Cold, Cold Heart

by Christine Poulson

  She stole a glance at Adam. His freckles stood out against his pallor. Surely he could be ruled out? She just couldn’t imagine him having the audacity and the presence of mind for such a cold-blooded murder, even before he’d been taken ill. And she wanted to believe what he’d claimed in his fever, that he’d not taken the scalpel. As for Craig, she still felt that she hardly knew him, but she remembered that moment of kindness in the communications room. Nick? Despite his louche appearance, she happened to know he rang his mother every Sunday. Alex, so sensible, practical, looking out for Adam as he had been? Rhys, with his rather endearing nerdiness? Ernesto? He was sitting off to one side, clearly fretting to get back in the kitchen. He did have a temper and he did have butchering skills and he had access to knives. But then so did everyone else. There had been no need for locked doors on the base… until now…

  Graeme came in. Katie exchanged glances with Justin. There were butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t know what she was expecting. A confession?

  Graeme said, “I have some very bad news for you all.”

  Every eye was fixed on him. Adam’s mouth had dropped open.

  Graeme went on. “Katie has examined Sara’s body and concluded that Sara did not die accidentally.” The silence was absolute. He went on: “Sara was murdered.”

  Every face registered shock and disbelief. Katie, watching carefully, couldn’t detect anyone for whom this didn’t seem to be news.

  “As you’ll have realized,” Graeme went on, “she must have been killed by someone on the base. And we believe it happened on the afternoon that she went missing.” He paused, letting this sink in. No one spoke. “I’ve been in touch with headquarters. Obviously there’s no question of the police investigating this crime at first-hand. With the power vested in me as magistrate, I shall be taking charge. I am going to begin by interviewing every member of the team to establish who was doing what and where on the afternoon that Sara died.”

  Alex raised a hand. “But – when you say she was killed – what was it…?”

  Graeme said, “I’d rather not say for the moment. But I am afraid there can be no doubt about it.”

  There was a gasping sigh. It was Adam. His face was as white as chalk. Katie jumped to her feet. Craig, who was sitting next to Adam, turned and grasped his arm. She got to him just in time to help Craig lower him to the floor, as he fainted clean away.

  * * *

  The killer had been unlucky. No doubt about it. If it had gone as he had intended, it would have been the perfect crime. It would have been explained as another tragic accident. People would have shaken their heads and murmured: “It’s a hostile environment…” However, he’d been very careful. And even if he hadn’t been, by the time the police got to the base, forensics would be useless. Everyone’s fingerprints were everywhere. As for the scalpel, he had hidden that. Then the first time he had been on night watch and had the base to himself he had sterilized it in the autoclave and replaced it in the drawer in the surgery. Job done.

  He could hardly believe his ears when that fool Graeme said that he was going to investigate the murder. The guy didn’t even have a degree! It had been hard work not to burst out laughing, but he had managed to keep a shocked and solemn expression on his face. Katie had been watching closely. He had more to fear from her than from anyone else. She was a smart cookie and if she did show signs of guessing, it would be harder to get her on her own now that Justin had a good excuse to stick close to her. It was pathetic really. He probably thought no one had noticed those sideways glances and puppy-dog eyes.

  It was all a matter of keeping one’s nerve. They would never be able to prove anything. He didn’t think they’d even get close. And if they did… well, he wasn’t out of ideas yet, not by a long chalk.

  * * *

  Adam was asleep. Katie smoothed back the hair from his damp forehead.

  He had soon come round from his faint and they had taken him to his pit-room. He had lain on his bed with his eyes closed and Katie had seen tears seeping out. Katie had sent the others away.

  “I want to go home,” she’d heard him murmur.

  “I know. So do I,” Katie had said.

  He started to sob.

  Poor kid, she thought, on top of the operation it’s all been too much. She’d been unable to soothe him and in the end she had given him a mild sedative.

  Now she sat there beside the sleeping boy – she couldn’t think of him as a man, though that’s what he was, really. Justin had taken Graeme’s instructions seriously and was sitting on a chair outside the door. She knew that Graeme was waiting for her and Justin in his office. The rest of the men were waiting in the dining room to be called for interview, but she needed a few quiet moments first before she went out and joined them.

  She was more certain than ever that they could rule Adam out. The question was, were they going to be able to get him through the winter mentally intact? He was already fragile. Graeme was right. They couldn’t spend six months not knowing who was the murderer in their midst. She thought of The Thing and the scene where the crew are trying to work out who is an alien and who isn’t. The adventure of wintering over in Antarctica had turned into a kind of horror movie. There was something monstrous here, something alien, and you couldn’t tell who was harbouring it just by looking.

  It still seemed incredible. What possible reason could anyone have for killing kind and harmless Sara? Had it been something sexual? Perhaps she should have examined the body further. But surely Sara would have fought back if someone had tried to rape her and there would be evidence of a struggle, bruises on her arms, broken fingernails maybe. There was nothing, nothing except that one little wound, that one sure blow. It was the very opposite of what they called a “frenzied attack”. It was more as if someone had wanted to kill her as quickly and cleanly as possible.

