by Malcolm Rose
‘Hole in one.’ Dominic hesitated and then explained, ‘I needed to put a bug and camera where no bug and camera should ever have to be.’
‘What?’
‘In Shepford Crime Central.’
Troy couldn’t resist repeating Dominic’s own words. ‘Whatever happened to trust among detectives?’
Dominic put up his hands as if surrendering. ‘You’ve got me there. But there’s a reason. In Kindale Prison, I was given certain information about Cheryl McVeigh. It’s probably – hopefully – just mischief-making, but it was a serious allegation. I felt duty-bound to check it out.’
‘So, that’s where you were on Sunday night? Bugging the commander’s office?’
‘That’s the real reason I knew about the search warrant.’
‘That’s not exactly watertight. How are you going to make us believe you?’
‘I could tell you the prisoner’s name and you could go to Kindale and ask him. Or … ’ Looking into Lexi’s face, he said, ‘You can lose someone’s trust in a single moment, but it takes years to get it back.’
Puzzled, Troy gazed at his partner.
Lexi nodded. ‘That’s word-for-word what Commander McVeigh said to me this morning.’
‘Okay. You’ve wired her office. You’ve convinced us,’ Troy said to Dominic. ‘And you wanted this chat off the record in case we’re wired as well and the commander’s listening in.’
‘You have to admit my job’s on the line here.’
‘But we could just go and tell her. She’d have her office swept and they’ll soon find the bugs. So, you’d better tell us what you heard about her. You’re going to have to persuade us not to spill the beans.’
‘There’s a prisoner doing time for fraud. And that’s it. He claims he paid Cheryl McVeigh a lot of the proceeds not to investigate a more serious charge of aggravated assault. A bagful of cash got handed over, he says. “You can pay her to bury a case,” he told me. “And I’m not the only one.” It’s possible because she’s the commander. She decides what’s a priority and what’s not. She’s the one who chooses where to put person-power.’
For a moment, Troy looked wretched. ‘And you want to listen to how she reaches her decisions.’
Interrupting, Lexi added, ‘Using the gear in your hut?’
Dominic nodded. ‘It’s crunch time. There’s a case coming up. I know the bad guy. One of his cronies will visit her this afternoon – with plenty of hints about the advantages of downgrading the investigation. I want proof of what’s said. I can’t rely on either of them to tell the truth after the event. If she opts for the cash incentive, the money will be marked … ’
‘And, hey presto, you nick the boss for bribery and perverting the course of justice,’ said Lexi.
‘I hope it’s a false alarm. I hope it’s just someone with a grudge against her, trying to get her into trouble. But, to find out, I need you two to keep out of it. Let things run their natural course.’
Troy looked at Lexi and asked, ‘What do you think?’
‘I think it’s nothing to do with us. We’ve got enough to worry about without getting distracted by something else.’ She paused and then quoted Troy, ‘Nothing matters much, apart from catching the person with the vial.’
Troy nodded slowly, thoughtfully. To Dominic, he said, ‘I guess this conversation never took place. But … ’
‘What?’
‘Did you see anyone outside the labs at Shallow End when you went past? Anything suspicious?’
Dominic drew a deep breath. ‘I don’t think so. There were a few cars, moving and parked. I wasn’t the only one on foot, either. A woman maybe and a man with a walking stick. I didn’t see either of them from the front and it was pretty dark. Anyway, I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking ahead.’
‘Would you recognize the woman if I showed you a photo?’
Dominic laughed. ‘No chance. I didn’t see her face.’
‘Was she tall? Short? What was she wearing?’
‘You’re desperate for evidence, aren’t you? There was nothing unusual about her. Otherwise, I’d remember. She wasn’t enormously tall, incredibly short or anything. She was near the main gates, I think.’ He shrugged. ‘That’s your lot, man.’
Once they’d retrieved their life-loggers from Dominic’s house, Troy said to his partner, ‘The spotlight’s shifted, but he’s not completely in the clear, you know. His version still isn’t watertight. Even if he went to Crime Central on Sunday, it doesn’t mean he didn’t drop in at the labs first. Unlikely, but not impossible.’
