Lethal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  He read through some memos about the current drive to stamp out drug dealing in Persford. The whole station was aware that a member of the county drug squad had been to the station a couple of days ago. They were trying to get ahead of a major player who might be moving into the area. All officers were to pay particular attention to any drug dealing that they might suspect in the course of their normal duties. Any informants were to be spoken to in case they had any information about an illicit drug lab being set up in Persford. This depressed PC Martin enormously, so far Persford had escaped having a major drug problem.

  Just then he realised where he’d seen the name Nick Thomas before. He worked at one of those biotech companies, though he’d forgotten which one, and had been a witness to the incident in Bells Wine Bar a while ago. Well not exactly a witness to the accident in the car park but a witness to the events leading up to that. He seemed a nice guy, respectable sort, it was strange he’d been over that side of town, Allenby Road was a very dodgy area at night. Worlds apart from the upmarket Bells Wine Bar.

  He was just about to go and get a quick cup of tea when his phone rang, it was control telling him to get over to Market Street. There had been a bad accident, three cars had been involved at a junction when someone was turning right. No one was seriously injured but the driver of one of the cars had become violent towards the person who had presumably caused the accident and had landed a punch on him. Fortunately, there were lots of witnesses. Tea would have to wait, the police officer grabbed his hat and went to collect his colleague, his day had now begun properly.

  **

  Over in Persford General Nick Thomas was being treated for some serious injuries. His girlfriend Polly was by his side and looked completely distraught, her face blotchy from frequent bouts of crying. She was holding on to Nick’s hand and praying that he would recover. He looked a terrible mess, he had stitches above his right eyebrow, his lip was swollen and now purple bruising was spreading around his mouth. They’d had to shave a patch of hair off to put in a couple of stitches on the top of his head as well. X-rays had shown he had a couple of cracked ribs but no skull fracture, fortunately. However, they were going to do a CT scan just to be on the safe side.

  Although Nick had been unconscious in the ambulance he had woken in A & E as they were cleaning him up in order to assess the extent of his injuries. Polly had taken a taxi over as soon as they had phoned from the hospital. Zac had given the police his name and so it wasn’t long before they could find his address and contact his girlfriend. She couldn’t understand what he was doing over that side of town. When he’d said he was going out for drinks with Zac she’d assumed they would go to some smart bar or pub in the centre of Persford, not some dive in a rough area. However, just now she didn’t care where he’d been or why, she just wanted him to recover. He was sleeping now as they’d given him some sedation. He’d become rather agitated when he’s recovered consciousness in the emergency room. He wasn’t making much sense but started saying it was a set-up, calling Zac all sorts of names, his language became uncharacteristically rude, he was using all sorts of profanities to describe Zac. Saying something about drugs, it was all mixed up and she assumed it was as a result of the beating. He would have nightmares about this attack for a while she feared, he was lucky to be alive. She was so grateful to the group of young men who happened to be using the alleyway as a shortcut and had witnessed the assault, otherwise, she was sure Nick would be dead. She felt guilty for telling him off recently and giving him such a hard time about his overactive imagination. Nick was her whole world, she loved him dearly and couldn’t contemplate the thought of them not being together. The tears started to roll down her cheeks again. She put her head down on the edge of his bed, still holding his hand and wept silently.

  Chapter 32

  Brett was having his regular weekly meeting about budgets with Frank Stevens, their Chief Financial Officer. Frank was worried that they’d had a ten percent overspend last month and he wanted to make sure that wouldn’t be repeated month to month. Frank was a stickler for running a tight ship and treated the company money as if it were his own. This aspect of work was quite new to Brett. When he worked in big pharma they spent money like water which was probably why they’d recently had to reduce headcount significantly. They were looking at contracts for consumables and whether they could negotiate a better deal when Amanda knocked on his door.

  He looked up. Amanda crept into his office, apologising for disturbing them.

  ‘Hi, Amanda, come in, what’s the problem?’ asked Brett, secretly quite pleased he could have a couple of minutes break from looking at Frank’s spreadsheets.

  ‘Sorry, to break in but I’ve just had the police on the phone, it’s about one of our employees, Nick Thomas.’

  ‘Nick, yes, I know him,’ said Brett, thinking that he knew him only too well.

  ‘Well I’ve some sad news, he’s in hospital. He was assaulted badly last night, seems he was mugged, his wallet and phone were stolen.’

  ‘Shit, that’s awful,’ replied Brett.

  ‘Where did that happen, I thought Persford was quite a safe place even in the evening?’ asked Frank.

  ‘I’m not sure of all the details but they said it happened somewhere called Allenby Road, or an alleyway off it I think they said.’

  ‘Never heard of it,’ replied Brett.

  ‘I’ve heard of it but never go over that way,’ added Frank, ‘very rough part of town, what on earth was he doing over there?’

  ‘No idea but he was with another colleague, Zac Milburn. He was lucky, managed to run off so was only slightly injured. He’s at work today, I saw him just now, he’s got a black eye though and is walking rather gingerly.’

