Lethal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  She phoned BioQex to tell them the better news and said that perhaps in a couple of days people might be able to visit him at home. The police had been in touch with her to say that unfortunately, they were no closer to finding his attackers, they were working on the assumption it was a robbery and a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She’d also had a call from PC Dave Martin, he was enquiring about Nick’s progress. She was surprised that another police officer had contacted her but he told her it was more of a social call as he’d previously met with Nick on the night of his colleague’s accident. She thought that was really decent of him, a nice personal touch. He also told her that he had heard they would be putting out an appeal on Crimestoppers for witnesses but she shouldn’t get her hopes up, these cases were becoming all too frequent, though it was rare for Persford to have incidents of this type, up to now.

  **

  DS Andy Walters went into Persford General Library and headed straight for the help desk. He told the girl in attendance that he was interested in joining the library and wondered what identification they wanted to see.

  ‘Oh, it’s very straightforward, just two items with your name and address, utility bill, bank statement, something like that. If you don’t have those, some items of post to show that you live at that address,’ said the young girl whose name badge showed Carly.

  ‘I see, so you don’t need a passport or driving licence or anything like photo ID, then,’ he asked.

  ‘Well no, because a lot of people who need to use the computers don’t have documents like that and they can’t afford broadband at home, so we can’t ask for anything too stringent. So just bring those in and we’ll take a few details like name, date of birth, and then we can issue you with a card and a PIN number to use one of the computers if you need to.’

  ‘That’s great, just one more thing, do you monitor what sites people look at?’

  The librarian’s eyes narrowed at this point, it was a strange request from someone wanting to join the library, she wondered what this man was intending to look up.

  ‘I’m not sure I can answer that,’ she said cautiously.

  Andy Walters reached into his pocket and discreetly removed his warrant card and showed it to the librarian.

  ‘Oh, I see, why don’t we continue our chat through here?’ and she led him off in the direction of the offices, keyed in a code on the door and showed him through to where several staff members were chatting and drinking coffee.

  ‘Just through here sir,’ she said, ‘I think my manager is in today, I’d like him to be present when we discuss this.’

  She knocked on an office door and went in followed by the police sergeant. After the introductions had been made and the sergeant had been shown to a seat, they began their discussion.

  ‘How can I help, Detective Sergeant Walters, wasn’t it?’ asked Jim Barford, the head librarian.

  ‘I’d like to know how much you monitor internet activity here?’ asked Andy Walters coming directly to the point.

  ‘Well certain sites like porn, extreme violence are blocked, but other than that people are free to access most other sites. I’m not sure what you had in mind?’

  ‘This must remain completely confidential,’ he said, looking at both the head librarian and his junior colleague.

  ‘We think that the drug scene may be starting to get moving in a big way in Persford and we are interested in people using public computers to access sites related to street drugs, particularly their synthesis and manufacture.’ Both his companions looked surprised.

  ‘Well, it’s entirely possible that they could look up those things, we wouldn’t block them necessarily.’

  ‘Could you search your browsing history to see whether that has been done recently in the last month say?’

  ‘We could but it would take a while, this is a huge library, lots of people use the computers because they don’t have printers at home and they need to have paper copies of things. You probably noticed there weren’t many terminals free when you came in. We certainly can’t check that ourselves, we don’t have the time, I would need to speak to our IT expert who covers all the libraries in the area. I don’t think he will relish the task though.’

  ‘Oh I see,’ replied Andy sounding as though his bubble had just been burst.

  ‘It would help if we knew what we were looking for, key phrases, names of particular drugs, etc.’

  ‘I can help you there,’ replied Andy, his mood suddenly brightening, ‘We are particularly keen on knowing who has looked up details about PCP, phencyclidine, also called angel dust, and its synthesis.’

  ‘I’d better write this down, I’m not familiar with street drugs,’ replied Jim Barford with a wry smile. ‘Now what day is it? Thursday. Well, I’ll get in touch with our IT guy and see what his response is, but I think it will be next week before you will get any sort of response, or even later, it’s his call really.’

  ‘Anything at all you can do will be most appreciated,’ replied Andy, ‘here’s my card, I can be contacted on this number during work hours, but I’ll add my personal mobile, so anything at all at any time, please give me a call.’

  ‘Will do, I’m quite shocked by what you’ve told us, and Carly, not a word of this to our colleagues just at the moment.’

  ‘Many thanks, that’s great. Super library you have here, I think I might consider joining myself, that’s if the job ever lets me have spare time,’ he added laughing.

  ‘Carly will see you out, I’ll be in touch,’ and Jim stood to shake hands.

  On the way back to the station Andy thought he’d had a very useful morning, he would contact his colleague in the drug squad just to keep him in the picture. It was very much a long shot but you never know, sometimes the job produced surprises, every avenue was worth exploring.

  **

  Polly returned to the hospital with Nick’s clean clothes and a sandwich for herself. As soon as she approached his bed Nick demanded her phone.

