‘What I don’t understand is why we’re seeing so many overdoses,’ said Kay. ‘I mean, people use ketamine all the time – it’s taken over from cocaine around here amongst twenty- to thirty-year olds over the past six years – so why the sudden rise in deaths?’

  ‘Maybe it’s been cut differently.’ Laura paused while Barnes wandered over to join them. ‘We could be dealing with someone who’s new to this and doesn’t realise.’

  Kay frowned. ‘Has anyone over at Major Crimes in Northfleet mentioned anything about a new gang in the area, or a county lines operation?’

  Barnes shook his head. ‘I’ve just been talking to Paul Solomon over there, and he says none of their intelligence indicates that there’s a new system in place.’

  ‘Have any other areas experienced an influx of overdose cases this week?’

  ‘No – whatever’s going on, it’s limited to Maidstone.’

  Kay balled her fist and bounced it off the desk, staring at her computer screen as two more emails appeared, neither of which helped their investigation. ‘Christ, we need those lab testing results. We need to know what this stuff is, and confirmation whether it’s the supplies stolen from Adam’s practice, or something else.’

  ‘Nothing from Harriet yet?’ said Gavin.

  ‘No – and she reckoned it would take two weeks with the staffing levels being what they are at the moment.’ Kay pushed back her chair and stalked over to the whiteboard, glaring at the various notes and photographs. ‘Ian, can you phone Jack Moreton and ask him if he or Tina know if Gary Lovell ever went to that nightclub? If he did, we can move forward on the basis that he was there last night and request CCTV images to either rule it out or find him.’

  ‘Will do, guv.’

  ‘Given that the test results aren’t going to reach us until at least Friday, what if we take a closer look at the nightclub ourselves to see who’s dealing this particular mix of ketamine?’ said Laura. ‘I mean, if whoever’s selling it made some money last night, then they’ll be too tempted not to give it another go tonight, won’t they?’

  Kay shook her head. ‘It’s a good idea, Laura but we haven’t got the manpower to watch all of the clubs in town – not all at once.’

  ‘We could if we got the dog handlers in,’ said Barnes.

  ‘I’ll never get the paperwork approved in time to get the drugs dogs out tonight.’

  ‘Who said anything about the specialised ones?’ Her colleague grinned. ‘Have a word with the dog unit and ask them to put hi-vis coats on theirs instead. We only need to create an illusion at the other clubs that there are sniffer dogs on the doors to corral the dealer back to this particular place, don’t we?’

  Kay choked out a snort. ‘Ian, that’s devious – even for you. I like it.’

  ‘I think I should go in, too,’ said Laura. ‘If anyone is dealing stolen ketamine then I can act as eyes and ears on the ground to support what we’re seeing on the security cameras.’

  ‘I’m not happy about that. We don’t know who this person is, or whether they’re working alone. It could be dangerous,’ said Gavin, leaning against the desk. His brow furrowed. ‘I think I should go instead.’

  Laura shot him a cheeky grin and reached out to pat his arm.

  ‘You can’t, Gav. You’re too old for clubbing.’

  ‘Neither of you are going,’ said Kay as the laughter subsided. ‘This is Maidstone, not the Wild West. I’ll contact Northfleet and get some help from Sharp. We’ll need specially trained officers to carry out the undercover work. The rest of you can be on standby in the near vicinity in case they need to make any arrests.’

  She saw the disappointment in her colleagues’ faces and held up her hand before they could protest.

  ‘We need to stop whoever’s supplying these drugs before they kill someone else – either they’ve made a mistake manufacturing them, or they’ve deliberately set out to harm anyone who takes them. I’m not prepared to take any chances.’

  Twenty-Six

  Laura pulled her sweatshirt sleeve over her hand and rubbed at the condensation coating the inside of the single-glazed window.

  Three storeys below, a throbbing bass rumbled as a reinforced door swung outwards onto the pavement and four women staggered from the nightclub.

  Wobbling on four inch heels, they giggled and catcalled their way towards a taxi rank and tumbled into a car at the front of the queue.

