Lethal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  Seconds later the team of police barged in shouting Zac’s name. They were met with silence. Checks of all the rooms revealed nobody was present. A cloud of disappointment descended.

  ‘Shit,’ said Chris, banging his hand against the wall, ‘he’s either out or he’s legged it.’

  The dog handler allowed the spaniel to start a systematic check through the flat. Whilst this was happening the two CID officers headed outside to the car park to get some fresh air.

  ‘Fuck, this is so annoying,’ said Andy, scuffing the ground with his foot. The effect of the adrenalin was now wearing off and tiredness was beginning to overwhelm him.

  ‘We’ll get him, I’m determined to catch the scumbag,’ said his colleague, trying to offer encouragement. ‘It’s possible he’s staying out all night. Perhaps he’s getting his leg over at this very moment!’ he joked.

  Andy did smile at that comment but he was still anxious. It would not look good if they were proved to have been too keen to lay the blame on Nick Thomas and had not given enough credence to his testimony. He took out his phone and made the necessary arrangement to get someone out to repair the door and also to ask for relief uniformed officers to remain in position overnight.

  ‘Nice flats these,’ said Chris casually, ‘good to have off-street parking as well, and it’s secluded with the hedge around it, shouldn’t be too much worry about vandalism here, don’t you think?’

  ‘Yes, it’s a nice block really,’ replied Andy, not really feeling like discussing the attractiveness of the area. Andy wandered around the parking area, stretching his legs and trying to relieve some of the tension in his limbs. Although it was night there was a powerful security light over the parking bays. He could see something next to the car they now knew to be Zac’s. It was partly under the car and as he approached he saw immediately what it was.

  Inspector Mills wandered over curious to see what his colleague had noticed. Andy had by now used his foot to nudge the item out from under the car. They both looked down at the casual trainer style shoe.

  ‘Interesting,’ said Andy using a pen out of his jacket to turn over the shoe. Using the torch on his mobile he could see that it was a size eleven. ‘Better get this bagged as evidence,’ and he sighed. ‘How tall is Zac Milburn, six feet according to Nick Thomas, a bit more?’

  ‘Something like that,’ replied his fellow officer.

  ‘We need to see if we can find a spare set of keys in the flat to open up the boot of this car. Failing that someone will need to get the car open. I don’t want to look a complete idiot if he’s in the boot. Fuck, this is so annoying.’

  His colleague radioed the uniform team to look for some spare car keys and they both stood waiting for the response.

  ‘Andy, we’ll find him,’ said the inspector.

  ‘It’s always possible that he dropped it out of a gym bag or something but I’m starting to worry that we might be too late to speak to Mr Milburn,’ Andy said gravely.

  Chapter 54

  At 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning the members of CID were assembled in one of the larger meeting rooms to discuss developments. Finding Zac was their priority as they hadn’t found him in the boot of his car. They needed to get hold of someone at BioQex to explain they needed to speak to Zac Milburn. Shani Patel had been given the floor and she was reporting on her results from her examination of the CCTV footage.

  Shani stood up to speak, she was nervous at first, addressing a group of her colleagues who were largely senior to herself, but she soon gained confidence once she got into her stride.

  ‘Thanks, boss, well as you know we’ve established that Nick Thomas and Mark Jameson gained entry to BioQex on Sunday evening, but he has stated that he didn’t work late on any evening and so would not have had the time to operate his illicit syntheses without being observed. I, therefore, focussed on examining time periods between 6 and 8 p.m. in the evenings and before 8 a.m. in the mornings. I’ve also now obtained footage from the previous week, so we have a period covering ten working days,’ she paused and looked around the room observing encouraging nods from her audience.

  ‘On eight out of ten of those working days, I observed one employee in particular, leaving work late, generally between 7.45 p.m. and 8 p.m. Also, that person is captured starting work very early between 7 a.m. and 7.15 a.m. on six mornings. Nick Thomas generally arrives between 8.30 a.m. and 9 a.m., along with most of the other staff.’

  ‘Excellent work Shani,’ added Detective Sergeant Walters. ‘Do you have a picture of the employee who’s working these extra long hours.’

  ‘Yes, sir, this is the clearest one I could capture,’ and she clicked some keys on her laptop and brought up and image.

  ‘Well we can’t be sure but it fits the description we have of Zac Milburn, given by Nick Thomas of course, but we should be able to check it against his driving licence and so on.’

  ‘Paul, get on to the DVLA we need the picture of Zac Milburn that they have on file. Or perhaps BioQex can send one through more quickly, should be in his personnel file.’

  ‘Sir, I’ve got something else I want to mention,’ offered Shani, ‘I’ve requested the footage from a camera covering the pavement outside Persford library. I’m particularly interested in the Saturday morning when the library account was used to do those searches. If we can spot Zac Milburn going into the library on that morning, and when the account was opened, we’ll have grounds to question him.’

  ‘Get on to that straight away,’ shouted Andy, ‘and get help from whoever you need. Excellent work. It looks like Nick Thomas was probably telling the truth but we’re not releasing him just yet, but I doubt we will be applying to hold him for longer. Paul, make sure he’s being well looked after downstairs, we don’t want a complaint from his solicitor Mr Chamberlain who is probably due in about half an hour.’

