The Health of Strangers

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The Health of Strangers Page 20

by Lesley Kelly


  Bernard pondered this for a moment. ‘He’s too sharp to do that by mistake.’

  Mona looked over her shoulder in the direction of Paterson’s office. ‘I think he wants us to keep looking for her. And I don’t think he was lying when he said he was concerned about Heidi.’

  Bernard bit his bottom lip. ‘He was very keen to let us know he was staying at The George for another night.’

  She threw another glance toward their boss. ‘I reckon we’ve got about five minutes before the Guv comes out here with something else for us to do.’

  Bernard picked up his coat. ‘Just so I know, Mona, does Mr Paterson get very annoyed when you do the exact opposite of what he asks you to do?’

  Mona just smiled. ‘Let’s go. And while we are en route I need to tell you something interesting about Amanda and Heidi.’

  4

  Toller did not look surprised to see them. He stood in the doorway of his hotel room, neither welcoming them in, nor making any effort to conceal the room behind him. Unlike his boss, Toller did not appear to merit a suite of rooms. Over his shoulder Mona could see a fairly small bedroom, his suitcase lying open on the bed.

  ‘I have told you absolutely everything I know about the situation.’ Toller’s voice was a calm monotone. ‘Heidi is safe and well in Germany. Please leave me to pack in peace.’ He reached forward and shook Mona’s hand. ‘Good day.’

  As the door shut in their faces Bernard looked at her in amazement. ‘Why did you let him do that?’

  Mona smiled, enjoying his confusion. She opened her hand and showed Bernard a folded-up piece of paper. He reached out to take it but she closed her hand, and strode into the lift. As the door closed behind them she unfolded the note.

  My apologies for the subterfuge. I would be extremely grateful if you could meet me by the Walter Scott monument in Princes Street Gardens in one half-hour.

  As the lift hit the ground floor Mona put a finger to her lips. God knew who would be hanging around the Reception area. The last thing she wanted was Bernard asking lots of questions at the top of his voice. She put on her best look of irritation, and flounced out of the lift and across the lobby.

  ‘Well, that was a waste of time.’ She spoke loudly, over her shoulder. ‘Come on, Bernard, let’s get back to the office.’

  She left at such a pace that she could hear her colleague running to keep up.

  ‘Apologies again for the intrigue.’ Toller motioned to them to join him on the bench. ‘I thought it would be pleasant to meet in the shadow of one of your great writers.’ He pointed up at the monument.

  ‘Don’t mention it. Is your room bugged?’

  Toller laughed. ‘Perhaps. Jens and I are not on the best of terms. If I was in his position I would want to know if I remained loyal or not.’

  ‘Do you?’ asked Bernard.

  There was a silence, which was broken by the sound of Mona’s phone ringing. Embarrassed, she muttered an apology.

  ‘Do you need to answer that?’ asked Toller.

  She reached into her bag and turned her mobile off. If Paterson was looking for them, she’d deal with the trouble later.

  Toller reached into his pocket and brought out a packet of Malboro.

  ‘Do you mind? Sorry, I did not offer you one. Would either of you?’

  They both made polite noises declining his offer.

  ‘Of course not.’ He struck a match with one hand. ‘The Policewoman and the Sportsman. I am not so virtuous as you.’

  ‘Not virtuous, just . . .’

  ‘Enough, Bernard.’ Mona glared at him. This wasn’t the time for a lecture on the evils of smoking from her health-aware colleague. She addressed Toller.

  ‘Heidi isn’t in Germany, is she?’

  Toller laughed. ‘Perhaps she is. Perhaps even now she is sitting in her father’s summer house in Wannsee, making lunch and wondering how she can ever show her face in public again after her naughty Papi’s disgrace.’

  Mona stared at him. ‘You don’t believe that.’

  He looked serious. ‘No, I don’t. Her father is fooling himself if he thinks that Heidi has run off because of him.’

  ‘Was she aware of the . . .’ Bernard struggled to find the right word, ‘the situation with her father?’

  Toller leaned forward and contemplated his shoes. ‘Yes, I had the pleasure of telling her that the Press had been asking questions, and the story was likely to break soon.’

