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knife—’
    Bill interrupted. ‘There is no question of more than one weapon or assailant?’
    ‘I don’t think so. Whoever wielded this weapon was familiar with it and knew exactly what it could do.’
    It was Rhona’s turn. ‘We found footprints forCarole, her mother, one from a child inside the house and a partial set on the gate. We also have some that might be the intruder’s.’
    ‘Fingerprints?’
    ‘We matched Carole’s and her mother’s to various sets about this house. I found a clear set from a child on the top of the gate. My guess is the murderer wore gloves, which is strange, because he didn’t use a condom. We have a semen sample and a lot of blood, none of it, I think, will be his. We believe,’ she indicated Dr Sissons’s agreement, ‘that Carole didn’t put up a fight. Her nails were clean and she had had her hands in bleach prior to her death.’
    ‘Maybe she thought that by not fighting she would stay alive?’ Bill wondered.
    ‘Or maybe she didn’t want her son to hear and come inside,’ Rhona suggested. ‘Chrissy is working on the trace material from the carpet. Oh, and something else. The attacker urinated on the old woman. If he was high on something when he killed, we should be able to identify it from the urine.’
    ‘So a sexually violent murder, probably by someone who knew the victims,’ Bill said, mentally hoping it was a one-off.
    ‘Or,’ Rhona offered, ‘a ritualistic murder with satanic connections.’ Which meant the murderer would more than likely strike again.
    She explained the presence of the human-bone fetish near the gate and the possible link with juju.
    Bill didn’t like the sound of that. The discovery of human bones identified a crime in itself. ‘How can webe sure the bones have anything to do with this murder?’ he tried. ‘They may have been lying in the garden for a while.’
    ‘We can’t. However, the bones were dry, although the grass was damp,’ Rhona told him. ‘I have a meeting with GUARD later today to try to date them and identify the age and gender of the owner.’
    Dr Sissons backed Rhona up. ‘The practice of clitoridectomy exists in sub-Saharan Africa, an area also known for the practice of juju or voodoo. Dr MacLeod is right to suggest a possible link between the crime and such a culture.’
    Rhona said what they were all thinking: ‘We must find the boy. He’s our key witness . . . if he’s still alive.’
    Rhona rushed off after the meeting and Bill didn’t get a chance to speak to her alone. He wondered if she was avoiding McNab, but had seen no evidence of discomfort between them. More likely she felt the extreme urgency of the investigation. As Chief Forensic on the case, she had a mass of work to get through with her team. He would be better to leave her alone to get on with it. His team had their own work cut out.
    In the incident room, the crime scene photos decorated one wall, as a constant stimulant to the thought process, and an ugly reminder of what they were up against.
    He had been totally focused in the meeting, but now thoughts of Margaret rushed in to replace work. He tried to push them to one side. The first thing Margaret would ask when he got home tonight was whether hehad found the boy. Worrying about her while on duty wouldn’t cut ice with his wife.
    He headed for his office and sat down in the ancient leather chair that was his thinking post. It squeaked loudly as he turned towards the window. The boy had been missing for around eighteen hours. The best scenario was that he had entered the house after the murderer left and was hiding out alone somewhere. It had stayed relatively mild overnight, so exposure might not be a problem, depending on how Stephen was dressed.
    DC Janice Clark came in.
    ‘Well?’
    She shook her head. ‘We have a constable at Carole Devlin’s flat. The boy hasn’t turned up there. The photo went out on all channels last night, but no sightings yet.’
    ‘What about nearby