  She watched as the vehicle pulled away from the kerb, the driver shaking his head and smiling.

  The radio on the abandoned filing cabinet beside her squawked and hissed before a voice issued one of the agreed callsigns for the operation and someone at force control replied.

  ‘Anything?’

  Laura glanced over her shoulder at Gavin’s voice. ‘Nothing to help us. The searches on the High Street have come up with the usual pills and marijuana. Small amounts though – no dealers yet.’

  ‘And none of that powder?’

  ‘Nothing that looks remotely like it. I mean, if they do find something it’ll have to be tested anyway, but so far…’

  Gavin wheeled a chair towards the window and checked his watch in the light from the street outside. ‘Only an hour to go. Hopefully something will turn up.’

  ‘I wouldn’t sit on that if I were you – have you seen the state of the back of it?’

  He squinted in the poor light, and then shoved the chair away in disgust. ‘How long has this office been empty?’

  ‘Eighteen months or so.’ Laura watched the view below as the door to the nightclub opened once more. ‘Dave Morrison was saying the owner’s trying to get planning permission to turn the place into flats – he’s given up on commercial leases. The shop downstairs has been empty for two years.’

  ‘That explains a lot.’ Gavin ran his hand over a layer of dust coating the windowsill. ‘I thought I heard scratching over in the corner over there earlier.’

  Laura paled, peering into the shadows of the office. ‘What?’

  When she looked at him, he was grinning, already holding up his hands in mock defence.

  ‘You’re an asshole sometimes, Piper.’ She turned back to the window biting back the smile that threatened. ‘I don’t know why Leanne puts up with you.’

  ‘Because she loves me.’

  ‘Somebody has to, I suppose.’ Laura watched as a group of five older adults meandered their way along the pavement, all dressed in liveried high-visibility vests.

  A man in the group paused next to two young women, one of whom looked worse for wear.

  ‘I don’t know how they do that,’ she murmured. ‘All of the abuse they get from some people, as well as being out in all weathers.’

  ‘But thank goodness they do,’ Gavin said, as the volunteer waved down a taxi and saw both girls safely into the back seat.

  As it drove away, Laura stretched her arms over her head and cricked her neck. She was getting cold in the abandoned office and started to pace the room to warm up while he continued to monitor the street.

  ‘Any more news about the attack on Adam?’ she said, circling the middle of the cavernous space, her hands shoved into her fleece jacket pockets.

  ‘Not yet. Been too busy the past few days on this side of things, for a start.’

  She heard the frustration in her colleague’s voice then, and wandered back to him. ‘Anything I can do to help?’

  Gavin glanced away from the window and forced a smile. ‘Not really, but thanks. I just need to have a few hours to think about what I’ve got my hands on to date and see if there’s anything I’ve missed. I want to try to speak to Stephanie again early next week too. Given that she was first on scene after the attack, she might recall something now that she didn’t when we first interviewed her. It happens, doesn’t it?’

  ‘It does.’

  The radio on the sill next to his elbow interrupted them, a barked command filling the air.

  ‘Could be another arrest,’ Gavin said, adjusting the volume while responses were called back and forth to the control centre. ‘Sounds like Bank Street.’

  ‘Fingers crossed.’

  Laura buried her chin into the thick soft collar of her jacket, her shoulders hunched as she listened to the ensuing exchange between the pair of young constables on the street and the dispatcher.

  It seemed friendly enough – a warning was issued, and the man sent on his way without a fuss before one of the officers ended the call.

  Below her position at the window, a last flurry of revellers emptied from the club, a group of six men singing at the tops of their voices before disappearing around the corner, and Laura checked her watch.

  ‘Three o’clock. That’s it, then.’

  As the music faded, Laura picked up the radio and toggled the switches before rattling off her callsign. ‘Has any trace of the ketamine powder been found anywhere?’

  ‘Negative,’ came the reply. ‘We can confirm two arrests for dealing pills, and another three for possession of cannabis, but that’s it. Your ketamine dealer wasn’t here tonight.’

  Laura lowered the radio, her gaze finding Gavin.

