Her mouth fell open and stayed like that, for a good few seconds. "Your wife?" she exclaimed, at last.

"Primavera. The woman who visited the set at the lunch break."

"She told me she was Dawn's sister."

"She is; she's also my wife. But we're getting divorced."

"I'm not surprised." she said, with a snorting laugh. "I thought I'd been fully briefed about you, but Ricky left that bit out."

"It wasn't relevant. Has she gone, do you know?"

Mandy nodded. "Yes, about half an hour ago."

"What about the guy she was with?"

"Nicky Johnson?" She surprised me by looking star-struck; there she was working with three of the biggest name actors in the world in Miles, Dawn and Ewan, but it took his name to make her eyes go dreamy.

No accounting for tastes, is there? Just as well she hadn't been there when Miles decked him; she might have leapt to his defence. "He left before her. They had a big argument, and I heard

Gail Driver booking him on the next London flight." She shook her head. "More fool your missus."

"You don't know the half of it," I muttered. "But she's well shot of that clown."

Mandy looked at me as a nun might have looked at a heretic.

"Come on," I said, 'back to business. What have you got to tell me about the guy who left that photo for me?"

"Nothing much. I did find a catering worker who saw a man near this van, but she didn't see him break in or anything. He was just standing there, leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette."

"Description?"

"He was wearing a hard hat and an orange donkey jacket. There's a shop being refurbished up the road; they're working seven days a week and that's what the builders wear. He was probably just a joiner having a smoke."

"Nevertheless, did she notice anything else?"

"He was around six feet tall, he had a beard, and he was wearing flashy wrap-round sunglasses."

"A joiner in Raybans? Did anyone think to go and see if any of the guys working on the site fit that description?"

Mandy gave her lip a quick nibble. "No," she murmured. "We'll do it tomorrow; they'll have knocked off for the day by now."

"A waste of time," said a voice from the door; I turned to see Ricky climbing into my room. "If that was your guy, he's not going to be back. If it wasn't... so bloody what?"

He had a point. "So what's he up to?" I asked. "Why pull a stunt like that?"

"I don't know, Oz. It could just be a nutter; that's the likeliest explanation, in fact."

"But what if it isn't? In my experience the likeliest explanation hardly ever turns out to be right."

Ross took a deep breath. "Mine too," he admitted. "In that case, this could be leading up to an extortion attempt. You might get a letter, threatening Susie and the baby, and demanding a pay-off. The photo, the way it was taken and the way it was planted, could all be an attempt to scare you into paying up."

"What about a kidnap attempt?"

"Not a chance; the guy would have done that already, or tried it, if it was on his agenda. Let's assume he isn't a nutter and he isn't stupid; he'll know that Susie's protected."

"I want that stepped up."

"Don't worry, it has been. You'll need to tell her what's happening, though. I don't want her picking up the phone and getting any nasty surprises."

I agreed with that. "I'll call her right away," I said.

"I've talked to Mr. Grayson," Ricky continued, 'and we both think I should step up your cover as well. We should make it more obvious; you should have someone full-time, like him and Mrs. Grayson and Ewan Capperauld. It could be that he's picked you because you're the most vulnerable. I thought Mandy could do that for you; she's well capable and you've got spare rooms up there in your apartment. You okay with that?"

I risked a quick glance at my lady minder; she was dead-pan.

"Attractive as that suggestion is," I replied, "I don't want that. One; I've promised a bedroom to Liam Matthews whenever the schedule brings him to town; he's all the minder I'll ever need. Two; I have another plan for Mandy. Three; I don't want to scare this guy away. I want to meet him. In fact, if he does send a demand for money, I plan to deliver it in person."

1S1.

Forty-One.

Did that make Ricky's day? Not by a long way. He tried everything to talk me round; he even got Miles in on the act. But I wasn't having any of it, and eventually they came to terms with it. Most of all, of course, what I wasn't having was Mandy O'Farrell in my spare room.

I did phone Susie, though, as I'd agreed, as soon as I got home. I told her the real reason for my jumpiness the day before and I told her about the photograph. I didn't expect her to sound frightened, and she wasn't. I did expect her to sound angry, and she was. But not just at the mischief-maker; she turned the heat on me as well. "Why the hell are you only telling me this now?" she demanded. "Do you think I'm some sort of a bloody wimp? If this guy's threatening anyone he's threatening our daughter, and I had a right to know that from the start." She paused, for emphasis, I guessed. "Now tell me what you're doing about it... and I'd better be impressed, or I'll make my own arrangements." I didn't like to think what they might be. Lord Provost Jack Gantry had had connections with some euphemistically named security firms around Glasgow, and the survivors were still around.

"You've had cover since last night," I told her. "One of Ricky's guys has had you in his sight ever since. I plan to step that up. There's a woman on his staff; you met her, briefly, the other night. I plan to move her in with you, until this guy's nailed."

"That big blond Amazon?" she exclaimed. "The one you called Mandy?"

"That's the one."

"Can she handle herself?"

"Oh yes. She wouldn't be working for Ross if she couldn't." I was taking a chance that she could also keep her mouth shut.. . something she hadn't been able to do the night before .. . but I wanted Susie and Janet to have effective close protection and I couldn't think of anyone who was better equipped to do the job.

"Okay," she agreed, just a touch grudgingly. "I'll give her a try. But the best solution is to catch this guy. Have you reported it to the police?"

"Ricky's briefed his contacts; they know what's happened, but they're keeping it under wraps."

"So what the hell are you and Ross actually doing, apart from giving me a house-guest and sitting on your arses?"

"The only thing we can, love. We're waiting for his next move."

Forty-Two.

I had hoped that my day was done, but no such luck. I had just finished speaking to Susie when the phone rang again. "I need to see you," said Ricky. "There's been a development on the Anna Chin investigation."

We agreed to meet half-an-hour later, in the Oxford Bar, where real detectives are supposed to hang out. Ten minutes after that, I knew that it never rains but it pours. Ricky told me that the police had released Corporal Adam Cruikshank, Anna Chin's paratrooper boyfriend, pending further investigation.

"He's got a petrol transaction slip from a filling station in Canonmills," he said. "The time on it doesn't prove absolutely that he couldn't have killed Anna, but he'd have had to be some driver. They still like him for it, but there's absolutely no evidence to place him at the scene, so until they find some, they've had to let him go."