  The excitement in the room was palpable. The whole team felt like the pieces of the jigsaw were falling into place. Everyone’s tiredness dissipated. They were like a missile locked on its target, determined to see this to completion.

  ‘Anyone got anything else to add?’ asked Inspector Mills.

  ‘Yes, guv, I’ve been on to that National Trust place and they’ve given me the name of the staff working in the cafe that day. I’ve just phoned them and one girl does remember a guy forgetting his sunglasses and going back to collect them. She’s given a rough description of Nick Thomas.’

  ‘Excellent, thanks, Steve, if you have time work with Shani for the rest of today.’

  ‘I’m going to update the Superintendent now, we need to bring in Zac Milburn this morning, we need to keep looking. He might turn up at his flat or at BioQex.’

  He seriously hoped that Zac hadn’t fled Persford. At the moment they just had the worry about finding the odd shoe in the car park. Despite maintaining a look out at BioQex he was secretly losing hope that they would find him alive.

  ‘Right, I’ll schedule another briefing later today, thanks, team. Any snippet of information however small, I need to know immediately,’ he shouted rushing from the room.

  The rest of the attendees gathered their things and headed back to their workstations, everyone was energised, they needed to push this through to a conclusion. They just hoped that after all this effort they could secure a conviction.

  **

  At the same time over the other side of Persford, Ez Milburn was starting his shift at the supermarket. He was feeling rather tired as he’d had a few too many beers last night and then hadn’t slept well on his friend’s sofa. He’d been trying to contact Zac this morning, just for a quick chat but all his calls and texts had gone unanswered. He wasn’t unduly worried, perhaps Zac was driving to work or still asleep. Anyway, he would try later that morning, maybe by then, Zac would have contacted him. At that moment he was distracted from his thoughts when a colleague slapped him on the back.

  ‘Morning Ez,’ said Gary, ‘you look lost in your thoughts.’

  ‘Oh, hi Gary,
no I’m OK, just feeling a bit tired this morning, didn’t sleep too well.’

  ‘You lucky sod, found a good woman did you?’ said Gary jokingly, punching him on the arm.

  ‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ replied Ez, ‘no I was round at Todd’s last night. Had a few too many.’ In future, he might steer clear of Todd. It had become apparent that he had some rather dubious friends. One had called round late at night obviously high on something, behaving very erratically. Todd had quickly ushered him out into the kitchen where a whispered conversation had taken place. Ez had been straining to hear and was sure he’d heard the words angel dust. That was the second time recently he’d heard that phrase, he could only assume someone had decided to make it widely available in the town. For his own well-being, he really needed to distance himself from drugs, he’d had enough problems to contend with in the past. If his brother were to find out he’d been tempted in that direction he would soon turn him out on to the street and that would be a disaster for him. No way could he cope without Zac.

  **

  Brett arrived at work early, about 7.30 a.m. As he approached the main door of BioQex he noticed a few people standing around outside, the door was locked and their usual security guard Mark was not in evidence.

  ‘What’s happening Amanda, why can’t we get in?’asked Brett.

  ‘Well it looks like Mark is off today and they’ve forgotten to send someone to man the front desk for us.’

  ‘Typical,’ muttered Brett.

  ‘I’ve phoned security and they’re sending someone over to unlock, should be here in five minutes.’

  ‘OK, great, thanks for doing that,’ and Brett stepped away to check his mobile. He realised that they ought to be grateful there weren’t any press hanging around, obviously too early for them, but it reminded him that they needed to remain vigilant. ‘Amanda, can you make sure that security is aware we might have the press descending on us today after yesterday’s police presence.’

  ‘Of course, yes, I’ll give them a call once I get to my desk. Oh, that looks like security arriving now.’

  Brett hoped that standing around outside wasn’t going to be a portent for another bad day. Yesterday had been such a shock. How embarrassing had it been to have the plod marching through his company, sealing off the lab as a crime scene. He wished he could get his hands on that Nick Thomas. It was just so brazen to be operating an illicit drugs lab right under his nose. Well the good thing was that he wouldn’t have to see much more of him. His contract with BioQex would be terminated as soon as he was charged.

  Chapter 55

  Mark was waiting anxiously in one of the interview rooms, another duty solicitor had just arrived, a Miss Sarah Wagstaff who looked straight from law school. Having returned from Zac Milburn’s flat, Detective Andy Walters made the necessary introductions. He pressed record on the machine and began his questioning.

  ‘Mr Jameson, can you tell us what you were doing on Sunday evening, two days ago?’

  ‘I was working at the science park.’

  ‘Yes, and were you alone when you went to the science park?’

  ‘No,’ replied Mark.

  ‘Who was with you?’

  ‘Nick Thomas.’

  ‘Can you explain why you took Mr Thomas with you when you began your shift as security for the science park?’

  ‘He persuaded me to take him along as he wanted to retrieve some samples and evidence of the illicit drugs factory at BioQex. I was very reluctant but having had time to listen to Nick’s arguments I agreed.’

  ‘And what arguments were those?’

