by Malcolm Rose
It struck Troy that, if she was mixed up in the crime, she could have a motive for the killing. She wanted to keep the whole area to herself and Nigel. Was she so selfish that she was prepared to kill strangers who strayed into her precious playground?
Troy imagined that Lexi’s scientific spreadsheet was telling the same story, highlighting the same connections. The rogue squirrels of Pickling were off the hook, for sure.
In a separate message, his life-logger told him that the whereabouts of Nigel Edwin Thirty-One were still unknown. ‘He’s not at home. More than that, he’s nowhere to be seen. Search continuing.’
Another unknown was bothering Troy. Where did Nigel Thirty-One get mercury? The most obvious source was Tight End Recycling Facility just a few kilometres away, but Troy had no evidence for or against.
He sent a request to Caroline Seventeen and Jon Drago Five at TERF for a fresh and complete audit on all their mercury. Then he pushed away his empty plate, knocked back the remains of the strong coffee and set out for Tight End Crime Central.
SCENE 30
Wednesday 14th May, Morning
On his way to the local police headquarters, Troy received a call from TERF’s chief scientist. Caroline Seventeen told him, ‘We’re already conducting an audit of our mercury stock – at the request of Detective Lexi Iona Four. She emailed during the night.’
‘Not sleeping has its advantages.’
‘I’ll have an answer for you later today but, to be honest, I can’t conceive of any way our records could be in error by more than milligrams.’
‘One other thing,’ Troy said.
‘What?’
‘Have you come across Nigel Edwin Thirty-One or Zoe Olivia Three?’
‘The names don’t ring a bell. Just a moment.’
In the distance, Troy heard a faint siren, but he focussed on the phone call. He guessed that Caroline was searching a database.
A few seconds later, the chief scientist said, ‘I have nothing on Nigel Edwin Thirty-One, but nearly a year ago a Zoe Olivia Three did some work experience here. She was competent, hard-working and keen according to my file, but this business wasn’t glamorous enough for her, apparently. She didn’t stay.’
‘But she learned all the ins and outs of mercury recycling?’
‘Yes.’
‘In that case, I think you should double-check your on-site store of mercury because I can conceive of a way your records are wrong – if someone who knows her way around the factory sneaked in and took what she wanted.’
‘I’ll be in touch.’
‘Thanks.’
The driverless car was approaching Tight End Crime Central and Troy felt a sudden chill down his spine. There were clusters of people standing outside the old building and thick grey smoke surged from its upper storeys. Through the windows, he could see the yellow flicker of flames. The ominous and urgent sound of sirens was getting louder. Even before the car came to a halt, Troy opened the door, jumped out and ran towards the building. Looking at the assembled staff, immediately he noticed that Lexi wasn’t among them.
On his life-logger was a single word. Trapped. Without a thought about his own safety or his father’s fate, Troy raced to the side-entrance of the forensic labs.
As soon as he went inside, he coughed. The air was acrid and sooty. The whole place was unnaturally hot, but the flames were further down the wooden corridor and on the floor above. Troy could hear alarms, sirens and worrying creaks and crashes.
He dashed towards the forensic department and, at the same time, placed a handkerchief over his nose and mouth, tying it tightly behind his head. He opened the door on the left and a blast of heat enveloped him. Patches of the large room were utterly black. Equipment along the far bench was scattered and ablaze. The main rafter supporting the storey above had fallen. It had pinned two chromatographs and Lexi Iona Four to the floor.
Troy dashed to his partner’s side. The heavy oak beam had collapsed across Lexi’s right leg. Both of them coughed as a section of plaster and a smaller wooden joist came down in a cloud of dust and hot ash. Above their heads, the floorboards were aflame. The whole ceiling was not going to stay up for long and when it gave way, they would be pelted with burning wreckage.
‘Are you hurt?’ Troy asked, almost shouting at her.
‘I don’t think so. Bruised, but I don’t think anything’s broken. I just can’t shift the wood.’
Troy knew as soon as he put his arms round the beam and heaved that it was not going to budge. Even so, he tried twice more before giving up.
