‘He’s doing what?’ Rhona said in disbelief.
The last fifteen minutes had consisted of a forensic interrogation by Chrissy about McNab’s mythical break-in, followed by news that a body had been found at Skelmuir by an Air Support Team sent there by McNab. Something he’d definitely failed to say he would do the previous night. Now he was apparently playing a game.
‘Can you get him for me? It’s important.’
‘He doesn’t want to be disturbed,’ DS Clark said apologetically.
Now Rhona was the one in an alternative reality.
‘What’s up?’ Chrissy said, seeing her startled expression as she hung up.
‘It seems McNab is trying to engage with the online game.’
Chrissy didn’t look put out by that. ‘Good,’ was her response. ‘The R2S crime-scene photographs of Skelmuir Hill are up,’ she said. ‘Come and take a look.’
They adjourned to Chrissy’s laptop and Rhona observed as Chrissy slowly flicked through them.
‘It’s the same girl, no doubt about that. The layout of the body too. But no impaled hands. And no stone in the mouth,’ Chrissy said.
Despite the differences, the images did echo those taken on Cathkin Braes and at the Ring of Brodgar. Rhona said as much.
‘It could be copycat,’ Chrissy said. ‘After all the material that’s online about the killings.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Remember the Boston marathon case, how everybody posted on the Reddit site, supposedly trying to help. Amateur internet detectives nearly fucked everything up. They set up a subreddit called FindBostonBombers? Well the same’s happening here.’
Chrissy brought up a screen with the headline that read ‘WhostheStonewarrior?’.
Rhona read it with a sense of dismay.
‘Mind you, the tabloids aren’t much better. And it’s going to get a lot worse if a body appears south of the border,’ Chrissy foretold.
Rhona made a quick departure to write up various detailed reports on her findings, leaving Chrissy mid-sentence. It was the only tactic likely to work. Judging by Chrissy’s expression through the glass, which resembled not a goldfish with its mouth open, but a piranha deprived of its meal, the interrogation wasn’t over yet.
And Chrissy was right. The whole episode regarding McNab’s supposed break-in was odd, but she would have to wait until he was available to speak to about that and about Magnus’s deliberations the previous night.
Rhona turned her attention to her report on the Brodgar victim. Toxicology had identified a large quantity of cocaine and heroin in the body, strongly linking it to the Cathkin Braes killing. The vagina and other orifices were found to be free of semen. A presumptive test for saliva had proved positive. Adults made about 1.0 to 1.5 litres of saliva a day. It wasn’t unusual for saliva to turn up at crime scenes. The girl’s neck, ears and mouth had held traces, the DNA of which had matched traces on the roll-up found in the grass. The victim’s saliva was also on the roll-up, suggesting she’d shared it with someone prior to her death. Rhona pictured the girl necking with someone, sharing a joint. Had that person been the one to kill her?
And now they had another victim.
Her desire to visit the latest locus was strong. Despite R2S’s detailed record of the event, there was nothing to compare with being on site. The victim had been located in the early hours of that morning. Ideally the body would be in situ for twelve hours. There was still time.
She thought of Magnus. He too would want to visit the locus if possible. If a chopper wasn’t available, they could share a car, although it was a three-hour drive to Aberdeen.
Rhona began making the necessary calls.