  ‘Well, thanks for letting me know, and perhaps phone the hospital later, or his wife or girlfriend. We must have her details on record. Find out how he’s doing and send our best wishes etc.’

  ‘Shall I send an email round everyone to let them know?’ asked Amanda.

  ‘Yes, please, I’m sure Zac has told everyone but we need to let all staff know.’

  Amanda left leaving Brett and Frank to mull over the news. Well, that was odd thought Brett, it’s a bit of a change of scene from Bells Wine Bar where he had first encountered Nick.

  ‘That area over by Allenby Road is always in the local paper. Has more than its fair share of troublemakers. Someone told me it’s the sort of place you go if you want to go and buy some stolen goods, or laptops which have fallen off the back of a lorry,’ added Frank.

  ‘Well I hope Nick’s not been flogging any of our company laptops,’ joked Brett. ‘I know we don’t pay top whack here but he’s hardly on the minimum wage.’

  ‘Well let’s hope there’s better news later today,’ said Frank, ‘now about those contracts we were discussing.’

  **

  Detective Sergeant Andy Walters left his car at the station and walked through the town to the university. He had a meeting at 11 a.m. with the head of Student Support Services to discuss the matter of drugs and their recent information about the possibility of PCP making its way in a big way on to the streets here.

  He was greeted at the main reception by Cynthia Luckford, a smartly dressed woman in her mid-forties. She led him back towards her office, offering him tea or coffee. Andy asked for a white coffee and she ushered him to a seat at a small table in her office.

  ‘Thanks for making time to see me today, Ms Luckford,’ said Andy by way of introduction.

  ‘It’s Cynthia, and we are pleased you decided to come and speak to us. Although I suppose we shouldn’t really be pleased you need to come and speak to us about the possible increase in drug use here,’ she said seriously. They were interrupted by a girl of about eighteen came into the office carrying two coffees. They waited until she had left then continued their discussion.

  ‘We just want to make you aware that there might be a ready supply of PCP starting to flood the streets here. I realise you can’t moni
tor the students all the time, but any information, however small, might help us nip this in the bud.’

  ‘Well I’m not sure exactly what PCP is but I’m sure it has awful effects and that’s really worrying, but as you say, I’m not sure what we can do. If the students are determined to get it they will, despite always pleading poverty,’ she added.

  ‘Well if any students report to the campus doctor feeling unwell and he suspects drug abuse then we’d like to know,’ added the sergeant.

  ‘Well I’m not sure how we stand on patient confidentiality,’ added Cynthia, ‘but I’ll certainly raise these issues at our next monthly meeting with our heads of faculty.’

  They sipped at their coffees, then Andy continued.

  ‘One more thing and this isn’t entirely substantiated but we have reason to believe there might be an illicit drugs lab operating in Persford, and of course, the university comes to mind.’

  ‘What really? Are you being serious?’ Cynthia’s eyes widened at this point and she set her coffee down.

  ‘Well, it’s a possibility. We just want to flag it in case you see any large amounts of chemicals being ordered by any student. How easy would that be?’

  ‘Well I’m not a scientist but in the teaching labs, everything is supervised very closely. The research labs are a bit different, but budgets are very tight so I can’t see a student just being able to order chemicals without the approval of their supervisor.’

  They both sat in silence, thinking about the ramifications of an illicit lab here just a few hundred yards from where they sat.

  ‘I see,’ replied Andy, mulling over what he’d been told and wondering whether there was much else to be gleaned from his visit that morning.

  ‘Well this has been a shock, I know this goes on in Persford but it sounds as though we are talking about a huge escalation.’

  ‘Nothing is definite, we’re just exploring every avenue, trying to get one step ahead of the masterminds of the drug trade.’

  Cynthia nodded and made some more notes on her pad.

  ‘There’s one more thing I wanted to ask you, it concerns your IT systems.’

  ‘Oh, don’t talk to me about that, we’ve had enough trouble with that this week!’ and she shook her head. ‘Sorry, it’s just been a rather difficult week,’ and she smiled.

  ‘I’m not quite with you,’ said Andy frowning slightly.

  ‘Well that thunderstorm played havoc with our internet routers and our server, so when the students arrived on Tuesday morning they were unable to access anything, couldn’t print anything out, they were getting annoyed, abusing our admin staff, it was awful.’

  ‘Oh, yes, of course, the thunderstorm. But I just wondered how much you monitor what the students are looking at on the web?’

  ‘The usual things, porn, any sites which might radicalise students, any videos which are particularly violent. Certain words are picked up by email so we would interview those students. We monitor closely but not aggressively.’

  ‘How easy would it be to check whether any students are looking at sites concerned with street drugs and how to make them?’

  ‘Hmmm, well I’m not sure, there might be some sites which are blocked if they are to do with drug synthesis but I’ll have to get back to you, is that OK?’

  ‘Sure, no rush but any help we can get will be much appreciated.’

  Andy stood up to leave.

  ‘Thanks so much for this chat, I won’t take up any more of your time.’

  ‘Happy to help, I’ll be in touch,’ and they shook hands.

