to know who I was seeing.

“Yes! That’s Morag.”

Jace nodded, then turned to Rory. “Look on camera two at three zero two pm.”

Rory hit his keys rapidly, then made a noise of exclamation. “Ah, I’ve got it.”

“Can you play any of this, but slowly?”

Jace looked at me smugly. “We can dae anything ye want.”

Before I could reply, Jace started clicking on his computer. As he did, I looked at his screen and watched him flick through various tabs and programs with incredible ease. He then made the window with Morag bigger and started to play the footage. The clip showed Morag speaking to one of the workers behind the counter for a few minutes before the worker came back with a colleague.

“I wish we kent what was being said,” Gamble muttered.

“I’m assuming the worker had to grab their manager to approve such a vast withdrawal.” I paused. “Though we could always get someone to go to the bank to confirm that.”

“Good thinking, sir,” Gamble replied. “When we leave here, I’ll make some calls.”

I thanked him, but kept my eyes on the screen. The three were talking for a while, and if I had to hazard a guess, I would assume Morag was being questioned about her choice to empty everything. After a while, the two workers left Morag on her own for a bit, then they eventually came back with a big bag.

“The money must be in there!” Gamble hissed. “And there was me thinking she must have somehow sent it tae an account we didnae ken aboot.”

I nodded thoughtfully. Although I knew it would have made more sense for Morag to transfer the money, something about her unusual behaviour made me certain she’d taken it all out as cash from the moment I heard the account had been emptied.

As she wanted cash, it suggested she either needed to pay off some dodgy people, or she wanted no one to watch what she was doing. Cash wouldn’t leave a trail like bank transactions would.

What were you up to, Morag? I thought curiously.

My thoughts were quickly distracted when I saw Morag starting to move out of ‌view.

“Wait! We need to keep an eye on her!” I looked between Jace and Rory. “Can you do that?”

“Aye, we should be able tae,” Rory responded. “If Jace and I divide and conquer when it comes tae CCTV cameras close tae the bank, then we should be able to keep a watch on her.”

“Unless she goes somewhere with nae cameras,” Jace added.

“Then let’s hope she doesn’t,” I muttered.

I listened as Jace and Rory worked like a well-oiled machine.

“I’ve got her on street camera seven.”

“Great! After that, it looks like she goes left and toward that bakery ye like.”

I felt like I was at a tennis match as my head kept jumping back and forth between the two. I watched their computers and could follow Morag’s trail with them both. After a while, Jace muttered in confusion.

“How odd...”

I looked at him sharply. “What’s odd? What is it?”

“Well, it looks like she’s taking the bag into the gym.”

“The gym?” I repeated in disbelief.

Jace pointed to his computer, and sure enough, we all watched as Morag kept the bag close to her and took it inside ‌the gym.

“Why is she taking it there? Dae ye think she’s meeting someone?” Gamble asked eagerly.

“Maybe, it would definitely be a good drop-off location,” I answered.

“Or maybe she’s got a secret gym boyfriend?” Rory asked cheekily.

I frowned, wondering if he was right.

I’d been working under the impression that Morag was potentially having an affair with Douglas, but what if I’d got the affair right, but the person wrong?

“Can you access the cameras from inside of the gym?” I asked the moment Morag entered the gym and was out of sight.

“Already on it,” Jace replied calmly.

Moments later, I watched in amazement as his screen was suddenly filled with at least eight camera angles from the gym. He then did some quick typing, and I watched each screen for Morag, hesitating when I found her, then searching the other cameras once she went out of sight. After a while, we followed Morag until she reached an area filled with lockers. From the footage on the camera, it was clear that Morag had found a locker, opened it, then locked her bag inside. She then left the bag and exited the gym.

“So, what, is she not meeting anyone?” Gamble asked in surprise.

I waited until I saw her leave the gym before I responded. “Apparently not. It looks as though she only went there to store it.” I hesitated. “So, what was her plan after that?”

“We’ll find out, dinnae ye worry,” Rory replied confidently.

I resumed my neck craning between both of their computers as they rapidly typed and dragged things onto their screens. As I watched, a large part of me felt keen to get to the gym and see if the cash was still there, but as we didn’t know everything yet, I knew I couldn’t just rush off.

We all watched together as Morag went back toward the bank, but shortly after that I heard Jace groaning.

“I’ve lost her!” He turned to Rory. “I lost her near Greggs. Have ye got her?”

There was silence for a few seconds before Rory swore. “Nae, I cannae see her either. She must have reached a blind spot after that.” He paused and looked at me. “We can try tae go through various cameras near Greggs tae see if she pops up on any of them, but it winnae be easy tae find her again after she vanished.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. We saw the important thing, which was where she hid the cash. She likely only went back to her car and drove home anyway.” I hesitated. “So, can we move onto the loch now?”

“Sure thing,” Rory answered.

I waited as the two men got to work, but after a few minutes they looked at me.

“Bad news... there is literally nae working cameras anywhere near Loch Ness,” Jace said unhappily. “There are some not tae far from it, but it wid be impossible tae ken if any of the vehicles had Morag inside without a rough idea as tae what sort of vehicle she’d be in. If we dinnae ken where she was, then I dinnae think we can help with this one.”

“Aye, it’s the same here... I dinnae think I can locate her if we dinnae ken a time, vehicle, direction, or anything... sorry,” Rory added disappointedly.

I couldn’t contain my disappointment at this news. Video evidence of someone taking Morag to the loch would have all but confirmed who her killer was, so to know that wouldn’t be possible was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Is there no way of finding anything?” I asked. “Can you not even look into… say, some license plates and see what cameras they come up on?”

“We could dae that, aye, but considering the closest cameras tae the loch that come up are well over four miles away there’s nae way of kenning where those vehicles wid be going.” He paused. “If there’s someone’s car ye wanted tae look into, even if we did find them nearish tae the loch, there wid be nae guarantee of kenning they were going near there.”

I nodded. “Yes, I see your point.” I sighed. “I really hoped this would help us ‌figure out a potential killer.”

“Sorry,” Jace mumbled guiltily.

I smiled at him weakly. “Don’t apologise! You’ve done some great work here, so thanks.”

Rory swivelled his chair around to face me. “We might not be able tae figure out from cameras who took Morag tae the loch, but if ye like I could visit some local taxi companies? If Morag went there by taxi, I could circulate her face around and see if anyone can remember dropping her off there last night.”

I frowned. “That’s a very generous offer, but I’m sure you have enough on here without needing to⁠—”

“Actually, we’re really quiet at the moment, so I’d be glad tae do it. It might be nice tae get out of here fur a bit, anyway.”

“Thank you, Rory,” I responded gratefully. “That would be really helpful.”

Rory nodded, but as I turned away from him, my eyes were quickly drawn to Jace, who then started talking. Once I saw him, I realised he was on his phone. As I listened to him, I quickly realised he had called Morag’s bank and was trying to get information out of them.

“Aye, I get that, but we are working on an important case here,” Jace said calmly. “All we need tae ken is what yer colleagues were talking tae Morag Spinter aboot when she took out that money yesterday afternoon.”

I kept silent as I watched Jace nodding along. “Alright, I understand. Thanks fur yer time.”

He hung up his phone, then looked at me. “Sorry, I thought I’d try tae call the bank and see if they’d be willing tae tell me much... as ye probably gathered they werena that comfortable telling me private information over the phone.”

I grimaced. “I understand... well, thanks for trying, anyway.”

Jace grinned. “Now, hold on! I said they werena willing tae tell me much, not that they werena willing tae tell me anything at all. The man I spoke tae got the manager on the line and he said he couldn’y tell me much, but that he could tell me that the reason they were talking fur so long was because they wanted tae check that she wisnae in any danger.”

“And what did she say?” I asked.

“She said the money wisnae being taken out against her will and that she had need fur it, but that was all she was willing tae say.” Jace shrugged. “He felt he had nae choice but tae dae as she asked as there was nae evidence she was being forced.”

“Well, that’s something, I guess,” I answered. “Thanks for that.”

Jace smiled. “Anytime! It felt nice tae be more of a detective fur once.”

Rory looked at him playfully. “Aye, well, dinnae quit yer day job. Ye might be alright on a phone or a computer, but if ye were out there in front of real trouble, we both ken ye’d panic.”

“Like hell I wid!” Jace protested.

The two started to wind one another up, making me feel as though it was time to leave.

While I hadn’t made the progress I’d hoped for, I’d been able to have one of my two questions answered. I knew that Morag had taken her money to hide it in a locker at the gym, and with that lead I knew my only logical next move would be to go to the gym and try to figure out if the money was there.

32

Ithanked Jace and Rory for their help, then gestured for Gamble to follow me. Gamble, although looking intrigued by our sudden departure, stepped into place beside me. The moment I closed the tech team’s door behind us, Gamble looked at me.

“What’s the plan now, sir?”

“We need to see if that money is still in that locker, Gamble,” I responded. “If it isn’t, then it shows that Morag’s death was likely financially motivated. If it is still there then... well, we need to figure out why she took it out in the first place.”

Gamble nodded slowly, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Will ye be going tae the gym now, sir?”

“Of course,” I answered. “We have no time to waste.” I paused. “Are you coming with me?”

Gamble’s cheeks went pink. “Erm, wid ye mind if I stayed behind, sir? I’m sure there are some things I can dae here tae help ye.”

I smiled, knowing Gamble was never a fan of fieldwork. “That’s fine, Gamble. You’d best come back with me to see the others, though.”

We made it back to the department, and I glanced around at them all as we entered the room. I wasn’t surprised to see that Young, Fenton, and Boyd were glued to their computers and didn’t so much as look up when I entered. However, we’d barely stepped into the room before Murray was looking between me and Gamble with a shrewd expression.

“I wisnae expecting ye both back here so soon. Does this mean ye’re done?”

“Not quite, sir,” I responded. “I just wanted to quickly update you over what happened with the tech team.”

I felt the others turning away from their computers, looking at me with intrigued faces.

“Very well,” Murray sighed. “Make it quick, then.”

It didn’t take me many minutes to go through everything with them, and once I’d finished, even Murray was looking curious.

“I take it ye’re off tae look fur that money then?”

I nodded. “Gamble is going to stay here, but I’m going to head right off.”

Murray nodded as Gamble passed him and sat back at his desk. “I take it ye’re going tae ask me tae let someone else go with ye?”

“It might be easier, sir, if that’s okay?” I hesitated at the unhappy look on his face. “I’ll go on my own if you’d rather.”

After a split second of hesitation, Murray huffed. “I guess the more eyes we have on this the quicker ye’ll be done.” He glanced around at the others. As he did, I saw Young trying to catch his eye hopefully, but when Murray fixed his gaze on Boyd, his eager expression slipped and was replaced with one of disappointment. “Boyd, ye help DCI Glover with this. We want this done quickly… and ye can try tae keep him out of trouble tae.”

Boyd stood up. “I’ll try, sir, but trouble has a way of finding DCI Glover.”

To my surprise, Murray laughed gruffly. “Aye, ye amn’t wrong there. Just try tae stop him gett’n in more trouble then, alright?”

“Will dae, sir,” Boyd responded.

I was grateful when Boyd was quick to grab everything he needed so we could head straight off. Once we were out of the station, we kept moving and ignored the crowd jeering at us as we passed. We got into Boyd’s car, and Boyd made short work of driving past the crowd and leaving the station behind.

Once we turned a corner and could no longer see the station, Boyd looked at me. “So, ye’re determined Morag’s death is murder then?”

I nodded. “I’m happy to be proven wrong, but I just wouldn’t feel right leaving this without checking everything off ‌the list.”

“I get yer point, sir,” Boyd answered as he indicated to turn left. “I feel torn tae be honest. It could be an accidental death or suicide, but we need tae figure out the deal with this cash.” He paused. “I mean… why cash? Why didnae she just transfer the money into her own account if she wanted it? Usually people only get cash out if they dinnae want someone tae ken where that money is going.”

“Exactly,” I responded. “Something isn’t right about Morag taking the money out of her and her husband’s account, and until we know what the reason is, I can’t just let this go.”

There was silence between us for a few minutes until Boyd eventually broke it.

“Dae ye still think there’s a chance that Morag’s killer is the same person who killed Jenny?”

I nodded. “I don’t know how high that possibility is, but I’m certainly not willing to rule it out.”

Boyd jutted out his lip thoughtfully. “But if Morag’s death is murder, and it was financially motivated, then how does that connect tae Jenny?”

I sighed. “I guess that’s the question, isn’t it? Did Morag know something about Jenny’s killer, and that ‌pushed her to take the money out and run away? Did Jenny’s killer figure out that Morag knew something, then threaten her? Extorted her for money?” I paused. “There are a few ways the two could be connected. I know they seem different, but we can’t just ignore the fact that two sisters have died within such a close timeframe of the other.”

“Aye, that isnae exactly something that happens every day, is it?”

“No, it isn’t.”

The drive to Inverness went by surprisingly quickly, and it wasn’t long until Boyd was parking us up outside ‌the gym. It was Forge Gym, and the moment I looked at it, I found myself remembering Theo Blake, a suspect in my first Scottish case. He’d told me he’d gone to that gym.

It also reminded me of the fact that I had a gym membership at another gym in Inverness and I hadn’t used it for several weeks now. I made a mental note to fix that once the two cases were solved.

Once we were parked up, we exited the car together, then stepped toward Forge Gym. We reached the automatic doors, then made our way toward a young, bored looking man standing near the reception desk. The moment he saw us, he stood up straight and tried to look focused.

“Good afternoon,” he said calmly.

I pulled out my badge and showed it to him. “Good afternoon. My name is DCI James Glover. I’m here with my colleague, DC Angus Boyd.”

Angus nodded and quickly showed his badge to the man.

The man looked between us nervously. “Detectives? Has something happened?”

“We just need your help with something,” I answered. “Someone left something in one of your lockers, and we need access to it. Would that be possible?”

“Aye, it should be,” the man responded. “Is it something dangerous?”

I smiled gently. “No, nothing like that.”

The man relaxed. “Nae problem then! Dae ye ken the locker number?”

Boyd and I shared a look.

“Erm, not quite,” I answered. “We know the woman’s name and roughly whereabouts she put the stuff in her locker, but we found this information out via access to your CCTV. Will you be able to figure out which locker she used based on her name?”

“Erm, nae, it disnae work like that,” the man replied, pulling a face as though trying to explain something simple to a toddler. “People just choose a locker and keep a key with the number on it. We have extras in case they get lost, but we wid need tae ken what locker she used tae open it fur ye.”

“Great,” Boyd muttered unhappily under his breath.

“Sorry, just give us a second,” I said.

I gestured for Boyd to follow me, and we walked away from the reception desk. Once it was just the two of us, I looked at Boyd.

“Call the tech lot and ask them to send us the clip of Morag going to that locker,” I muttered quietly. “If we can show it to the man, then maybe that can help us to narrow down the locker.”

Boyd nodded. “Aye, I’ll go and call them.”

I thanked him, then approached the receptionist. “My colleague is just getting us the clip, hopefully that will be able to help us.”

“Aye, fingers crossed, but we dae have a lot of lockers here,” the receptionist responded unenthusiastically.

Moments later, Boyd returned. His eyes were glued to his phone, and I knew he was waiting for the information from the tech team. Luckily, after less than a minute, he was grinning.

“Got it!”

“Excellent!” I replied. “Let’s see.”

Boyd showed me the clip from the CCTV, so I showed it to the receptionist. “Does this help at all?”

The man was silent for a few moments as he watched it. “A bit... I mean, I can tell where that is and roughly where she’s put that bag, but I winnae be able tae tell ye the exact one.” He grabbed a radio, then pressed a button on it. “Assistance at reception, please.”

A few minutes later, a young woman walked over. At first she looked irritated when she came around the corner, but the moment she saw me and Boyd, her face turned curious.

“What is it, Max?”

Max pointed to me and Boyd. “These detectives here need tae look in one of our lockers, Hannah. They dinnae ken what number locker, but they have a copy of some of our CCTV and have showed us whereabouts it is. I think I’ll need help going through the ones in that area until we find the right one.”

Hannah’s eyes widened, and I could tell she was resisting the urge to ask what we were looking for. “Aye, I can help ye with that.” She hesitated. “Can I see the footage, please?”

“Of course,” I answered, gesturing for Boyd to show her.

After she watched it, she nodded. “Aye, we can go have a look. I dinnae ken the numbers off ‌the top of ma head, so I might need tae go and have a look fur the keys we will need.”

“Thank you,” I answered.

Hannah left us alone with Max, who looked nervous again now that he was on his own. Luckily, it wasn’t long until Hannah joined us, and as she reached us, I was surprised to see she was smiling.

“Ye might just be in luck, it looks like most of the ones in that general area still have the keys in... all except fur three. One of them will likely be yer locker.”

“Great, let’s go,” I answered.