He looked down at Lexi’s lower leg and foot poking out from the other side of the rafter and groaned. ‘I think there might be a way.’ He paused and asked, ‘Is there a saw in here? You must have to saw into bits of evidence sometimes.’
Lexi gulped but nodded. ‘A big hacksaw hooked on the wall. Over there.’ She pointed. ‘Facemasks on the bench as well.’
Troy jumped over some unidentifiable smouldering remains and grabbed the hacksaw. Its metal handle was warm. The ineffective handkerchief fell from his face. Behind him, some flaming timber dropped down and struck him on the back. He ignored the discomfort. He grasped two facemasks and fitted one over Lexi’s mouth and nose. Then he pulled the other over his own face.
Again, he examined the beam and his partner’s protruding leg. He knew he didn’t have long and he couldn’t see any other option. He would have to select the right place to cut very carefully. ‘Okay. I’m going to try it,’ he yelled. ‘All right?’
Lexi winced and nodded.
‘I think I know where’s best to saw through.’
Lexi swallowed and shut her eyes.
Troy picked his spot, took a deep breath and began to pump the hacksaw back and forth. The teeth of the blade bit into the timber and began to make a thin groove.
Lexi opened her eyes again and gazed at Troy. She sighed. ‘For a moment there I thought …’
‘What?’
‘Nothing. Is it working?’
‘It’s not easy but I’ll do it if it’s the last thing …’ He decided not to continue the sentence. ‘I can’t move the whole beam, but I reckon I’ll shift half of it when I cut it in two.’
Troy put all his strength and concentration into sawing. He watched as each thrust and back-stroke went a few millimetres deeper into the timber. He sawed as fast as he could, using as much power as he possessed, thinking that would cut through the wood as quickly as possible.
Really, the hacksaw wasn’t designed for slicing large chunks of timber, but it was Troy’s only weapon. He was soon drenched in perspiration. The effort, the tension and the fiery heat made him sweat like a boxer. His right shoulder and arm began to ache – but he didn’t slow. If anything, he attacked the oak even more, wanting to get it over with before his muscles gave up altogether. And before the ceiling gave way.
He could not rely on help arriving in time. He guessed that firefighters were outside, weighing up their options. Even if they’d entered the building, Troy thought they’d concentrate on the main offices and incidents rooms.
To his left, a large section of the ceiling caved in. He barely noticed the blazing floorboards spreading the fire. One whole laboratory bench was now well alight. The room was filling with toxic gases. Dark fumes gathered like menacing clouds above their heads.
Lexi cried out, ‘It’s not working. Save yourself.’
‘Shush,’ Troy gasped obstinately.
‘The masks stop particles, not poison gas. You’ll be overcome.’
A joist fell like a burning spear, just missing Troy.
‘Save your breath.’
But Troy would be the first to succumb. Tiredness made him take great gulps of the toxic air.
Easing herself up on her elbows, Lexi watched her partner. The blade of the hacksaw was labouring through the last two centimetres of wood, but each stroke drained Troy of energy and made less impact on the timber.
‘Nearly there,’ Lexi shouted, encour
aging him.
He had to finish the job, but his right arm was spent. He adjusted his stance and attacked the rafter with his left hand instead. His sawing action was awkward with that arm, but at least the teeth of the jagged blade sank more into the wood. Sawdust began to spray again as he pushed and pulled frenziedly.
The smell had become almost unbearable. The gases came from burning wood, fabric and plastic. They clung horribly to his mouth, throat and lungs.
Lexi put out an arm and slapped the trousers of his leg where the cloth brushed against a red-hot piece of fallen floorboard and caught fire. She put out the flames before they really got started.
Troy took no notice.
Then, the beam finally gave way. Troy thrust so hard at the final stroke that he nearly toppled over. He threw down the hacksaw and grabbed with both arms the part of the beam that lay over Lexi’s leg. He bent his knees like a weight-lifter, steeled himself and heaved with all his remaining energy. Because he had exerted himself so much, the rafter did not shift.
