A Lethal Deception, page 3
Kay swallowed, feeling the colour drain from her face. She shook her head as Laura rested her hand on her arm, and clenched her jaw as Gavin continued.
‘He said he could hear the man breathing heavily, as if he was taken by surprise at Adam being there, but when he started to get up out of his seat and ask him what he was doing, the man swung the weapon at him, and caught the side of his head.’ Gavin lowered the stapled pages. ‘He knows he toppled to the floor, but he doesn’t remember anything after that, not until he came around again in the hospital. He couldn’t even remember us or the paramedics talking to him last night.’
‘Does he recall whether there was more than one intruder?’ said Laura.
‘He said he only saw the bloke who hit him, and didn’t hear anyone else. That doesn’t mean his attacker was working alone, of course.’
‘Thanks, Gavin, and that’s a good point you raise.’ Sharp cleared his throat as Gavin returned to his seat. ‘Does anyone have more information to confirm how the intruder got in? Has the preliminary forensics report come in yet?’
‘Not yet, guv,’ said PC Debbie West. ‘I spoke to Harriet half an hour ago and she says it’s on her desk for review and sign-off this morning so she’ll endeavour to email it by lunchtime. However, she says Charlie confirms that they used the small window by the bathroom to get out of the building rather than risk going out the front door once they had Adam’s keys.’
‘It’s off to the side so there was less chance of them being seen by anyone,’ said Kay, her voice ragged.
‘Makes sense,’ agreed Sharp. ‘Laura – how are you getting on with CCTV footage from roads leading away from the surgery?’
The young detective raised her voice. ‘We’ve got a list of vehicles using the main road half an hour either side of the attack, and have discounted those belonging to Adam’s employees. We’ll continue to interview the owners of all the other vehicles and identify any we think we should follow up if they give us cause for concern during those conversations. We’ve separated out any obvious commercial vehicles such as buses and liveried vans for the moment, but I won’t eliminate them completely. Not until we’re sure they’re not linked to the assault.’
‘Let me know if you need more manpower on that, and I’ll call in some favours with headquarters,’ said Sharp. He rapped his knuckles on the whiteboard. ‘I’ll remind you what we’re dealing with here – some of the most dangerous drugs used in veterinary procedures, including ketamine hydrochloride. Fifteen millimetres of that stuff can knock out a horse cold. If that hits the streets before we catch the perpetrators of this theft then things are going to turn very nasty indeed around here.’
The investigation team fell quiet as he paced the thin carpet tiles in front of them, and Kay bit her lip when he stopped and ran his gaze over them.
‘Given that Adam’s surgery was recently restocked with supplies of those drugs too, we have to assume that this was a targeted attack,’ Sharp said.
‘Based on that, guv,’ said Morrison, ‘do you think the intruders were after the drugs, or was this something more personal?’
Kay shuddered at the memory of another case, and another dangerous criminal who had targeted hers and Adam’s safety.
‘That’s something we’re going to have to look into as part of our investigation,’ said Sharp. ‘But what is clear is that someone knew when the most advantageous time would be to risk breaking in. That alone gives me reason to believe the surgery was under surveillance for a while.’
‘The vet practice has to keep tight records of every dangerous drug on site, and two vets have to sign out for them every time,’ said Kay. ‘From what Scott was telling me earlier, the thieves took everything. A new delivery was made yesterday afternoon that would’ve lasted the practice a month. They always keep extra in case of emergencies––’
‘And if we’ve got a large amount of ketamine rushed out on the local market––’ Sharp rested his hands on his hips and faced the team ‘––it’ll be like a bomb going off.’
Six
‘Kay, a word please.’
As the group of officers dispersed back to their desks or hurried from the incident room on tasks assigned by Sharp, Kay followed the DCI into a side office and closed the door.
An old battered wooden desk had been abandoned in one corner, with two chairs placed one on top of the other beside it. Large rectangular archive boxes had been stacked along one wall, all labelled and ready to be transported to the offices of the Crown Prosecution Service as each completed investigation reached the court system.
‘Haven’t you claimed this for yourself yet?’ said Sharp with a knowing smile.
‘You know me, guv – I’d much rather be out there, in the thick of it.’
He chuckled, then wandered across to the windowsill and leaned against it. ‘You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?’
Kay sighed. ‘You don’t want me anywhere near this investigation.’
‘Not entirely correct. As much as I need your skills and insights into this one though, it’s not going to pass muster with the Chief Super if she finds out you’re on the roster. Not with such a personal connection to the crime.’
‘I can still help. Behind the scenes.’
Sharp raised an eyebrow. ‘Since when have you ever been able to stay behind the scenes?’
‘Who’s leading the investigation?’
‘Barnes. He was SIO and first on scene last night, and he’s capable.’ Sharp narrowed his eyes at her. ‘I figured if I put him in charge, you wouldn’t mind him taking the lead on this rather than some unknown DI from Northfleet.’