Hannah smiled, then went behind the reception and grabbed some keys under the desk. She then gestured for Max to follow her, and once he was away from the desk, Boyd and I followed them. We walked for a few minutes, and I recognised most of the route from when Jace and Rory went through the cameras. Eventually, we made it to a section of lockers, and Hannah pointed to them.

“Those are the ones on the camera, and lockers sixty-six, seventy-three, and seventy-five all dinnae have keys in them,” Hannah explained. “So one of them must be the one ye want.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Do you mind opening them up and showing us what’s inside?”

“Of course not,” Hannah answered. “I dinnae think it will matter as long as we dinnae touch anything in the ones ye dinnae need.”

Hannah grabbed the first key from her pocket. I saw a small keychain on it that had the number seventy-three on it, so Hannah went to that one first. She opened it up, and when she did, all I could see was a woman’s handbag in there.

“No, that isn’t right.”

Hannah nodded. She locked the locker, then gave that key to Max. She then fished in her pocket and pulled out the key for locker number sixty-six. Once she opened it, I instantly knew it couldn’t be the right one, as it only contained some folded up clothes and some smart, rather large shoes.

“No, definitely not,” I said.

“I guess it’s seventy-five then, sir,” Boyd replied keenly.

I nodded, hoping he was right.

Hannah passed the used key to Max, then grabbed the last one. She then bent over and opened the locker. Once she stepped aside, I saw a large bag in there.

“That must be it, sir!” Boyd exclaimed.

“Let’s put some gloves on and check to be safe.”

Boyd agreed, and we quickly grabbed some latex gloves from our pockets. Once they were on, I grabbed the bag, pulled it out, and opened it. However, the moment the main zip was open, I stared inside in disbelief when I saw that it only contained clothes.

“What...” Boyd muttered in disbelief. “I dinnae understand?”

I shook my head. “No, this isn’t right either... either what we’re looking for has been taken, or it’s in one of the other lockers.”

“But how are we supposed tae ken?” Boyd asked.

I turned toward Hannah and Max. “Is there any way we can get access to your CCTV? Maybe Morag came back here sooner than we expected.”

Hannah nodded. “I can take ye tae see our security if ye want? They should be able tae give ye access.”

I smiled weakly. “That would be great, thanks.”

I zipped up the bag, put it back in the locker, then waited for Hannah to lock it. She then asked Max to return to reception before escorting me and Boyd to the security area. As we walked, I pulled off my gloves and thought about what had just happened.

It made logical sense for one of the lockers without a key in it to be Morag’s locker, as she would still have the key in her possession, but what if the person who killed her had taken her key and stolen the money? It would be hard to know for certain from the CCTV alone, but I knew we couldn’t give up until we knew at least something.

I refused to believe that the trip to the gym had been for nothing.

It didn’t take us long to reach the security office, and once we were there, Hannah knocked on the door and smiled at us.

“Good luck.”

We both thanked her, then entered the room once a gruff voice asked us to come in. We entered the room, and I saw a large back facing us. The person was much wider than the chair, but when they turned to face us, my eyes flickered in surprise when I saw a woman looking between us. Her voice had been deep, so I’d assumed it belonged to a man.

The woman glanced between us, but the moment she looked at me, she did a double-take.

“Ye’re that detective everyone keeps talking aboot, amn’t ye? What’re ye daein here?”

I nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. I’m DCI James Glover and my colleague DC Angus Boyd and I are hoping to get your help.”

For a moment the woman looked me up and down, and I had a horrible feeling she was going to refuse, but eventually she nodded.

“What dae ye need?”

I grabbed my phone and showed her the footage. “As you can see, a woman put this bag in one of the lockers. We don’t know the number, and when we went to look in the lockers there without keys, we didn’t find what we needed. This makes me wonder if either she came back after this time, or if someone else came here and took it. We were hoping you could focus on that exact camera and help us see who could have taken the bag.”

The woman nodded. “That should be simple enough... but it might be hard tae figure out if someone took something from that locker or one near it, mind.”

“We’re aware, but we’d still like to give it a try, please.”

The woman flinched, looking at me in surprise as though she didn’t expect me to have manners. “Sure.”

We thanked her, then waited for her to get the camera up. Luckily, her screens were much larger than the tech team’s computers, so once she put the camera on full screen, we were able to see a lot more.

“This might make it easier tae see, sir,” Boyd said hopefully.

I gripped his shoulder. “Let’s hope.”

The security guard found the time when Morag dropped off the bag, then started to flick through the footage. She did so at a quick speed, stopping anytime anyone came near that corner. After zooming through several hours, only one person went near there, but when they took a much smaller bag, I knew they weren’t who we were looking for.

As the guard continued to scroll through the footage, I started to wonder if we were going to see anything. No one had gone to that area in a while, and the closer the guard drew to the current time, the more I started to have doubts that we were going to find the bag... but if we didn’t find it on the CCTV, then where was it?

“Sir, look!”

I was pulled from my thoughts at the sound of Boyd’s voice. The guard had paused the video, and as she did, I looked and saw a tall figure dressed all in black approaching the lockers.

“When was this?” I asked.

“Only an hour ago,” the guard replied.

“This has tae be who took the bag, sir!”

I nodded slowly, then looked at the guard. “Can you continue the footage, please?”

The guard did, but they hit a few buttons, and the video started to play at a much slower speed. We all watched it together, and saw the figure stand nearly identical to where Morag stood. They opened the locker, then pulled out the same one Morag had put in there earlier.

Boyd released a noise of aggravation. “Why dae they have tae be all in black and have their hood up!”

“Clearly they don’t want us to see them,” I said irritably.

I watched aggravatedly as the figure left the screen with the bag. Once it was clear they were gone, the guard looked at me.

“Was that what ye wanted tae see?”

I nodded. “Is there any way you can play it again, please? I want to see if there’s any angle where we can catch their face.”

The guard agreed, but after playing it a couple of times, it was clear there wasn’t any way we were going to figure out the person’s identity through the footage.

Boyd swore.

“What aboot outside?” Boyd asked. “Maybe the carpark so we can catch them going tae their car?”

The guard instantly did as he asked, but after looking at the footage from outside, I groaned once the figure walked away from their cameras and out of sight.

The guard sighed and looked at me. “Sorry, that’s all of them. I’ve looked, but there isnae any camera near here that shows them going tae their car. Either they walked or they didnae use our carpark.”

I gave them a grim smile. “Thanks for your help anyway.”

We said goodbye, and after politely rejecting the guard’s offer to see us out, we left the room and made our way toward the gym’s entrance. Once we reached the reception area, I wasn’t surprised to see both Max and Hannah loitering near the desk, clearly hoping to catch us and hear about our progress. However, they were both left disappointed when we thanked them for their help, then left without another word.

“Well, that was frustrating,” I sighed once we were near Boyd’s car. “But it clearly shows we’re on to something with that bag.”

Boyd nodded, his features etched with disappointment. “Aye, if only there was some way of kenning who that person was.”

“I have a vague idea.”

Boyd abruptly stopped speaking and turned to me in surprise. “But how? We didnae see their face.”

“No, we didn’t, but I’m a bit suspicious over the timing of that bag being taken, aren’t you?”

Boyd’s face turned to one of confusion. “What dae ye mean?”

I gestured for Boyd to unlock his car, then as we climbed into it, I continued. “Morag put that bag of money in that locker yesterday late afternoon, and it was taken out of there over twenty-four hours later… and quite a few hours after her death. You’d think that if the person who killed Morag knew the money was there, then they’d have taken it pretty much immediately after her death before there was a risk of anyone else getting it... unless they had no idea about the money until recently.”

“I still dinnae understand, sir,” Boyd answered as he turned on the engine. “If Morag’s murder was all aboot that money, then surely they’d have kent aboot it?”

“That’s why I’m wondering if I’m wrong about the murder being financially motivated,” I responded. “I was convinced the money had to be connected, but what if Morag had either gotten the money out to run away or to give to someone, but that person killed her before they had the chance to find out about it.”

Boyd’s eyes widened as understanding hit him. “Ye think either Owen or Douglas took the money?”

I nodded. “It would make sense. We mentioned the money to them almost two hours ago, so what if they had Morag’s gym key after killing her, then after seeing us they realised why she had it in the first place? They’d have been keen to get to it before we had the chance to, and it would be weird otherwise that the person who went to get the money just so happened to do so shortly after we mentioned it to them both.”

Boyd whistled. “Aye, well, Owen did seem genuine before when he said he didnae ken the money had been taken out, so maybe once he kent aboot it he went tae go and get it?”

I nodded. “Either that or Douglas knew, and that was why he was so keen to leave Owen’s after it was mentioned.”

In my mind, I pictured Douglas and his sudden departure. I’d always found it odd, but now that I knew the money gone, I found it even stranger. Was that why he had gone so quickly? Had he realised Morag must have taken out money so they could run away together and he was determined to get it before we did? Or had he always known the money was there but didn’t want to rush and get it?

My gut was going wild over Douglas, and while I’d made the mistake before of not trusting my gut, I also knew that my thoughts on Douglas were only a theory and I had no real evidence of his involvement. That meant that, as much as I’d have liked to, I couldn’t go to his house and search it. A warrant wouldn’t be approved with no evidence of my assumptions...

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t return to Owen’s and request his permission to search his house.

Plus, as he was Morag’s husband, so a warrant to search Owen’s house would be much simpler to obtain.

I turned to Boyd, ready to tell him my plan and that I’d call Murray for a warrant on the way, but before I could speak, my phone started to ring. I glanced down at my pocket in surprise and pulled my phone out. After seeing it was a number I didn’t recognise, my surprise only grew.

“I don’t know who’s calling, but I’d better answer it.”

Boyd simply nodded in response.

I answered the phone and pulled it to my ear. “Hello, DCI James Glover speaking.”

“Erm, hello, DCI Glover, sir,” a timid male voice said. “This is PC Smith, one of the PCs who was asked tae search around Loch Ness.”

My eyebrows rose curiously at this news.

Why would one of the PCs be calling me? Did that mean there was new evidence?

“What can we do for you then, Smith?” I asked.

“Well, erm, we think it might be a good idea fur ye tae come back tae the loch, sir. We think we may have found something.”

33

Ihesitated for a moment as I comprehended the PC’s words.

PC Smith believed that they’d found something at the loch, and as he’d gone out of his way to call me, I knew it had to be something important.

“Good work,” I answered. “We will make our way to the loch immediately.”

“Erm, thanks, sir,” PC Smith replied nervously. “We’ll see ye soon then.”

I’d barely ended the call when Boyd glanced at me. “The loch? We’re heading back tae Loch Ness?”

I nodded. “That was one of the PCs who was searching the area. They believe they’ve found something.”

“Really?” Boyd inquired in disbelief. “Did they say what?”

“No, and I didn’t want to waste time on the phone trying to find out,” I answered. “Take us straight to the loch, then after that we can pay Owen another visit.”

“Will dae, sir,” Boyd responded, quickly finding an area to turn the car around.

As Boyd turned the car, I looked at my phone in my hand and wondered whether or not to call Murray to request a warrant for Owen’s house. While I’d been planning to do so before, now that I knew there was a potential we were about to receive new evidence, I didn’t know if it would be wise to hold fire until we knew what we were dealing with. For all I knew, the evidence the PCs found would point us in a completely different direction, and I didn’t want to waste Murray’s time or resources.

I went to put my phone away, knowing I could always call Murray after we were done at the loch, but just when my phone was about to reach my pocket, it suddenly started buzzing. I glanced down and saw that it was the station, so I hastily answered it.

“Hello?”

“That’s James Glover speaking, right?”

The question took me by surprise. “Erm, yes, who is this?”

“Hey, it’s Rory from the tech team! Sorry, I just wanted tae make sure I was definitely talking tae ye before I said anything.”

“That’s okay. What can I do for you, Rory?”

“I just thought ye’d want tae ken that we’ve just finished looking into the various taxi companies around here. They’ve all confirmed that none of them did any drop offs at Loch Ness last night.”

Which means someone either forced her into her car, or more than likely, that she knew the driver, I thought shrewdly.

“Thanks for the update, Rory, and for your hard work.”

“Nae worries. I’m just sorry I’m not calling with better news.” He paused. “Dae ye have any other tasks fur us?”

“Not right now, but I’ll call you if I do.”

“Thanks! Hopefully speak soon.”

We both ended the call, then I pocketed my phone.

“That was Rory from the tech division on the phone. He was calling to let us know they’d finished looking into taxi companies and it would appear none of them did any drop offs at Loch Ness last night.”

“So, what does that mean, then?” Boyd asked thoughtfully. “She didnae get a taxi there, and she couldn’y have walked there, right?”

I shook my head. “Which means that someone must have dropped her off.”

Boyd’s grip on his steering wheel became tighter. “This is looking more and more like a murder by the minute, isnae it?”

“I agree,” I responded. “Whoever took Morag to the loch has to be behind all of this, but whether or not they’re connected to the money is another story. It might just be that Owen or Douglas heard about the money and wanted to get it before we did. Maybe they aren’t connected to Morag’s death at all, but right now it’s impossible to tell.”

Boyd hesitated for a second. “I dinnae ken aboot ye, sir, but the more this case goes on, the more I dinnae think it’s connected tae Jenny’s. It seems more personal than anything else, disnae it?”

I sighed, knowing I’d been thinking the same. I’d wanted the two cases to be connected—mostly because it would assuage my guilt over not putting my everything into finding Jenny’s murderer—but the more the day had gone on, the more it seemed like the two cases weren’t connected.

This shocked me, as the chances of two sisters being killed in such close proximity with no connection was slim to nil, and yet it seemed as though the relationship between the two women was no more than an odd, sad coincidence.

“I hope you’re wrong, but I don’t think you are,” I sighed. “The facts around both deaths are becoming more different as we look into Morag... so let’s just pray we can solve Morag’s case quickly so we can help the others with Jenny.”

“Not that there’s much tae help them with right now,” Boyd muttered bitterly. “We’ve practically nothing on Jenny.”

By the time we reached the loch, the PCs were already expecting us, so the moment Boyd’s car came into view they removed the police tape and let us through. We then parked up and were met by a tall, male PC who waved us over, seemingly keen speak with us.

We climbed out of Boyd’s car and approached him, and he nodded politely and gestured for us to follow him.

“Good afternoon, detectives,” the man said. I listened to his voice and realised he wasn’t the PC I’d spoken to on the phone. “Ye were able tae get here quickly then?”

“Luckily we were already out when we received the call from PC Smith,” I replied. “So, naturally, we wanted to come right away to see what you have for us.”

The PC nodded. “Aye, PC Smith is just up ahead. He was the one tae find what we’re aboot tae show ye.” He paused for a second as he struggled with some of the terrain, then once he was on flatter ground he continued. “We’d been searching around day, and tae be honest I didnae think we’d find anything. I was gett’n ready tae ask if we should call it quits when Smith radioed and told us he’d found something that he thought must have washed up from the loch.”

“What was it that washed up?” Boyd asked eagerly.

The PC pointed ahead. “Ye can see fur yersel soon.”

I looked ahead and saw three PCs and a SOCO standing near the edge of the loch. We all approached them, and the closer I got to them, the more I felt my breath turning ragged. My mind was racing with thoughts over what I was going to see and how it was going to help the case, with each thought more exciting than the last. However, the moment I reached the group and saw what they were looking at, I couldn’t help but look down in confusion.

They were all looking at Morag’s missing flipper.

At first, I didn’t understand why we’d been called in to see it, but then my hopeful bubble returned when I realised there must have been more to it than met the eye. Especially if a SOCO was looking at it.

Once we were part of the group, I nodded politely around at them all.

“So, what have we got here?” I asked.

“We’re pretty certain it must be Morag’s missing flipper,” one of the PCs replied.

I gathered that, I thought impatiently. I mean, why have we been called here to see it!

The SOCO, as if reading my mind, stepped toward me. “We hoped it might have contained something useful, but as it came out of the loch, any potentially useful DNA will be long gone.”

I sensed Boyd glancing at me, and although I wasn’t facing him, I could tell his thoughts were closely mirroring my own.

Why the hell were we called in to see something that was of no help to us?

“So, you’ve found Morag’s flipper, but it isn’t actually something that can help us figure anything out?” I asked bluntly.

The group all looked ‌at one another awkwardly.

“Potentially not, sir, but ye did say fur us tae call ye if we found anything,” one of the PCs said timidly, and from the sound of his voice I assumed it was PC Smith.

I sighed. “Yes, I did, but I meant anything helpful. This flipper can be taken straight to Fiona and she can look to see if anything is on it, but the actual finding of the flipper is something that could have been explained by a one minute phone call.” I glanced around at the group, my eyes focusing on who I believed to be Smith. “Instead, you made it sound like you’d found something we had to see right away.”

PC Smith floundered slightly until another PC stepped forward.