  There was a gentle tap at the door and she gave a start.

  The door opened and Justin put his head round. “When you’re ready, Graeme wants us both. How’s Adam bearing up?”

  “Not good,” Katie said, speaking in a low voice. “I’m worried about him. He’s pretty fragile.”

  “We’ll interview him last.”

  Katie got up and went into the corridor, shutting the door behind her. “I’m hoping we might not have to interview him at all.”

  Justin looked doubtful. “Graeme won’t want to make exceptions, Katie.”

  “I know, but what if we find that between us all we can give him an alibi, that he doesn’t have half an hour unaccounted for?”

  “He told me he’d spent the afternoon watching the box set of Game of Thrones with Alex,” Justin said. “And drinking beer and eating nachos. So maybe we will be able to rule him out.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  Justin was leaning against the wall, and was showing no sign of moving.

  “We’d better get going,” Katie prompted.

  “Katie…”

  “Yes?”

  “I know something about someone, but I’m not supposed to know it and I’m not even sure it’s true.”

  “You mean, about someone on the base?”

  Justin nodded. “It could have just been idle gossip.”

  Katie considered. “You’re talking about something that might have a bearing on what’s happened here?”

  Justin sighed. “I suppose there’s a chance – an outside chance, mind – and I don’t believe it for a moment – but – oh, hell, I’m going to have to tell Graeme, aren’t I?”

  CHAPTER 33

  “I didn’t want to say anything,” Justin said, “because I can’t be one hundred per cent sure it’s true, and even if it is, the guy has every right not to have it bandied about.”

  Still he hesitated.

  “Spit it out,” Graeme said.

  “A mutual friend mentioned it a year or two ago. He thought I already knew. Apparently Nick had a serious drug problem when he was an undergraduate. I mean really serious. Had to spend six m
onths in rehab.”

  Graeme frowned. “Surely that would have been picked up when he was vetted to come out here.”

  “His parents kept it under the radar. They’ve got pots of money and they picked up the tab. Officially he just took a year off. Look, I hate mentioning it, but…”

  “But what?”

  “My friend said that he stole to feed his habit. His parents paid for that to go away and it did. But I’m sure he’s clean now. I’ve known him for five or six years and never had a clue that he’d ever had a problem.”

  Justin and Katie waited as Graeme turned it over in his mind. At last he said, “Would you know if there were any drugs missing from the surgery, Katie?”

  “There’s nothing obviously missing. But I’d only really know if I did a proper inventory.”

  Justin said. “Oh, you can’t think – surely I’d have noticed if he was getting high!”

  “There’d be a motive, wouldn’t there? And opportunity, too, maybe? Because if Sara suspected that Nick had pinched something, what would she likely do? Wouldn’t she call Nick in for a confidential chat? He’d be alone with her in the surgery. We can’t ignore the possibility.”

  “Oh hell! The guy’s my friend!”

  “What’s your take on this, Katie?” Graeme asked.

  Katie shook her head. “I haven’t seen any sign of drug use, but then I wasn’t looking for it.”

  Graeme gestured to where sheets of paper were laid out on his desk. “I’ve drawn up a grid, so that we can work out who’s got an alibi. If we can eliminate Nick, there’ll be no need to raise this with him. But if not, it can’t be avoided. OK, Justin?”

  Justin nodded. “Fair enough.”

  “OK then. We’ve decided that it couldn’t have been done in under forty minutes, so I’ve divided the afternoon that Sara went missing into half-hour slots. I’ve started with when everyone wandered off after lunch and ended with when Adam told me that Sara was missing. That’s two thirty to around six forty-five. We’ll interview everyone and see if we can fill some of these slots. Hopefully we can start eliminating people.”

  “Can we narrow the time down even further if we start from the other side and think about when Sara was last seen alive?” Justin asked.

  “That was Rhys. He said he had an appointment with her soon after lunch at around two forty-five. But was he telling the truth?”

  Justin said, “We’ve already agreed that the killer could have made an appointment to see her. So could it have been Rhys who killed her?”

  Katie frowned. “Well, he did actually have a genuine reason for seeing her. Sara wrote up her notes on the computer after she had seen him. And he had a follow-up appointment with me after Sara went missing.”

  “What was wrong with him?”

  Katie was uncomfortable. “I’m not sure I should tell you. Patient confidentiality.”

  “Katie! Under the circumstances…” Graeme said.

  “OK, OK. A minor but embarrassing ailment. I’m not saying more than that. But I can promise you that it’s real enough.”

  “Did you examine him?”

  “No, but Sara did – and he’s suffered previous bouts. It’s in his medical notes.”

  They thought about this.

  “Doesn’t rule him out, though, does it?” Justin said. “He could have killed her after he consulted her.”

  Katie was sceptical. “You mean he waits until she’s handed over the medication and then he whips out a knife? I can’t see it somehow.”

  “He could have come back.”

  Did Justin want it to be Rhys? Katie wasn’t buying it. Rhys was certainly the most irritating person on the base, but that didn’t make him a murderer.

  Perhaps the same thing had occurred to Graeme. He said, “Enough! This isn’t getting us anywhere.”

