Lethal Outbreak (9 page)

The sun had been up for only an hour when Lexi got the call. Crime Central still seemed quiet and dominated by outers. Troy had not yet arrived, so Lexi made for the commander’s office on her own.

Cheryl McVeigh had hardly got her coat off before checking her overnight messages and deciding to summon Lexi Iona Four.

As soon as Lexi opened the door, Commander McVeigh waved towards her monitor and asked, ‘Do you really want to do this?’

Lexi did not need an explanation. She knew that the police chief was referring to her unusual request
for a search warrant. ‘Yes,’ she answered. ‘We have good reason … ’

‘Are you sure you want it known around here that you’re targeting a fellow officer?’

‘Have you seen the evidence against him?’

‘Don’t get me wrong. I applaud you for sticking to your principles of going wherever your enquiries take you – especially on this case – but you’re asking for trouble when it comes so close to home. You can lose someone’s trust in a single moment, but it takes years to get it back.’

Lexi nodded. ‘I still want to search Dominic Varney’s place.’

‘Okay. I’ll give you a warrant. Tread carefully, Lexi Four.’

Panting heavily, Dominic Varney got back to his house just as Troy and Lexi arrived. He was wearing shorts, T-shirt and running shoes. ‘Fifteen kilometres,’ he said between breaths. He looked at his watch. ‘Not bad.’ He was almost steaming in the cold morning air.

‘We’ve got a bit of a problem,’ Troy told him.

‘Have you? What sort of problem?’ he gasped.

‘A witness who puts you very close to our crime scene – Shallow End Laboratories – at a significant time. Sunday at eight.’

The undercover officer hesitated. He didn’t attempt to deny the claim.

‘Which means,’ Lexi said, ‘we’ve got a search warrant.’

‘I know.’

‘You know?’

‘Word travels fast in the police community. Look, man,’ he said. ‘I can see how you’d jump to the wrong conclusion about me. I can see it from your point of view. So, I’ll talk to you. You’ve forced me into it. But, if you want it straight, you’ll have to agree to ditch the life-loggers – or any other recording devices.’

Intrigued, Lexi and Troy glanced at each other before Troy replied, ‘Okay. You’ve got our attention.’

‘I need half an hour for a shower and a quick change.’

‘If you can see it from our point of view,’ Troy said, ‘you’ll know we can’t leave you for half an hour. That’s easily enough time for you to go to your shed or wherever and break open a poison that’ll kill Lexi first and then every other outer.’

Dominic sighed. ‘What happened to trust among detectives? All right. Come in. Leave all your fancy electronic gadgets inside, let me change – with you watching, if you insist – and we’ll go somewhere we can have a private chat. Cloverleaf Park.’

‘You’re expecting us to postpone the search as well?’

‘It’s a waste of your time anyway,’ Dominic replied. ‘Another thing. Just to make sure, I’m bringing a jammer. It’ll block all electrical signals. In case of hidden bugs.’

Troy said, ‘Sounds like you don’t trust us, either.’

‘Too right, man.’

While Dominic changed, Lexi took a look at his hut. She didn’t have time for a proper search but she saw no evidence of a chemistry laboratory. Most of the space was occupied by garden equipment. In one corner, though, there was a computer and some hitech electronic kit. It seemed out of place, but not suspicious.

The park wasn’t busy. A woman was jogging around the perimeter and a young man was walking two spaniels. No one took any notice of the three police officers who stopped near the clump of bushes in the middle of the city oasis.

Dominic put down his bag – about the size of a briefcase – and fiddled around inside it. He turned on an electronic jammer. Satisfied, he stood upright and faced the other two detectives. ‘If anyone’s trying to use a phone or play music within fifty metres, they’re out of luck till we’re finished.’

‘I’m wondering what makes you go to such extremes,’ said Troy.

‘On Sunday night, I did go past Shallow End Laboratories.’

‘You went past?’

‘Yes. Not
in
. I went straight past. What’s along the road from the laboratories?’

Troy shrugged. ‘Quite a few things. Including Shepford Crime Central.’

‘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.’

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 plastic 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.

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.’