“We did find something else tae, sir.”

I looked at him. “Hopefully something good?”

“Potentially, aye.” The PC paused. “We believe we’ve found her wedding ring. We ken it’s hard with a ring as it could easily belong tae anyone, but considering it came up not tae far from her flipper we thought it widnae hurt tae consider it tae be hers.”

“Show me,” I answered.

The PC nodded and walked a few inches away from the others. They then pointed on the ground, and I saw a ring that had been bagged. I looked down at it and wondered if it could belong to Morag. I realised I never looked at her hands enough to see if her wedding band was missing.

“If that is hers then it widnae have come off easily,” Boyd said thoughtfully. “It wid have taken force fur that ring tae come off. It isnae like floating in the water alone wid have done it.”

I nodded, knowing he was right. The ring wouldn’t have come off easily, so if it was Morag’s, how did it end up in the loch? Had she taken it off herself in anger because she and Owen had been arguing? Or had she taken it off to show Douglas she was committed to him now, and was keen for them to take their relationship to the next level?

I grabbed my phone. “I guess there’s one easy way to figure out if this could be Morag’s.”

I found Fiona’s contact details and called her. The phone rang for a while, making me worried she wasn’t going to answer, but luckily she did just before the call cut out.

“James, what can I dae fur ye? I’m with Jenny at the moment, so I cannae talk fur tae long. I was just in the middle of something with her.”

“Sorry to bother you, Fiona, but I’m back at the loch as some PCs and one of your SOCOs called me back here. They’ve found a wedding ring and I’m just calling to confirm if it’s possible that the ring is Morag’s?”

“Oh,” replied Fiona, clearly surprised. “Aye, well, it wid be possible. Her wedding ring wisnae on her finger. I assumed it was a recent removal as there was a slight tan mark there, well, as much as a tan as us Scottish lasses usually get, anyway.” She paused to laugh at her own joke. “But aye, it could be hers.”

“Thanks for confirming.”

“Ye’re welcome. Dae I take it this ring is going tae be sent tae me tae look at?”

“It might not hurt if you can make the time? They’ve found her missing flipper too.”

“Aye, get them both sent tae me and I’ll look at them when I get a chance, but as her death isnae seen as suspicious anymore it winnae take priority over ma second look at Jenny.”

I hesitated awkwardly, wondering if I should correct her. However, as I was running out of time to prove that Morag’s death wasn’t an accident, I knew I couldn’t waste any of it discussing things with her.

I’d already wasted some of it coming back to the loch.

“Thanks, Fiona. Let us know if you find anything.”

“Will dae.”

The call ended, then I looked at Boyd. “I doubt there will be anything on them, but ask one of those PCs to take the ring and the flipper straight to Fiona so she can run some tests on them.”

Boyd nodded, then stepped toward the others. As he did, I found my thoughts straying to the wedding ring. From the moment I’d met Douglas I felt something off about him, and now that I knew Morag had taken off her ring, likely once she was in the water, I knew it signalled that her death must have linked to difficulties in her marriage.

The question was: was she killed by Owen in a fit of rage, or did Douglas kill her to hide their affair?

34

As Boyd drove us toward Owen’s house, I grabbed my phone and rang Murray to ask him to look into a warrant. I was grateful when he quickly agreed. I then hung up the phone and turned to Boyd. From the way his fingers kept smacking his steering wheel, I knew he was feeling frantic.

“Calm down, Boyd. We don’t know for certain that Owen is going to do anything to Douglas.”

“Nae, it isnae that, sir.” Boyd sighed. “I’m just annoyed with masel, that’s all.”

“Why?” I asked in surprise.

“It’s just we were at Owen’s before, sir, and if I’d used ma initiative tae search his place then, well, I might have found something.”

“We can’t think like that, Boyd.” I paused. “For one thing, the money was taken from the gym after we were there, so even if we had searched before it’s not like we’d have found anything.”

“I guess,” Boyd answered. “But maybe I’d have found something.”

I rubbed his shoulder gently, knowing I felt the same frustrations that he did. The first time I went to Owen’s house I wanted to try and subtly search it, but Owen had been keen to get us to follow him, so I didn’t get the chance.

Had that been why he’d been so eager for us to follow him straight into the kitchen? Did he know he had something incriminating in his house and didn’t want us finding it?

Luckily, it didn’t take us too long to get to Owen’s. I resisted the urge to sigh with relief when I saw that both Owen and Morag’s cars were still there.

“Good, he must be in,” I said. “Either that or he’s gone somewhere without a car.”

“Hopefully, he’ll be accommodating and let us search the place, if not we’ll have tae wait fur Murray tae confirm the warrant.”

I nodded as I took off my seatbelt. “And if he is less than accommodating, then we’ll know for a fact he has something to hide.”

We exited the car and approached Owen’s house together, only stopping when we reached the front door. Boyd went to knock, but I quickly held out a hand to stop him. I then listened to the door, and my suspicions rose when I heard nothing.

I couldn’t tell if Owen was out or trying to hide from us.

I turned to Boyd and nodded, giving him permission to knock, so he did.

We stood for a couple of minutes, but no one answered.

Boyd looked at me. “He should be in, shouldn’y he?”

I frowned. “I thought so from the cars, but I couldn’t hear anything before you knocked either.”

Boyd’s eyes widened. “Dae ye think he took the cash then made a run fur it?”

“Potentially, but I really hope not,” I answered with concern. “Try again.”

Boyd knocked, but again no one answered. I then used my elbow to try and open the door, but when I met resistance, I knew it was locked.

“He’s definitely out,” I said aggravatedly, making to grab my phone to call Murray. Murray, as usual, answered quickly.

“I still dinnae have the warrant if that’s why ye are calling, Glover.”

“Damn,” I replied. “We’ve just made it to Owen’s, but it’s locked and he’s either not in or not answering... what do we do? Do you think it would be okay to try and find a way in?”

Murray hesitated. “This didnae come from me, but I’m pretty confident the warrant will be approved any minute now, so… we may just need tae tweak the time ye entered his home on yer reports tae match the time on the warrant.”

“Thanks, sir,” I replied gratefully.

I ended the call, then looked at Boyd. “Murray said we can try to find a way in. We’ll just need to edit the time on our reports.”

Boyd grinned. “Excellent!”

“You search the front and see if you can find a key. I’ll have a look around the back.”

Boyd agreed.

I walked around the side of the house, putting my gloves on as I walked. I made it to the back of the house, then started to search for a key. I’d barely started to look when I heard Boyd calling me, so I moved quickly to the front of the house to meet him. Once I was there, I saw Boyd flashing me a key and a smile. I was glad to see he’d had the sense to put gloves on before handling anything.

“Under one of the plant pots... boy, I dae love when people make it easy fur us.”

I laughed. “People really need to stop following these cliches and actually start thinking about house safety.”

“Aye, decent people can, but not potential murderers.” Boyd unlocked the door, then stepped inside. We were both quiet for a second, listening to see if there was any chance Owen was in, but when we didn’t hear anything, Boyd continued. “So, splitting up?”

“Definitely, it will make things much quicker.” I hesitated thoughtfully. “You take here and I’ll start upstairs.”

“Sounds good, sir.”

We nodded at one another then I made my way upstairs. As I did, I moved cautiously, just in case Owen was inside and keeping quiet as a mouse to avoid detection. After a few minutes, I was absolutely certain he wasn’t in, so I moved with less caution to search the place quicker.

I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I had a funny feeling that I would know when I found it.

As I looked around upstairs, the first thing I was that two of the three bedrooms were filled with clothes and looked used. I knew the couple had never had a child which showed me that Morag and Owen likely separated their clothes by room. However, the more I looked, I began to realise it was more than that.

Both beds looked well used too, making me relatively certain that they were sleeping separately.

For a moment I looked at a bed, one that I assumed Owen slept in based on the clothes I could see, and wondered if Owen had played down the couple’s unhappiness earlier. He made it seem like they’d had some arguments recently, but for them to have been sleeping apart did it mean they’d been having issues for a long time?

I kept looking, and as I looked at Owen’s clothes I also noticed that a lot of them were in bags. I moved into Morag’s room and saw, to my surprise, that all of her clothes were still hanging up.

What did that mean? Was Owen slowly moving out? Had Morag ended things with him and told him to leave? Or had he decided to move out himself after realising the marriage was over?

I couldn’t deny this surprised me. I’d have assumed Morag would be the one to leave, not Owen. Especially after she’d made the effort to empty their joint account.

“How’re ye gett’n on, sir?” Boyd shouted up the stairs. “I’m having nae luck down here.”

“Come up here then!” I shouted back.

I waited a few seconds for Boyd to join me and when he did, he looked around Owen’s room in surprise.

“What’s going on in here?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but hopefully we can find out. You look around this room, and I will look next door at what I believe is Morag’s room.”

Boyd agreed, so I left him and entered Morag’s room. As I did, I was instantly hit by a wave of sadness. It never felt nice to enter the room of someone you knew to be dead—especially now that her death was looking more and more like murder—and as I looked around, I mentally promised Morag that I would figure out exactly what happened to her.

I then started to search her room, hoping to find something that could help. I looked through every nook and cranny, desperately hoping for something that proved my theory right about her affair, but after a thorough search I was left disappointed when I found nothing.

She’d either been sensible enough to never have anything that could be found, or Owen had already beaten me to it. However, as I looked around the room, it didn’t look as though her stuff had been disturbed, which made me more inclined to believe that Morag was simply smart enough to not keep anything that could reveal her secret.

“Sir!”

Boyd’s voice made me leave Morag’s room and instantly move in his direction. Once I got there, I looked in Boyd’s hands and was surprised to see he didn’t have anything.

“What is it, Boyd? Have you found something?”

“Not exactly, sir,” Boyd replied, instantly annoying me. “But from going through his bags, I’m pretty certain they’ve been in separate rooms for days.”

I nodded. “I’m convinced they’d been sleeping separately for a while too.”

“So they cannae have been happy, can they?” Boyd asked. “So I reckon ye’re onto something, sir. They must have been gett’n a divorce or something… I reckon he found out aboot the affair, so he decided tae kill her and make it look like suicide.” Boyd paused. “But if he went that far with Morag… then what does that mean fur Douglas?”

My eyes widened. “It means we need to get to Douglas as soon as possible and make sure he’s okay.” I beckoned for Boyd to follow me, and together we started to leave the house. “Quickly, call Murray and see if he can get us Douglas’ address.”

“On it!”

As Boyd shot out of the house and started to call Murray, I locked Owen’s door behind us and watched Boyd with a concerned expression.

I still wasn’t one hundred percent certain if Douglas was a suspect or the potential next victim, but I knew our only logical move was to go and see him.

35

Minutes later we were back in Boyd’s car, and he was driving us to Douglas’ house. According to the satnav the journey was only fifteen minutes, so I just had to hope that we’d be able to get to Douglas before it was too late.

As though reading my mind, Boyd looked at me. “Dae ye think Owen is with Douglas now, sir?”

“I don’t know, but I think it’s a very strong possibility that he could be,” I answered. “We still don’t know who took the money, but if Owen believes that Douglas not only had an affair with his wife but also tried to steal his money… then he’d have double the reason to want to cause him harm.”

Boyd’s brows dropped. “Then let’s hope we can get tae him quickly then.”

Boyd started to drive faster, and as we sat in silence, I couldn’t help but watch the satnav’s time slowly tick towards zero.

The journey was short, but with my fears over Douglas’ welfare, it seemed to take much longer. When we eventually made it to Douglas’ house, I looked up to see a large, beautiful white house with a large garden just behind it. Everything about it looked clean and fresh, like it had all only been recently worked on, and as I looked over it, I couldn’t help but feel envious.

I was a high-up detective, and I knew I’d never be able to afford a place as nice as that.

However, as envious as I felt, looking at the house made me wonder once again why Douglas would have wanted Morag’s money. He was clearly already well-off enough without it.

Boyd parked up near it and did a long whistle. “Damn, that’s a nice house!”

“It really is,” I answered. “Come on, let’s get there quick and make sure everything is okay.”

Boyd agreed, and together we moved quickly toward the front door. I knocked on it loudly and was relieved when I instantly heard footsteps approaching. I waited a few seconds for the door to open, and when it did, I was surprised to see a woman standing there.

I realised immediately she must have been Douglas’ wife, Samantha.

“Samantha?” I asked.

She looked between me and Boyd with a worried expression. “Aye... who's asking?”

I pulled out my badge, and I sensed Boyd doing the same beside me. “I’m DCI James Glover here with DC Angus Boyd. Can you tell us if⁠—”

“Glover?” Samantha interrupted curiously. “I swear I’ve heard that name recently.”

You and the rest of the world, I thought bitterly.

“Is your husband in, Samantha?” I asked, hoping to quickly get us back on track.

Samantha shook her head. “Nae, I havnae seen him in a few hours now... why? Is everything alright?”

Samantha’s words instantly concerned me. Douglas had told us he was leaving Owen’s to go and see her, but if he hadn’t gone home, where had he gone? Had he decided to run for it? Or had he gone right off to get the cash and ended up meeting Owen soon after, only for Owen to force him to go with him?

Before I had the chance to answer, Samantha glared at me, clearly worrying over my silence.

“Look, I’m his wife, and if something is going on, I deserve tae ken! Is he hurt? Is he in trouble?”

“Is it okay if we come inside, please?” I managed to ask.

“Sure,” Samantha answered nervously, stepping aside so we could enter her home.

I thanked her, and once we were inside, she shut the door behind us and looked between us nervously.

“Erm, can I make either of ye a drink, or⁠—”

She trailed off nervously, so I gave her an encouraging smile. “We’re fine, thank you.”

Samantha nodded. She kept where she stood, showing me she had no intention of taking us further into the house.

“So, what is this all aboot? Dae I need tae be worried?”

I hesitated for a moment, remembering that Douglas had mentioned that Samantha didn’t know about Morag’s death. Was it possible he’d called her since he left Owen’s? Or was I about to give her a devastating blow?

“I know you said you haven’t seen Douglas in a few hours, but have you spoken to him recently?”

Samantha hesitated. “Aye, he called me a little while ago...” She trailed off again, looking between us. “Is that why ye’re here? Are ye wanting tae talk tae us aboot Morag?”

“Ah, so Douglas has told you what’s happened?”

Samantha’s bottom lip started to quiver. “Aye, he did... he didnae say much, but he did tell me that she... that she’s dead.”

I lowered my head respectfully. “I’m so sorry.”

I’d barely finished my sentence when Samantha put her left hand to her mouth, likely in shock, then started to cry. For a second I looked at her, feeling uncertain what to do, but after a few seconds she started to recover. “I-I didnae want tae believe it. I hoped when it wisnae on the news that maybe Doug had got it wrong, but I should have kent he widnae have told me something like that unless he was absolutely certain.”

“It isn’t public knowledge yet. We are still looking into things, but I’m sorry to say she is definitely dead. We found her body this morning and Owen confirmed it was her.”

“P-Poor Owen... I... I dinnae understand... h-how?” Samantha asked through her tears.

“We still don’t know the full details, but her body was found at Loch Ness and we believe she drowned,” I answered, knowing it would be foolish to tell her about my suspicions of murder.

“Jesus...” Samantha muttered. “What on Earth was she daein in the loch?”

“We still don’t know, but we are doing everything we can to find out,” I responded.

“I havnae kent her tae go swimming... I mean, Douglas and I love it and we asked her and Owen tae join us several times, but she’s always said nae.”

A jolt hit me at her words.

Douglas was a keen swimmer, meaning he would have reason to try and get Morag into the loch with him.

“We saw Douglas earlier as he was checking in on Owen, but he left soon after he heard the news.” I paused. “How did he seem on the phone? He looked upset when he left Owen’s.”

Samantha looked at me, blinking slowly. “Aye... well, of course he’d be upset, widnae he? He’s just been told his friend has died.”

I nodded, hoping my expression looked understanding. “It’s never nice to lose a friend, is it? I can imagine when he told you he found it hard to find the words.”

I was relieved when Samantha seemed to relax and drop her suspicious gaze. “Aye, he did... his voice kept breaking, and he sounded close tae tears. If anything, it was his voice that made me break down more than anything else... I havnae seen that much emotion from him in a long time.”

I nodded, keeping my face impassive even though my mind was racing. Although she tried to hide it, there was a subtle amount of bitterness in Samantha’s tone when she spoke. As I listened to it, I tried to figure out if that bitterness came from Samantha knowing about the affair or at least having suspicions. However, as it was only there for such a short period of time it was hard to get much of a gauge on it.

I continued to look at Samantha for a second, debating ‌how far I was willing to go and what I was willing to tell her in order to get results. That small amount of bitterness forced a boldness out of me, and I decided to take some risks in order to find out what Samantha knew.

“When Douglas called you earlier, did he mention anything to do with the money?” I asked.

