by Malcolm Rose
It was like being back in Year 7. All the naughty pupils – Luke among them – got sent to Ms Kee. “Why?”
“At the start of school this morning, she reported feeling ill in her office. She complained of dizziness, numbness, and extreme pain in the arm. She returned to her apartment and has since died.”
“She’s what?” Luke exclaimed, staring at his mobile.
“She has died.”
Stunned, Luke said, “Can’t you register any shock at all?”
Dispassionately, Malc replied, “No. But I can inform you that the circumstances of her death are suspicious.”
Chapter Nine
Luke would never have described Ms Kee as a favourite instructor. Quite the opposite. He could never force himself to like the person in charge of the Pairing Committee. But, as he examined her body with a pained grimace on his face, it struck him that no one deserved such a death. Her face and pillow were soiled with blood-spattered vomit, her clothes were drenched with her own sweat and her eyes were bloodshot. Her right arm was swollen horribly. The brown skin was stretched to its limit. A part of her forearm was about three times its normal size, blown up as big as a basketball. The skin over the enormous blister was thin and shiny like a balloon on the point of bursting. Around it, the tissue was black, totally dead. Luke gulped. Something had attacked her flesh from the inside.
“I saw this sort of thing in the Forensic Medicine module. It’s the effect of an allergic reaction, isn’t it, Malc?”
Unaffected by sentiment, Malc answered coolly, “Not confirmed, but likely. The sickness, fever, violent inflammation and tissue death are consistent with it. There is also evidence of muscle spasms typical of an allergic reaction.”
“So, what brought it on? It’s... grotesque. Is it natural, an accident or some weird sort of poisoning?”
“Insufficient data.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just thinking aloud, I suppose.” Luke turned away and took a deep breath. To Malc, he said, “I wish your programming allowed you to feel sick. Then you’d know how bad I’m feeling right now. Anyway, scan the swelling, microscopic scale.”
Malc moved in and hovered over the bulge in the arm that reminded Luke of a snake that had swallowed an outsize rodent. “There is a single ragged puncture wound.”
Luke frowned. “What do you mean by ragged?”
“It is not the neat round wound left by an injection performed by a skilled medic.”
“You mean it was a rough jab.”
“Correct.”
“Well, I guess that rules out natural causes.”
“Confirmed.”
Luke sighed. “Some sort of poison was jabbed into her arm. Accident or assassination. But why get me involved? Even if it’s murder, what’s it got to do with the Crispy case? Different weapons, different gender, different age, different status. How many differences do you want? No, don’t answer that. The only thing that connects it to Demon Archer is time and place. The school never had a murder till yesterday. Now we might have two in two days.”
“That is not the only connection. The prime suspect for Crispin Addley’s murder also has a motive for eliminating Ms Kee.”
“What?”
“You are known to be dissatisfied with the Pairing Committee. Ms Kee is in charge of that committee. In addition, you requested information on her thirteen hours and seventeen minutes ago. I discovered in her files that she was proposing Georgia Bowie as your partner. She also anticipated the pairing of Jade Vernon and Vince Wainwright.”
Luke put up his hands. “Stop! You’re getting way ahead. It’s one of your favourite words – speculation – until I work out if there’s even been a crime. Besides, I’ve got an alibi. I was with you.”
“For a total of forty-one minutes this morning, you were not under my supervision.”
“First I was taking a shower, then I was tucking into breakfast, then I was with Crispy’s girlfriend. You know that.”
“You insisted upon my absence from that interview, despite my instruction.”
“Okay. It looks bad but... You don’t know the meaning of discretion, do you?”
“Noun. The capability of maintaining a prudent silence.”
“Yes,” Luke interrupted. “You can look it up in your dictionary but that’s about it. All these findings that make me look guilty, you’re transmitting them to The Authorities’ central computer, aren’t you?”
“Confirmed,” Malc answered. “I am programmed to do so.”
“Great!”
Malc replied, “It does not seem great for you.”