  He looked as dejected as she felt, his shoulders sagging as he blew out his cheeks.

  ‘Best call it a night,’ he said, shrugging his leather jacket over his shoulders. ‘I have a feeling we’re going to be in for a long day.’

  Twenty-Seven

  Kay ruffled Oscar’s ears as she padded into the kitchen and filled a glass with water from a filter jug, her eyes bleary.

  After spending most of Saturday night dealing with a string of text messages containing updates from her team, she had fallen into an uneasy sleep that had been interrupted by the alarm clock ten minutes ago.

  She shivered, pulling her dressing gown to her chest and heard the boiler click on, a soft rumble from within the cupboard next to the back door and the subtle tick tick from the radiator next to Oscar’s bed promising warmth in a few minutes.

  Yawning, she switched on the coffee machine and inhaled the soothing aroma of freshly ground beans and then refilled Oscar’s water bowl. She measured a cupful of kibble into a second bowl before placing it in front of the Golden Retriever, wrinkling her nose.

  ‘I know you probably can’t help it, but Scott really needs to tell his friend to stop feeding you whatever’s upsetting your stomach,’ she murmured, mindful of footsteps from the bedroom above.

  Oscar nudged her hand away and buried his face in his food, happy slurping noises filling the kitchen as Kay fetched a steaming mug of coffee and returned to the central worktop.

  A new message appeared on her phone screen, and she sat on a stool while she read the text from Barnes.

  We’ll all be in from 8 for the debrief – see you soon.

  ‘Coffee…’

  She glanced over her shoulder as Adam entered the kitchen, his arms held out in front of him zombie-like as he scuffed across the tiles.

  Kay tucked her phone under a takeaway menu and forced a smile. ‘I thought I’d go in and find out how they got on last night.’

  ‘No phone calls?’

  ‘A few messages, that’s all. They’d have only called if something urgent came up.’

  Adam shuffled across to the coffee machine and dropped a pod into place. ‘No news is good news, then.’

  Her smile faltered when he turned.

  The bruising to his eye socket and cheekbone was starting to turn yellow and purple, the deep colouring to his skin changing as he healed. The redness in his eye was fading, and she noted that the packet of painkillers on the worktop beside her hadn’t been touched for a couple of days.

  And yet…

  ‘What is it?’ he said, bringing his coffee mug over to where she sat and putting his arm around her shoulders. He kissed her hair. ‘What’s on your mind?’

  She waited until he put down his mug, then twisted in her chair and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. ‘I’m worried about you.’

  ‘I’m out of danger. You wait and see – when we go back to the hospital on Tuesday, they’ll give me the all-clear.’ He tipped her face towards his and kissed her nose. ‘So there’s nothing to worry about.’

  Pulling away as he picked up his coffee, Kay sighed. ‘Adam, you know as well as I do whoever broke into the practice could come back. We’ve seen it happen before with other businesses. Now that they know what’s kept in that cabinet of yours, it’ll be too tempting for them. If Gavin doesn’t find out who did this…’

  ‘Listen, I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday – you were too tired when you got home – but Scott ordered a new secure cabinet for those drugs on Friday.’ Adam sank onto the stool beside her. ‘It’s better than the one we had before. No-one should be able to break into it.’

  ‘It’s not the drugs I’m worried about. Well, it is – obviously.’ Kay reached out and squeezed his hand. ‘I’m worried about you. And Scott, and Stephanie. Whoever did this didn’t think twice about attacking you in order to get to the drugs. That’s a whole other act of desperation – we haven’t had a vet attacked before. Not around here.’

  ‘We’ll put new security measures in place, then. We’ll add cameras to the outside of the building, things like that.’

  She sighed and lowered her gaze to her lap. ‘Great, so when you get attacked next time we can watch it in high resolution.’

  ‘What would you have me do? Close the practice? Quit?’

  Her head snapped up. ‘No. No – of course not.’

  ‘Then stop worrying about what might happen.’ He smiled, kissed her fingers and then picked up his coffee mug and slid off of his stool. ‘Besides, I know you. You won’t give up until you find out who did this to me, and stop them. Right?’