I sensed Boyd’s eyes flicker in my direction, but I ignored him.

“Money?” Samantha asked curiously. “What money? He didnae say anything aboot that.”

I bet he didn’t, I thought calmly. Because he doesn’t want her to know about his involvement in it all.

While I couldn’t tell for certain, the fact that Douglas had omitted that detail from his story made me certain that he wanted it hidden. In my mind, the only reason he would want it hidden would be if it connected to something bad.

Something like him stealing the money for himself, and worse, maybe even killing for it.

“This has to keep between us, Samantha, okay? All of it. As I said, it still isn’t public knowledge that Morag is dead yet, so we need to⁠—”

“Aye, aye, I’ll keep quiet,” Samantha interrupted, a slight bite of impatience in her tone.

“Well, when looking into Morag’s death, we found out that Morag had emptied her and Owen’s joint account. For some reason she’d taken it all out as cash, and when I mentioned this to Owen, it was clear he had no idea she’d taken the money.”

Samantha gasped. “But why?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” I answered. “I don’t suppose you have any theories? Owen had mentioned they’d been arguing recently, so we wondered if maybe she was unhappy and wanted to run away.”

I wasn’t surprised when Samantha nodded, looking unsurprised by this.

“Aye, well, this didnae come from me but I did get the feeling those two haedna been happy fur a while.” She paused. “When we went away together they were niver exactly affectionate, ye ken? They seemed more like friends than anything else. I mentioned this once tae Doug and he even admitted that he and Owen wid sometimes talk aboot it when they went out fur drinks.”

I controlled my face so that it showed no emotion, but a small part of me couldn’t help but feel sorry for Owen.

The man had been confiding in his friend about the difficulties in his marriage, and it was looking very likely as though his friend had stabbed him in the back by starting an affair with her.

That would have made Douglas’ betrayal even worse. If Owen had any idea, then there was no way Douglas was going to be safe.

I still had more to find out from Samantha, but with my concerns over Douglas’ safety rising, I knew I had to get out there and find him.

“I see,” I replied. “The thing is, as we know that Morag had taken out that money and had been arguing with Owen… we were working under the theory that maybe Morag was having an affair and that she’d taken out that money so she could run away with her new lover. Do you think⁠—”

“Nae, there’s nae way!” Samantha interrupted, her eyes widening in surprise. “They may have had their difficulties, but Morag was a loyal sort of lass. I’m sorry, but there’s nae way that she ever wid have cheated on Owen.”

As Samantha spoke, her voice was filled with such conviction that I knew she believed every word she was saying.

However, if Samantha was so certain of Morag’s loyalty, then I knew that meant there was no way she knew about the potential affair. If Samantha didn’t know anything, I knew I had to find Douglas and figure out once and for all if my suspicions were correct. I still didn’t know if he and Morag had been getting together, but as he had now disappeared, I knew it was even more likely my theory was accurate.

“Thanks for your help, Samantha,” I answered kindly. “We’re hoping to speak to Douglas too, but obviously he isn’t here.” I paused. “I don’t suppose you know where he’d be, do you?”

I expected Samantha to shrug, to tell me that she had no idea, so when she nodded, I bit back the urge to gape in surprise. “Aye, we own a beach house. He’s gone there.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“And could ye give us the address?” Boyd added.

Samantha shot Boyd a quizzical look before looking at me. “Aye, when he called me earlier he told me he needed a few hours alone tae clear his head. He usually likes tae get some headspace when he’s upset, and losing Morag was hard fur all of us.”

So instead of being there with his wife, who would need a shoulder to cry on, he decided to go off on his own? He either definitely was having an affair or is the world’s worst husband, I thought coolly.

I knew one of the only logical reasons that he wouldn’t want to be around Samantha was that he either didn’t want her to see how upset he was, or that he felt too guilty to be around her.

I went to answer Samantha, but before I had the chance she started speaking again.

“I hope he winnae be there fur tae long, but if ye go there and he’s still there will ye tell him tae try and come home soon, please? He kens since I’ve become pregnant that I dinnae like tae be on ma own fur tae long.”

A wave of guilt and sorrow hit me at her words. I’d been determined that Douglas must have been having an affair, but knowing that Samantha was pregnant made me really hope I was wrong...

Because, if I wasn’t, it made Douglas’ already shameful act even more deplorable.

“Aye, of course we will,” Boyd answered gently. “Congratulations.”

Samantha smiled at him. “Thanks! We’d been trying fur ages, and I honestly thought it wisnae going tae happen, but we finally found our little miracle! I reckon it will be a lass, but Doug is determined it will be a boy.” She giggled. “I dinnae care whatever it is though, as long as it’s healthy!”

I listened to Samantha and Boyd talking, hating the worsening feeling of guilt I felt with every word.

Please be wrong about Douglas, I repeatedly kept thinking. Let this all be Owen so two women’s lives won’t be ruined over this man.

After the two had finished talking, I looked at Samantha to get her attention. “Can you give us the address, please?”

“Aye, sorry, I’ll write it down fur ye now.”

We thanked her, then waited for her to leave. Once she was gone, Boyd shot me a worried look.

“I cannae believe she’s pregnant, sir,” he muttered quietly.

I sighed. “Me neither... we need to find Douglas, and we need to find him now.”

“Aye, sir,” Boyd answered.

Seconds later Samantha returned, and she passed me a piece of paper. “There ye go, it shouldn’y be tae hard fur ye tae find.”

“Thanks,” I said gratefully as I took the piece of paper. “Out of curiosity, you mentioned before that you and Douglas spent a lot of time with Owen and Morag. Was that at that beach house, or elsewhere?”

“A bit of both,” Samantha answered curiously. “Why dae ye ask?”

I smiled to help Samantha keep calm, but my insides were squirming more than ever.

Douglas was at the beach house, and Owen knew where it was, which meant Owen could have got there to confront Douglas ages ago.

“Just curious,” I answered. “Thanks for your time, Samantha. Once we’ve spoken to Douglas, we’ll tell him to come straight home, okay?”

Samantha looked relieved. “Thank ye, Detective.”

We said goodbye, then I walked calmly out of Samantha’s house and toward Boyd’s car. Once we were outside, I sensed Boyd was ready to move with more urgency, so I held out my arm to stop him. I felt him look at me, but I subtly nodded toward his car and kept walking.

As much as I wanted us both to charge toward his car, I knew Samantha could be watching, and I didn’t want to risk spooking her. She’d likely call Douglas to say that we were on the way, or that something was wrong, and the last thing I wanted was to risk losing our chance of catching him there.

36

After thirty or so minutes, we made it to the beach house on the shores of Moray Firth. If it wasn’t for the seriousness of the situation and my urgency to get inside and speak to Douglas, I’d have sat back and appreciated the beauty of the house and its surroundings. It was a decent sized place with a view of the water just behind it. While it looked a bit more dated than Douglas’ main house, it was still decent. I couldn’t help but picture the two couples often spending time there together.

Was it there that Douglas and Morag first potentially realised there was an attraction between them? Was the beach house where the two would secretly meet in order to avoid detection from their spouses?

As Boyd drew closer to it, I couldn’t help but sigh in relief when I saw the front door open and Douglas walk outside.

At least we knew he was alive.

I didn’t know if that meant Owen wasn’t after Douglas, or if he was then on his way, but at least I knew we had time to speak to Douglas before Owen potentially showed up. A small part of me felt suspicious that Owen wasn’t there, and as I looked at Douglas walking toward his car, I couldn’t help but wonder if this pointed to Douglas being the one behind all of this.

I went to say this to Boyd, but before I had the chance to, Douglas looked up and saw Boyd’s car. I went to put my hand up in a gesture of greeting, but as soon as he saw us, Douglas’ eyes grew wide and he sprinted toward his car.

“He’s trying tae make a run for it!” Boyd exclaimed in surprise.

As I saw Douglas running, I realised instantly that we had found our killer.

Innocent people never ran, and from the look of clear fear on Douglas’ face, he knew he’d been caught.

“Don’t worry,” I said calmly. “There’s only one road out of here, and he can’t get past us.”

But then, to my horror, he jumped into the car, reversed it so that the front was facing us, then started to speed right toward us.

“What the hell!” Boyd exclaimed. “The idiot is going tae hit us! He cannae get around us!”

Before I could speak and before either of us could so much as react, Douglas’ large car zoomed toward us. He went to get around us, but as the road wasn’t big enough for two cars, he ended up smacking into Boyd’s car and knocking it backward and slightly off‌ the road. As the car started to skid along the road, Boyd started shouting.

“Hold on, sir!”

Luckily, Douglas’s car didn’t seem to make as much of an impact as I’d have expected, and I watched as Boyd expertly controlled the car and stopped it from veering completely off the road. Boyd managed to control the car enough to steer it around so that it was facing Douglas’ car, and for a split second Boyd watched Douglas zooming away with horror.

“The wee prick! He’s daein a runner and he’s likely buggered up ma car tae!”

Before I could answer, Boyd put his foot down on the accelerator and started chasing after Douglas.

“Is the car okay?” I asked. “Is it going to hold up chasing him?”

“I dinnae ken, sir, but there’s nae way I’m letting him get away!” Boyd snarled.

As Boyd started to zoom after Douglas’ car, all I could do was look at the back of it in surprise. I’d been convinced that Owen was our killer, but after Douglas’ dramatic response to our arrival, I knew I must have gotten it wrong.

I shook my head aggravatedly. “I can’t believe it! It was Douglas this whole time! I knew something was off about him, but between him and Owen, I really thought it was Owen!”

“Aye, so did I,” Boyd answered coldly. “I was certain Owen had killed her fur betraying him, and was going tae dae the same tae Douglas... but why, sir? Why did Douglas kill her?”

As Boyd asked the question, dozens of theories shot through my mind. He’d done it for the money, he’d done it because he feared his affair being exposed, he’d done it because Morag tried to end the affair herself and Douglas wasn’t willing to accept that...

“Maybe he didn’t want the affair coming out, it has to be that,” I answered, gripping my door as Boyd skidded around a corner. “I doubt it’s anything to do with the money. He isn’t exactly struggling, is he?”

“Aye, well, the coward isnae gett’n away from us, sir!” Boyd snarled.

Boyd smacked his foot down on the accelerator, and I jumped as the car zoomed forward. Boyd had already been driving quickly, but as I looked at his speedometer, I saw the speed slowly rising past seventy miles per hour.

“Boyd, be careful!” I exclaimed. “We aren’t exactly on a main road here, and there are cars everywhere!”

“I’m not letting him get away, sir!” Boyd growled.

I didn’t respond as I was too focused on the road. Once we were away from Douglas’ beach house, Douglas took a turning down a couple of small streets filled with cars. I watched with bated breath as both Douglas and Boyd drove speedily around them, knowing that at the speed they were both going, it was likely they would hit something at any moment.

“Boyd, just be careful!” I repeated. “Catching him isn’t worth our lives!”

“I ken, sir, but we have tae stop him before he gets away!”

“He has a pregnant wife at home, Boyd, so I highly doubt he will just leave the country without communicating with her!” I hesitated as Boyd narrowly avoided a car that drove around a parked vehicle. “Christ! You’re going to get us both killed! Just stop!”

“Aye, a pregnant wife who he was cheating on!” Boyd responded angrily. “Forgive me fur not trusting his morals, sir. We cannae let a man like that get away! Not when he’s got so much tae answer fur.”

I felt a moment of relief when Douglas turned and started hurtling down a country road. The road was quiet, and for a second I was hopeful that Boyd would be able to use that time to force Douglas to stop. However, we were hardly on the country road for a few minutes before Douglas was turning to get onto another small road. I shouted in shock when Douglas shot onto the other road, ignoring the stop signs.

“The idiot! Any car could have been going across that road—Boyd, no!”

I changed my sentence quickly when Boyd copied Douglas and shot around the corner. I breathed deeply when no car was there, but as Boyd shot after Douglas, I glared at him.

“Boyd! What did I say? You’re going to get us both killed! Nothing is worth⁠—”

“Think of all ‌the people he has lied tae and hurt, sir!” Boyd exclaimed, his voice more passionate than I’d heard it in a long time. “He killed Morag, he has a pregnant wife at home, and he’s betrayed his best mate! I’m sorry, but someone like that cannae get away!”

Although I continued to watch Boyd chasing after Douglas with a nervous eye, I knew Boyd was right. I was angry with Douglas, angry with everything he’d done, and the thought of him just getting away and avoiding capture was too much to bear.

But, as much as I wanted to stop him, I didn’t want such a high level of risk around it either.

However, the more Boyd kept close behind Douglas, narrowly avoiding various vehicles and people as he drove, I could tell his passion was slowly being replaced with nerves. Both Boyd and Douglas kept getting close to hitting someone, and with each near miss, I could see the fear rising in Boyd’s eyes.

One moment we were driving down a small road, Boyd getting close enough to start moving around Douglas to block him off, but the moment Boyd tried to, Douglas jerked his car erratically, causing Boyd to pull back and narrowly avoid a parked motorcycle. A minute or two later, a bus started to drive in our direction, but instead of it causing Douglas to stop, it pushed him to drive off the road and onto a path. A couple of pedestrians were on it, and they were left with no choice but to dive out of his way in fear of their lives.

I looked in our mirrors and sighed with relief when I saw them getting up, looking shaken but otherwise fine.

However, when I looked at Boyd, I could see he too was shaken.

“Boyd, if you need to stop, then I understand, don’t let⁠—”

“Nae!” Boyd exclaimed. “I have tae stop him, sir! I cannae let another suspect just slip through ma fingers!”

As I took in Boyd’s expression and listened to his words, I instantly realised that the reason he was working so hard to stop Douglas was because he still held guilt about letting Arran escape.

Boyd was putting too much pressure on himself, and with the intensity of the chase, I didn’t know what I could say to help him.

“Boyd, that wasn’t your fault, and if Douglas gets away, it won’t be your fault either! If you both keep driving like this, someone else is going to die!”

Douglas skidded his car onto a new road, only this one was wider and had more lanes. Boyd shot onto the road too, and as he and Douglas continued manoeuvring around moving cars to avoid one another, I knew I couldn’t take it anymore.

“This is far too risky, Boyd! Just stop!”

Boyd ignored me, and from the intense way he looked ahead, I knew he likely couldn’t see or hear anything else around him. All he could see was Douglas and his own determination to stop him.

As Boyd was driving quicker than before, he was able to drive alongside Douglas’ car. As I was on the passenger side, I had a good view of Douglas as he saw Boyd’s car getting near him. He looked at Boyd’s car in horror, and his eyes widened with panic. Once Boyd was driving alongside Douglas’ car, I went to open my window, assuming that Boyd simply wanted to demand he pull over. However, before I had a chance, Boyd suddenly jerked the car and smacked it right into Douglas’. I could only hold on as Douglas’ car skidded and veered off of the road. Our car started to do the same.

“Shit!” Boyd exclaimed, struggling to control the car.

Both cars shot off the road—shockingly not hitting ‌anyone as they moved—and although Boyd managed to control his car enough that it skidded to a stop on the grass, I watched as Douglas’ car continued to skid until it reached the top of a hill.

“No!”

I could only shout out in horror as Douglas’ car rolled over the side of the hill and out of sight.

37

Boyd swore repeatedly as we watched the car tumble out of sight. The sound of it rolling and crashing as it went down the hill was louder than an earthquake, and it shook our surroundings as much as one as well.

I glanced at Boyd hastily, worried he might have been injured, but luckily he seemed to be okay. It looked as though he was potentially in shock, but there were no visible signs of injury. I didn’t bother to look at myself, mostly because I was too concerned about getting to Douglas, but as I couldn’t feel any pain or dizziness, I knew I must have been okay.

I unbuckled my belt, knowing I had to move quickly to see what damage had been caused, but as I did, I saw that Boyd hadn’t moved. He was no longer swearing, but he was staring at where Douglas’ car had vanished as though transfixed.

“Boyd!” I shouted, effectively breaking him from his gaze. “We don’t have time for you to be shocked, lad! I’m sorry, but we have to go! We have to make sure that Douglas is okay!”

Boyd shook himself back to reality, then unbuckled his belt. We both exited the car and started running toward the hill. As I ran, I sensed Boyd catching up with me.

“I never wanted that tae happen, sir!” Boyd exclaimed in horror, finally finding his voice. “I just wanted tae force him off the road, that was all!”

Although Boyd had managed to stop Douglas from escaping, the way he’d done it had been reckless and had put countless people’s lives at risk. I glanced behind me as I ran toward the hill and saw that although many cars had skidded to a halt, miraculously no one else seemed to have crashed.

I didn’t want to think about what would have happened if we’d caused a massive car pile-up along the road.

It looked as though the road was now blocked due to the number of cars that had skidded to a halt. Some of the drivers had even abandoned their cars to see if we were okay, and while that wasn’t ideal, I knew I’d rather have a road closure than multiple injuries or, even worse, fatalities.