After all that effort, though, he wasn’t going to admit defeat. He refused to leave his partner to her fate. From somewhere, he had to summon more strength. Internally, he prayed for help, for a little intervention. Then he took a deep breath of foul air, gritted his teeth and strained every muscle to lift the beam. It didn’t move much, but it was enough. Lexi squirmed out from under it and at once stood upright. She lurched and swayed but her leg held her weight.
Troy let go of the half-rafter but, nearing exhaustion, remained flat-out on the floor.
The room was shrouded in a thick poisonous fog. Lexi and Troy could barely see each other. The remaining part of the ceiling crashed down and rested on the benches. Lexi ducked down and grabbed Troy. Together, bent double, they crawled as quickly as they could out of the lab. They sprawled into the corridor, straight into the path of a firefighter.
The officer was wearing more protective gear than an astronaut. Neither Troy nor Lexi could tell if they’d stumbled into a man or a woman. But the firefighter helped them both up, propelled them rapidly down the corridor to the nearest exit and out into cool, fresh air.
The officer didn’t allow them to flop onto the ground. Gripping an arm of each of them, the firefighter marched them away from the building that was in danger of collapse, dragging them to the assembly point. Only then did the officer release their arms and let them relax.
At once, Troy bent over, yanked the mask from his blackened face and vomited abundantly.
Normally so cool, calm and unemotional, Lexi gave in to her sense of relief and sobbed.
SCENE 31
Wednesday 14th May, Lunchtime
‘How are you feeling?’ Lexi asked.
‘Like my throat and lungs are on fire,’ Troy replied. ‘They’ve been thoroughly sandpapered. What about you?’
They were sitting together next to Troy’s hospital bed. On the tray in front of them were two meals – one major and one outer – but both detectives toyed with their food rather than tucked into it. The fire had taken away their appetites for minced meat and grasshopper salsa tacos.
‘Black and blue but okay,’ Lexi answered. ‘They scanned my whole body. Not a bone out of place. I have a beautiful, intact skeleton.’ She paused before adding, ‘What do you think it was all about?’
Troy knew she was referring to the fire. ‘An accident, someone being careless in an old risky building, or someone deliberately trying to destroy evidence. Or us.’
Lexi nodded. ‘If it was arson, it sort of worked. Our physical evidence has gone. I was trying to save it. That’s why I lingered too long in the lab and got my leg squelched.’ She sighed with regret. ‘I’ll never get to check when and where the hard-hats were bought, and who bought them. The central computer’s died a death as well. Fried. And all the security cameras have melted or something. They’re not working. We’re not going to see who did it or what happened.’
‘We only lost the back-up.’ Troy tapped his life-logger. ‘All the forensic details and your results are in here.’
‘Might be able to salvage lots from mine as well,’ said Lexi.
‘And, if the idea was to get rid of us, it didn’t work. Not quite.’
Lexi shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. ‘I’m not good at this sort of thing,’ she said, ‘but you did something amazing this morning.’
‘Did I?’
‘Days after your dad … you know … you did the same. You ran into a fire. And you stayed with me, even when it looked bad. Thanks.’
Troy shrugged. ‘I didn’t fancy having to get used to a new partner.’
‘Huh.’
A doctor came into the room and smiled at Troy. ‘You’re a lucky lad. You’re free to go. You’re nowhere near one hundred per cent, but what you need most is rest and fresh air. If you get dizzy or short of breath, relax or come back for more oxygen treatment. My best prescription is: take it easy. If you see anyone who needs rescuing, let somebody else do it. And don’t go chasing bad guys.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Some chance,’ Lexi whispered to herself.
Troy’s life-logger vibrated with an incoming message from Jon Drago Five at Tight End Recycling Facility. Troy read it and then said to Lexi, ‘TERF has got less mercury on site than they thought. They can only explain it if someone’s been breaking in and nicking it.’
‘No great surprise. I’ll send a forensic team to check it out.’
Troy nodded. ‘First stop after this is Zoe Three’s place.’
SCENE 32
Wednesday 14th May, Afternoon
Zoe Olivia Three was not at home. Standing by the front door, Troy looked at his partner and said, ‘What do you think? Have we got enough on her to go in and take DNA without her permission?’