  ‘How did she take it?’

  ‘Pretty well.’

  He blew out a ring of smoke. Mona fought the urge to waft it away with her hand.

  ‘But then she hates her father.’ Toller sat back.

  ‘Why?’ Bernard looked confused.

  ‘Because she loves her mother. This is not Jens’s first indiscretion by any means.’ He stubbed out his cigar-ette. ‘And now, you tell me what you know about the situation.’

  She looked at her partner. ‘Where do we start, Bernard?’

  He took a deep breath and began. ‘Heidi was involved with a fringe group opposed to the Government’s handling of the Virus called The Children of Camus. We think they are led by her supposed boyfriend, Kevin.’

  ‘Heidi’s boyfriend? I got the impression from her parents that he was a very nice boy. Very studious. What did you mean “supposed” boyfriend?’

  Mona looked at Bernard. He raised his eyebrows but didn’t offer any help.

  ‘I have some news that may surprise you, Doctor Toller.’ Ridiculously, she felt herself blushing. ‘Heidi is a lesbian. She’s in a relationship with her flatmate, Amanda.’

  Toller stared at Mona. His cigarette burned down to the end and singed his fingers. He cursed and dropped it. ‘Heidi is a lesbian? How can this be? Are her parents aware of this?’

  ‘No. Amanda seemed to think they would not take it well.’

  ‘But how could Jens and Maria not have known this? Heidi was very close to her mother – surely she would have told her?’

  ‘Young people can be very good at hiding things,’ said Mona.

  ‘So, what do The Children of Camus do?’ asked the Doctor.

  ‘Lots of pretty stupid things, such as illegal meet-ups,’ said Bernard. ‘But the thing that worries us most is they have this conviction that consuming drugs called Luprophen and Hyrdosol can prevent the Virus.’

  Doctor Toller looked horrified.

  ‘Utter nonsense, of course,’ Bernard continued.

  The German sat with his eyes closed. ‘Actually, it is not nonsense. Please tell me Heidi had nothing to do with these drugs.’

  Mona looked at her colleague in confusion. ‘I’m afraid Heidi ordered £2,000 worth of them over the Internet shortly before she went missing. We believe she was intending to sell them on to her friends in The Children of Camus.’

  Toller pulled out another cigarette and slowly proceeded to light up. ‘I need to tell you both something in confidence.’

  ‘I’m not sure that we can give you any promises about confidentiality if it affects our investigation.’

  ‘Of course.’ He thought for a minute. ‘I have to tell you anyway. It is crucial to Heidi’s safety. Our Government has been working with a pharmaceuticals firm on a trial of the two drugs that you mentioned. I cannot stress enough how secret these trials were. Jens was the Minister in charge of these operations — if Heidi has abused knowledge she gained through her father she will be in a great deal of trouble.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Bernard. ‘I’m afraid we’ll have to let SHEP know about this.’

  Toller laughed.

  ‘Doctor Toller,’ said Mona, ‘we will have to tell our bosses about this. It’s relevant to the case.’

  ‘The trials have been very promising to date.’ He stared at her, his blue eyes unblinking. ‘How much do you think a patented solution to our viral problem would be worth?’

  Mona waited for Bernard to express an opinion, but even he seemed to realise this was rhetorical. You couldn’t put a price on something
that would lower even slightly the chances of dying from the Virus.

  ‘Heidi leaking this information could cause commercial chaos for the firm concerned. There are many people who would be very dismayed at what she has done. There are many people who would wish her harm. You need to find her, get her to me and I will ensure we keep her safe.’

  Mona sighed. ‘Do you have any idea where Heidi could have gone? Is she still in this country?’

  ‘Yes. As you correctly identified we have her passport. One of the many reasons her father is fooling himself.’‘Would she stay locally, do you think, or is there somewhere she is familiar with that she would go to?’

  ‘Her bank card has not been used since she went missing, although I was not aware she had a credit card until you mentioned it. Prior to her disappearance she withdrew the maximum amount she could from her account on three consecutive days. I assumed the £1,500 was money to fund her disappearance, although now I wonder . . .’