I then moved my gaze away from the road and toward the area where Douglas’ car had tumbled over, mentally praying that Douglas wasn’t dead. While his actions screamed that of a guilty man, we still hadn’t properly spoken to him, and the thought that he was dead before we could get a confession was too much to consider.

If Douglas was our killer and we never received a confession, then Morag wouldn’t ever get the full justice that she deserved.

I continued running, looking at Boyd and knowing he needed to focus. “We need to get to the car and make sure Douglas is okay! But there’s a lot of traffic and unwanted attention behind us, so go call this in. We need some PCs here, stat, to do some damage control!”

Likely a paramedic too if Douglas is badly hurt, I thought worriedly.

“A-aye, I’ll call the station and get some PCs here right away!” Boyd exclaimed nervously.

We reached the hill, and when I looked down, I held back an exclamation of horror when I saw that the vehicle had upturned during its fall. There was wreckage going down the hill, as though with each turn a part of the car had been knocked off.

I turned to Boyd, and as he had his phone near his ear, I held out my hand to stop him.

“Keep up here and only come down once PCs are on their way!” I hesitated, hating the thought of worrying Boyd more, but equally knowing Douglas had to be the priority. “And get them to send an ambulance too, just to be safe.”

Boyd reached the top of the hill just as I’d finished speaking, and when he looked down and saw the damage, he gasped. “Christ! I have tae help ye with that!”

“And you will after you’ve sorted PCs and paramedics!” I responded firmly. “Is that clear?”

In my desperation to ensure that Douglas was okay, I didn’t wait to hear Boyd’s answer. Instead, I instantly hurtled down the hill, struggling to keep myself upright as I did. Luckily, it didn’t take me long to reach the car. Once I did—somehow without falling flat on my arse—I held back a gulp, knowing the damage looked much worse up close. I rushed to the driver’s side and saw that the door was still closed, though there was now a large dent in it, and the window was smashed. Once I reached the door, I saw Douglas sitting upside down in his seat. He still had his belt on, which was stopping gravity from pulling him down. I saw some blood running down—technically up—his face, and there were some obvious cuts on his face and arms. He was still gripping the steering wheel, likely in shock, and wasn’t moving, but as his eyes were open and I saw him blink, I at least knew he was alive.

“Douglas! Douglas, it’s DCI Glover!”

Douglas blinked slowly. He made a gurgling noise, but didn’t respond.

For a moment I panicked, wondering if something I couldn’t see was lodged in his throat and making it so he couldn’t speak. As worried as I was, I knew I had to act quickly if there was any chance of Douglas making it out of that car safely. Unfortunately, if there was anything lodged in his throat, I’d have no choice but to leave him until the paramedics arrived.

“I’m going to help you get out of there, okay? Just hang on.”

I went to open the door, but as my hand reached the handle, I hesitated at a sudden noise.

“Sir! Sir, I’m coming!”

Boyd sprinted down the hill, accidentally falling when he was near the bottom. He immediately jumped back up onto his feet and approached me.

I went to tell him off for not listening to my command, but with Douglas in a dangerous position, I knew I needed all‌ the help I could get. I turned my back on Boyd and focused ‌on the door. I opened it gingerly, then still had to quickly jump back as the minimal force I put on it forced the door to fall off.

“Move that door out of the way, Boyd! We need some space!”

Boyd instantly did as he was told, and as he moved the door, I got down to my knees to have a proper look at Douglas. From a bit more of a distance, I’d been able to see a few cuts and a bit of blood, but now that I was closer to Douglas, I was glad when I saw the damage didn’t seem to be too bad.

The cuts looked superficial, and the blood running down his face was only a light trickle, which suggested a more minor injury that I’d first thought.

“Douglas? Douglas, can you hear me?”

Douglas blinked and slowly looked at me. “A-aye.”

I nodded. “Good, that’s good.”

Douglas slowly nodded. As he was able to nod and speak to me, I realised he couldn’t have had anything lodged in his throat like I’d previously feared. While there was still time to find something else, I felt more confident in my abilities to get him out of the car without causing him more damage.

I kept my eyes fixed on Douglas’ face. “I’m going to remove your belt, okay? You’re upside down, so when I do you’re going to fall, but I’ll have my other arm under your head and neck to cushion the fall, okay?”

“Sir, what can I dae?” Boyd asked breathlessly after moving the door.

“It won’t be easy with the limited space, but I’m going to undo his belt so we can pull him out,” I answered. “When I do, he is going to fall, so if you can put your arms under him, that would be good. The last thing we need is for him to gain more injuries by hitting the roof of his car.”

“Aye, anything,” Boyd responded hastily, guilt radiating from his tone.

“Douglas, are you happy for me to remove your belt?” I asked calmly. “Or do you feel any pressure on your legs?”

“N-nae, ma legs feel alright,” Douglas answered. “J-just get me out of here! P-please.”

“We will, okay?” I asked. “I promise.”

I then crept my right arm around Douglas until I found the seatbelt. Once I had a hold of it, I put my left arm under Douglas, then glanced at Boyd.

“Ready?”

Boyd nodded.

I nodded back, then returned my focus to Douglas. “Okay, Douglas. Three, two, now!”

I unclicked the belt, and Douglas started to fall. However, with Boyd’s help, we were able to stop him from hitting the roof of his car. Once he hit our arms, we worked together to gently pull him out of the car. We then lightly dragged him away from it, and as we did, I kept glancing at the car to make sure it didn’t look ready to explode. Thankfully, the car had no signs of smoke coming from it, but as I didn’t trust that would last, I made sure we still went a safe distance away from the car. Suddenly, I heard some voices.

“Is he alright?”

“Dae ye need any help down there?”

I looked at the top of the hill and saw a few members of the public looking down at us with worried faces.

“I’m with the police!” I said loudly. “The best way you can help us is by getting back into your vehicles! Some PCs will be here at any moment, and they’ll be able to assist you.”

I was surprised but grateful when the small crowd instantly listened to me and left.

I turned to Boyd. “Boyd, get back up there and see if the PCs or the ambulance have arrived yet. If they haven’t, chase it up.”

“Will dae, sir!”

Boyd shot Douglas a guilty look before running up the hill. The moment Boyd started to leave us, I looked back at Douglas. He was still blinking slowly, and I was certain he was suffering from shock.

“Everything is going to be okay, yeah?” I asked gently as I continued to look Douglas over. “An ambulance is on its way.”

Then, once I know you’re okay, I won’t hesitate to question you, I thought coolly.

Douglas suddenly opened his eyes wide, as though the realisation of where he was had just hit him. He then tried to stand up, but I quickly grabbed his shoulders and kept him down.

“Hold your horses! You’ve just been in an accident, son!”

Douglas blinked, then looked toward his car. The moment he saw it, he cried out in horror. He went to stand again, but I kept forcing him back down.

“Ma car! Let me get tae ma car!” Douglas pleaded.

I was surprised by how pained he sounded. He was desperate and quick in his movements, close to panic. As I restrained him, I glanced at the car and wondered why he was so keen to get back to it.

Had he come out of his shock, realised he was still in the same serious situation from before, and naively believed if he got to his car he could still escape us? Or was there something in the car he couldn’t bear to be away from?

“Just calm down, Douglas, please!” I pleaded as I kept ‌him from standing. “I know you’re in trouble, but I can assure you nothing else matters right now except for ensuring you’re okay! Just focus on yourself!”

To my surprise, Douglas stopped fighting and looked at me with wide, pleading eyes. “I dinnae give a damn what happens tae me! Owen is in the car, and I have tae get tae him! I have tae save him!”

38

Iwas already surprised by Douglas’ sudden lack of resistance, but his words shocked me to my very core.

Owen was in the car... but why?

“I-I will check for you, okay?” I managed to get out. “But I need you to stay here and keep still! You’ve gone through a⁠—”

“Nae!” Douglas interrupted, trying and failing once again to get to his feet. “I have tae help him! I have tae save him!”

“You’ll only make things worse for him if you get in my way!” I exclaimed sharply, hoping my harsh tone would force Douglas to see sense. “You can’t help him in your current state, but I can, so I would suggest you keep still and let me do my job!”

I let go of Douglas and ran toward his car. As I moved, I listened behind me for any noise, but when I could only hear Douglas sobbing, I realised he must have finally listened to me. I moved faster, and as I did, I thought worriedly about Owen.

I internally scolded myself for not realising someone else was in the car sooner. I’d been so focused on Douglas and his safety that I hadn’t even thought to look for someone else, but when Douglas first sped toward us, there was no one in the passenger seat. Anytime Boyd’s car had got near Douglas’, the passenger side had looked empty.

Did that mean Owen didn’t want us knowing he was in the car? Or was he in the back seat, potentially being held hostage by Douglas for God only knew what reason?

Once I bent down and looked through the back windows, which were completely smashed to pieces, my eyes widened worriedly as I saw Owen crumpled on what was once the roof of the back seat. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving. Worse than that, there were two lines of blood running down his face, showing me that he must have hit his head at least twice. Where Douglas’ blood had been a trickle, Owen’s was a downpour.

No! He can’t be dead, he just can’t be! I thought desperately.

I rose to my feet, grabbed the door, and went to pull it open, but when I started to tug at it, I quickly realised it wasn’t opening. I glanced over the door and saw several dents in it, and from the looks of one of them, the door had gone slightly inward and gotten stuck.

I swore to myself, then looked up at the hill. I saw Boyd there, and to my great relief, he was already running back down the hill.

“Sir, what’re ye daein?” Boyd asked worriedly as he ran toward me.

“Boyd! Get here quickly! Owen is inside!”

Boyd almost tripped down the hill in his shock. “Owen? But how!”

“I don’t know, but now isn’t the time to speculate!” Once Boyd reached me, I lowered my voice once I realised Douglas was likely listening to every word. “The door is jammed, so we need to pull it open together, okay?”

Boyd nodded. “Aye, let’s dae this!”

We both grabbed a part of the door, then looked at one another.

“On the count of three, Boyd. One, two, three, now pull!”

We both groaned as we pulled at the door. It was far from an easy task, and the door was clearly more jammed than I realised, but luckily, after some perseverance, our combined strength was enough to pull it open. Once it was open, I bent back down and took a closer look at Owen.

His skin was pale, and he looked in a bad way. Although I wasn’t close enough to tell for certain, he didn’t appear to be breathing.

“He looks like he’s out cold, sir,” Boyd said quietly, his voice shaking with worry.

“Let’s hope that’s all it is, Boyd,” I answered bluntly. “Come on. I’ll check over him to see if it’s safe to pull him out.”

I could sense Boyd moving nervously behind me as I looked over Owen. When I could, I moved my face close to his and sighed in relief when I felt his breath on my cheek. His breathing was slow and ragged, but at least he was alive.

But if we didn’t get him help soon, I knew he wouldn’t be for much longer.

“Right, let’s get him out of there! Let’s do it on three again, okay? One, two, three!”

I put one of my arms under Owen, and with some help from Boyd, we were able to gently pull him out of the car. As we pulled him out and gently carried him away from the car, my eyes rapidly scanned ‌him. Similar to Douglas, I could see that Owen had some cuts and scrapes, but unlike Douglas, there was a lot more blood on him. I could see several head wounds, and a deep cut on each leg. I kept looking at them as I gently placed him on the floor, feeling worried when he still didn’t open his eyes.

We needed the paramedics to arrive soon otherwise he wouldn’t make it.

As much as I had concerns for his life and safety, a selfish part of me couldn’t help but think that we still didn’t know what happened to Morag. If Owen died, there might be a part of the story that died with him.

Suddenly, I was pushed violently to the ground. I quickly got to my feet and saw that Douglas had run over and pushed me and Boyd out of his way in his desperation to get to Owen. I looked at Douglas and watched as he threw himself at Owen, sobbing into his chest. He lay there for a few seconds before he lifted himself up and started stroking Owen’s face.

“Owen? Owen, are ye alright? Oh, please tell me ye are alright!”

As Douglas sobbed over Owen and continuously stroked him, I realised instantly that I’d made a grave error with my theory. It wasn’t Morag that Douglas had been having an affair with...

It had been Owen.

39

My brain went wild as I looked at the two of them together, a million thoughts running through my head.

If the two of them had been having an affair, then which one of them had killed Morag? Had Owen killed her so that he and Douglas could finally be together? Or had Douglas killed her because he was sick of sharing the man he loved with someone else?

I suddenly heard the sound of rushed footsteps, and I looked up and was happy to see some PCs looking down at us.

“Is everyone alright down there?” one of them shouted.

“No,” I shouted back. “We have two injured men down here, one worse than the other! Is the ambulance on its way?”

“It should be here any moment, sir! We’ve cordoned off the road and got rid of any traffic we could.”

“Good job!” I answered.

I went to say more, but I stopped at the clear sound of an ambulance approaching.

“Get those paramedics down here right away! And tell them we have a man knocked out and in serious need of medical assistance!”

The PC nodded and disappeared. Moments later they returned with four paramedics—three men and one woman—who were in couples carrying stretchers down toward us. I was impressed when the four of them expertly made it down the hill and reached us.

The female paramedic, who looked the oldest of the lot, took in the scene, then looked at me. “There are two cars that have been damaged, did both of these men drive them?”

I shook my head. “One of the cars was ours, but these two were in the car down here.”

“Are you two okay? Do you need to be looked over?”

“Don’t worry about us, we’re fine. Just sort those two out, please, and don’t let them out of your sights. They’re both suspects.”

I was grateful when the paramedic nodded and didn’t ask any other questions. Instead, she instantly got to work with her colleagues, telling two of the men to deal with Douglas while she and the other helped Owen. However, the moment the two men got near Douglas, Douglas pushed them away.

“Nae! Dinnae worry aboot me, I’m fine! Look at Owen! Owen is the one who needs help!”

“Ye both need help, sir, so please step aside and allow us tae dae our jobs.”

Although Douglas looked as though he would rather do anything than leave Owen, after a few seconds he moved aside and allowed the other paramedics to get Owen on their stretcher. However, while he allowed them to get near Owen, he didn’t move too far from him and kept a hold of his hand, looking around at everyone as though daring any of them to pull him away.

One paramedic offered the other stretcher to Douglas, but he refused.

“I’m keeping close tae Owen and nothing any of ye say can stop me.”

The paramedic looked at me as though wanting confirmation that this was okay.

I nodded. “They can keep together, but just make sure neither of them try to leave.”

To my surprise, Douglas laughed coldly. “Dae ye think I’ll be going anywhere with Owen in this state? And he isnae exactly up tae running away, is he!”

I watched as the paramedics and Douglas climbed up the hill. As they walked, I kept a closer eye on Douglas, watching in shock as he refused to let go of Owen’s hand.

I couldn’t believe how wrong I’d gotten all of this.

The two men had played us all for fools, and while I knew their health had to come first, I couldn’t wait to question them both and figure out what had led to Morag’s death.

If Owen survives, I thought with dread.

We made it to the top of the hill, and I waited as the paramedics helped Owen and Douglas into the ambulance. Once they were in it, a couple of PCs offered to join them, and I thanked them. One of them went to the ambulance right away, but the other stopped and looked at us.

“Ye can follow us is one of the panda cars if ye want, sir? I guess ye winnae be able tae drive now.”

I looked at Boyd’s car, then at Boyd. To my surprise, Boyd didn’t seem bothered about his damaged car. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at it. Instead, he was watching the ambulance with an unreadable expression.

“A panda car would be great, thanks.”

The man pointed to the one closest to the ambulance. “I came in that one with ma colleague. I’ll go tell her what’s going on and I’m sure she’ll be happy tae drive ye tae the hospital.”

Minutes later the ambulance was on its way, and Boyd and I were sitting in the back of a panda car, watching it quickly get away from us. Once it was out of sight, I looked at Boyd, who was looking out of the window with a morose expression. Luckily, the PC didn’t seem to be a chatty one, so I waited patiently for Boyd to speak first. However, after a while without him speaking, I knew I’d need to be the one to break the silence.

“Are you okay?”

Boyd slowly looked at me, his expression more morose than I’d ever seen it. “How can I be alright? Look at what I’ve done.”

Boyd instantly looked away from me, clearly done speaking. As much as I wanted to comfort him, I knew he was right. There wasn’t much I’d be able to say to him.

He’d behaved recklessly in order to stop Douglas, and we still didn’t know if his actions had caused Owen’s death. I was hopeful he was going to live, but there was no denying he was in a bad way. His survival could easily go one of two ways.

I sighed, keeping my eyes on Boyd. “There’s no point in me trying to pretend that what happened shouldn’t have, but it did… all we can do is focus on the case for Morag’s sake.” I paused. “Clearly Owen and Douglas were having the affair, which makes things more complicated than we were expecting.”

Boyd was silent for a few seconds, but eventually he nodded. “Aye... I guess we didnae see that coming, did we?”

