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of a mace-like substance on the door. There is evidence of someone grabbing at the wall in the hallway corroborating Billy’s statement. Most of the fingerprints in the house were Billy’s and Lizzie’s although there are quite a few others. Eliminating the other prints is going to be a nightmare, although four sets of the fingerprints found belonged to Sammy Rice and three of his cronies.’
    ‘Check them out for alibis,’ Wilson said.
    ‘Already on it, Boss,’ Moira said. ‘There was a mass of blood around, all of it Lizzies. There were as we know no defensive wounds on her hands so it’s safe to say that she was attacked from behind. There could be no resistance after the first blow. ’ Moira was about to continue when her mobile phone rang. She pressed the green button and listened, then cut the line. ‘Pathology lab. They’ve been in contact with forensics. It appears that your new best friend, Professor Reid, sent them a cast from Lizzie’s head wound. They haven’t completed their investigations, but it looks like the assailant use a ball hammer, whatever that is.’
    ‘It’s a very wicked tool and an interesting choice of weapon,’ Wilson said. ‘I have only three preliminary conclusions. One, Lizzie was the specific target. She was not a victim of circumstance. Billy was lying prone on a chair, and he wasn’t harmed other than being zapped with a Taser and possibly given a blow to the head. So someone wanted Lizzie and Lizzie alone. Second conclusion concerns the wound and the choice of weapon. The murderer wanted Lizzie’ head caved in. There was no stabbing or shooting. It was a premeditated attack on the head. Why only Lizzie and why was the head so important? If we can answer those two questions, we will have some idea who the murderer might be. Three, the use of Mace and a Taser-like weapon to disable Billy. This is someone who either knows something about physiology or who has done some research. That means it could be any of the million people in Northern Ireland who can use the Internet. Personally, I don’t think that any of these questions will be answered easily. That’s where we have to go. It’s in Lizzie’s background. Now we have to find it. Anything else?’
    The team remained silent.
    ‘First thing to-morrow morning, we start on Lizzie. I want to know everything about her from the day she was born until the day she died,’ Wilson returned to his office and switched on his computer. A list of fifty e-mails ran along the page.
    ‘Want to see the press conference?’ Moira asked from the door.
    Wilson glanced at his watch. ‘It’s over.’
    Moira held up a tablet computer. ‘The wonders of technology.’
    They watched a rerun of the press conference. The TV camera caught his departure and also DCC Jennings’ reaction to it.
    Wilson smiled. ‘I’m going to pay for that.’
    ‘You’re incorrigible.’
    ‘That’s a big word like arsehole.’
    ‘There are ladies present. How’s the baby coming along?’
    Wilson explained the photo from the scan and his difficulty discerning a baby in it.
    ‘You’re not only incorrigible; you’re also a Neanderthal. You know the guy I’ve been seeing lately.’
    ‘The good Dr Guilfoyle.’
    ‘It’s Professor Guilfoyle to you. He’d like to meet you.’
    Wilson raised his eyebrows. ‘Surely a member of your own family should handle the ‘my intentions are honourable’ conversation.’
    ‘He’s a clinical psychologist, and he’s done some work for the FBI.’
    Wilson’s eyes rose for the second time.
    ‘I know how you feel about profilers and the like, but Brendan is just interested. I think he finds the criminal scene in Belfast a little tame and Lizzie Rice’s murder is a bright spot in his otherwise boring lecture schedule.’
    ‘Not a consultation,’ Wilson said. ‘A drink.’
    ‘Agreed. Can I show him the crime scene photos?’
    ‘If you take them home this evening to examine them, make sure nobody outside the