She smiled at him wanly. 'As you said yourself, she seduced me.'
Her face dimpled as she smiled, her dark eyes grew huge and he felt himself drawn into them again. When she'd found him naked, he'd thought she was the most wondrous thing he'd ever seen, and when she'd put her arm round him, he'd felt like crying…
He smiled back at her now. 'I'm not sure whether doping comes under the heading of seduction.' He found himself wishing he had longer to get to know her, realised it was probably as well that he didn't.
He tried to fill in a few more gaps for her as they finished their coffee, then said, 'I suppose we'd better go and report to His Nibs.'
As they drove away from the centre in the Vectra, a Mondeo with a blue lamp emerged from the underground park about fifty yards ahead of them and started down the hill.
'One of ours,' Jessie said. Then, 'I didn't see any driver come in, did you?'
Tom said slowly, 'But you saw Dominic driving away in his car?'
'Yes…'
'What's to have stopped him driving down there and swapping cars?' The Mondeo went under a street lamp. 'Is it him? Can you recognise him?'
'I think so…'
'I'll get a bit closer.'
'He'll see us… It's him, I'm sure it is. What are we going to do?'
'I don't want to lose him. Are there any phone boxes around?'
'Why?'
'I'll drop you off and you can phone the police.'
'But you said you didn't want to lose him.'
'I'll leave you and follow him.'
'He'll notice.'
'Not necessarily.'
He slowed down, allowing a couple of cars to get between them at the roundabout at the bottom of the hill.
She said, 'You're going to try and stop him on your own, aren't you?'
He didn't reply and she said, 'It's not worth it, Tom.' It was the first time she'd used his Christian name.
'Look for a phone box.'
But like policemen when you really need them, there weren't any.
Dominic turned right while the other cars went straight on, so they were directly behind him again. Tom hung back, allowed another car to filter in from the right, then Dominic turned right again. They followed… he turned left…
'I think he's seen us,' Tom said.
'No, I think he's going to the marina,' Jessie said.
They glanced at each other.
'He hasn't got a boat, has he?'
'I don't know ...'
'Or could he have arranged a pick-up if he’s got relatives in France …?'
'He must have known the risk when you went to East Dorset ...'
'But he can't have actually known…'
'He might… if Tony Chase rang him …'
Myriad thoughts flashed and flickered through Tom's mind. He'll see us any minute if he hasn't already… but he can't get away if we give the police his number… or can he? What if he is meeting a boat here? He's armed, with my gun… I can't risk Jessie… But if he is meeting a boat, there’s a chance he could get away… My responsibility to stop him… He nearly killed Holly, could've been Hal as well…
The lights ahead changed and Dominic slowed down. Tom said, 'I'll drop you here.'
'What are you going to do?'
'Just get out of the car.'
'No…'
There might not be another chance… 'Hang on then,' he said, and put his foot down. Hit him hard enough to stun him but not shove him out into the traffic…
The Vectra leapt forward. Hit him at an angle, spin him… The Mondeo expanded, filled their screen… at the last moment, he twitched the wheel, ploughed into the Mondeo's nearside lights. They were catapulted forward, then the bag ballooned, forced the air from Tom's lungs. Not hard enough… 'Stay here,' he shouted as the bag collapsed. I didn't hit him hard enough… He felt for the door handle, stumbled out and ran at the Mondeo… but Dominic had already tumbled out, Tom's gun in his hand. He fired, missed… Tom was moving, thinking in slow motion… I'm not going to make it…
'Dommo!' Jessie shouted.
Dominic swivelled round, fired again. Tom leapt at him, scythed the edge of his hand into his wrist – God, don't let me be too late. The gun dropped on to the road and skittered under the car.
The lights changed – red, red-amber, green – as Dominic turned and lashed at Tom in a blind fury. He must have known he wasn't going to get away now, but he wanted to hurt him, smash him, kill him if he could…
A car behind hooted as Jessie reached under the Mondeo for the gun and ran round to them.
Tom felt himself weakening as he warded off the blows. The kicks Dominic had landed earlier had taken their toll and Jessie could see that he was losing, that Dominic would overpower him any moment – then what? The gun weighed heavy in her hands… I can't, I can't…
The lights changed again – green, amber, red. Tom knew he'd have Dominic's hands round his throat any second. He took a deliberate step back, then lunged forward with all his strength as Dominic came for him. His right fist caught him on the point of the jaw with both their weights behind it, and Dominic crumpled into the road.
'Shee-it…!' Tom staggered back against the Mondeo, gasping, shaking and nursing his hand.
'Are you all right?'
He heaved in a breath. 'Never felt better.'
After a moment, he looked up at her. 'Thanks, Jessie… if you hadn't yelled when you did…'
'That was a hell of a risk you took.'
'We got him though, didn't we?'
Two or three people had got out of their cars and were hovering nervously around. Tom said wearily to none of them in particular, 'If any of you have got a mobile phone, call the police, would you?'
'I already have,' said one of them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
'I suppose,' Lady Margaret said after a pause, 'that it comes down to how, exactly, one defines corruption.'
Tom and Marcus waited.