“No, no, we didn’t,” I responded. “It was certainly an odd turn of events, that’s for sure.”

There was silence again for a few minutes before Boyd turned to me with small, sad eyes.

“I’ve lost ma job, havnae I?”

I hesitated, unsure what to say to him. “We still don’t know everything yet, and you know that Murray and the board will be the ones with the ultimate say... but if I had my way… no, Boyd. No, you wouldn’t be losing your job.”

Boyd shook his head sadly. “But Owen could—Owen could die, sir. And Douglas could have worse injuries than we realise, and it was lucky I didn’t cause more cars to crash on⁠—”

“I’m not going to sit here and say I agree with your choice, but you weren’t left with much of one either,” I interrupted. “Douglas drove off and tried to knock us off ‌the road. If he’d cooperated in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to mimic his insane driving.” I paused, feeling guilty at the sad look Boyd gave me. “You had a split second to make a choice, Boyd, and you did what you thought was best. If you defend your choice well, I’m sure you’ll be fine, but if you show any of this emotion or regret, then they’ll eat you alive.”

Boyd nodded sadly. He didn’t respond right away, but when he did, he sounded like a broken man. “God, I hope Owen survives.”

From Boyd’s tone, I knew he was more concerned over what would happen to him if Owen died other than thinking about the case.

If I was being honest, I was concerned for both.

We were silent for the rest of the journey, but I was grateful when the PC got us to the hospital quickly. After a quick chat with reception, and after bumping into one of our PCs, we were then led toward the area that Douglas and Owen had been taken. We were close to reaching a door to a new corridor, but before we got to it, I heard a powerful male voice speaking.

“Stop!”

The PC flinched and stepped aside while Boyd and I turned around to see who was talking. I looked behind me to see a male doctor approaching us. He was rather short for a man, and his build looked slender, yet when he spoke something about him commanded respect and authority.

I went to grab my badge to show it to the doctor, but he impatiently waved his hand through the air to stop me.

“Forget yer damn badges! I dinnae care who ye are or how high up ye are in the polis, right now all that matters is giving those men the medical attention they need! Owen in particular is in a very bad way. They’re prepping him fur surgery.”

“Surgery?” Boyd asked nervously.

The doctor nodded. “Aye, we still dinnae even ken if he has any internal injuries, so the last thing we need is two detectives hounding us while we’re trying tae save lives.”

I nodded to the doctor, then gave him one of my cards. “We’ll be staying here while you do what you need to, but I can assure you that we will keep out of your way.” I paused. “Once they’re both out of the danger zone, can you call me when I’m able to question them, please? They’re both suspects in a murder case.”

The doctor grabbed my card impatiently. “Potential murderers or not, right now they are ma patients. I will dae ma job first, then ye can dae yers.”

I nodded and politely stepped out of his way, gesturing for Boyd to do the same. “Of course.”

The doctor nodded stiffly, then briskly walked past us and through the doors into a new corridor. I looked down it, knowing that one of those doors must have contained our suspects, but I gingerly looked away, knowing there was no point in worrying about it until I could speak to them.

And, considering the state of them both, I knew it was very likely we could be waiting for hours.

“So... what now?” Boyd asked worriedly. “We just stand around and wait?”

I turned to Boyd. “You go and see if you can find a nurse. Tell them that you’ve been in a recent car accident and get them to look you over... we might as well. We’re likely going to be waiting for hours.”

Boyd nodded. “I’m sure I can find someone tae see us both.”

I shook my head, causing Boyd’s eyebrow to rise in surprise. “No, just for you, I won’t be getting checked over just yet.”

Boyd frowned. “Why not? What are you going to be doing?”

I smiled grimly. “Let’s just say there’s someone I need to speak to.”

40

Around fifteen minutes later I was standing outside of Paterson’s door, taking a deep breath and readying myself to speak to her.

I’d been feeling awful over what had happened earlier, and now that I had hours to kill, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to speak to her and apologise for scaring her earlier.

After taking a breath, I knocked on Paterson’s door and couldn’t help but smile the moment I heard her voice.

“Enter.”

I pushed open the door, and the moment Paterson saw me her eyebrow rose.

“Let me guess, another madman is after me?”

The moment she finished her sentence she gave me a coy smile which caused my heart to somersault.

“Yes, only it’s two of them this time,” I replied sarcastically.

Paterson nodded coolly. “Aye, well, ye’d better come in and protect me then.”

I sat down next to her, surprised at how simply being near her was enough to put me in a better mood. After everything that had happened over the past couple of hours I wouldn’t have thought such a thing was possible.

“So,” Paterson said as she looked at me. “What really brings ye here this time?”

I then spent the next hour and a half talking to Paterson, telling her every detail of Morag’s case up until now. As I spoke to Paterson, her eyes lit up when hearing details of the case, and they lit up even more when she offered her own thoughts and theories. I could clearly see that being involved in detective work was putting her in her element and that she adored being involved again.

“So,” Paterson said after I’d finished. “How did it feel tae ken that ye got a case wrong fur once?”

“I wasn’t technically wrong, now was I?”

Paterson giggled. “Ye thought Douglas and Morag were having an affair which led tae Owen killing her!”

“Well, there was an affair, wasn’t there? And it did involve Douglas!”

“Aye, only ye got the rest of it wrong,” she answered playfully. “And ye still dinnae even ken who yer killer is.”

I smirked. “Well... okay, I guess you’re right.” I paused while Paterson finished laughing. “But in my defence, my best detective is out of action at the moment. How am I meant to succeed when she’s not there with her expert advice? I’m sure if she was there, we’d have wrapped this case up hours ago.”

Paterson smiled, only my heart ached when I saw the sadness in her eyes. “Aye, well, yer best detective hopes she’ll be back soon, even if things winnae be the same anymore.”

“Of course they will be,” I answered gently.

Paterson chuckled dryly, gesturing down toward the bottom of her hospital bed. While her legs were covered, it was obvious where she was pointing. “I winnae exactly be chasing perps anymore.”

“You never know,” I answered optimistically. “Once you have your new leg, you might be faster than all of us!”

Paterson smiled weakly. “Aye, maybe.”

I could tell from her tone that she didn’t really believe what she was saying, but as I wasn’t a medical expert, I had no idea what I could say to help her. I was happy to lift her spirits and be optimistic, but I didn’t want to risk getting her hopes up either.

The sad silence continued for a few minutes before I checked my phone. “I haven’t heard from Boyd recently. I might just quickly go and see him, see what’s happening.”

I rose from my seat, but before I could say anything else, Paterson spoke.

“I ken, by the way.”

I furrowed my brow. “You know what?”

Paterson’s face went pink, and she looked away from me. “I’ve been hoping ye were going tae say something yersel, but as ye havnae… I thought I should let ye ken that Young told me aboot yer feelings fur me.” She paused nervously. “I was wondering if ye ever planned on talking tae me aboot them. I just didnae think I could keep quiet aboot it anymore.”

I felt my neck and face go red. For a few seconds I stared at her, unsure what to say, but eventually I slowly sat back down. A small part of me felt angry with Young for telling Paterson when it was none of his business, but I was more consumed by shock, which made it difficult to feel anything else.

It took me time to recover, but Paterson, clearly seeing my silence as me being awkward, continued.

“It’s alright, I understand,” Paterson said, smiling at me sadly as she spoke. “I hoped ye wid talk tae me aboot them, but when ye didnae I realised after what happened tae me… yer feelings probably changed. I can completely understand that. I-I’m not the way I was before, and I widnae expect ye tae look at me⁠—”

I turned to Paterson, her words shocking the silence out of me. “If you’re trying to imply that my feelings have changed because of your injuries, then you don’t know me at all. You think I could feel less because of all of this?” I gestured up and down the bed toward the places the Butcher had defiled. “If anything, all it’s done has made me feel more. It’s shown how strong you are, how resilient you are after going through so much, and it’s made me more drawn to you than ever.”

I spoke with such confidence and passion that Paterson turned the deepest shade of pink I’d ever seen. She slowly turned away from me, looking both embarrassed and pleased.

“I-I’ve liked ye for a long time now, ye ken... pretty much from the moment ye joined us,” Paterson answered, still avoiding my gaze. “But I didnae want tae ruin our professional relationship, and I kent ye were with Katie, so I didnae want tae dae anything tae ruin that fur ye.”

“Katie and I are over,” I replied. “I ended things with her when we were looking for you. She knew it was because I had feelings for you, and I didn’t deny them. I didn’t like hurting her, but I wasn’t going to lie to her either.”

“Aye, I ken, Young told me ye ended it.”

There was an awkward silence again before Paterson broke it.

“So... what now?”

I looked at Paterson and felt myself grow hot when I saw that she was looking at me. She smiled gently, causing my heart to beat faster in my chest.

“Once you’re able to leave the hospital, I’d like to take you on a date... I mean, if you’d like to.”

Paterson’s eyes watered. She held out her hand, the one with the fingers missing, and I held it gently.

“I likely winnae be out of here fur a while.”

“I don’t care. You’re more than worth the wait.”

Paterson smiled. For a few seconds we looked at one another, but eventually Paterson shifted in her bed, slightly closer to me. As she moved forward, my face felt hot when I saw her eyes subtly glance at my lips. I moved closer to her, hoping the look meant what I thought it did, but just when I went to move my face closer to hers, I felt my phone ringing in my pocket. I went to ignore it, to continue the kiss, but as soon as Paterson heard it, she coughed awkwardly and moved back in her bed.

“Ye should answer that, it will probably be Boyd.”

I nodded, grabbing my phone and mentally preparing to kill whoever was calling me. Once my phone was in my hand, I saw that Paterson was right and it was Boyd, so I quickly answered it.

“Boyd, what is it?” I asked, hoping my tone didn’t sound as annoyed as I felt.

I’d been so close to kissing Paterson, so close, and he chose that exact moment to call me.

It had better have been worth it.

“I’ve just seen Owen’s doctor, sir, and he said he is happy fur us tae go and speak tae Owen and Douglas now.” He paused. “He said we cannae be with them fur tae long as they’re recovering, but we might as well start now while we can.”

“Thanks, Boyd. I’m coming.”

I ended the call, then looked at Paterson sadly.

“Duty calls, eh?”

I regretfully let go of Paterson’s hand. “I’m afraid so.”

Paterson looked sad for a moment, but she quickly changed her features to a smile. “Then go and give them hell then, so ye’ve got something good tae tell me!”

I winked, then stood up from my seat. “I will. I’ll see you soon, Ella.”

“Bye, James,” Paterson replied disappointedly.

I left the room and refused to look back, knowing it would only hurt my heart to see Paterson’s sad expression.

While the timing was far from ideal, I was keen to finally get the case over and done with.

Either Owen, Douglas, or both of them had killed Morag, and it was high time I finally found out the truth.

41

As I walked to meet Boyd, I moved with a spring in my step. I knew I should have been focused on the case—and I was—but it was hard not to feel positive now that I knew Paterson felt the same way.

I kept walking along the various hallways in the hospital, and as I did, I passed a variety of people who looked at me in either shock, disgust, or anger. I knew that Balfour’s new story about my past altercation with Nunn had only added fuel to their fire, but know that I knew I was going to take Paterson on a date, their dirty looks didn’t bother me like they once did.

Eventually I met Boyd, who was standing close to the door near the corridor that the doctor had previously turned us away from. Once he saw me, he nodded curtly, showing me he was nervous.

“Sir.”

I nodded back. “Is everything okay, Boyd?”

Boyd nodded again. “Aye, sir, the nurses said that I’m very lucky and have nae signs of damage or injury, but they said ye still havnae gone tae see them fur⁠—”

“That isn’t quite what I meant,” I interrupted.

“Ah, right.” Boyd bit his lip and looked away from me. “I’m just a bit worried aboot talking tae Owen and Douglas, that’s all... maybe it wid be best if I wisnae involved in questioning of them.”

I quirked a brow. “Why is that?”

Boyd continued to avoid my gaze. “It was because of me the crash happened in the first place, sir. I cannae imagine they will cooperate well if they see me⁠—”

“What did the doctors have to say over Douglas and Owen’s injuries?” I interrupted.

Boyd turned to me, blinking in surprise. “Well, they said that both men will need tae be kept overnight fur observation. Owen will actually need tae stay here fur a few days tae see if any of his other injuries become more serious.” Boyd paused and, from the look I gave him, continued. “Oh, the surgery was fur his leg. It was broken in a few places. They dinnae believe he has any internal damage, but they said some things can crop up after a bit of time, so they want tae keep him in fur a while tae be safe.”

“And Douglas?”

“He has a few bandages on, but the doctors believe he got off very lightly in comparison.”

“Good, that’s good,” I responded. “They’re both alive and able to answer questions, so that’s the main thing. It’s a shame we will have to wait until we can properly record them at the station once they’re up to being moved, but just getting a confession will be good enough for now.” I paused. “Come on, we’d better get this started.”

I went to push the door open, but hesitated when I sensed that Boyd wasn’t following me.

“I still think it might be best if I keep out of this one, sir.”

I turned to him. “What? Do you think you won’t be able to handle the heat if they say anything?”

Boyd frowned. “It isnae that, sir, I could handle⁠—”

“So, what’s the issue then?” I interrupted. “As we said before, Boyd, your actions weren’t the best, but it was due to Douglas’ behaviour that you made the decision to go after him in the first place. If he tries to say anything, we will just have to remind them of that.”

Boyd lowered his head. “I could have killed people, sir... and I’ve at least seriously injured⁠—”

“Enough of the pity party, Boyd,” I said, causing Boyd to look at me with surprise and hurt. “You shouldn’t have done what you did, we both know that, but what’s done is done. All we can do is focus on giving Morag the justice she deserves.” I paused, looking at Boyd intensely. “Do you seriously not want to be there when the person behind her death finally admits to it?”

“Of course I dae, sir, more than anything, but how can I when⁠—”

“All you need to do is remember that you’re the detective, and they’re the suspects, Boyd. They have no leg to stand on and if they do try to say anything, we’ll just remind them of that. Now, I’d appreciate if we stopped wasting time and we went to deal with Doug and Owen... together.”

Boyd opened his mouth, but after a split second he closed it and smiled gratefully. “Thanks, sir. Let’s go.”

I winked, then together we walked through the door. We met the same doctor we spoke to before, and after listening to his updates on the patients, he gestured for us to follow him. As he led us to the two suspects, he continued to engage us in conversation.

“Now, as I said before, if either of them show any signs of pain or distress, I want the questioning tae be stopped immediately,” the doctor said firmly. “I ken ye have jobs tae do, gentlemen, but ma job is tae protect ma patients, so I will be leaving a nurse in the room with ye so she can keep an eye on the patients and stop the questioning if they feel it’s gett’n tae much.” He paused. “Is that clear?”

I bristled slightly over the fact that the doctor was throwing his weight around and doing everything he could to show that he was calling the shots. While I wasn’t happy with it, I had waited long enough and I didn’t want to waste any more time by arguing with the man.

“Crystal.” I paused. “Now, is there anything else we need to know before we speak to them?”

“Owen was under anaesthetic, so he might still show some symptoms of that, but if he does, they’ll be minor and shouldn’y effect his ability tae answer yer questions.”

“Great. Anything else?”

The doctor abruptly stopped walking, then pointed to a door to the far right. “We decided tae keep the two men in the same room so it wid be easier fur us tae check on them and fur ye two tae question them. If ye have any issues or concerns, speak tae the nurse, Shelly. She can contact me right away.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” I responded. “We will try to be as quick as possible.”

The doctor nodded, then turned and left the way we came. The moment he turned from us, I respectfully greeted the PCs guarding the door, then it open. I gestured for Boyd to enter, and after he was inside, I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. Once I did, my eyes quickly swept the room, and I noticed two PCs and a nurse—who must have been Shelly—standing near the far side of the room. They all acknowledged me as I gave them eye contact, then I moved my gaze toward Douglas and Owen. There was a space of at least a couple of meters between their beds, which I was glad to see, and while Douglas was looking almost wistfully at Owen, Owen was looking up at the ceiling. Owen’s bed was slightly raised so, even though he wasn’t looking at me, I could see he was in a bad way. His head was heavily bandaged, so was his arm, and his leg was bandaged and held up in the air. His skin looked pale, and he somehow looked tiny in that bed, as though he’d lost a great deal of weight within the last few hours.

As I stepped closer to them, Owen continued to look at the ceiling, but Douglas looked between me and Boyd, his eyes lingering for a fraction of a second longer on Boyd, before he too looked away.

After a few seconds, it was clear neither wanted to speak to us, so I started.

“Good evening, you two. How’re you both feeling?”

Douglas slowly turned to me, his expression annoyed. “How dae ye think we’re feeling?”

“Probably like rubbish,” I answered coolly. “Which could have been avoided if you hadn’t decided to drive off the moment you saw us.”

