She got in first. ‘You can join me if you like.’
McNab’s face broke into a relieved grin. ‘Eating out or in?’
Taking McNab home with her didn’t seem like a wise move, certainly not in the mood she was in, so Rhona said, ‘Let’s splash out. Your choice of restaurant.’
‘Okay, Dr MacLeod, fancy an Italian?’ McNab said, beginning to look like a new man.
‘I do,’ Rhona told him.
‘Then I know just the place.’
69
The crow’s back. No more need to fall down the chimney to gain entry. I just leave the back door open and in he comes. His favourite perch is on the back of Jack’s chair.
I used to think the crow had come from Mary. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe it was Jack after all. He certainly looks very comfortable in Jack’s place alongside the kitchen range.
He also enjoys hearing me talk to him. So much so, he sometimes caws a reply. Which, of course, the clothes, however well laid out, never did.
Mr McCreadie often comes to visit. Plus we meet for a walk when he takes out Lucy’s wee terrier, Benji.
We’re working on a project together. Him and me and Marge.
They say if you can turn bad things into a story, then you’ve survived them.
I’m beginning to think that may be true.
Three months later
STOP PRESS
Local Headliner at Bloody Scotland
International bestselling writer J. D. Smart will talk about his new podcast and soon-to-be-published book, The Taking of Mary McIntyre, at Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling, mid-September.
The former Detective Inspector and famous Stirling resident, who left the force after his unsuccessful investigation into the disappearance of eleven-year-old Mary McIntyre in 1975, played a major role in the new investigation into her murder after her body was discovered in a raised peat bog south of her home town of East Kilbride.
Appearing with J. D. Smart on stage will be Mary’s childhood friend Karen Marshall, who helped identify her friend’s killer forty-five years later. On stage too will be Marge Balfour from the Raploch women’s recovery cafe, who, together with the other women in the group, helped Karen recall what had happened to her as a child.
Advances in forensic science, together with the retrieval of Karen’s memories, were instrumental in solving this case.
Mary’s killer and Karen’s abuser, Eric Jackson, died earlier this year as he attempted to silence Karen forever.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank my sister-in-law for her story of the haunting appearance of her dead cat, and my neighbour for the scary story of the two crows in her sitting room. Both tales gave rise to the idea for the opening chapter.
After I’d written it, I was asked to visit the women’s recovery cafe in Raploch, Stirling, where they were reading the first Rhona book, Driftnet. They were working on their own writing projects, mutually supporting each other in their recovery. Meeting them and listening to their work was the inspiration for telling Karen’s story.
As is always the case, I could not write a Dr Rhona MacLeod novel without expert help from the real practitioners of the world of forensic science. I love the research involved because of the fascinating input from the people below.
So a big thank you to:
Professor of Anthropology at Lancaster University Sue Black DBE FRSE FRCP FRAI, for her advice regarding what we can learn from peat bodies.
Professor Lorna Dawson at the James Hutton Institute for sharing her knowledge of raised peat bogs in Scotland, and her invaluable appearance as Dr Jen Mackie, forensic soil scientist.
Emeritus Professor of Forensic Pathology James Grieve for his advice regarding the autopsy of a peat-buried child.
A big thanks, too, to my wonderful editor Alex Saunders and the team at Pan Macmillan, who I think know Dr Rhona MacLeod almost as well as I do.
The Innocent Dead
LIN ANDERSON is a Scottish author and screenwriter known for her bestselling crime series featuring forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod. Four of her novels have been longlisted for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year. Her short film River Child won both a Scottish BAFTA for Best Fiction and the Celtic Film Festival’s Best Drama Award and has now been viewed more than one million times on YouTube. Lin is also the co-founder of the international crime writing festival Bloody Scotland, which takes place annually in Stirling.
By Lin Anderson
Driftnet
Torch
Deadly Code
Dark Flight
Easy Kill
Final Cut
The Reborn
Picture Her Dead
Paths of the Dead
The Special Dead
None but the Dead
Follow the Dead
Sins of the Dead
Time for the Dead
The Innocent Dead
NOVELLA
Blood Red Roses
First published 2020 by Macmillan
This electronic edition first published 2020 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-3366-3
Copyright © Lin Anderson 2020
Main cover image: Simon Swales/Getty Images; birds: Shutterstock
The right of Lin Anderson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The extract from ‘Bog Queen’ by Seamus Heaney here is reproduced with permission of Faber.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
Table of Contents
Title page
Contents
Dedication page
Epigraph page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
Three months later
Acknowledgements
&nb
sp; About the Author
By Lin Anderson
Copyright page
The Innocent Dead - Rhona MacLeod Series 15 (2020) Page 32
