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Chapter 84

‘It’sthe most blatantly manufactured crime scene I’ve ever come across, boss,’ Poe said into his phone. ‘Little more than a love letter to himself.’

‘What do you mean?’ Flynn replied.

‘He knew we were coming. Planned for it. It’s probably why he made such a large purchase of acetone and why he used his real name. Hewantedus to find this place.’

‘And this isn’t just you, you know …?’

‘What?’

‘Being you?’

‘Chief Superintendent Mathers spotted it as well. We’d assumed Beck had slipped up when he used his own name to purchase the acetone. He hadn’t. It was entirely deliberate.’

‘Talk me through everything.’

‘I can do better than that,’ Poe said. ‘I shot a video on my phone and I’ve sent it to Tilly. Call me back when it’s on her laptop.’

‘It’s a chromatography column, Poe,’ Bradshaw said. ‘It’s a piece of equipment used to separate chemical compounds.’

The object on the video was a cylindrical glass tube. It was about two feet tall, had a built-in tap at the bottom and was clamped in the upright position. It was filled with a solid material.

‘The solution is poured into the top, and as it passes through the absorbents in the column, the individual compounds react differently to the packed material. Because of this they reach the bottom at different rates, allowing them to be separated,’ Bradshaw continued. ‘They’ll have to check the trace evidence, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he used the chromatography column toextract the ricin from the castor bean oil. It’s what I would have used.’

‘I assume they’re widely available?’ Flynn asked.

‘You can get them on Amazon for fifty pounds, DI Flynn.’

Flat Alpha looked like a sixth-form chemistry lab. Some of the equipment, like Bunsen burners, test-tube racks and a microscope, Poe recognised from school. Glass beakers, crucibles and Petri dishes. Funnels and stirring rods. Other equipment Bradshaw had to talk them through.

As well as the chromatography column, she had identified a centrifuge, an analytical balance, which Poe guessed was just a fancy way of saying scales, an incubator and a mobile fume cupboard. There was a digital refractometer to check the purity of his poisons and a laboratory fridge to store them in.

‘There’s nothing here that would raise any concerns, Poe,’ Bradshaw continued. ‘Other than the acetone, this can all be purchased without leaving your details.’

‘What’s that grey thing?’ Poe asked. ‘Looks a bit like a deep fat fryer.’

‘It’s a dehydrator. I imagine he used it to dry out the flowers he sent to his victims.’

‘Why not use a flower press?’

‘A dehydrator is more reliable, Poe.’

‘It’s a fully equipped, modern lab then?’

‘Every poison he’s used so far could have been manufactured to a high quality in there. Absolutely no question.’

‘OK. Henning Stahl established that Beck has both the pedigree and the motivation,’ Poe said. ‘We’ve now established he has the facilities. You see why I say it’s a staged crime scene, boss?’

‘It’sabsolutelya staged crime scene,’ Flynn agreed. ‘Everything is about the poisons and victims we already know about. There’s nothing about how he’s getting it into his victims, or who he wants to kill when the Douglas Salt/Chrissie Stringer phase is over. Nothing at all that will help us catch him.’