‘I know. So, what’s your gut telling you?’
‘I don’t get the impression he’s been radicalized against outers. And if he isn’t, what’s his motive?’ Troy shrugged and then smiled. ‘We’ve got evidence against him, but the pole we’re trying to climb is too greasy. It doesn’t want to be climbed.’
SCENE 32
Friday 18th April, Afternoon
Troy and Lexi sifted through the information on the TRAPT supporters who had been identified by computer. Apart from Precious Austin, they did not know any of them, but now they were all being monitored furtively 24 hours a day. The woman who had given the talk on Thursday night – the leader of Two Races Apart perhaps – was a major called Oriana Skillicorn. She was a decorator and interior designer and she did not have a criminal record. She also had nothing to do with science, biohazards and Shallow End Laboratories.
In Precious Austin’s familiar living room, Troy held out a head-and-shoulders photograph of Oriana Skillicorn and asked, ‘Do you know this woman?’
Precious crinkled her face as if concentrating. ‘I don’t think so. No.’
‘That’s weird,’ Troy replied, ‘because you were seen with her last night.’
‘Let me have another look.’ Pretending to reconsider the mug shot, Precious said, ‘Ah. Yes. Sorry. It’s Oriana. I didn’t recognize her at first.’
Trying not to become tetchy straightaway, Troy said with a smirk, ‘Yes. I understand. It’s been hours since you last saw her.’
‘No,’ Precious replied. ‘It’s just that … Anyway, it’s Oriana Skillicorn.’
‘Another member of Two Races Apart?’
‘Yes, I believe so.’
‘I tried to get to your meeting last night,’ Troy said, ‘but I couldn’t make it. Was it a good one?’
Wary, Precious answered, ‘It was okay. Nothing special.’
Troy sprung a surprise. ‘We want to look around your house.’
‘Why?’
‘To see what’s in it. It’s not a search. Nothing formal. Just a quick peek inside each room. And Lexi would like to see all your blouses.’
‘What for?’
‘To check out the cuffs. You know. The ones held together by buttons.’
Precious grimaced. ‘I don’t like them. They make the end of the sleeves too much of a feature. I don’t have a single top with a cuff.’
‘So, you don’t mind us taking a look around?’
‘Can I refuse?’
‘Yes. You’re within your rights to give us the impression that you’ve got something to hide.’
Precious snorted. ‘I can’t really, then.’
‘Thanks,’ Troy said. ‘We won’t take long.’
It seemed to be true that Precious Austin did not have any tops with cuffs on the sleeves. ‘Unless,’ Lexi pointed out, ‘she realized what she’d done and destroyed the evidence. Or maybe it’s in the laundry.’
The house had a simple layout. Troy and Lexi checked every room for signs of a laboratory. They found none until they reached the extension built out from the kitchen. It was one large whitewashed and windowless room that housed all of her honey-making apparatus. There were shelves with bottles and jars, some empty and some full of amber fluid. Two wooden boxes containing unused empty frames were pushed against one wall. There was a large stainless steel extractor and two filtration units with steel meshes. On the floor were stacks of spotless plas
tic pots. Perhaps it was too early in the season for production to be in full swing. On another shelf, there were latex gloves, overalls, aprons, hair-nets, a camera and coiled tubing. The ceiling had a generous array of LED lamps.
In a way, the room was a laboratory, but no vial of poison was on view. Only a thorough search would reveal whether the space put aside for processing honey was doubling up as a place to manipulate a dangerous biohazard. And that would require a warrant.
SCENE 33
Friday 18th April, Evening
Troy looked at Lexi’s monitor and said, ‘It’s like a spider’s web.’
‘Eh? That’d be one crazy spider.’
Troy was sifting through the digital and telephone reports from the officers who were tailing the members of Two Races Apart, but Lexi had converted the same information into a diagram.