  ‘He’s been watching that Zac Milburn. He’s sure he’s been up to no good, making something, P something, I can’t remember what he called it. Come to think of it I did wonder why this Zac guy was always working late. Nobody works so late consistently, not even the senior guys. One night I had to practically throw him out of the building he was there so late. He was obviously up to something.’

  ‘Well, that’s very interesting Mr Jameson. One thing puzzles us though. Why did your car test positive for drugs, particularly around the area of the pedals?’

  ‘Oh, it was a mess up. When we went to get the samples, Nick bent down to get something, I’m not sure what happened exactly but as his ribs are so painful, he nearly fell over and in the process, he dropped one of the little sample bottles and it broke. It spilt the powder all over the floor. He called me in to help him and I must have stepped in it. He told me to be careful but it was dark and we were using the torch on his mobile so I couldn’t see properly. Also, we were panicking as we knew we shouldn’t have really been in there. Anyway, I helped him sweep it up and swab up the rest with some solvent, I don’t know what, and tissues and we stuffed them into a little bottle and then we left.’

  ‘I see,’ replied Andy. Well, it all seemed to fit with what Nick had said and it was unlikely that this security guy could have made up something like this. It also explained why the only place the drug was detected was on the pedals and not in the boot or elsewhere. It did seem plausible, and together with the CCTV footage of Zac Milburn working late, he looked increasingly like the culprit.

  Just then there was a knock at the door, it was Shani.

  ‘Interview suspended, at 9.38 a.m.,’ and he left the room.

  ‘Sir, just thought you would want to know, I’ve accessed that footage from the camera by the library and a figure resembling Zac Milburn went into the library on the dates and times we were interested in.’

  ‘Great stuff, thanks for letting me know.’

  Andy went back to the interview room and asked his colleague Rob Selhurst to step outside.

  ‘That’s our proof that Zac Milburn is the culprit,’ he said after relaying the information from Shani. ‘I’ll phone BioQex, we need to know if he arrives at work. We also need to let them know that we still have Nick Thomas but we’ve not charged him yet. I’ll get on to that, can you go in and explain there’s been some developments? Tell the solicitor and Mr Jameson that we need them to hold on for a short while but take them to somewhere a bit more salubrious than the interview room. Tell him he’s free to leave but we’d very much appreciate it if he stayed, blah blah. I just want to make sure we have Zac here before we let the others go.’

  Andy Walters phoned BioQex CSO, Brett Chandler and received a very frosty reception. Unfortunately, Andy could give no guarantees of when the lab would be returned to them as it was an ongoing investigation. He explained that he needed to know whether Zac Milburn had arrived for work and they needed to be discreet. If he did put in an appearance at work they would go over and take him in for questioning.

  ‘OK officer, I hear what you say, but I’m a bit confused. You’ve arrested Nick Thomas and now you say you want Zac Milburn. So are you saying there are two people involved?’ replied Brett.

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t release any details of an ongoing investigation at the moment, sir. But it’s imperative that we speak to Mr Milburn as soon as possible.’

  ‘OK, well we’re happy to help. I’ll get my secretary to go along to see whether he’s arrived for work and she will phone you back, can I have your direct number?’

  ‘Thank you for your cooperation, Dr Chandler,’ and Andy gave his number.

  Brett hung up and cursed. It looked like the police would be trampling all over his workplace yet again. The press would have a field day. As he looked out he was sure he could see a couple of reporters hanging around. Luckily no local TV film crew as yet. There would be soon though if the police arrived for a second day. How on earth were the staff expected to concentrate with all this going on? It was like some sort of circus rather than a research environment.

  **

  Andy Walters went to tell the custody sergeant to complete the paperwork so that they could release Nick. When Polly came to collect him she was to surrender Nick’s passport and he would be told to report in each morning to the police station until they were happy that their investigations
were complete. Nick’s solicitor Mr Chamberlain had arrived and he was in agreement with those conditions.

  That morning the desk sergeant had taken a call from Matt Pearson putting himself forward as a character witness for Nick and offering to support any bail application in the event that money was required to secure his release. The sergeant took his details and said that someone from CID would phone him back. When news of this call reached the CID team they felt that it added further proof that Nick had acted with the best of intentions albeit foolishly and in a blinkered manner.

  Inspector Harris decided to phone Matt just to hear in more detail what he had to say.

  ‘Matt Pearson, speaking.’

  ‘Hello Dr Pearson, this is Inspector Mike Harris from Persford CID. I understand you wished to speak to us about Mr Nick Thomas?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. I was shocked when I heard he’d been arrested and I wanted to let you know that I’ve known Nick for almost ten years now and he’s one of the most reliable and truthful colleagues I’ve ever worked with.’

  ‘You knew him at BioQex I assume?’

  ‘Yes, for a couple of years and before for about oh, let me see, it must have been six or seven years before.’

  ‘I see sir, and were you aware of any aspects of Mr Thomas’s private life which may have been, how shall I say, not quite above board?’

  ‘Absolutely not! He was an asset to the company, hard-working, honest, always with the best interests of his colleagues at heart. I would trust him with my life. He’s not got a bad bone in his body.’