‘Perfectly certain. I’d checked that a kidney was available and had the patient lined up for it. At the last minute Cummings diverted the kidney to another patient, known only to him, and as a result my patient was unable to receive the transplant and died before another kidney became available.’

‘Did you challenge him about this?’

‘Did I? I raised merry hell at the time, and within a week I’d been given the push.’

‘And Reggie Silverwood? Did he know about it?’

‘Not at the time. Nobody did. They must have thought it odd that I went so quietly, but that’s all I could do–pack my bags and go. I knew that if I said anything it would undermine the confidence in the practice and the reputations of all the other doctors.’

‘So you put your head in the sand?’

‘Yes. But only because I was trying to put my patients first.’

Monty looked at him questioningly.

‘Yes. I know it was wrong, but on balance it seemed to me to be the right course of action at the time. I see now that it wasn’t.’

‘And what’s brought about the change of mind?’ asked Monty evenly.

‘Reggie rang me the night he died. He was on his way to meet me when he had the accident. He sounded particularly low on the phone. Said that he’d discovered something that he was unhappy about. Something to do with Cummings. I suggested he come round for a talk.’

‘And you think he’d discovered Cummings’s…’ he searched for a suitable phrase, ‘…lack of fairness?’

‘I’m pretty certain so, yes.’

Monty leaned against a pillar, his hands still in his pockets. ‘But he never got a chance to tell you?’

‘No.’

‘And you think his accident was suspicious?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Why so?’

‘Because Reggie might have looked frail but he was as strong as an ox. Always had regular health checks–blood pressure, cholesterol levels, that sort of thing. I wondered if he’d developed diabetes lately. That might have resulted in a blackout, but apparently he was as sound as a bell.’ Christopher lowered his voice to a whisper, ‘Then I discovered that just before he left to see me he’d had a flu injection.’

‘Wise man, they’re going down like flies around me.’

‘He’d been given the flu injection by Randall Cummings.’

‘So?’

‘If Randall Cummings hadn’t injected him with flu vaccine, but had given him an overdose of insulin instead, the symptoms would be just like those of a heart attack. And there would be no trace of anything untoward at a post-mortem because by then the insulin would have been broken down by the body’s metabolism.’