  ‘I won’t.’

  A subtle hiss broke the atmosphere, and Kay turned around to see Oscar raising his head from his bed, his brown eyes troubled.

  ‘Oh, Jesus – not again!’

  She stumbled over to the back door, wrenched it open and picked up a tea towel from the draining board, flapping it to counteract the rotten smell that hung in the air.

  ‘That bloody dog,’ she said, glaring at the Golden Retriever while Adam bent to rub its ears. ‘The sooner Scott takes him back, the better.’

  ‘Aw, he can’t help it. He’s sick.’

  Kay pursed her lips, biting back the truth and vowing to phone Adam’s colleague when she got into work to give him a piece of her mind.

  ‘I’m going to have a shower.’ Adam straightened, then winked. ‘If you fancy helping me waste some hot water…’

  Despite herself, despite all her worries, Kay laughed.

  ‘How could I resist an offer like that?’

  Twenty-Eight

  After pulling up the collar of her jacket, Kay reached across for the hot mushroom pie Barnes held out and let the warmth seep into her fingers for a moment.

  A chill wind gusted across the River Medway and created a chop on the water that sent a pair of swans bobbing up and down as they paddled upstream.

  The wooden bench seat was tucked away against a limestone wall that sheltered her from the worst of the inclement weather, but she still shivered when Barnes sat beside her and unwrapped the largest Cornish pasty she’d ever seen.

  ‘Get much sleep last night?’ he said.

  ‘Not really. You?’

  Her stomach rumbled and she bit into the pie, wincing as the hot food burnt her tongue but unable to resist a second mouthful.

  ‘Here and there.’ Barnes licked crumbs from his fingers then reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his phone and squinted at the screen.

  ‘Anything?’

  ‘Just Parker confirming he’s got the statements from the arrests last night into the system. None of them know about a new ketamine-based powder doing the rounds.’

  ‘That’s their story.’ Kay finished the pie, then scrunched up the paper napkin and dabbed at her lips. ‘God, I needed that.’

  ‘Me too.’ Barnes stifled a belch, then took her rubbish and his over to a metal bin on the tow path before returning. ‘I caught up with Kyle Walker this morning – the constable who was at Gary Lovell’s house yesterday. He confirmed he took Gary’s mobile phone and computer servers over to Andy Grey yesterday afternoon. Apparently Grey said he’ll prioritise the phone – he’s working on another case for East Division this weekend and his other computer expert isn’t back until tomorrow.’

  ‘Okay. Not much else we can do about that.’ Kay sighed. ‘So the nightclub angle is a dead end as well?’

  ‘Looks that way. Gavin finally heard from Jack Moreton this morning who confirmed neither he or Tina recall Gary going there.’ Her colleague’s brow furrowed. ‘Or if he did, he kept it to himself.’

  ‘What about Chantelle Evans, the sixteen-year-old who died? Dave Morrison was going to speak to her parents yesterday, wasn’t he?’

  ‘He did, and it’s not a happy story.’ He hunched into his coat. ‘Her foster dad said she’s been mixing with an older crowd for the past eight months or so, and neither he or his wife know any of their names. When they first adopted Chantelle, they said she was a lovely kid but she’d become secretive, rude…’

  Kay sighed. ‘Perhaps she’d been experimenting with drugs for a while then.’

  ‘That’s what Dave reckoned. He plans to get in touch with her school tomorrow and arrange to speak to some of her classmates.’

  Barnes’s phone pinged again, and he chuckled after reading the message before holding it up to show Kay.

  ‘Emma says she’s having the time of her life, and to say hello.’

  She reached out to tilt the screen and grinned at his daughter’s photograph, a familiar Sydney landmark in the background. ‘Is she coming back?’

  ‘She’d bloody better.’ Barnes shoved the phone back in his pocket. ‘Sharp approved my time off next month – thanks for giving him a nudge about it.’

  ‘No problem. I have to admit, four weeks in the sun is rather appealing at the moment.’

  ‘Are you and Adam still planning on getting away sometime?’

 

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