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‘What was his drug used for?’ Poe asked.

‘That, Ican’tremember,’ Stahl said. ‘Probably something to do with his wife. She was extremely ill and he became obsessed with finding a cure. I do know that when the story broke, he came across sympathetically. His research had egregiously breached medical ethics, but he’d done it with good intentions.’

‘What did he do after Straikland?’

‘Got a job for another of the big firms. He was there when the story broke. They let him go as well, said they were unaware of what he’d done. Even started legal proceedings against Straikland for not telling them, although everyone knew it was a PR stunt. Big pharma’s a revolving door when it comes to top research scientists – they knew why Straikland had let him go. Knew and didn’t care.’

‘And after the story broke? Where did he work then?’

‘No idea. Someone will have snapped him up, though.’

‘Really? He wasn’t struck off or something?’

‘Like I said, Beck was brilliant,’ Stahl said. ‘And, due to the principle of autonomy and the laws of consent, animals have more protection than humans when it comes to health-related services. You have to be a registered veterinarian to provide treatment to an animal, but there’s no law against who can treat humans. And that includes surgery. It’s why it isn’t illegal for any shyster to get a Harley Street address and set themselves up in the cosmetic surgery or laser eye treatment racket.’

‘I really hope that isn’t true,’ Poe said. ‘But the thing—’

‘It is true. You can check—’

‘—But the thing I don’t understand, Henning, is why Tilly didn’t uncover this when she was researching the stories you’d been involved in. Seems like this would have been an obvious place to start.’

‘That’s easy to explain,’ he said. ‘My name was never attached to the story when it broke.’

‘Why not?’

‘Like I said, I was only involved in background research on Straikland Industries.’

Poe considered what he knew about journalists. Someone of Stahl’s stature would have insisted on his name being on the story somewhere. Maybe not on the first-day exclusive, but definitely in one of the follow-up features.

‘Nah,’ he said. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me.’

Stahl said nothing.

‘Henning?’

‘OK!’ Stahl snapped. ‘The hacking scandal was about to break. The paper didn’t want my name on anything. I waspersona non grataby the time the story was published so my research was attributed to Mark Dare. Mark didn’t actually exist, it was just the name they used when a journalist’s real name had to remain confidential.’

Poe nodded. That had the rare stench of truth. Something occurred to him. ‘Why do you think he chose to meetyouin Chance’s Park?’ he said. ‘If this is about revenge, surely the woman who broke the story would have been a more obvious choice?’

Stahl considered this. ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ he said. ‘Fiona was the one who exposed Beck, stopped him continuing with his life’s passion, but she’s a bit of a boy scout. An irritating over-achiever, but essentially a good person. Killing her would have alienated the public, I suspect. I, on the other hand,wouldhave made an acceptable target, but I wasn’t substantively involved in the story.’

Mathers finished her call. ‘SCO19 are in position,’ she said. ‘Just waiting for my go order.’

‘You going to give it?’

SCO19 was the Met’s specialist firearms unit. Mathers wasn’t taking any chances.

‘How long until we get there, Cat?’ Mathers asked her driver.

‘We’re here now, ma’am.’