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Back A Change of Circumstance
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Fifty-Nine
  61. Sixty
  62. Sixty-One
  63. Sixty-Two
  64. Sixty-Three
  65. Sixty-Four
  66. Sixty-Five
  67. Sixty-Six

‘So, what about this Professor Shenfield?’ the DCI asked. ‘I read a paragraph about it but it didn’t seem to add up to anything.’

‘I’ve asked for a fast track on the Payne post-mortem, closest scrutiny. If everything adds up –’

‘He must have known he was losing it.’

‘Not necessarily. It was very early stages . . . small blips can be put down to tiredness or . . .’

‘Or?’

‘This is not about apportioning blame,’ the Chief said. ‘It’s about a single case, at least so far as we’re concerned. I have to be convinced that the PM was conducted properly and that the conclusions were accurate, allowing for the usual areas of doubt.’

‘Which would be?’

‘There’s always difficulty with ascertaining drug quantities,’ Simon said. ‘Everything changes on death, the body behaves differently, estimates can be out by quite some degree, but it’s still medically OK to say that the quantities found in tissue were, or were not, sufficient to cause death. A lot of work was done on this at the University of Dundee about fifteen years ago. Look it up.’

‘That’s not the only area of concern,’ Kieron came in, ‘or even the main one. I need to be certain there was no possibility that Shenfield could have been wrong about self-administration. If there was the slightest chance that someone else injected Payne with the drug, it changes everything.’

‘Then what?’

‘Then we’re looking at an exhumation. An exhumation is a rare event but if they are not one hundred per cent sure that means I’m not either, so an exhumation it will have to be. Have you ever attended one, Chief Inspector?’

Helena Blades nodded.

‘Chief Superintendent?’

‘Once, when I was a rookie in the Met. I found it traumatic and exciting in about equal parts.’

The DCI looked at him in what he was sure was amusement with a touch of disdain.

‘I have been present at several, you may be surprised to hear, given that it is, as you say, a rare event, but the Bristol force went through the era of a serial killer not so long ago.’

‘Arthur Lyscom? You were at the sharp end. A functioning psychopath, as I recall.’

Lyscom, a low-ranking council clerk posing as being someone high up in social services, had eventually been charged with the murder of eleven elderly women, six of whom had been buried not cremated, and therefore the subjects of exhumation.

Kieron began to move his leg slowly off the chair.

‘If that’s all, Chief, I need to go and acquaint myself with the rest of CID.’

‘Thank you, yes, you do that. Simon, can you . . . ?’

Serrailler went to help him stand up.

‘Where are you heading?’

‘I need a catch-up with my secretary, then I’m off to Starly. You should walk about a bit now, you’ve had your leg up for a while, you don’t want a DVT.’