‘He’s a good choice, guv.’ Kay looked away. She took a deep breath before her gaze found Sharp once more. ‘But he’d appreciate an extra pair of hands, I’m sure. Even if I just helped with some of the interviews, maybe some of the analysis work. Laura and Phillip will need a hand with all the CCTV footage they’ve got to go through, too.’
‘And what about Adam?’
‘I’ve got to do something, guv. They won’t let me visit the hospital outside of normal visiting hours, and if I have to mope around at home, I’m going to stress out about what could have happened to him last night, and whether I could be doing something proactive about the investigation instead of sitting on my arse.’
Sharp’s eyes softened. ‘What about when he comes home?’
‘Then I’ll have a chat with his doctor to find out what arrangements I need to make. Adam’s not going anywhere for the next two days, guv – not until they know there won’t be any complications, and when he gets home I can work remotely, can’t I?’ Kay pushed herself from the chair, joining him at the window overlooking the car park to the rear of the police station. Taking a deep breath, she hugged her arms around her stomach and turned to Sharp. ‘I’m scared, guv. I’m scared that whoever did this gets away with it. Because if they do, they’ll do it again. They’ll be back, and they’ll target Adam’s surgery. You know as well as I do that’s what happens in cases like these. He might not be so lucky next time.’
After a moment he inclined his head. ‘I’ll tell the Chief Super you’re working on something else but that your name might appear in some of the paperwork about the break-in at Adam’s surgery, given your connection and that we expect to be able to ask you about the layout of the place and other matters from time to time. That’s as much as I’m willing to compromise, Kay.’
‘Thanks, guv.’ She smiled. ‘And don’t worry, I won’t give her any cause to suspect I’m involved in the investigation.’
The detective chief inspector rolled his eyes as he pushed away from the sill. ‘You’d better not. All right, let’s go and find Barnes before you head back to the hospital this afternoon. He was going to speak to some of the local drugs charities to ask them to keep their ears open about any new supplies becoming available – I don’t think he’s gone yet.’
Barnes was leaning against a desk facing the door when Sharp opened it, his arms folded and a grin plastered across his face as Kay emerged.
‘I told you she wouldn’t take no for an answer, guv.’
Seven
Gavin yanked the handbrake before resting his hand on the steering wheel while he stared through the windscreen at the low-slung building in front of him.
He closed his eyes for a moment, a deep-set weariness seeping through him despite the half-empty can of energy drink in the holder beside him.
After driving Kay to the hospital last night, he had waited while she first spoke with the consultant assigned to Adam then disappeared into the bowels of the hospital to see her partner.
Two hours later, she had emerged bleary-eyed and pale.
They’d driven back to Maidstone in silence, Kay falling asleep by the time he shot past the junction for Leeds Castle, and when he pulled into her driveway she had stumbled from the car, thanking him profusely.
At two o’clock in the morning he finally reached home, waking a scant few hours later to make sure he reached the incident room ready to begin the investigation.
He didn’t expect to be told that he would be co-managing it.
His chest tightened at the thought.
Of course, he knew he would be able to seek guidance from Kay or Barnes when he needed it, but with Sharp’s instructions that Kay was to be sidelined from the investigation for the most part, the responsibility weighed on him.
He also knew that the odds were stacked against him.
Break-ins like the one at Adam’s practice were becoming more and more frequent as the demand for cheap highs grew and drug dealers’ supplies from Europe were strangled – ironically by the same bureaucracy that tied up many of the country’s less nefarious imports now that it was no longer a part of a common market.
He shook his head, opened his eyes and took a final swig from the soft drink can before shoving open the door and climbing out.
A sign above the pedestrian entrance to the left of the warehouse portion of the unit was ambiguous in nature, and as he paused underneath it to press the button on a security panel, Gavin realised that nothing about the place gave any indication as to its purpose.
A scratching static-laden crunch sounded through the speaker above the call button and a man’s voice filtered through.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Detective Constable Gavin Piper, here to see Marion Blanchett.’
‘Thank you – please push the door when you hear the buzzing noise and follow the passageway along to reception.’
Gavin did as the voice bade him, the door swishing closed in his wake.
His shoes echoed off the tiled floor as he made his way along the corridor, and he slowed to take in the various media articles and awards framed and hanging on the walls.
After a moment, he emerged into a brightly lit reception area hugging a central staircase that wound upward to an open mezzanine level of offices.
A man looked over a computer screen and waved him forward. ‘Detective Piper, if you could sign the visitors’ log, I’ll let Ms Blanchett know you’re here.’
Gavin signed the page with a flourish, noted the time next to his signature and took the security pass the receptionist held out.
‘Did you find us okay?’ he said.
‘I’ll admit, I got lost and took a wrong turn,’ said Gavin with a sheepish smile. ‘This place is hard to find.’
‘That’s the idea, Detective Piper, given the sort of drugs we develop and produce.’
He turned at the sound of the voice to see a woman in a pewter-coloured trouser suit descending the stairs towards him.