She continued, 'If Adam Goring had kept East Dorset open instead of Tamar solely to provide his son-in-law with the research post, then his actions would have been corrupt. But the fact is, he would have made the same decision anyway.'
'It could be argued,' Marcus said, 'that it made him… less amenable to discussion.'
'Yes, but with no difference to the eventual outcome. The corruption was theoretical.'
'Theoretical corruption,' Marcus mused. 'An interesting concept. But what about his conversation with Dr Goldman, the one overheard by the Scientific Officer? He was making – if not a virtue out of a necessity, then an uncertainty out of a certainty, for the purpose of putting pressure on Goldman to support his son-in-law. Which is corruption by any definition. Not to mention the matter of the MBE…
'Well, Dr Goldman certainly won't be getting that,' said Lady Margaret. 'The question is whether Dr Derby knew about it.'
Marcus turned to Tom. 'You spoke to him, Tom – what do you think?'
'It can only be an opinion, but no, I don't think he did.'
'How certain are you about that?' Lady Margaret asked.
'As certain as I can be,' Tom said. 'For what it's worth, I was rather impressed by Dr Derby… I think that Dr Goring was probably right about his qualities.'
'I think I may have a word with Dr Goldman myself,' Lady Margaret said ominously. 'The matter of the research post could be held in abeyance for a few months, and afterwards, Dr Derby could be encouraged to apply.'
Tom said, 'If you speak to Dr Goldman, isn't there a risk that he might guess where the information came from and… take it out on the person involved?'
'That will not happen,' said Lady Margaret firmly. 'I suppose,' she continued after another pause, 'that it could have been worse. Adam doesn't exactly come out smelling of violets, but he was clearly nothing like so corrupt as that woman, Pengellis, implied.'
Which doesn't sound so good for Jessie, Tom thought. 'But given the information she had, it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to reach.'
'I'm afraid we must differ there, Mr Jones – she should have checked her facts.'
'Difficult to see how – '
'Besides which, it was quite unforgivable for her to go public in that way… Adam was certainly right about the Tamar centre itself being a nest of corruption. One way and another, this has been a deeply depressing and unedifying business.'
'Yes,' agreed Marcus, 'it has…
'But,' prompted Lady M. 'Your tone suggests a but, Mr Evans.'
'It was an and actually,' Marcus said. 'And unnecessary, I was going to say.'
'Explain,' she said, her own tone ominously tinged once more.
Marcus seemed to come to a decision. 'As I understand it, the purpose of this reorganisation is to save ten million a year. I would suggest that this affair alone has cost a significant chunk of that.'
She reflected, then said, 'Your sums may well be right, but the purpose of the reorganisation is not just to save ten million a year. It's to create a more efficient service with year on year savings. A different matter altogether.'
You're on a minefield, Tom thought. Let her have the last word… but Marcus for once had abandoned his usual emollience.
'I'm sure you're right in that the closures will provide savings, but we do come down to the old chestnut of how much a person's life is worth. If Tamar Transfusion Centre hadn't been there, at least four people involved in that car crash would have died.'
'That also has to be a matter of opinion,' she said. 'Tamar will continue to have a blood bank in the hospital, and any extra blood needed can be flown from East Dorset or Bristol.'
'Which takes time.'
She said deliberately, 'I had hoped it wouldn't be necessary to remind you of this, but the police feel that it was Mr Jones's impetuosity in taking on Tudor instead of going to them, as well as his carelessness with his gun, that very nearly did lead to fatalities.'
So they had complained to her, Marcus thought. He'd tried to persuade them not to.
'That is a gross distortion of the facts,' he said evenly. 'Mr Jones didn't “take on” Tudor, he went to the centre to find the evidence he needed against him, evidence he was going to present to the police. Unfortunately, the lab orderly telephoned Tudor, who came in and found him looking for it.' He continued quickly – ‘And if it wasn’t for Mr Jones’ actions, Tudor might well have got away altogether.” Dominic hadn’t owned a boat, but a friend of his did, and Dominic had had access to it.
'You and the police will have to agree to differ on that,' Lady M. said with an air of finality. 'And now, fascinating though this discussion has been, I really must ask you to excuse me.'
She saw them to her door, thanked them again for their help and said goodbye.
When they were outside, Tom said, 'What on earth made you take her on like that? I've never thought of you as the hara-kiri type.'
'I suppose not.' Marcus sighed. 'It's just that I think that those in their isolated power towers should be told about the consequences of their actions occasionally.'
'You'll never change their minds.'
'I know that.'
'And they do tend to remember the names of those who did the telling.'
'Yes. They should still be told, though.'
After the car crash, the centre's staff were feted by the media as heroes and heroines for two days, and then it was all forgotten. The centre closed six months later.
Most of the staff were found jobs in other parts of the country. Some, like Paul and Ashley and Maria, accepted them, while others, like Adrian, preferred to stay and take their chances in Tamar. Medlar took early retirement. Bennett forgot about the marijuana and Sarah found another supplier. She is aware that Medlar and Maria maintain an occasional relationship, but doesn't think too much about it.
Jessie, as Dominic had predicted, found herself unemployable in the Health Service. She went home to Cornwall to help her parents run their antiques business. She is already something of an expert.
Chilling Out Page 21