  ‘I need to make a call to the police, give me your phone please Polly,’ asked Nick agitatedly.

  ‘What do you want to speak to them about? They phoned me actually just after I left you, they’ve not got any further information, but they will put out an appeal on Crimestoppers.’

  ‘I need to speak to the police, it wasn’t a mugging, it was made to look like it, it was a trap, I was set up. Zac wants to kill me! Give me your phone!’

  ‘Nick, Nick, please calm down, people are looking,’

  ‘Give it to me, it’s attempted murder not a mugging, Zac is trying to remove me from the scene, I know something about him!’

  ‘Shush, please Nick, you’ve had a shock and you’re not feeling well, it’s not surprising you are getting all mixed up, you need to rest.’

  ‘OK then, I’ll go to work there’s something I need to do first, that would be best and when I’ve done that I’ll go to the police station in person. Give me that bag of clothes and pull the curtains round.’

  With that Nick started to get up off the bed, he still had a cannula in his arm where they’d put him on a drip. Polly tried to hold him back, pushing him back on to the bed, uttering calming words although she was close to tears to see him in such an agitated state.

  ‘Get out of my way!’ shouted Nick, and he pushed her, causing her to stumble against the chair and lose her balance so she fell backwards, trying to grasp the curtains to steady herself. Polly fell backwards into the ward on the floor between the rows of beds, the chair which she’d stumbled against knocked into the table belonging to the adjacent bed, which itself moved on its wheels and banged into the drip stand supplying the neighbouring patient, setting off an alarm. Two nurses came running, along with an orderly who had arrived to collect another patient to take him down for a scan. Nick was restrained and held back onto the bed whilst the sister in charge at the desk paged a doctor. The doctor arrived and authorised a sedative which was duly administered through Nick’s cannula. After about thirty
seconds the nursing staff felt they could relinquish their hold on Nick as he was becoming drowsy. He was mumbling words which sounded like police, and Zac as he fell back into a deep sleep.

  Polly was distraught, embarrassed, and frightened for the future. She kept apologising to the staff who reassured her that they were used to this behaviour and it was probably the trauma of his attack playing out again. They would discuss his behaviour with the registrar responsible for Nick and decide the best course of action. In the meantime they suggested Polly went to the restaurant or outside to get a change of scenery. Nick would be asleep for at least a couple of hours. Yes, but what when he wakes, Polly asked herself as she walked out of the ward, trying to ignore the stares of the other patients and visitors, how am I going to cope.

  Chapter 35

  Detective Sergeant Andy Walters reported his progress to his superiors and they showed muted enthusiasm. It was definitely a possibility that someone had used the computer terminals at the library but they had no evidence, it could just as easily be in the library at the university. They were keeping a close eye on Wayne Roberts who had been released on bail following an appearance at the magistrate’s court. They felt Wayne wouldn’t have the sense to lie low, there was a good chance he could lead them to his suppliers who in turn might be persuaded to throw some light on the next rung of the ladder. The drug squad were keeping a close eye on a major player in the drug scene in the neighbouring county, he might lead them to the illicit chemist.

  Andy Walters realised that policing was successful by compiling data from many different sources rather than some massive leap of imagination. He felt that his colleagues thought he’d been rather too cerebral in his approach rather than the tried and trusted method of informants, witnesses and so on. He felt rather subdued after his morning of euphoria following his library visit, but he shouldn’t lose heart he told himself, it was good to have different approaches, and maybe success would come from a combination of the two. At least they had started to put a plan into action, it was just a case of waiting to see what transpired.

  **

  Zac left work a bit earlier than usual as he needed to get home to collect the goods and then go and hand them over to Cole at the appointed rendezvous. Cole had brazenly offered to go to Zac’s flat to collect the goods, he must think I’m a complete fool thought Zac. He had a pay as you go phone to remain anonymous not only from the police but from Cole as well. No way would he telegraph where he lived. They needed to meet on neutral ground and away from the town centre which was well covered by CCTV cameras. Zac had done his homework and he wasn’t going to take any chances. He’d taken some walks in various locations over the past couple of evenings and had decided that along the river going out from the centre of the town was a good choice. There were seats along the river so he would go and wait with the goods and hopefully Cole would keep his appointment and arrive promptly. He returned home, collected the goods, placed them in an old shoe box and placed that in a tatty old sports bag which he no longer needed. He would place the bag on the seat with the long strap around his body and once he’d had his payment and counted it he would remove the long strap from around him, get up and walk away. Zac looked in the mirror as he left, the bruising around his eye was changing from purple to yellow round the edges. He pulled on a baseball hat and just for good measure turned up the collar of his jacket. Checked he had both his phones in his pocket and left the flat.

