The Secret

‘He was spitting tacks. He thought we’d accepted that Dr Ricard’s death was an accident but now he knows differently. He insists that your continued poking around is only going to result in an increasing press interest in what went on before Bin Laden was found and that is really going to piss off our American cousins. He’s asked me to rein you in.’

‘And you said?’

‘I told him that doubts over Dr Ricard’s death were yours and yours alone, not the basis of an official Sci-Med investigation. If I were to order you to desist, you’d probably resign and continue anyway.’

Steven’s silence confirmed it.

‘The foreign secretary pointed out that, as employees of HMG, we should be paying more attention to things at home rather than interfering in things that don’t concern us, in particular the activities of ME protesters whose actions have now claimed a life with the murder of Professor Langley. I could hardly argue. It’s an escalating situation and it’s getting out of hand.’

‘Well, yes,’ Steven conceded reluctantly, ‘but murder investigation is a police matter not something for Sci-Med. There again...’

He paused, and Macmillan prompted him to continue.

‘There’s something not quite right about the whole thing. I had a look through the file... I can understand the ME people and their families getting upset about being dismissed as a bunch of neurotics who need psychiatric help. I can understand their frustration translating into paint daubing and tyre slashing — minor acts of vandalism — but pushing people under buses? That just doesn’t ring true. I smell a rat.’

Macmillan sighed but nodded his agreement. ‘I thought so too. I’ve been asking around about the chap knocked down by the bus. He wasn’t pushed under the wheels as the tabloids suggested; it was an accident. The post-mortem showed that he’d been drugged; he wouldn’t have been able to see properly or think clearly. I think it fair to assume that his captors deposited him in a crowded London area to draw attention to their cause. They didn’t anticipate his stumbling into the path of a bus. The gutter press, however, saw their chance to whip up a storm of bad feeling.’

‘Now that makes much more sense,’ Steven agreed. ‘It strikes me that Tom North’s death, however, is very much something that Sci-Med should be concerned with. He knew or possessed something that someone prepared to use a knife and a gun wanted badly. Maybe we should be concerning ourselves with finding out what that was?’

Macmillan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before saying, ‘I wish I could argue but you do have a point.’

‘Both Special Branch and Five turned up at the scene,’ Steven continued. ‘The official line was that North was a potential target because of his connection with the polio eradication initiative. The Taleban were pretty pissed off with what the CIA did and were prepared to have a go at all aid workers. I’m not sure I buy that.’

Fifteen

It was after ten when Steven finally managed to reach Tally. He phoned from his favourite chair by the window in his flat, watching the lights of the river traffic pass by through the gap between buildings across the street to the accompaniment of the dialling tone. He cheered up when she answered.

‘Busy girl?’

‘Don’t go there,’ Tally replied. ‘That was terrible news about Tom North. What are the police saying?’

‘They don’t know where to start.’

He told her about the torture angle.’

‘How absolutely awful... but maybe that will narrow things down a bit when it comes to motive?’

‘Only if you knew what it was the killer was after.’

‘I take it that means you’ve no idea either?’ asked Tally.

‘None at all but I suggested to John that it’s something Sci-Med should be involved in.’

‘Did he agree?’

‘I think he does in principle but he’s been under increasing pressure to stop me meddling in things that don’t concern me and have me investigate the ME problem which HMG see as a domestic problem that warrants Sci-Med’s immediate attention.’

‘Good,’ said Tally. ‘I couldn’t agree more.’

‘Tally...’

‘I’m sorry, Steven, but, as I’ve said before, you can’t bring Simone back and the opposition to your involvement is scaring me every time I think about it. You should let sleeping dogs lie.’

‘I still feel the ME thing is a matter for the police not us but HMG are building it up and jumping on the tabloid bandwagon, saying that the protesters are now resorting to murder when they must know full well that that isn’t true. Professor Langley’s death was an tragic accident. I know that won’t be of any comfort to his family but it’s nevertheless true.’

‘Hmm,’ said Tally.

‘Having said that, you may well get your way. I don’t think John can see a way out of getting Sci-Med involved now that the tabloids are setting the agenda. I may well end up looking for tyre slashers and paint daubers instead of hunting down Simone’s killer.’

‘Steven... I didn’t mean... I mean, I just worry about you.’

‘Tally?’

‘What?’

‘I love you.’