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Chapter 66

‘You’vespent the most time with him, Poe,’ Mathers said. ‘Do you think he’s up to this?’

Stahl and Bradshaw were in the bar. Stahl was buying himself a Coke and Bradshaw was making sure he didn’t put Jack Daniel’s in it.

‘I have no idea,’ Poe replied. ‘You can see the improvement in him physically, but he’s been an alcoholic for years. He has to have psychological scars we don’t yet know about.’

‘Is he clean?’ Mathers said.

‘Says he’s on Antabuse, which Tilly says gives him an acute sensitivity to ethanol. He’ll basically get the world’s worst hangover as soon as he takes a sip and there’ll be no hair of the dog – he won’t be able to drink it away. The more he has, the worse it’ll get.’

‘How sure are we he’s taking it?’

‘There’s an easy way to find out,’ Poe said.

‘How?’

‘I could put a splash of vodka in his drink when he isn’t looking.’

‘That would work,’ Mathers nodded. ‘Obviously I’d have to immediately arrest you for unlawfully administering a noxious substance with intent to cause harm, but at least we’d know.’

‘He was joking, ma’am,’ Flynn said. ‘You were, weren’t you, Poe?’

Poe shrugged. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Look, as long as we can keep him out of the bar for a few hours, we should be able to get him through this. He’s not our problem after that. If he’s drunk, he doesn’t get access.’

‘Gut view?’ Mathers asked.

‘I think he’s sober.’

‘DI Flynn?’

‘He’s sober now. Whether he has the motivation to sustain it, I don’t know. But Poe’s right, long-term sobriety is Stahl’s problem, not ours.’

Mathers tapped out an email. ‘We’re on then,’ she said. She threw her phone on the table and sighed. ‘Come on then – cards-on-the-table time. What do we think’s really happening here? Why did he ask for Stahl and what can we expect on Sunday?’

‘I don’t know,’ Poe said. ‘He doesn’t smell like a goat any more, but I can’t shake the feeling we’re about to tether him like one.’