Luke shook his head. “It’s called irony. Look it up.” He didn’t blame Malc, of course. Malc was a machine designed to follow set procedures. In the same way, no one could blame Luke for growing too tall. Luke was at the mercy of his genes and Malc had his programming.
So close to the body, Luke felt as if he needed another shower. Sadly, not even the hottest power-shower could wash away the awful image that had already lodged in his mind. The person on the bed was clearly Ms Kee but in a way it wasn’t. It wasn’t really a person at all. Not any more. The Deputy Head had gone and left behind a foul carcass for Luke to read. Steeling himself, he turned back to her wasted body.
In this new case, he would not be short of possible motives. Usually, the pairing process went smoothly, but there could be couples who were dissatisfied with Ms Kee’s impact on their lives. There would also be several badly behaved students who might want to get their own back on the Deputy Head for the harsh punishments that she had dished out regularly. Of course, Malc would have already put Luke on a list of disobedient pupils who might be hungry for revenge. “Take a blood sample for analysis, please,” said Luke.
“Where from?”
Luke arched his eyebrow. “There’s plenty to choose from. Does it matter? Take it from around the blister if you can, without breaking the skin. If not, use the stuff caked around her mouth. Run tests for poisons.”
Luke walked around the body, examining it carefully without touching, while Malc alighted gently on the exposed arm. “You said she reported being ill this morning. Who did she speak to?”
“The school secretary.”
“Are you getting a blood sample?”
“Confirmed. Analysis in progress.”
“I don’t want to overload you,” Luke said, “but there are some hairs on her lap. Scan them next.” When he’d completed two circuits of the bed, Luke added, “There’s not much else I can see. I want a post-mortem as soon as possible.”
“Preliminary blood analysis complete,” Malc stated.
“Let’s hear it.”
“The blood cannot clot because fibrinogen levels are very low and the platelets are clumped together.”
“That’s why it’s run into her eyes, blisters and gums.”
“Correct,” Malc replied. “Failure to clot has been caused by a complicated mixture of toxic proteins and enzymes, typical of many animal venoms.”
“Venom? Which animal?”
“I am performing more sophisticated tests to identify the species.”
“A lizard?”
“That is one of many possibilities.”
“What about the one you spotted on the field?”
“The gecko is not poisonous,” Malc informed him.
“Thinking about it, biting animals wouldn’t leave a single puncture mark. There’d be at least two. Could all this happen because she was allergic to a bee or wasp sting or something like that?”
“No. The venom is much more complicated than a simple sting.”
“What about those hairs?”
“They are not human.”
Luke smiled. “Good. Perhaps they belong to the poisonous animal.”
“They are from three different individuals.”
“Three?”
After a short pause, Malc announced, “They are all feline.”
Luke was astounded. “She’s had three cats on her lap. Is that what you’r
e telling me?”
“Correct.”
“But cats aren’t poisonous and they’re very scarce.” Like dogs, cats were endangered animals, kept only in conservation parks. “Has she had anything to do with animal sanctuaries?”
“No contact known.”
“I really need to find out which animal the venom came from, Malc. Once I know its properties, I’ll be able to get moving. How quickly the poison acts will tell me when she was stung, bitten or injected. Till then, do a fine scan down her right-hand side. I’m looking for anything that’s not Ms Kee’s – fibres, blood, skin, fur or scales, anything out of place.”
Chapter Ten
When the school secretary handed over Luke’s new identity card, Malc had to witness and record the event. It was only a small piece of plastic but it gave its owner so many rights that The Authorities needed proof it had been delivered correctly. They also required Luke to say aloud and in public the simple but powerful words that every forensic investigator had to recite. “I pledge my allegiance to the law.” The card identified Luke, his personal details, and his profession. At the bottom, it read ‘Luke Harding, Forensic Investigator’. It was his certificate of graduation, it would grant him access to almost any building, and it gave him the full authority of an investigator. It was what he had worked towards for the last three years.