‘She used to work at the place where the mercury comes from. The description of her hair matches what I found on one of the hard-hats. She’s very friendly with our main suspect, Nigel Thirty-One. A witness says she’s been with him to the crime scene. Yes, we can justify a break-in.’
‘Give the door some welly,’ Troy said.
As soon as Lexi’s leg impacted with the wood, the door sprang back and Lexi let out a cry of pain. Smiling wryly, she said, ‘Another bruise won’t make much difference.’
While Lexi collected some skin and hair samples from Zoe’s bedroom, their life-loggers received a photograph of two hooded people taken by a security camera on the property neighbouring Tight End Crime Central. One was holding the type of can used for carrying fuel.
Troy and Lexi both examined the sinister figures and came to the conclusion that they couldn’t identify either. There weren’t enough features on show. Even an advanced facial recognition program was unlikely to recognize them.
Straightaway, Lexi arranged for a police motorcyclist to collect the new evidence on Zoe Olivia Three and speed it as a priority to the nearest working forensic laboratory.
Troy called for an update on the team searching for Nigel Thirty-One. Because of the fire, there were few police officers to continue the hunt and they remained clueless.
Troy trickled cold blueberry juice past his sore throat and it eased the stinging sensation. Lexi swallowed a lot of beer and it did nothing at all for her aching leg.
‘I’m thinking about where they might go,’ said Troy.
‘And?’ Lexi prompted.
‘I’m thinking about Loose End Edge.’
Lexi nodded slowly. ‘Good point. If they spend quite a lot of time out there, it’ll be a second home to them. Lots of secret places to hide away. And deserted, so they won’t be seen.’
‘Except they will be seen.’ Troy raised his eyebrows. ‘Won’t they?’
‘My spy camera! Yes, of course.’ Fiddling with her life-logger, she said, ‘I’ll check – if it’s still working after someone tried to barbeque it this morning.’ She tapped on the keypad and sighed with frustration. ‘There was some action on the camera, but my life-logger didn’t record it properl
y.’ She growled to herself. ‘No movies but I’ve got some stills. Look. Two people about to go down the mineshaft in that cage.’
‘Wearing the same clothes as our fire-starters.’
‘Yeah. You’re right.’ The next snapshot that Lexi discovered showed their faces clearly. At once, she shared it with her partner.
Troy nodded. ‘Nigel Edwin Thirty-One and Zoe Olivia Three.’
Lexi got to her feet but Troy didn’t follow suit. She said, ‘What’s bothering you?’
‘In a way, the fire was my fault.’
Puzzled, Lexi asked, ‘How do you make that out?’
‘I told Zoe we’d got evidence about gold-mining. She obviously decided to get rid of it.’
‘Look. I’ve just seen two people with petrol heading towards Crime Central. I think I know who to blame – and it’s not you,’ Lexi replied. ‘Come on. Time to organize another expedition.’
SCENE 33
Wednesday 14th May, Dusk
As they made their way to their separate positions, Troy and Lexi realized that they could be walking into a trap.
If Nigel Thirty-One and Zoe Three had spotted the spy camera at the head of the mineshaft, they could be luring the detectives back to Loose End Edge and another ambush.
‘First kill the evidence and then kill us,’ Troy said into his microphone.
‘If the fire didn’t finish us off.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Are you having second thoughts about this?’ asked Lexi.
‘No. Not really.’
‘Good,’ Lexi replied, ‘Because there’s only one way to find out – and that’s by doing what we’re doing.’
Troy agreed. ‘If they didn’t spot the camera, that’s where they’ll be hiding and we’ll have to flush them out.’
‘Agreed. We keep to the plan.’
They were in radio contact at all times, but part of two different units. Lexi was leading a group of four fit and healthy volunteers to the mouth of the cave. They were all outers and they had rope ladders to help them ascend the rock to the pool. Troy was in a car with three other police officers. They would soon arrive at the top of the shaft with the pulley and basket. At first, they planned to wait there in case Lexi’s team drove Nigel and Zoe successfully towards the hole, until there was nowhere for the two suspects to go but upwards. If that didn’t happen, though, Troy’s crew would go down and join the others in the cave. Troy and one officer would descend in the basket first, followed by the other two.