  ‘£1,500 is a lot for a student to have in their bank account.’

  Toller smiled. ‘Heidi is not an ordinary student. Unfortunately some of her so-called friends seemed to have realised this.’

  ‘So, with £1,500 cash she could lie low somewhere for a few weeks.’ Bernard said.

  ‘Or she could be up to her neck in drug dealing, and in serious danger.’

  ‘Or dead.’ Herr Toller said. ‘Let us not forget that possibility.’ He slumped back on the bench. ‘I am sorry. This is very difficult for us all.’

  ‘So, you have no idea at all where she could be?’

  ‘No, I am very sad to say.’ He sighed. ‘Do you?’

  ‘No. But I know a man who might.’ She got to her feet. ‘Come on, Bernard. We have your mobile number, Herr Toller. If we find out anything at all, we’ll be in touch.’

  ‘It is imperative that you let me know as soon as you find her, so that I can arrange appropriate protection. Please get in touch as soon as you know anything.’ He raised a hand in farewell.

  Bernard looked back over his shoulder. ‘He’s lighting up again. He’s going to die of lung cancer before we’ve found Heidi.’

  ‘At the rate this investigation is going, quite possibly.’ She started walking.

  ‘Mona, you know what has always bugged me about this case?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You know the girls that committed suicide from the Church of the Lord Arisen?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘When we spoke to the mother of the girl in the coma, Kirsty, she was convinced that it wasn’t suicide.’

  Mona pulled a face. ‘Yeah, but parents often find that difficult to accept.’

  ‘But I was surprised that they committed suicide, even with the Virus, and everything. They were young, had family support, a network of friends, a strong faith – all these are strong protective factors against suicide. Do we know what drugs they overdosed on?’

  Mona stopped walking. ‘It was an antidepressant. You’re thinking it could be Luprophen?’

  He nodded. ‘How much damage have Heidi and her pals done?’

  She started moving again, mulling over what her colleague had suggested.

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Bernard.

  ‘I’m going to pay a visit to Marcus the Geek, and you,’ she stopped and showed him her phone. There were seven missed call messages. ‘You are going to call Maitland back and see what he wants.’

  ‘Oh God, not Maitland again.’ Bernard looked almost comically annoyed.

  ‘Just ring him.’

  Before he could protest any further she ran toward Princes Street, elbowing her way through a crowd of people gathered round one of the evangelists who seemed to be permanently stationed at the entrance to the Gardens these days. The preacher’s voice drifted over to her as she waited to cross the road.

  ‘Repent, sinners! We have brought this plague upon ourselves. We have gone against the Lord. We have not listened to His Word and in return we will bring the plague sevenfold upon this world.’Mona turned, and saw the evangelist was looking straight at her.

  ‘By our adultery, by our degenerate behaviour, we have turned from the Lord. By our behaviour we have brought death to the innocents.’

  Speak for yourself, she thought.

  5

  ‘I need a witness when I speak to this guy.’ Maitland jabbed his sandwich in the direction of Pastor Mackenzie’s house. Through a mouthful of ham-and-mustard he continued, ‘He’s a slippery customer. Let’s hope he hasn’t buggered off somewhere while I was sitting filling out forms in triplicate for Cameron bloody Stuttle.’

  Bernard shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat of the pool car. He was desperate to get back to the search for Heidi, but hadn’t managed to avoid being dragged here by Maitland. He wondered if he would benefit from some assertiveness training in order to allow him to deal effectively with his colleagues. ‘Did you get them all completed?’

  There was a brief pause. ‘After a fashion. Anyway, we both know this is more important.’

  ‘Is it?’ Bernard stared at him. Maitland’s vendetta against Pastor Mackenzie was pretty low on his list of priorities. He was aching to get back to the Heidi case, although he had to admit, without Mona’s directions he wasn’t sure exactly what he should be doing on it. ‘I don’t think we should be here, Maitland. We can’t go interviewing someone just because you think your girlfriend has moved in with him.’

  Maitland nearly choked on his Diet Coke.

  ‘She hasn’t moved in with him! She’s just confused. Anyway, I already explained to you that it’s perfectly acceptable to re-interview leads in a Defaulter case.’