  When they headed back down to reception Cynthia pointed to the reception staff. ‘Those poor ladies were on duty on Tuesday and had to run the gauntlet of all the irate students who couldn’t get on the internet or print anything out.’

  ‘So no work for a lot of students on Tuesday then,’ joked Andy.

  ‘Well for the majority, yes, but some of the early birds rushed over to Persford library and used the computer terminals there. However, that caused a problem as there were so many of them the general public couldn’t get on them and we had a complaint from the library so I had to go over and persuade them to leave.’

  ‘Poor you, hope it doesn’t happen again,’ and he waved goodbye and headed out into the sunshine. It hadn’t been very useful but he hoped it would make them aware of what might be going on there. However, the most pertinent piece of information had been that last conversation with Cynthia about how they all decamped to the library. He didn’t have much time for reading these days and had forgotten that libraries were now much more than shelves of books. They had computer terminals. Where better to look things up than in a public library. You presumably had to have an account to use the computers but it would be more anonymous than using your own broadband at home. He wondered how strict they were about checking people’s identity. He would need to run this by his superiors but as he was going to be passing by the library he would pop in to ask what documents they needed for him to have a library account.

  Chapter 33

  Zac was enjoying the attention and sympathy his black eye was garnering him. Naturally, people were surprised they’d been in that part of town. He made up some story that someone had said the beer was cheap and he’d gone along not realising how rough it was as he was a newcomer to the area. Concern for Nick overshadowed the reasons for their choice of drinking venue and staff were hoping there would be better news later in the day.

  As soon as Zac arrived at work that morning he’d headed straight to the data room to see what Nick had run overnight. The printouts were marked up with his name and a fictitious identifier. Zac found some data obviously relating to Nick’s project work but alongside it some data for Zac’s sample of PCP. He immediately recognised it as he had obtained the exact same data a few days previously. He smiled to himself, well you are a smart guy, nosy Nick he thought to himself. Nobody at his previous company had possessed Nick’s detective skills. He was confident that he’d not made any silly mistakes, he’d just happened to meet his match.

  The beating had certainly shaken Zac, he was shocked how much it had actually affected him. When he’d suggested to Cole that Nick needed to be removed from the scene he’d been acting under stress, it was the day he realised Nick was on to him. Seeing him lying in the alleyway with his head beaten in had made him realise how callous he’d been. He felt disgusted with himself and when he’d got home he’d been physically sick. He was so sickened that he had more or less ordered his execution. Today he now realised that Nick was probably going to survive the attack and more than likely would want to report his suspicions about Zac.

  However, lying in bed last night he’d had the chance to think about this and he wished he’d thought it through more clearly beforehand. There was no evidence on site any more of the illicit drugs. Zac had removed all his own samples and paperwork. The only samples which existed were the ones Nick had taken and hidden amongst his own and the printouts which Zac had placed on Nick’s desk, turned over so no-one could see the actual data. To an outsider, it looked like Nick had synthesised the PCP and had obtained the data on it. What’s more, there was a library account in Nick’s name that had accessed the illicit syntheses and numerous other sites concerned with street drugs. All internet activity left a trail, it wouldn’t be too hard to check what had been accessed by that account. At the time he’d stolen Nick’s identity he hadn’t planned to frame him but this was the approach he realised he should have taken.

  Looking back, Zac remembered why he’d not considered this last week which happened to be before the thunderstorm. In order to check he’d synthesised the correct material he’d had to obtain the data on the PCP himself consequently there would be a record of those samples being logged into the system and if Nick really wanted to he could no doubt access the log of the samples. But when he thought back to yesterday and his conversation with the technician he’d realised his good fortune. She’d told him that the power surge had done something
odd to the login program and they had decided the easiest thing was to uninstall it completely and reinstall it. She said the only problem with this was that there would be no record of data that had been run prior to this. Thus the only easily traceable record of data obtained on PCP was assigned to Nick’s name.

  The blame would fall on Nick, he wasn’t sure whether it would be enough to prosecute but it wasn’t looking good for him. Without the material, it might not carry a gaol sentence but it would be enough to ensure Nick had to resign. His career in chemistry would be over and he would have to retrain. If only you had minded your own business Nick, none of this needed to have happened thought Zac. It would be a very interesting few weeks ahead waiting to see whether the police caught up with his activities. Would they even know there was an illicit lab operating in Persford? He’d no idea even whether they were investigating along those lines. They probably didn’t suspect, but there are always such things as tip-offs he thought.

  Chapter 34

  Nick’s CT scan showed no brain damage. He was making progress and was now sitting up and able to speak to Polly. He still looked a dreadful mess but she didn’t care, she was just so grateful that he seemed to be coherent and he wasn’t lying unconscious in a coma. They had transferred him to a medical ward and wanted to keep him in for the rest of the day at least. But they reassured Polly that he should be able to go home soon and continue his convalescence there. She left the hospital to return to their flat to have a quick shower and change her clothes. She also packed a small case with clothes for Nick and his wash bag. The clothes he’d been wearing on the night of the attack had been binned they were so bloodstained and torn.