She held out her hand in greeting as she crossed the reception area, her grip warm and firm.
‘I’m Marion Blanchett, Chief Executive Officer.’
‘Thanks for your time this morning, Ms Blanchett.’
‘Marion, please. Would you come this way? We can talk in the conference room. Tea or coffee?’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’
‘Okay, good. Peter – would you hold all my calls for this morning?’ she said, glancing at the man behind the reception desk. ‘I have some paperwork I need to review after my meeting.’
The receptionist held up his hand in acknowledgement before Gavin turned to follow the CEO up the stairs and through a set of double doors.
The conference room contained a large oval glass and metal table that could seat twelve, and a variety of video conferencing equipment along one wall that included the largest television screen he’d ever seen.
Marion saw him staring and smiled. ‘We have eight board members and four executives, myself included, so if even half of us are calling in remotely, it can get a little crowded on a small screen. Please, take a seat.’
Gavin sank into one of the plush leather chairs nearest to him and extracted his notebook and pen from his jacket pocket. ‘Thanks for seeing me at short notice.’
‘Not a problem.’ Marion moved around the table until she was opposite him, then sat and folded her hands in front of her. ‘You said this was regarding a theft from a veterinary practice last night?’
‘A break-in, yes. The owner, Adam Turner, was injured and is currently in hospital with head injuries.’ Gavin paused, wrote the date at the top of a fresh page and then raised his head. ‘He’s lucky – they’re not life-threatening.’
Marion exhaled. ‘That’s good to hear. How is my company involved though?’
‘According to the records we were given, the majority of the drugs taken were supplied by you. We’re keen to find out whether your delivery driver was monitored prior to going to the practice yesterday afternoon.’
‘Do you think the theft was planned to coincide with a new delivery?’
‘That’s one of our lines of enquiry, yes.’
The CEO sat back in her chair and ran a finger over the leather desk planner in front of her. ‘That’s a worrying thought, detective.’
‘Which company do you use for the deliveries?’
‘We don’t – we used to, but the costs involved became too much and so about four years ago we started employing our own drivers. We have eight of them servicing the local area and as far as Hampshire to the west and Bedfordshire going north. All of those drivers are subject to police checks prior to their employment and we conduct regular drug and alcohol checks for all of our staff here, too.’
‘Have you ever had a theft from one of your vehicles in the past? I couldn’t find anything in the system.’
Marion shook her head. ‘We haven’t, no. It’s virtually impossible. You’ve seen the vehicles used to deliver cash to banks?’
Gavin nodded.
‘Well, ours are designed the same way, except that unlike the security companies we don’t have our livery displayed on the side. That way, the vehicles don’t stand out when parked outside veterinary practices.’ Marion leaned back in her seat, warming to her subject. ‘We also fit the vehicles with CCTV and an emergency call button. There have been too many instances of deliveries like ours being hijacked over the past few years for us to take any risks.’
After updating his notes, Gavin frowned. ‘What do those CCTV cameras capture? I mean, would they pick up a vehicle that was following?’
‘They would – one of the cameras is fixed to the rear of the vehicle, very much like a reversing camera on your normal family car. There’s another in the back, where the drugs are kept in a temperature-controlled environment.’
‘Would it be possible for us to have copies of the footage from the vehicles used to make deliveries to Turner’s Veterinary Practice over, say, the past two months?’
‘I don’t see why not. I’ll have to ask our IT manager to sort it out, but I would imagine we could have something to you by the end of the week.’ Marion sighed. ‘Honestly, anything we can do to help you, detective, we will. These sorts of thefts are becoming more and more prevalent, and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed, isn’t it?’
Gavin snapped his notebook shut and stood. ‘Unfortunately, I think you’re right. It’s why we’re determined to put a stop to whoever’s doing this, and arrest whoever assaulted Adam.’
Eight
Kay paused beside the entrance into the main hospital ward, squirted antiseptic hand gel from a dispenser fixed to the wall and worked it into her hands while peering through the glass panels set into the thick double doors.
The room was divided into two rows of beds either side of a central tiled walkway, along which three nurses strode purposefully between their patients. The window blinds at the far end were pulled down, shutting out a night sky that was clouded over with heavy rainfall.
Halfway along the left-hand row of six beds, a portable set of blue curtains were positioned around one of the patients, shielding him from view.
As Kay pushed open the door, one of the nurses looked up from her conversation with an older woman in a bed to Kay’s right.
‘I’m looking for Adam Turner,’ she murmured.
‘Fourth bed on the left,’ came the reply before the nurse turned her attention back to her patient.
Kay thanked her and walked the short stretch of tiles to the curtained-off bed.
A doctor emerged from behind the curtains and spoke to the nearest nurse, both women’s heads bowed as they whispered.
‘Everything all right?’ said Kay as she drew close.
She recognised the doctor as one of those who had treated Adam the night before and battened down the spike in her heart rate as the woman turned to her.
‘Mrs Turner––’