Douglas scoffed, looking between me and Boyd in disbelief. “Ye’re kidding, right? Ye two were the ones tae knock us off the road!”

Boyd shifted uncomfortably on his feet, but I was glad when he had the sense to keep quiet.

“An action that would have been avoidable if you hadn’t forced us to chase after you.”

Douglas went to open his mouth, but I held out my hand to stop him. “We’re here to ask you some questions over things you’ve clearly been lying to us about. You’re both in a lot of trouble, so I’d seriously recommend that you don’t make things worse for yourself. We all know if this went to court, the world would see two detectives who were forced to stop two suspects from fleeing, so stop talking and let us start, okay?”

Douglas huffed, but he didn’t say anything. Beside me, I could feel Boyd relaxing.

“Great,” I said, slowly glancing around the room. “So, who wants to begin?”

Both men remained silent.

“Right, well, we all know that the jig is up now. The fact that you two ran only proves that you know what happened to Morag... so, who is going to tell me how she died?”

Again, they kept quiet.

I sighed. “If you don’t cooperate and speak to us, I’ll have to just tell you my theory.”

As they kept quiet—Owen was still looking at the ceiling—I shuffled my chair forward slightly, then looked between them both.

“Very well.” I paused. “I had been working under the assumption after meeting you, Mr. Bowers, that you and Morag had been having an affair.” Douglas looked at me in shock. “I know, clearly I got that wrong. However, I wasn’t too far off ‌the mark, now was I? Because it wasn’t Morag you were having an affair with, was it?” I turned toward Owen, who was still pointedly staring at the ceiling. “It was with you, Mr. Spinter, and now I know that I’ve been able to⁠—”

“Nae, ye’re wrong!”

Owen was quickly moving his head to look at me, so I quirked a surprised brow.

“Am I, now?”

Owen glared. “Aye, of course ye are! So hold yer tongue and stop spreading lies!”

As Owen spoke, my eyes flickered to Douglas for a moment, and I saw a clear look of hurt on his face.

“I’m not the one lying, Mr. Spinter.” I paused. “It’s you who has been lying about all of this from the very beginning! And you’re still lying now!”

“I’m not!” Owen exclaimed defensively.

I turned to Douglas. “Am I lying, Mr. Bowers? Am I wrong to think you and Owen have been having an affair?”

Douglas looked at Owen, and his face flickered with disappointment at the harsh look Owen gave him. Douglas turned to me and opened his mouth, but it was Owen who spoke first.

“I’ve already told ye that ye’re wrong, Detective! I loved ma wife, I loved Morag, and I niver wid have betrayed her, especially not with a-a man!”

“What do you mean by that, Mr. Spinter?” I asked.

“That I’m straight, God damn it!” Owen hissed.

“I’m not here to speculate or put labels on you or your sexuality, Mr. Spinter, and frankly, I couldn’t care less,” I answered calmly. “I am here to speak facts and get to the truth, and your relationship with Douglas, whatever you want to call it, is key to⁠—”

“We are friends, nothing more!” Owen interrupted. “Douglas means nothing tae me like that! He’s just a really good⁠—”

Douglas turned to him angrily. “Oh, I mean nothing tae ye now?”

Owen huffed. “Ye ken ye’r one of ma best friends, Doug, but⁠—”

“But nothing!” Douglas interrupted. “I’m sick of this now, Owen, sick of it! Why is it so hard for you to just admit how you feel?”

“Doug, that’s enough!” Owen hissed, his eyes flashing with warning. “Ye dinnae ken what ye’re saying!” He turned to me with wide eyes. “He really disnae.”

“Oh, but I dae!” Douglas continued. “Why cannae ye just admit that we’re in love and⁠—”

“Shut up!” Owen shouted.

“Nae, I winnae! We love one another, fur Christ’s sake, and it’s yer shame that’s caused so many issues!”

“Ye have nae idea what ye’re talking aboot! Ye’re⁠—”

For a few seconds, I watched the two argue, taking in every word. It was clear to anyone with eyes that the two had been involved—or at least that Douglas had strong feelings for Owen—but the more the two argued, the more I saw the differences between them.

Douglas was proud of his love for Owen, proud and willing to shout that out to the world, but Owen was ashamed to have feelings for a man and he didn’t want anyone to know. I could see the shame and fear etched clearly into his features, and if it wasn’t for the fact he was a murder suspect, then a part of me would have felt sorry for him.

I thought the differences between them would make the issue of figuring out who killed Morag easier, but somehow it made the question all the more confusing.

Did Douglas kill Morag after being sick and tired of Owen refusing to admit their feelings for one another? Had he thought that if Morag was out of the way, that Owen would finally be willing to accept his feelings? Or was Owen the person who had killed Morag due to his own repressed feelings? Had Morag maybe even found out about the affair, and Owen, in his desperation to hide his sexuality, killed her before she had the chance to tell anyone?

“That’s enough!” Boyd exclaimed loudly, causing Owen and Douglas to both abruptly stop talking. “Yer wife and yer friend is dead, and if either of ye cared aboot her at all ye’d start talking!”

“Of course I cared aboot her!” Owen answered angrily. “She was ma wife, the lass I loved, and tae have ye accusing me of loving someone else when she’s just died from a terrible accident is just tae much tae⁠—”

“Cut the bull, Mr. Spinter,” I interrupted coldly. “We all know Morag’s death was no accident, so I would suggest you⁠—”

“How?” Owen interrupted.

I furrowed my brow. “Excuse me?”

“How dae we ken her death was nae accident?” Owen continued. “I mean, ye said yersel she drowned in the loch, so why are ye questioning us like we were somehow involved? If she drowned, then it was surely either an accident or something she wanted tae happen?”

Douglas nodded. “Aye, exactly that! What evidence dae ye even have that Morag was killed? It sounds tae me like Morag was struggling with depression after her sister had died, so it wid make sense fur⁠—”

“Dinnae ye even dare try tae throw that at us!” Boyd interrupted angrily. “Ye have nae shame if ye can try and use another lass’s murder tae cover up what ye’ve done!”

Douglas glared at Boyd and opened his mouth, but I quickly spoke first.

“If you two weren’t involved in her death, then why did you run?” I asked calmly. “Why would you drive away from us if you were just keen for information on her death?”

Although it was quick, I caught the annoyed look that Owen shot Douglas. Douglas kept his expression calm, but I could tell that he had panicked when he saw us, which caused him to drive madly without thinking.

Owen only looked at him for less than half a second, but that one look showed me that he was angry at Douglas for behaving so rashly and that the running must have all been on Douglas.

“I dinnae ken,” Douglas answered.

I scoffed. “You’ll have to try harder than that, Mr. Bowers. Innocent people don’t flee from the police, and we know that one of you went to get Morag’s money shortly after we spoke to you.” I paused. “Your car and beach house will be searched, Mr. Bowers, and we all know we will find that money. I don’t know which of you killed Morag, and I don’t know if it was for the money, but we know either one or both of you did kill her. If you want to show any respect to Morag, I would suggest you start talking.”

The two men looked at one another with an unreadable expression before they both looked away. They kept quiet, and I could sense Boyd quickly losing his patience beside me.

“Ye were having an affair and betraying Morag, the least ye can dae is give her some long overdue respect by telling us exactly what happened tae her.”

Again, there was silence.

“Look, if neither of you admit to Morag’s murder, we will have no choice but to place you both under arrest. We will ensure you’re put in different holding cells until this reaches court, and when it does, I know we have enough here to sway a sympathy vote in Morag’s direction to see you both placed in prison. Separate prisons.” I paused, looking between them both. Douglas shot Owen a panicked look, but Owen’s expression remained impassive, making me more confident that Owen was our killer. “As I said, we will place you both so you will never see each other again, so if one of you is protecting the other, then I would suggest that ends now, otherwise you will both end up suffering for the actions of⁠—”

“Alright, I admit it, it was me.”

I turned, masking my shock as Douglas spoke. “You killed Morag Spinter, Mr. Bowers?”

“Aye, I did, so leave Owen out of this.”

I nodded. “Very well, Mr. Bowers. I want to know why you killed Morag, and I want to know why you went back to get her money. Did you kill her for the money?”

“Nae, it was niver tae dae with the money.”

That time it was Owen who spoke, so I turned to him in confusion. I glanced between the two men to see that Douglas was giving him a warning look, but Owen blankly stared at him, then looked back at me.

“Douglas is trying tae take the fall fur something that I did,” Owen paused. He looked at Douglas again, only now his expression was annoyed. “They had nothing, ye idiot! Nothing! So why confess? If we said nothing they’d have had nae way of kenning!”

“They were going tae keep us apart, Owen! I couldn’y bear it if we were in separate prisons!”

“He was bluffing, ye prat! Bluffing! And ye were stupid enough tae take the bait.”

Douglas blanched, then looked at me angrily. “Ye monster! Ye tricked me!”

I ignored him and kept my eyes on Owen. “We now know it was you who killed Morag, Mr. Spinter. You have one last chance to do right by her and tell us everything. If you don’t, you will still be arrested for murder, but you will do so without honouring the woman who was your wife for many years.” I paused, looking at him intensely. “For Morag’s sake, please tell us what happened.”

Owen winced and used his good arm to touch his head. I looked between him and the nurse, Shelly, worrying if she was going to call the interrogation to an end, but to my surprise Shelly kept still. She shot Owen an angry look and refused to move, and even though Douglas begged her to help him, she made it clear she wasn’t moving.

I had instant respect for her, knowing that she was putting the needs of the dead woman first. I knew in her position it was hard and that her duty was to the patient, but the look in her eyes as she glared at Owen showed me that she was holding back from doing her job not only for Morag, but for any woman who had been wrongly murdered by their spouse.

Once Owen realised the nurse wasn’t going to help him, he lowered his hand and looked at me. I held back an angry look of my own when I realised Owen had been faking pain to try and end the interrogation.

Bloody coward, I thought coldly. Too afraid to admit his feelings and now too afraid to face the music!

Owen looked around uncomfortably for a few seconds before he spoke. “Morag was struggling after losing her sister, like I told ye. I didnae lie when I said she was depressed and couldn’y accept the fact that Jenny that was gone. I tried tae help her, really I did, but it wid always end in an argument. Every night she wid go through her things, looking at old photos of them together as though she thought she could bring her sister back that way. Anyway, one day I came home and saw she had got out a lot of boxes and was trying tae find more photos of Jenny. I noticed a box she had out was one of mine, and I panicked the moment I saw it. I went tae try and find a way of subtly taking it, but before I could… she grabbed it and opened it.” He paused, his eyes shining with tears. “The box contained keepsakes I’d held onto over the years from ma times with Douglas, including letters he’d written tae me. She saw it all and realised right away what had been happening. She was in shock, but once her shock faded she let me ken just how angry and humiliated she was.”

“Wait,” Boyd interrupted, causing me to shoot him an aggravated look. “Ye said fur years, so how long had ye two been having an affair fur?”

Owen didn’t answer. Not for the first time, his eyes filled with shame, and he refused to look at either of us.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Douglas broke it.

“We’ve been secretly meeting and having an affair fur seven years.”

I did a better job than Boyd of hiding my surprise.

“You were saying, Mr. Spinter,” I said loudly, hoping to get Owen focused again.

“Well, she was furious when she saw it all... started tae call me every name under the sun, told me ‌the fact I was gay was the reason we’d had so many issues in our marriage. I tried tae tell her I wisnae gay and that I wanted her, but she widnae listen! She just kept saying I had tae be gay, even though I kept insisting I wisnae!”

“I cannae imagine why,” Boyd said coldly.

“Continue, please, Mr. Spinter,” I said, causing Boyd to lower his head before he lost his temper again.

“She started tae talk aboot us getting a divorce, aboot us being over, but I didnae want that! I begged her tae reconsider, but she said it was over... Anyway, after some long talks I thought I’d got her tae change her mind. Things seemed tae be a bit better, anyway. I told her we wid go tae the loch, that we wid try tae rekindle our relationship, like when we were newlyweds, and she said she wid like that.” He paused, purposely looking anywhere but at Douglas. I subtly glanced at Douglas, saw his hurt expression, and realised he’d known none of this. “Anyway, we went tae the loch, and when we were swimming in the water she turned tae me and looked happy. I was hopeful, but then she just looked at me and laughed! She… she admitted she haedna wanted tae try, that she wanted tae get me in the loch and give me false hope so that she could hurt me just like I hurt her! It was cruel, vindictive, and I honestly couldn’y believe it of her. I begged and pleaded, but she widnae listen and kept insisting that she wanted a divorce. I begged her tae keep quiet, told her that if people kent aboot me and Douglas that it wid ruin me, that if she kept it quiet, I wid give her anything she wanted... but she just laughed in ma face and called me selfish and pathetic. She took off her ring, threw it, then told me that she had nae respect fur me… she was going tae tell everyone aboot me and Douglas.”

He paused, his face filling with shame. “She was so... different, so cold. I dinnae ken how, but the moment she laughed I just… was so consumed by fear that it took over... I started tae picture everyone turning against me, everyone looking at me differently, and it terrified me! The fear gripped me and I swam under the water, grabbed her by her flipper, and started tae drag her under. S-she resisted, but I only let go when she wisnae resisting anymore. I wanted tae let go sooner, I did, but it was like something took over me and I just couldn’y! I came back up fur air, looked at her, then kent right away she was dead. Sh-She widnae lift her face up from the water.” He sobbed. “I-I didnae want tae hurt her! I just didnae want her telling people!”

There was a moment of silence as we all took in Owen’s confession. While it didn’t surprise me, I couldn’t deny I looked at him with disgust and felt unable to control my emotions.

Douglas glared at Owen. “Ye idiot! All I ever wanted was fur us tae be together!” He paused, his angry expression turning to one of pain. “Why? Why was it so hard fur ye tae have people kenning aboot us? Wid it really have mattered if people kent?”

Owen looked at Douglas. “Of course it wid have mattered! It wid have changed ma entire life, and yers tae!”

Douglas shook his head. “Ye fool! I’d have been happy! Happy fur the change. It wid have meant I finally had ye!”

Boyd turned to Douglas angrily. “Ye’re just as selfish as he is! There ye are talking aboot ye two being together, but what aboot yer wife, eh? Yer pregnant wife who right now is sitting at home, scared and wanting ye⁠—”

Boyd trailed off at the terrified look on Douglas’ face. I looked between him and Owen and quickly realised why Douglas looked so afraid.

Owen’s eyes were wide with shock. He was looking at Douglas, and for the first time, he looked hurt. “Samantha... Samantha is pregnant?”

His voice was quiet, soft, and showed more emotion than anything else he’d said since we started the interrogation.

Douglas looked away from him, like he couldn’t bear to see his sad expression. “Aye... she is.”

Owen looked a mixture of upset and angry. “H-how? How did that happen? How could ye keep such a thing from me?”

Douglas continued to avoid his gaze. “Ye just said ye widnae want tae be with me, so why wid it even matter?”

“I-I kent ye were still with Samantha, but I didnae think that ye two were still...” Owen trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

“What was I supposed tae dae, Owen? She is ma wife, fur God’s sake, and dinnae act like ye werena still playing yer role of husband during our affair!”

Owen continued to look hurt, but he didn’t say anything else.

My focus was on Morag’s murder, not their messy relationships, so I pushed the conversation forward. “So, what did you do when you realised Morag was dead?”

Owen looked at me in surprise, almost as though he’d forgotten what we’d been talking about. “Well... what could I dae? She was dead, but I kent that if I left the scene maybe people wid just think she drowned. I got out of the water, drove home, then waited until the morning tae call in and say she was missing.”

“Coward,” Boyd muttered under his breath.

“That was risky, wasn’t it?” I asked. “We only knew who she was from your call. If you hadn’t ‌called us, we might have never found out her identity if she didn’t come up on our records.”

“Aye, but ye’d already found her, haedna ye? And at some point ye’d have found out who she was, either by someone from work reporting her missing or a friend, and if it turned out she’d been missing fur a while and I haedna reported it then I kent I’d have looked suspicious.”

I looked at him coldly. “So you only called in to save your own arse?”

Owen had the decency to look ashamed. “Well, I was desperate! Wisnae I?”

I continued to glare at him, but luckily Boyd stepped in.

“What aboot the money? Did ye ken it was missing, and was it ye that picked it up?”

Owen shook his head, and at the same time Douglas spoke.

“He didnae ken anything aboot the money until ye mentioned it, so he called me after I went and asked me tae get it. He had a key which he’d found with Morag’s possessions and kent it was from the gym, and he assumed that was where she’d hidden it. He kent it wid be tae risky fur him tae go, so I went.”

“That was ma money as much as hers! She had nae right tae take it, and I kent it was nae good tae her anymore.”

“Charming,” I said coldly, then turned back to Douglas. “So, did you know that Owen had killed Morag?”