When Luke uttered his pledge and took the card in his hand, he felt a warm glow of achievement, a tingle of excitement, and a terrible weight on his shoulders. He had not just come of age. With this licence, he had joined the highest ranks. His new power thrilled and frightened him at the same time. He felt that it had arrived before he was ready for it.
As far as Ms Kee’s case was concerned, the secretary wasn’t much help. He stared at Luke in astonishment. “Cats?” he exclaimed. “Haven’t seen one in years. Shouldn’t think Ms Kee had either. Never seen her with one.”
For the record, Luke had already found out from the secretary what time Ms Kee went to her office at the start of the day and when she’d reported sick. Just before he left to continue his investigation of Crispin Addley’s death, Luke asked, “Oh, did she say she’d knocked into anyone this morning, you know, in the corridor or something?”
“No.”
“Did she mention any quarrels she was having?”
The secretary shook his head. “Mighty confused when she spoke to me. Said she was going back to bed.”
****
Until Year 10, Luke had had to deal with one training exercise after another. He’d always had time to clear his mind of one assignment before starting the next. Then in Year 10, his instructors had turned up the heat. He’d have to solve three or four training cases at once. Sometimes they would be linked and sometimes not. The exercises had been designed to prepare him for handling two cases at once, for seeing subtle links, for keeping track of different threads. But back then, his mind had not been tainted with an image of a revolting, lifeless corpse stripped of all humanity.
Trying to focus his brain on archery, he went to see Ella Fitch. Ella was the technician in charge of sports equipment. When Luke and Malc walked into her windowless workshop, she was wearing a dirty overall and protective goggles as she repaired a set of starting blocks with a blowtorch. She turned off the gas supply and the fierce blue flame spluttered and then died. Lifting the goggles onto her forehead, she looked like a motorcycle racer. “Hello,” she said, apparently not surprised by Luke’s visit.
“I’m FI Harding.”
Ella smiled. “I know who you are. To me, you’ll always be Diamond who sabotaged...”
“Hold on. I’m who?”
“Don’t you know? A lot of the staff call you Diamond.”
Luke was amazed. “Do they?”
“It was one of the instructors – Mr Bromley or maybe Rick Glenfield when he was still in computing – who said, ‘He’s bright, very bright, and much tougher than he looks. Like a diamond.’ It stuck, I guess. Even the ones you played up sometimes call you the diamond student. It’s a sneaking respect, you know. Only Ms Thacket spits it out with irony. She didn’t like it when you went for criminology instead of sport.” Ella paused to catch her breath. “Talking of games, I was going to say, I’ll always remember you for last sports day when you went in for a bit of sabotage. You know what I’m talking about.”
Luke nodded. He wasn’t likely to forget. He’d taken Ed Hoffman’s javelin, hollowed out a section near the tip, filled it with lead and then covered it up. As a result, Ms Thacket’s favourite student – and favourite for the competition – lost in grand style, his javelin too heavy and unbalanced.
Ella was giggling to herself. “I kept the javelin as a memento. Brilliant job. Nasty Hoffman strutted around, looking superior as he always does, ran up, and made a complete fool of himself in front of everyone. Really fruity. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving case.”
“Yeah, but I overdid it. He complained and I got caught.”
“Why did you do it? Was he bullying you like he bullies everyone else?”
“No, but I’d just seen him have a go at Travis Myers. Do you know Travis?”
“The white lad.”
Very occasionally, children would be born with less skin pigment because of a faulty gene. They were normal in every way except for their colour, somewhere between light brown and white. Travis Myers was Birmingham School’s only pupil with the faulty gene.
Luke said, “There’s no reason to harass whites. You might as well pick on someone for having blue eyes.”
Ella nodded in agreement. “No doubt it was you that ended up in the queue of bad boys outside Ms Kee’s room, not Hoffman. Once, you were a permanent feature in the line.”
The blowtorch had created an uncomfortable dry warmth in the room. “Have you heard about Ms Kee?” Luke asked.