‘Look,’ she said. ‘It’s simple. Even you will get this. There’s a circle of thirteen dots. Each dot is a TRAPT supporter. I put Oriana Skillicorn at the centre because she seems to be the leader. Each dot is connected to every other because they all got together last night. Every time one of them meets or contacts someone new, I add another dot outside the main circle and draw in a new line between them. It’s good because if they all start contacting the same person, you see it straightaway. Lots of lines start converging on one dot. Or,’ Lexi said with a smile, ‘as you’d put it, the spider starts a new web. It’s a nice visual way of seeing if there’s a key player.’
‘Okay. It beats going through updates on fourteen different people, looking for common factors. I’ll give you that.’
Some TRAPT supporters – like Ralph Hester and Precious Austin – had stayed at home since the meeting and had hardly gained any extra strands. Others – like Oriana Skillicorn – had gone to a workplace and come into contact with so many people that it was impractical or impossible to show their entire networks.
‘It’s the methodical way of doing things. Over here,’ Lexi said, pointing to the left of her screen, ‘are four more dots. They’re our other suspects. Saul Tingle, Fern Mountstephen, Eric Kiss and Dominic Varney. If any of them get in touch with one of the TRAPT brigade, it’d make a very significant and noticeable line.’
‘The spider would go off at a tangent.’
‘We’ll see.’
They both groaned as a new message arrived. They were both required in the commander’s office without delay.
Before they left, Lexi asked another officer to monitor the surveillance team’s reports and to update the on-screen graphic.
Lexi and Troy found themselves standing in front of Cheryl McVeigh’s deputy. He looked up at them and said, ‘In case you’re wondering, I’ve been appointed Temporary Commander.’
‘What happened to Commander McVeigh?’ Lexi asked.
‘There’ll be an enquiry and an announcement in due course, I dare say,’ her replacement told them. ‘But she resigned unexpectedly this afternoon – with immediate effect.’
Troy nodded. It was not difficult to guess. Dominic Varney had been right – and he’d exposed her corruption. Rather than resisting, trying to squirm her way out of the mess, Cheryl McVeigh had stepped down at once.
‘Now, as to more important things … I’m overseeing your case personally,’ the new commander said. ‘I’m reassessing the situation. First, as I understand it, you haven’t carried out a thorough search of Dominic Varney’s address. Why not?’
The two detectives glanced at each other and came to the same unspoken conclusion. They decided not to reveal what they knew about Dominic Varney’s part in the previous commander’s downfall.
‘I … er … thought about what Commander McVeigh said about trust in each other,’ Lexi answered, ‘and changed my mind. We talked to him instead. But we can go back if we need to. The warrant’s still valid.’
‘That could be seen as the actions of a young and indecisive team.’ The commander gazed at Lexi and then shifted his eyes towards Troy. ‘Why haven’t you arrested Precious Austin? She seems to have guilt tattooed across her forehead.’
Troy coughed. ‘Just because she’s low-hanging fruit doesn’t make her the bad apple.’
The new commander gazed at him with open disdain. ‘What?’
‘She’s too high profile. Going out vandalising property is not the way our guy would operate. He might be dancing to her tune – or Oriana Skillicorn’s tune – but I’m sure he’ll be keeping a low profile.’
The commander stared again at Lexi. ‘You’re a bit more experienced, Lexi Four. Have you told your partner it’s about evidence?’
‘I don’t need to. He knows that. But I trust his instinct as well.’
‘Ah. Troy Goodhart’s famous perceptiveness.’ He smiled unkindly and then added, ‘I can’t agree with Commander McVeigh’s – ex-Commander McVeigh’s – approach to this investigation. I am going to put it in the hands of an experienced officer. You two will continue under his or her instructions, as part of a new team. It may take me until morning to speak to and organize the best people. Until then, continue. Dismissed.’
Walking along the corridor towards their room in the forensic department of Shepford Crime Central, Lexi muttered, ‘That’s that, then.’
‘I’m not entirely surprised,’ Troy said. ‘Maybe I was more surprised when Cheryl McVeigh let us keep such a scary case. We are … quite new to this game.’
‘Huh. What’s an older guy going to do that we haven’t?’
Feeling glum, Troy shrugged.
‘Arrest Precious Austin,’ Lexi suggested.
‘Sounds like it, but … ’
‘I know. Commanders like arrests. Makes them think they’re getting somewhere.’