  **

  Nick was still in hospital, and due to his outburst this afternoon Polly had been told there was no chance he would be discharged this evening. Until he could demonstrate that his mental state was more stable he would not be released into her care. Although she desperately wanted to be back to normal she’d been quite shaken by the violence of the outburst and felt relieved that he would be spending another night under medical supervision. Deep down she was worried that the blows to the head had unleashed some irrational behaviour. There had been indications that Nick had a tendency to blow things out of all proportion, more than once she had accused him of dreaming up conspiracy theories but never before had they been shown in such intensity. What if Nick was losing his mind and had kept these tendencies suppressed up until now. What did this mean for their future together? The thought that the end of their relationship might be approaching felt like her heart was being squeezed and torn apart. She felt sick and anxious, she was scared what she might find when she visited again this evening, her mere presence might precipitate another outburst.

  So it was with trepidation that she entered the ward that evening at 7 p.m., clutching some magazines and some chocolates which she hoped might distract him and cheer his spirits. Nick was awake and smiled at her, she leaned over to kiss him and showed him what she’d brought.

  ‘Thanks, love, I’ll look at them later,’ and he motioned for her to sit next to him.

  Nick was still feeling slightly sedated but had been awake for the last couple of hours and had managed to eat a rather bland dinner of cottage pie, overcooked carrots and a strawberry jelly. He’d not had jelly since he was a child. He actually felt like a child, completely helpless, but in the couple of hours that he’d been awake he’d been able to think, in between dozing and having his blood pressure and temperature measured. He’d realised that the only way he could achieve his aim was to first get out of hospital and if there was another violent incident like this afternoon there was no way he would be allowed to leave. Chances were he would end up having some sort of mental health assessment and perhaps taken to a different unit, he didn’t know but the first step was to get out of here, get home and somehow find a way to go into work to check his evidence. Without evidence, there was no way the police or Polly for that matter would listen to him. Any accusations would just be put down to him having a head injury and suffering from post-traumatic stress, reliving the attack where Zac was present. He put himself in their shoes and he could see why it all seemed so preposterous. Polly was of the mindset that he tended to elaborate stories and read too much into them so it wasn’t surprising that his accusation that Zac had tried to murder him was met with complete denial. He had to be clever that was the only way.

  ‘How are you feeling Nick? Any better?’ asked Polly tentatively.

  ‘Much better thanks, sorry about this afternoon, it was unforgivable. I don’t know what came over me. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell backwards?’

  ‘Only my pride,’ joked Polly, ‘good thing I wasn’t wearing a skirt when I fell backwards this afternoon, that would have been embarrassing.’

  ‘Well it’s good you can laugh about it, I’ve had to suffer the stares of my fellow patients all afternoon after I woke up,’ he whispered, ‘they’ve got me down as the madman in bed three.’

  Polly squeezed his hand and they sat in silence for a few moments. A junior doctor came by the bed and looked at Nick’s charts.

  ‘Well Mr Thomas, how are you feeling now?’ he asked continuing to flick through the pages attached to his clipboard of notes.

  ‘Much better thanks. Sore obviously, ribs hurt like hell, and I’ve no idea what I must look like,’ he joked.

  ‘Well I don’t think you’ll be doing any modelling for magazines for a while,’ replied the doctor, ‘but providing you have a comfortable night you will probably be discharged tomorrow. You can rest at home, and you should get better more quickly there than here in hospital.’

  ‘Thank you, doctor, that’s good news,’ replied Nick.

  Polly also thanked him and she got up and kissed Nick again.

  ‘I’ve been so worried about you Nick, when I saw you in A & E last night I thought you weren’t going to survive,’ and a few tears started to form again.

  ‘Hey, hey, you can’t get rid of me so easily, I’ve got a lot of things to do, I’m not going anywhere.’

  Yes, I am he thought, I’m going to work and then I’m going to the police, and Zac my friend you are going to get one hell of a shock.

 
**

  Zac walked through the town centre with his bag slung across his chest. The town was quite busy as people made their way home from work, but as he approached the river the crowds thinned out. He went down some steps and along to the riverside walkway, it was a pleasant route away from the traffic, a popular spot for workers to take their sandwiches at lunchtime. He passed a few people exercising their dogs but he didn’t make eye contact, he wanted to remain as incognito as possible.

  He headed for an empty seat situated just before the tarmacked pathway petered out and became rougher terrain as the footpath became more of a country walking route which skirted the town. Cole hadn’t yet arrived. Zac sat down and checked his phones, no message from Cole, he must be on his way. He would soon be feeling much more comfortably off financially and his credit card bill would be paid off in a month’s time. However, he still had the slightly tricky issue of passing this money through his bank account, he would just do it gradually.

  He was stirred from his thoughts by a shadow encroaching on the bench. He turned to his right and saw Cole approaching. He was dressed in smart casual attire, anyone would think he’d just finished work in one of the offices in town. He sat down on the bench a few feet from Cole, they were just two blokes who knew each other, having a quiet chat.

  ‘Evening Zac, everything OK?’ asked Cole.

  ‘Fine thanks, let’s get down to business,’ replied Zac.

  ‘Goodness me, did you walk into a door or something?’ chuckled Cole. Even with his baseball cap, the edges of the bruise were visible.