“I can’t say I’m gutted, to be honest. I never did get on with her.” She removed the goggles altogether as if she expected a lengthy interruption to her work. “She was too keen on discipline for my taste. Kids need a bit of freedom and mischief. That’s what they’re for. Still, I suppose I don’t have to put up with whole classes of them. I just have to fix the stuff they break. That doesn’t bother me. It keeps me in the job I love. I like the naughty ones. Not the nasty ones like Hoffman, just the naturally playful kids. Like you.”
Luke sat down on a bench. “You’ll know why I’m here.”
She nodded. “Crispin Addley. They called him Crispy, didn’t they? He was all right, I suppose. I never had to fix anything on account of him. He was one of the well behaved lads, not like some I could mention.” She kept her bright eyes on Luke. “Awful what happened, though. I guess you want to know if I saw anyone on the firing range after hours yesterday. No chance. I was in here, working away on my own. You should ask Rick Glenfield. He’s up there almost every day.”
“Shooting?”
“No, doing his job – cleaning and so on. I’ve been thinking, though. It’s a pity Ms Kee can’t get her hands on whoever did it. Then they’d think the death penalty was the easy option.”
Luke wished that every witness could be like Ella Fitch: friendly and talkative. He barely needed to ask a question to turn her on like a tap. “Have you ever seen someone wandering off with a bow?”
“Mischief’s fine but that’s going too far. It could be dangerous. I’d stop someone if I saw them doing that. But I can’t say I have. Why? Are some bows missing?”
“Always, according to Ms Thacket.” Not wanting to dwell on it, Luke changed the subject. “Do you ever see animals on the playing fields, wild or with people?”
Ella was surprised by his question but took off again. “Plenty of rabbits, squirrels, badgers and birds. Anything smaller – like mice – and I doubt I’d see them. I expect there’s lots of mice because I’ve seen owls and bats hunting something at night. Probably mice or some such. Sometimes, sheep, cows and chickens stray over here from the farm. I bet there are others but I haven’t seen the
m.”
“How about something unusual, like dogs or cats?”
“Oh, you’ve heard the rumours as well,” Ella replied. “Has that got anything to do with young Crispin?”
“I’m following lots of different leads at the moment,” Luke replied. Hoping for another gush of words, he said, “So, tell me what you’ve heard and I’ll see if it’s more or less what I know.”
Luckily, Malc did not interrupt to remind Luke that he hadn’t heard any rumours. The mobile floated beyond Luke’s shoulder, recording the interview. Luke hoped that Malc had detected a significant item, partly hidden in the far corner of the workshop, and scanned it.
Ella seemed relaxed as if she were merely enjoying a chat with Luke, rather than being under the scrutiny of Investigator Harding and his Mobile Aid to Law and Crime. “It seems fish, guinea pigs and rabbits just don’t do it for a lot of animal lovers. They want the more exotic stuff. If you have a real close look at the field for long enough, you’ll probably find a few that have escaped from captivity. Some of the younger kids say they’ve seen lizards and things, but they’re very imaginative, aren’t they? The kids, that is, not the lizards. Anyway, I heard there’s a hard core that hankers after endangered species. Possibly even in high places. Well, it’s asking for trouble, isn’t it? There’s an animal sanctuary down the road that keeps dogs and cats, and there are people who’d do anything to get their hands on them as pets.”
“Well, that’s pretty much what I’ve heard as well,” Luke lied convincingly, “but the important point is, if cats and dogs are being smuggled, who’s behind it? I haven’t heard that.”
“If you believe the conspiracy theories, the President, the School Head and management team, quite a few pupils, you and me.” With a wicked smile, Ella shrugged.
“In other words, you don’t know either. It’s all speculation.”
“Wild rumours are always more fun than facts,” she replied with a laugh.
Luke stood up again. “Well, thanks for your help.”
“Anything for the brains behind my favourite stunt against my least favourite pupil.” She paused before adding, “You know, I didn’t shop you to Thacket over the javelin. I was more amused than anything. I was like that,” she said, nodding at Malc. “I just did forensic tests on it.”