‘I suppose so. Anyway, there it is. It was Jeff who filled an ampoule with insulin and planted it in theatre. Jeff who changed the blood—and who else could it have been? If we’d thought about it logically we’d have known. Who else understood the lab and the transfusion system and the crossmatching set-up as well as Jeff did? No one!’
‘It was all him—the fire in the Pharmacy, and Roberta Vickers—all of it?’ Lucy asked.
‘Of course it was. He was the only person who had any reason to do those things. As soon as he heard that Bruce wanted to see Stroud, he knew why. He told Spain that he decided right then what to do. And he cleared the drugs from the safe, set fire to the place, and then came over to the “Ship in Bottle” looking for an alibi. And found us.’
‘But he couldn’t know we’d be there——’
‘He knew someone would. Is there ever a time when there isn’t someone from the hospital in the saloon bar? He just had to talk to anyone who knew him, and be there when the alarm went up. It never occurred to us that he started the fire, did it? Because he was with us! The point is, it takes some time for a fire to get established. He had plenty of time to get over to the “Ship in Bottle”.
Lucy was thinking. ‘But, Barney—about the Vickers woman. If she was part of the drug business from the start, surely he knew she’d take over from Quayle. What was the point of killing Quayle when she’d just carry on where he left off?’
Barney grimaced slightly. ‘Jeff—he was quite calm and explicit about that. Spain asked him the same question. He’d intended to kill her too, from the start. He hadn’t given much thought to how or when. He just intended to grab whatever chance came along. He’d waited so many years—another few days made no odds. And then he said, “who’d connect me with the death of a woman like that, any more than they’d connect me with the death of Quayle? I was never seen with either of them, after that first start, years ago. I’d probably have gone to the boat, to get rid of her, when it suited me. But she made it easy for me.”’
‘What did he mean by that?’
‘Quayle carried all his most valuable possessions with him—and one of the most valuable was the tape recording that kept Jeff working for him, and the lists of people who worked as intermediate pushers for him, and the names of those he supplied—addicts. He took those into hospital with him, in the brief case.’
‘But why?’ Lucy said quickly. ‘Why on earth bring things that were as valuable as that into hospital? Wouldn’t it have been safer to have left them locked up at home—on his houseboat? It seems such a stupid thing to have done.’
‘On the face of it, maybe—especially when you remember that for part of his time in hospital he’d be out cold, under an anaesthetic. Spain thought of that too, but there was a reason for it—a damned good one from Quayle’s point of view,’ Barney said. ‘It was the Vickers woman, you see. They lived together—had done for years, according to Jeff—but as a relationship it was more of an armed neutrality than a real partnership. Quayle was always very careful not to let Vickers get her hands on anything really important, even though he used her as a lieutenant when he needed to. And he just couldn’t trust her not to walk off with the whole bit while he was in hospital—drug sources, pushers, addicts, the lot. So, he kept those valuables with him. Apparently he consigned the brief case to Sister Palmer’s care while he was in theatre, and demanded it back as soon as he came round from his anaesthetic. Not that he had it for long after that, of course, because he died——’
Barney stopped and took a deep breath, and then he went on.
‘Anyway, what happened was this. After Quayle’s death, Jeff contacted the Vickers woman and told her he had a fresh supply of stuff for her. Remember—he’d taken a huge load from the safe before starting the fire. He arranged to meet her in the hospital garden to hand the stuff over. She told him she was going to collect the brief case—knowing damned well that only she could be given it, since Quayle had had to designate her as his next of kin—and told Jeff that she strongly suspected he’d had something to do with Quayle’s death. However, she didn’t care about that except that it made her stronger—better able to blackmail Jeff, and she wanted Jeff to know she now owned the evidence that could get him struck off—the abortion tape recording—and he was no better off.
‘He talked about her so oddly. Almost as though he admired her, I think. Maybe it was because she was a chilly woman—didn’t care about Quayle’s death, though she’d lived with him for so many years. I think he approved of that.
‘Anyway, he came over to the “Ship in Bottle”, again to establish an alibi, just in case he needed it, and found us again. I imagine he got a bit of a shock when he heard we were going over to talk to Roberta Vickers, but he didn’t show it. Anyway, he had nothing to lose. He told me that. He knew perfectly well Vickers wouldn’t tell us anything. Why should she? She’d inherited a rich business and she’d do nothing to jeopardise that.
‘Jeff left the “Ship in Bottle” just after us to wait for Vickers by the burnt-out Pharmacy—that was the arrangement.’ Barney swallowed hard.
‘He killed her with one of the big scalpels from the lab—but before he could get away with the brief case we turned up, and he just crouched there behind the roses—and got away with it. He said he felt around in the brief case while we were there—he had incredibly calm nerves, hadn’t he?—and realised the notebook, the one that listed all suppliers and addicts, was missing.
‘And then he saw it—by Roberta Vickers’ bag. She must have taken it from the brief case to put it in her bag. And he had to have it, because his name was in it, and details of every drug he’d ever supplied. It was all part of Quayle’s hold on him. When you put out the lighter, he grabbed. It was just bad luck you spotted him, because he didn’t want to hurt you, he said. If you hadn’t rushed at him there in the bushes, he’d never have hit you. He—he asked me to tell you he was sorry.’