  “Sorry,” Justin said. “But it is more than likely that it happened earlier rather than later, isn’t it? If she’d been wandering around the base someone would have seen her and no one is saying that they did.”

  “Did she say anything about what she was planning to do, Katie?” Graeme asked.

  “Well, I was half-expecting that she’d come along and suggest watching a DVD, but I didn’t think anything of it when she didn’t show. Thought she might have fallen asleep. We’d all had a fair bit to drink.”

  “We’d better start filling in the grid,” Graeme said. “Makes sense to do that first among the three of us. I’m distinguishing between what can be confirmed by other people and what can’t, and we’ll see what comes of that. Katie? Want to go first?”

  Katie had had time to think about that while she was sitting with Adam. “It’s fairly straightforward. I didn’t see Sara at all after lunch. I went back to my pit-room and wrote a couple of emails. So that would be until just after three. Ten past, maybe? Then for the rest of the afternoon I was in the library reading. Justin was already there when I arrived. I didn’t see anyone else until Graeme and Adam put their heads round the door when they were looking for Sara.”

  Graeme was writing on the grid. “You sure about that? Didn’t you even go to the loo or get a cup of tea?”

  “I must have done, but –”

  “You went and got coffee, don’t you remember?” Justin said.

  “Oh, of course – I went and got a cup of coffee – I got one for Justin, too – and I saw Nick and Craig. They were playing Scrabble in the dining room. And Ernesto was in the kitchen, just putting something in the oven.”

  “What time was that?”

  “Hard to say. Maybe around half past four?”

  “OK. What about you, Justin?”

  “I spent twenty minutes or so on the running machine in the gym. Adam was there when I arrived and he was still there when I left. And then I made a cup of tea. There was no one in the kitchen. I saw Nick and Craig and Alex, but they were engrossed in their Scrabble and I don’t think they saw me. I took my tea along to the library and settled down with my book.”

  “Which was?”

  “Eh?”

  “What were you reading?”

  “Oh, I was reading Alone by Admiral Byrd. Rhys had gone on about him so much, I thought I’d see what the fuss was about. I couldn’t put it down! Great stuff! After a bit Katie came in and then it was just the two of us. No one else came in or out. I went out to the loo at some point, but I’m a bit vague about the timing of it all.”

  “You fell asleep at one point,” Katie pointed out.

  Justin looked sheepish. “Just briefly.”

  “Just briefly! Twenty minutes, more like. I was getting sleepy too. That’s why I went and made coffee.”

  “OK, that’s you two sorted,” Graeme said. “As for me, after lunch I went to my office to catch up with some paperwork. Adam dropped in. That would have been around three fifteen. I’d asked him to come and see me, I’d been a bit worried about him. I wanted to talk to him about the importance of not letting his body clock get out of synch. Told him he needed to stick to a strict sleep regime. He told me that he’d just come from the gym and he was trying not to sleep during the day. We left the office together. I was in there for around an hour, so that probably takes me to around three twenty-five or three thirty. But I wasn’t watching the clock.”

  “That’s going to be the difficulty,” Justin said. “Everyone was off-duty. They weren’t thinking in terms of half-hour slots.”

  “True enough. Though actually the next thing I did took exactly half an hour. I went to the gym and did my thirty-minute workout. So that takes me to around four and then I made myself a cup of tea – Ernesto was in the kitchen – and took it to my pit-room. I was still there when Adam came looking for me. In fact I was asleep,” he admitted.

  For over two hours? Katie would have thought Graeme had more sense than to disrupt his body clock like that.

  “I wasn’t asleep all that time,” he added hastily.

  But Katie noticed that he didn’t say what it was that he had been doing.
/>   “We’d better start the interviews,” Graeme said. “Katie, I want you to sit in with me. You can help me by taking notes.”

  Katie nodded.

  “What about me?” Justin said.

  “I’d like you to go and get people – and you might as well sit in on the interviews too. Any one of us might notice something that the others miss.”

  “Who shall we start with?” Katie asked.

  “We’ll start with Rhys. As far as we know he was the last person to see Sara alive.”

  * * *

  Katie and Graeme could hear Rhys from halfway down the corridor. When Justin showed him in, he was still in full flow. “First time an investigation’s been carried out like this, you must admit it’s very interesting – quite a challenge,” he concluded, looking around, bright-eyed and expectant.

  Surely he’s not enjoying this, Katie thought.

  He plonked himself down in the chair that Graeme indicated.

  “So,” Rhys said briskly, “you want me to prove that I didn’t kill Sara. I wouldn’t be such a fool as to murder the best-qualified doctor on base – no offence, Katie, you did a splendid job on Adam. But still you can’t take my word for it. But I think – I think you’ll find that I can satisfactorily account for my movements. I see you’ve got a grid there – very sensible –”

  “Rhys,” Graeme said.

  “Yes?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Oh. Alright.”

  “Let’s start at the beginning. When lunch was over, you went for your appointment with Sara?”

  “I helped with the clearing up, then yes, my appointment was for two forty-five and I was there on the dot.”