Troy smiled sadly. ‘I think Precious Austin’s best left alone – with someone tailing her to see what she does. That’s much more likely to get results than locking her up in an interview room.’
In less than a minute, Troy was proved right. As soon as they entered their room, their eyes went to the monitor. In their absence, Lexi’s helper had drawn in new lines on the matrix. Two of them veered to the left and met on one particular dot, one particular suspect from Shallow End Laboratories, proving a connection between three people. Precious Austin and Oriana Skillicorn had both met with the same suspect. The two lines were attached to Fern Mountstephen’s dot, as if trying to drag her into the complex web.
‘That’s not all.’ Examining her life-logger, Lexi said, ‘We’ve got the bad guy’s next message.’
‘Hospitals,’ Troy murmured. Then he nodded and said to himself, ‘Definitely dancing to someone else’s tune.’
SCENE 34
Friday 18th April, Night
‘But she’s hardly been on the radar,’ Lexi said, on the way to intercept Fern Mountstephen, one of the technicians from Shallow End Laboratories. ‘She’s got a cast-iron alibi. She was at a gym on Sunday evening.’
‘Yeah,’ Troy agreed. Then he added, ‘I’m thinking that through.’
‘She was a Friend to the Integrated Games.’
‘I’m going to ask her about that.’
Lexi sighed and changed tack. ‘It’s a bit of a coincidence that Oriana Skillicorn talked about targeting hospitals at the meeting last night and today … ’
‘Exactly. The third demand to segregate hospitals. But it doesn’t make her our murderer for certain. For one thing, she’s not enough of a scientist. But someone else might be doing her bidding. Someone who heard her TRAPT talk or someone she’s met since. Somebody who knows enough science.’
‘Like Fern Mountstephen?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Or it really could be a coincidence.’
Troy smiled. ‘You don’t believe that.’
‘No.’
Troy and Lexi heard the loud snarls and growls from the stadium even before they entered. ‘You wouldn’t want to live near it, would you?’ said Troy, almost shouting above the racket.
‘I wouldn’t mind,’ Lexi yelled back. ‘It g
ets the adrenalin going.’
They had been informed by the surveillance team that both Precious Austin and Fern Mountstephen were at Shepford Speedway. As they went in, the revving of motorcycles became deafening. The tapes went up and four bikes hurtled down the oval track. Under floodlights, the riders slid round the first corner almost sideways, tyres kicking up clouds of orangey-brown dirt.
‘Let’s walk round till we see her,’ Troy yelled at his partner.
Lexi did not shift her eyes from the race. She merely nodded.
Troy imagined he’d have to hold Lexi back from grabbing a bike and having a go.
The speedway riders went anti-clockwise four times around the sand-coloured track. The race was all over in just over one minute and, for a while, the noise level eased. But the next four riders were already appearing from the tunnel. Engines soon began to snarl again. As Troy and Lexi moved through the crowd, another contest began and one of the motorcycles threw up particularly dense clouds of dirt over the spectators at both ends of the stadium as it broadsided into the bends.
Lexi looked down and noticed that orange specks had settled on the sleeve of her coat. She nudged her partner and pointed out the stain.
Troy nodded. There was a lull in the proceedings and he took advantage of the quiet to speak without shouting. ‘Same colour as the marks on that piece of cardboard.’
‘Like grains of sand,’ Lexi said. ‘Whoever arranged the second demand might have taken the dirt home from here.’
There seemed to be an interval in the tournament. The two detectives weaved through the spectators more quickly. Without the distraction of the speedway heats, Lexi paid more attention to faces in the crowd.
They spotted Fern Mountstephen in the east stand with a group of friends, all sipping hot drinks from plastic cups. Judging by the smell, some contained alcohol. Precious Austin was not among them. When Fern noticed the detectives, her expression changed rapidly from merriment to displeasure.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ Troy said, ‘but we need a chat. It’d be better to go somewhere … quieter. More private.’
Fern groaned but agreed. Coat spattered with grime from the track, she led them to the stadium café which was almost deserted. Clearly, spectators had made their way back to trackside in anticipation of the next round of races.