  This was true. When he’d returned his call, Maitland had given him a fabulously convoluted explanation why they were legally entitled to speak to Pastor Mackenzie again, which he hadn’t entirely followed, but hadn’t felt able to refute either. He looked over at the Pastor’s neat, semi-detached house and garden, wondering if they were going to be faced with a harassment complaint.

  ‘Bernard!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Stop daydreaming – it’s time to go.’ Maitland squashed the cardboard wrapper that had recently contained his sandwich and threw it onto the back seat.

  Bernard wondered if he had a stomach for the fight that would start if he voiced further concerns. Maitland glared at him.

  ‘What?’ he barked.

  Bernard decided that he definitely did not have the nerve for an argument right now. ‘Just not sure we should be parking on a yellow line, that’s all.’

  Maitland nearly took the gate off its hinges as he threw it open. He marched up the path, rang the bell, and when it had not been opened after thirty seconds, started hammering on the door. Bernard placed a restraining hand on his arm, which was immediately thrown off.

  ‘Emma! I know you’re in there!’

  Through the frosted glass of the door they saw the outline of a figure.

  ‘Emma – I can see you! Let me in – you’re not safe here!’

  There was a clattering of keys on the other side of the door, which was then flung open. The woman who stood there was tall, slim, with short fair hair, and an expression that implied she wanted to kill Maitland. Bernard warmed to her immediately.

  ‘Not safe here? You’re the one causing a disturbance.’

  Maitland enveloped her in a hug, which she quickly repelled.

  Pastor Mackenzie appeared behind Emma. ‘Emma, are you sure you want to talk to Maitland at this point?’

  Maitland turned bright red. He pushed his girlfriend to one side and stepped into the porch. ‘Right, you,’ he pointed at the clergyman, ‘you’re coming with us. My colleagues in Police Scotland will want to interview you about an allegation of rape made against you.’

  ‘What?’ said Emma and Pastor Mackenzie in unison.

  Bernard grabbed his arm. ‘Maitland, is this official HET business?’ he whispered.

  Maitland shook him off. ‘You heard me. Get your things.�


  Over Pastor Mackenzie’s shoulder Bernard saw the door behind him move slightly. He was aware of a flash of long blonde hair, framing a delicate, heart-shaped face. Bernard blinked. He’d been wrong about something. When he was fifteen and on holiday with his parents, he’d seen Michelle Pfeiffer in a restaurant. He’d stared, open-mouthed, confident in the knowledge he would never be in the same room as such beauty again. Yet here was this woman, proving that theory completely wrong.

  ‘Colette – it is Colette, isn’t it?’

  She gave the slightest of nods.

  Maitland tried to step into the hallway, but neither Pastor Mackenzie nor Emma moved an inch. He balanced uneasily on the tiled front step, and looked back at him for support.

  Bernard stuck his head round the side of Maitland. ‘We’re from the Health Enforcement Team – we’ve been looking for you.’

  Colette sighed, leaning her head against the banister. Her long blonde hair fell across her face. Bernard thought she looked like she should have been in a pop video.

  ‘Donny told me. Am I under arrest?’

  There was a soft West Country lilt to her voice.

  ‘We need you to accompany me to a Health Check, but . . .’ Maitland caught Pastor Mackenzie off guard, and elbowed his way past him. Without looking back he took Colette’s arm, and ushered her gently into the room she had come out of, which turned out to be the kitchen. Bernard followed as quickly, and as apologetically, as he could.

  Maitland spoke softly. ‘What are you doing here, Colette, after that pathetic excuse for a minister,’ he dropped his voice even further, ‘took advantage of you?’

  ‘Malcolm?’ Colette looked at them in surprise. ‘Took advantage of me?’ She shook Maitland’s hand off her arm. ‘Did Donny tell you that?’

  Maitland looked at Bernard, his expression echoing the girl’s confusion, then back to Colette. ‘But you were raped?’

  The girl collapsed onto one of the kitchen seats, and started to cry. Bernard felt himself being pulled violently backwards, as Emma grabbed both their arms and hauled them out of the kitchen.

 

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