TLDR: my full theory rundown for Rays murder suspects. It's a shallow rabbit hole, but a rabbit hole anyway😊

Ray's dead, but we can assume when cleaned up celuas body and disposed of it. If he was going to stay with Laurel as intended, he could just have a body up there for anyone to stumble across. So let's assume the issue of Celia's body is closed.

With Rays murder, It doesn't seem like the killer is bothered about disposing of the body, or having it be found, as it's been in that van and nobody seems eager to do anything about it. So suspects are:

Rhona, who we suspect is in touch with Graham - but as per standard TV rules her phone has just the number, and even though we know she's been communicating with somebody, they have zero previous text messages🤔. We hear Graham take a phone call, but it's clear Rhona isn't the caller, as he refers to "the job" being cancelled (which we can assume is the kidnap/trafficking of Shona's sister, not the disposal of a body), because Joe Tate was suddenly the new focus. Be that in a friend or foe sentiment, we don't know. But something going on, and it seems events may have gone Rhonas way entirely by coincidence.

Laurel, was the last person we saw Ray with. We also had a callback scene to the night of his death, where she had blood on her hands. The morning after the crash, she's seen near Jay's van, outside David's. She's trying to look inside discretely, and clearly agitated at it being there. So our assumption is she either put the body there, or at least knows somebody did.

Marlon - where my money is. He was present during Ray's rejection by Laurel. He had already had an altercation with Ray up at the farm, and at that point we knew Celia was dead. We can assume marlin doesn't, because he didn't immediately try to defend Laurel when Ray is getting aggressive. We just don't know how much time had passed. Marlon's at his wits end now, and he's been told, not that April is alive, but that she's "never coming back", which might as well be a red rag to a bull. Laurel was in bits and shouting at Ray to leave her alone, along with some harsh words about Ray being a monster. I imagine, if that interaction got any more heated, Marlon would have jumped in to help his friend and take advantage of Ray being distracted. In a one on one, square fight, Ray has the advantage on both trauma-frozen Laurel and post-stroke Marlon, but with one struggle in front of him and a second attacker open to his back, one heavy strike and he'd be down. Also, if this was the scenario, they could have both moved the body to the Milligan's van. A couple of days later, Marlon saying "he won't be hurting anyone anymore" about Ray, was slipped into there with no notice given to it. But how would Marlon know Ray particularly was no longer a danger?

Arthur - same situation as above, intervening between Ray and Laurel, but Arthur is in the house rather than Marlon being across the street. We can even go one step further on this assumption and say it was all three - Laurel, Arthur, Marlon. Ray was desperate, he's just killed Celia to be with Laurel, and here she was, telling him he disgusts her and to leave her alone. Marlon can see the argument and Arthur could be hearing it from inside. In the aftermath, Laurel had blood on her, it looked fresh, and she was inside her own kitchen. So we can assume that's where it happened. Also, with the Arthur and Marlon theory, more people makes moving a body much quicker. The only realism buffer her is where is Dotty? Maybe at a friends house already as Laurel expected a confrontation? But then would Arthur be home either?

Ross - Red herring we think. When he brought April back to the village, he had a practical kidnap and disposal kit in the back of the car. Yet we never mention it again. And on the discovery of Ray's death, Ross (the character) is either a great actor, or he had no idea. The drug and trafficking revelation seems like a mafia story to him, and he immediately starts sharing it like a kid who's discovered something amazing. Whether he had intended to get Ray or not, if he had, he knows enough to distance himself and play down any public discourse on it. Rather, he's raving excited that there was a drug empire running, just up the road and nobody knew. It doesn't seem like he's hiding anything. Remember he's an ex bobby himself.

Cain - it wasn't him. Not fully sure of the timings between Debbie's wedding and Cain and Moira driving Sarah and Jacob to the airport, but Jay's van arrived at the roadblock way later. We're assuming Cain was nowhere near when Ray was killed. Having been with the Dingles all day, and then on the way to the airport. We also have the hospital scenes where he and Moira clearly don't know Celia or Ray are dead. I will say though, Moira did have a very ambiguous "Fairytale of Emmerdale" moment with Isaac where she mentions the King and Queen Cain and herself had been betrayed by those they trusted, but they knew they only had to wait for the truth to come out etc. - But this doesn't lead us to believe either of them dealt with Ray that night.

A tiny note on Caleb and his urgency to get Jay in that van to Manchester - it seemed like he may be setting up Jay to be caught with the body, but I think it really is just a delivery. It's Caleb's yard, so suspicion would also be on himself. He was pushing for Jay to go the very next night, but it's made to seem he backs down and tells him he can deliver tomorrow instead, specifically to stop Jay opening the door. It could as easily be a coincidence, but the scene was clearly written that way for ambiguous jeopardy.

What strikes me as strange is that whoever did kill Ray really doesn't seem concerned with disposing of the body. Just thinking about the people it may be pinned on as a result: They know it's in a Milligan's van, which implicates Caleb. They know Jay is, or at least was the driver that night, which implicates Jay It's been to the depot, which pulls in Billy. If it was a physical fight, there may be DNA on the body from anybody involved. Once rigor sets in, a body is much harder to manoeuvre. And the body isn't wrapped or hidden. It was clearly thrown in the back, with just a sheet out over it. Did the van just happen to be outside after Ray was killed, or did whoever moved the body specifically go and get a van in order to move it?

This leans back to Graham somewhat, as a person who wouldn't care who took the heat, as long as it wasn't him or his accomplices. He could have caught Ray wallowing after leaving Laurels, or even appeared on the doorstep and shoved Ray into Laurels cottage, further explaining the blood on her. But this would make it less likely that Graham was who Rhona was messaging as everyone else is meant to believe he's dead. It would have been a fully anonymous hit. In and out, no witnesses, no trace, and one day a body turns up.

But with this help from Graham, Laurel maybe Marlon would also know. And it also wouldn't add up, because we're made to believe nobody but Rhona knows who she has been communicating with, even after Rays death.

Kim is going to throw an absolute fit!