Douglas looked at Owen. Owen looked at him fiercely, but Douglas looked away and focused his gaze on me. “Aye, he told me aboot it... though apparently not everything.” He glared at Owen. “Ye didnae say it was tae dae with us! Ye said it was a stupid argument that got out of hand! We were supposed tae speak aboot everything at the beach house!”

The two started to squabble again, and as I looked between them I felt disgusted. I couldn’t deal with listening to them anymore.

“Right, I’ve had just about enough of you two,” I said coldly. “You two have both been involved in the murder of an innocent woman, and yet you sit there and argue like bleeding toddlers!” I shook my head in disgust. “Come on, Boyd. We’ll deal with them again when we have to.” I paused as I looked between Owen and Douglas. “Enjoy your recovery time, you two, because once you’re better you’ll both be placed under arrest.”

I ignored their fearful wails as Boyd and I left them with the PCs. Once we were outside ‌the room, the first emotion I felt was relief. Relief to be away from them and their ridiculous arguments, but more importantly, relief that we’d finally caught our murderer.

42

The man was angry. Very angry.

He’d worked so hard to frame James for murder, and when that hadn’t worked, he tried to stoke the flames by forcing that old article to resurface. He’d been convinced that once everyone knew how aggressive James could be that it would push people to point the finger at him and demand he be re-examined as Jenny’s murderer...

And yet it had done nothing.

Absolutely bloody nothing!

He was so hopeful, so convinced that the article would damage James or at least disrupt his life to some extent, but to see that it had caused hardly any damage made the man feel sick.

How much more did he need to do? What more did he need to risk in order to get James arrested for the murder he himself had committed?

He was trying so hard to force the world to see James for who he was, but all of his efforts had been in vain.

The man knew it had been risky, but the moment he saw that the article had been published, he couldn’t help himself from going out there and seeing firsthand what it had done to James. He drove straight to James’ station, and when he saw the large, angry crowd waiting outside, he couldn’t help but feel gleeful. They were all baying for his blood, and as he watched them, he was certain James was going to get what he deserved.

He was finally going to be arrested, finally going to be out of his life, and the man would finally be able to relax and enjoy the remaining time he had with his wife. He knew it would be hard for his wife to see James arrested, that she would be devastated by the news, but he had succeeded in pushing her attention away from James before. He knew he could do it again.

However, when James had turned up, all the crowd had done was yell at him, and when it became clear to the man that his article hadn’t stopped James from working, he couldn’t help but feel angry. All of his time, planning, and hard work had been wasted.

What more could he do to push the police into seeing James as a monster? He knew he was lucky that the police still hadn’t come to question him over Jenny’s death, showing him he must have been in the clear, but as James wasn’t being questioned either, he couldn’t help but feel bitterly disappointed.

There had been a point where he hoped for a reconciliation with James, but after that counsellor started to speak to him about the past, he knew that wouldn’t be possible.

No. Too much had happened, there was too much water under the bridge, and if the man could throw James under the bus in order to save himself, then why wouldn’t he?

He didn’t owe James anything.

They had no relationship, no loyalty, no love, no anything.

The man sighed as he looked at the station, unable to stop himself from thinking about James. A small, naïve part of him was still convinced that if he kept pushing, the guilt could be placed at James’s feet.

But how? What more could he realistically do without killing himself in the process?

He groaned and rubbed his face, the exhaustion he felt from the build-up of the last few days finally starting to take its toll on him. He chided himself for still loitering near the station, knowing that James could see and recognise him at any moment, so he slowly turned his ignition on and started to drive home.

As he drove, his thoughts went to his wife, and he knew she would wonder where he’d been all day. He also knew that if she asked him, he would struggle to come up with an excuse. Lying to her had never been one of his strong points.

You’re an idiot, man, the man scolded. You’re behaving more and more recklessly, and if you keep doing things like this, you’re only going to give yourself away!

The man knew he should be playing it safe, especially when the police hadn’t been anywhere near him, and yet he had been so desperate to witness James’ downfall that it had him behaving like a fool.

Well, no more.

As much as he wanted more than anything to see James suffer, he knew he had to be sensible. He was done now, done with trying to get James framed for his own crimes, and knew the sensible thing to do now would be to get home, spend quality time with his wife, and wait for the police to give up on finding Jenny’s murderer.

He knew it would take them time to give up, but if the police hadn’t already been to see him, then he knew there was no way they would now.

After all, why would they? Jenny and he had no connection whatsoever, so unless someone happened to start connecting the dots between him and James, then he knew he’d be safe.

After a short drive, he made it back home, and when he saw that his wife’s car was gone, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

Good, if she’s been out for a while then she doesn’t need to know how long I’ve been out for, the man thought relievedly.

He parked up, made his way inside, then tried to push James from his mind. He knew forgetting about James was the right thing to do, at least until Jenny’s murder case was dropped, and as he got inside ‌his house and sat down, he just hoped Jenny’s murder would soon be a thing of the past.

The man knew he had to be sensible, had to keep quiet and to himself, but he also knew that if the police did start looking his way, then he would be ready for them.

He had worked too hard and done too much to keep out of jail, and he wasn’t going to allow that to change anytime soon... even if he had to do something drastic to James in order to keep himself safe. When it came to the choice of protecting himself over James, then the choice was an easy one.

He would choose himself every time, or he would put everything he had into taking James down with him.

43

After getting a ride back to the station with one of the PCs, Boyd and I entered our department together. As we did, I could feel Boyd’s fear radiating off ‌him like a beacon. For his sake, I hoped he quickly learnt how to keep a cool head, otherwise, the team would all instantly realise he felt guilt over what he’d done and would then see his actions as wrong.

While his actions were wrong, his best chance of avoiding punishment was to remain strong in his conviction that chasing Douglas was the right decision.

Once we were inside, I saw Murray, Young, Fenton, and Gamble all instantly turn in our direction. Murray was wearing an impatient expression, and the moment he saw us he charged over, looking more irritable that I’d seen him look in a long time.

It instantly told me that we were in deep trouble.

“Well? What the hell has been going on?” Murray asked angrily. “Luckily, we’ve had some PCs give us some updates after they dropped Morag’s money off, but if it wisnae fur them then we wid have nae clue aboot what the hell has been going⁠—”

“Morag’s money was found?” I interrupted curiously. “Where was it? We⁠—”

“It was found in the wreckage of Douglas’ car, but ye wid have kent that if ye had kept us in the loop! Ye’ve been gone fur hours, and we had tae find out aboot car accidents, ambulances, and⁠—”

“Sir, we’re sorry,” Boyd interrupted guiltily. “Ye’re right, we should have communicated better, but everything all just happened so⁠—”

Murray turned to Boyd with a glare. “Ye dinnae even dare say another word, Boyd! Ye’re in enough trouble as it is!”

Boyd gulped, looking at Murray with wide, terrified eyes.

I instantly stepped forward, looking protectively at Boyd. “Sir, I don’t know what you’ve been told, but I can assure you that⁠—”

“From speaking tae a few PCs I’ve been told that Boyd took it upon himself tae drive like a prat and force Douglas off of the road, putting countless lives at risk… all just tae stop the suspect from gett’n away!” He paused as he glared between us both. Boyd lowered his head shamefully, but I kept my eyes on Murray. “Well? Is that wrong?”

Boyd didn’t speak.

“Mistakes were made throughout this case, sir, from all of us,” I answered calmly. Murray looked as though I’d slapped him across the face, but I continued. “We reached Douglas’ beach house after his wife alerted us to the fact he could be there, and once we arrived there, Douglas immediately tried to push us off ‌the road to make an escape. We pursued him, but the entire time Douglas was driving like a maniac and⁠—”

“And so ye two decided tae drive equally as stupid, doubling the chances of someone gett’n killed?”

“Nae one was killed, sir,” Boyd muttered to his feet.

“Aye, and it’s a goddamn miracle that nae one did!” Murray shouted, smacking one of his fists on Young’s desk as he spoke. He then paused, looking between Boyd and I slowly before fixing his glare on Boyd. “I’ve seen the PC reports and there were a lot of cars put tae a standstill on that road, Boyd. Someone easily could have been killed or hurt, and from what I’ve read, it sounds like Douglas and Owen were almost killed!”

Boyd kept silent, so I answered on his behalf.

“Their car was knocked down a hill, and both men sustained injuries, but neither of them are at risk any longer.”

“Any longer?” Murray asked, his voice a venomous whisper. “Aye, exactly that... they’re fine now, but I’m already aware of the fact that Owen was in a bad way and we’re lucky he survived.” Murray looked between us both and, as we kept quiet, Murray continued. “Boyd, I’ve spoken tae the board and the decision has been made fur ye tae go on immediate suspension while we⁠—”

“Sir, please!” Boyd exclaimed, looking at Murray with wide, pleading eyes. “Ye cannae suspend me! This job is everything tae me! I⁠—”

“Ye should consider yersel lucky that the board didnae say tae fire ye,” Murray said coldly. “And if it wisnae fur the fact yer father has gained their respect after his long years of service, ye likely wid have been. Ye were able tae stop our suspects and I’m hoping fur yer sake ye managed tae get answers out of them, but the fact nae one is dead is just dumb luck!” He paused again. As he did, I looked toward the others and saw them all awkwardly avoiding looking at us. “Yer suspension starts immediately, Boyd, so ye just go home and use yer time away tae think aboot yer actions... and just hope that this disnae get taken any further, which it still could!”

Boyd, to my surprise, looked close to tears. I could only look at him for half a second before I couldn’t take it anymore. I swung my gaze away from him and onto Murray.

“Sir, I know Boyd’s actions weren’t the best, but if Douglas hadn’t behaved the way he did, then we never⁠—”

“Just because Douglas was a prat disnae mean ye two had tae be tae!”

“If we didn’t go after him, they would have escaped, sir, and if they did⁠—”

“And if they did, we wid have worked hard tae find them! But endangering others is niver acceptable. It isnae like we live in the biggest area in the world, is it? If they escaped, we wid have just put all of our forces out there tae find them, but instead Boyd decided tae risk the lives of many in order tae stop them.” He paused, his expression softening slightly. “I’m sorry, Glover, but when it comes tae one of us putting the public at risk, we have tae be seen tae act. Boyd is suspended, effective immediately, and nothing ye say in his defence is going tae change that.”

For a couple of seconds I glared at Murray, feeling nothing but guilt and anger for Boyd’s sake, but eventually I relaxed my expression.

I wanted to help Boyd, but as the board had already made their decision, I knew there wasn’t anything I could do.

After a few more seconds of silence, Boyd went to leave. However, he’d barely walked two steps toward the door before I was grabbing him to stop him.

“Sir, dinnae,” Boyd muttered to me. “Ye tried and I thank ye fur that, but dinnae risk yer own position over me.”

I listened to Boyd, but I kept my eyes on Murray. “Just because he is now suspended doesn’t mean he has to go right away. Boyd helped me speak to our suspects, so he isn’t going anywhere until we’ve both told you everything.” I paused. “Boyd was one of the only ones who believed I might have been right to assume Morag’s death was murder, and now that we know it was murder, it’s only right that he is here while we talk about it all.”

“So, that’s why ye were gone fur so long,” Fenton answered. “Ye were proving who killed Morag?”

I nodded. “Yes. I was right all along, Morag’s death was no accident, nor was it a suicide. It was murder.”

“But who killed her?” Gamble inquired.

“And why?” Young asked.

I looked at Boyd, then looked back at the others and told them everything. Boyd contributed every now and again, but as I could tell his heart wasn’t in it, I did most of the talking myself. Once I was finished, it was clear everyone was surprised.

“So, Owen killed his own wife?” Young asked in revulsion.

I nodded. “Yes, that’s right. He confessed to it all after a bit of persuasion.”

Gamble opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped as the station’s phone started to ring. To ‌our surprise, Murray grumbled, then walked toward it.

“Someone get the kettle on... I’ll get that.”

Gamble instantly offered to make everyone drinks, and with Fenton’s help the two had drinks prepared for us all quickly. Boyd, again, tried to leave, but I stopped him, and with the help of Young, we both convinced him to stay until we’d all finished discussing the case. I could see from Boyd’s expression that he was torn between wanting to keep with us but equally knowing Murray would soon force him out, but I was glad he decided to stay.

Murray was still on the phone by the time the drinks were made, leaving the rest of us to speak.

“So, Owen really killed his wife because he was tae scared of anyone figuring out he liked men?” Fenton asked.

I nodded. “Pretty much.”

Fenton shook her head. “How bizarre... I cannae believe in this day and age that someone wid kill over something as trivial as that!”

Young shrugged. “Image is everything tae some people.”

There was silence for a few seconds.

“And there was us thinking the sisters’ deaths could be connected... I cannae believe both were murdered, and neither case had any relevance tae the other,” Young muttered unhappily. “I was starting tae feel convinced that Morag had killed hersel, but thank Christ ye had the sense tae not accept that outcome, James. Otherwise, there’d still be two bad people out there ready tae cause harm tae others.”

I nodded gratefully at the compliment. “I know... I was convinced they were connected, but it feels like anytime we get close to any lead on Jenny’s case it just takes us further away from the identity of her real killer.” I sighed. “We really need a break in this case, otherwise, Jenny’s murder might remain unsolved.”

There was silence again as we all sipped at our drinks. As I took a few sips of mine, my mind went through all of the potential suspects we’d had so far in Jenny’s case and how wrong we’d been with all of them.

Arran had seemed all but certain to be Jenny’s killer, particularly with his clear anger toward her, and then when I realised Nunn was on the scene I knew he was just as likely with our history... yet neither of them had done it.

But if they hadn’t killed Jenny, then who had? And why were they so against me? Was it Jenny’s killer who had posted the story about me attacking Nunn, or was I simply cursed? Were there others out there with a vendetta against me, ready to attack me at the drop of a hat?

As things stood, we had no suspects, but although I’d been wrong about Nunn giving Balfour the article, I still felt that the article itself was important.

While I didn’t relish the idea in speaking to Balfour anytime soon, I also knew I needed to see if there was any chance he knew the identity of the person who gave him the article...

Because if he did, that could change everything.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of Murray approaching us. Usually he was slow in his movements, but as he stepped toward us with urgency, it instantly caught my attention.

What had happened during that phone call to make him so alert?

“Sir, what is it?”

Murray gave Boyd a look. For a moment I feared he was going to send Boyd away, but luckily he was too eager to discuss what he’d heard to do so.

“I just had Fiona call with some information for us all.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise.

Whoever I’d expected Boyd to have spoken to, it wasn’t Fiona.

“And what sort of information was that, sir?” I asked.

“Well, ye ken she told us she was going tae redo Jenny’s postmortem? Well, she’s just finished, and she said she found something else. Something... unusual.”

“What?” the rest of us asked in unison.

“Well, Fiona admits that when she did the initial postmortem, she didnae think tae look into the content of the stomach or the intestines since it was clear Jenny’s cause of death was from the stab wounds, but as we werena gett’n anywhere, she decided tae look into everything.” He paused. “Fiona said that when she looked inside Jenny’s intestines she found a pin badge and a piece of fabric, and she believes that Jenny must have swallowed them before she died.”

“A pin badge?” Young asked with confusion.

“Why wid she swallow something like that?” Fenton added.

Murray looked between us all. “Obviously we winnae ken until we look into it, but Fiona believes that Jenny might have done this as a way tae help us identify her killer.”

“Was the pin badge specific then, if she feels it could help us?” Gamble asked.

Murray nodded. “Aye. Fiona said it was of a teddy bear wearing a red t-shirt sitting on a tricycle.” He paused. “Talk aboot weird, eh? It isnae exactly something I can imagine we’d see a lot of, so if we can figure out where the badge came from we might be able tae track Jenny’s killer!”

As I listened to Murray speaking, I suddenly felt like I’d been doused in ice-cold water.

Murray was right... that pin badge was specific, and I recognised it right away...

But it couldn’t be... could it?

I looked at Murray. “Did Fiona say if she was going to email images of the badge and fabric to us?”

Murray nodded. “Aye, I widnae be surprised if we have it now.” He paused, his eyes scanning me. As his expression shifted, I knew my own expression must have been alarming. “What is it, Glover? Is something wrong?”

Murray had barely finished speaking before I was rushing to my desk. I then quickly went on my emails and felt my anxiety rise when I saw that Fiona had already emailed me.

“Glover, what is it?” Murray repeated.

“I have to see that pin badge, because if it’s what I think it is, then I think I know who killed Jenny.”

Everyone was stunned into silence.

I opened ‌the attachment on the email, and when I did, I saw the pin badge. I barely looked at it when I dropped my mouse in shock, unable to believe what I was seeing.

“James?” Young asked worriedly. “Mate, what is it?”

“I... I know who killed Jenny.”

“Who?” Murray asked urgently.

“I... I think it was my dad.”

A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

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