There was a pause, and then Lucy said, ‘I believe he was. He—he could have killed me, you know, up there on the roof this morning. He just had to throw me over the edge of the parapet. But he didn’t.’
‘I ought to hate him I suppose. He hurt you, he killed people—but I can’t. I always thought of him as a friend of mine, and you can’t stop feeling that way, just like that. I liked him. I think I always shall,’ and Barney finished on a defiant note.
‘I shall too,’ Lucy said, and lifted her head to kiss him back to a happier frame of mind.
The door clattered and swung open, and they both jumped guiltily, Lucy awkwardly, for her whole body was aching from the night’s exploits.
‘Oh, don’t mind me, you two! I jus’ came to collect a few bits of gear I left here,’ Spain said, and picked up a small brief case from the corner where the screen nad stood. ‘Feelin’ more the thing now, Sister?’
‘Yes, thank you,’ Lucy said stiffly.
‘Good—Delighted to hear it. I must say, I never knew you hospital people had such a high old time of it!’ He stood beside the door, grinning at them, with his hat tipped to the back of his head, the brief case under one arm, and his hands in his trousers pockets. He looked as fresh as though he had had a good night’s sleep, apart from the shadowy growth of hair on his cheeks, and his eyes glinted a little wickedly as he looked at them.
‘There’s you two, staring at each other with your eyes full of romantic longings at every turn, and this feller Hickson skulkin’ round the Nurses’ Home and makin’ a right charlie of himself over some staff nurse—I wish I could join in the fun.’
‘Really?’ Barney said, his voice a little chilly.
‘Well, it would be nice for me, wouldn’t it? Never mind, though. I’ll just have to battle on with Sergeant Travers to hold my hand.’ He grimaced slightly. ‘Still, it hasn’t been all headaches this job, though there were enough. But I’m happy with the outcome—very happy. Got a drug ring nicely tidied up, we have. I’m very popular with our narcotics people this morning, I can tell you—
when I phoned in a report, well, you’d have thought I’d copped the last of the Train Robbers, they’re so pleased with me—nice finish, isn’t it?’
‘Is it?’ Barney said harshly. ‘Nice for you, maybe. But the man you’ve arrested happens to be a friend of ours. Forgive us if we don’t share your elation——’
Spain looked at him for a long time, and then sighed suddenly, a little gusty sigh.
‘You’re still very young, aren’t you, Dr. Elliot? Yes. Well, one day you’ll find out. It doesn’t do, gettin’ too involved with individuals. You’ve got to look beyond ’em, to the other people behind. An awful lot of helpless devils have had their lives ruined by your friend Dr. Heath. I know he was blackmailed, I know he was framed—I know all that. But he’s been stealin’ drugs that have a terrible effect on people. That’s why I’m glad I got him—not because of the murders he did. They were bad enough, I grant you, but people who get murdered usually ask for it—Quayle and that Vickers woman, they were ideal murderees if ever I saw ’em. The sailor—that was damned rotten luck. But just remember, Dr. Elliot, next time you feel inclined to pity your Dr. Jeffrey Heath, and hate me for coppin’ him, just you remember that he was part of a drug ring, and that he would have let you carry the can back for him if you’d been arrested for that sailor’s death. Just you remember that poor little bitch who came into Casualty the night before last, and the state she was in because of the drugs your precious friend got for her, and think again——’
There was a silence and then Barney nodded briefly.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, and Spain smiled again, and held out his hand.
‘Goodbye, Dr. Elliot. It’s been good knowin’ you, believe me. And your charming girl.’ Spain turned to Lucy, and shook hands with her too. ‘You’re a right little cracker, aren’t you? Cuddly. Yes. Just my type.’ He sounded a little regretful. ‘Never mind. Be sure an’ ask me to your weddin’!’
And then he was gone, and without speaking they went to the window and stood there in silence, watching the courtyard below. It was five minutes before he appeared, a little foreshortened by the angle at which they were looking at him, and he went across the courtyard with his characteristic marching swagger, and climbed into the official looking black car parked by the outpatient block.
He looked up just before sitting down, and waved up at them, and then the car door slammed, and the engine started and the car curved and swept away through the Casualty entrance.
The courtyard bustled, as it always did at this time of the morning with day staff coming on duty, and early arrivals for the outpatient department, and surgeons with early lists coming to park their expensive vehicles in their own special corner.
Barney and Lucy stood at the side-ward window, staring down at the activity, hand in hand, and already the memories of the night that had just passed, and the days that had led up to it, began to dwindle and lose importance.
They saw Colin Jackson emerge from the Casualty entrance and bustle across to the transport office, a wad of papers in his hand, and even from this distance they were aware of the tension in him, the urgent need to have everything exactly organised and running with perfect smoothness—his idea of perfect smoothness. Lucy smiled briefly as she saw him, and Barney grinned back at her.
‘He’s right, you know,’ he said softly. ‘He really is absolutely right.’
‘Spain? About Jeff, you mean? I suppose he is.’
‘About that—yes, I think he probably is too. No, what I meant was what he said about you. You are a right little cracker—and very cuddly. Have I told you I love you?’
‘Not yet,’ Lucy said. ‘Not in so many words.’
‘Remind me to tell you, then, when I’ve got time,’ Barney said, and kissed her.
It would be very long before he would have time to do much in the way of talking.
THE END
Death on the Table Page 16
