Page 200

Chapter 118

‘TempleExpress Pharmacy,’ Bradshaw said, pointing at the wall monitor she’d just mirrored to her laptop. ‘They have an electronic prescription service contract with the NHS.’

‘It’s a private business?’ Mathers asked.

‘Yes, Detective Chief Superintendent Mathers,’ Bradshaw replied. ‘A customer orders medication via their website and Temple request the prescription from the customer’s GP. Temple fill the prescription using medication from their warehouse, then deliver it using their own fleet of vans. Repeat prescriptions are reordered automatically. All of our victims, including Douglas Salt, were registered with them.’

‘But we checked GP records,’ Mathers said. ‘We’d have spotted this.’

‘We did,’ Flynn said, ‘but it wasn’t supposed to be the medication so we didn’t go too deep. And the reason we missed it is because Temple Express Pharmacy have been hoovering up the competition over the last few years. With few exceptions, any private pharmacy with an NHS contract in London was bought out. They streamline the newly acquired company by centralising services like HR and payroll, but keep the original pharmacy’s name. It’s why the victims’ nominated pharmacies all appear to be different.’

‘But in reality they’re all subsidiary companies of Temple?’

‘Exactly. They’re the parent company all the others sit under. And one of their core selling points is guaranteed discretion. All their medication is delivered in discreet packaging. For a celebrity with an embarrassing condition, I suspect this is important. For example, we know Kane Hunt was desperate to hide the fact he was impotent.’

‘Which DI Flynn has explained to me but I still don’t understand,’ Bradshaw chipped in, her brow creased. ‘Erectile dysfunction is a common problem, particularly among men over forty. It can be caused by stress, excessive alcohol consumption or underlying health problems. It is not shameful. If Poe told me he was unable to maintain a healthy erection I would advise him to drink less and sleep more. If he were still unable to have penetrative sexual intercourse I would tell him to see his general practitioner. Which he probably wouldn’t, knowing him.’

‘Oh God,’ Poe whispered.

Bradshaw sought him out in the crowded room again, but he was at the back and she was short-sighted. He slumped so far down in his seat his feet touched the feet of the person in front.

Doyle raised her hand. ‘He’s over here, Tilly,’ she called out, grinning.

Bradshaw stood on her tiptoes and waved. ‘Hi, Poe,’ she said. ‘I was just talking about you. Did you hear?’

Poe stared at the floor, his face burning. Cops began to snigger. One openly laughed. Another said, ‘We should call him Sergeant Woody,’ to raucous cheers.

‘What?’ Bradshaw said.

‘This is gold,’ Henning Stahl said, scribbling furiously. ‘Absolute gold.’

‘OK,’ Flynn said. ‘As much fun as this is, we haven’t finished yet. We believe Beck infiltrated Temple Express Pharmacy and checked their database for potential victims. He selects people who require repeat prescriptions of daily medication, and manufactures identical-looking tablets, one of which is actually his barrier-coated poison. He substitutes their blister pack for his and has them delivered the usual way. He waits until they’ve ordered a repeat prescription before he goes through the charade of the poems and the flowers and the advance warnings. By then he can be confident his poisoned pill is already floating in their stomachs. They’ve basically swallowed a ticking time bomb.’

‘And only he knows how long the fuse is set for,’ Mathers added.

‘Yep.’

‘Kane Hunt wasn’t on daily medication though. How does he fit in?’

‘The NHS will only prescribe eight sildenafil tablets per month,’ Flynn replied. ‘And Kane Hunt ordered as many as he was permitted. We think he took them so he could masturbate.’

Mathers nodded. ‘This all works,’ she said. ‘I’ll get someone working on a warrant. See if we can get a list of employees.’

‘We’ve already been through it, ma’am.’

‘How?’

‘Tilly tells me she did it legally,’ Flynn said, ‘but maybe don’t ask how just yet. We have a list of all employees who have access to their secure medication warehouse, and anyone involved in the distribution process. We’ll circulate it afterwards, but we’ve narrowed it down to males between the age of forty and sixty who joined the company in the last eighteen months.’

‘How many names?’

‘Just three. Robin Barker works as a cleaner in the warehouse, so potentially has access, and Paul Burdis is a qualified pharmacist. Burdis actually fills the prescriptions. The third is a man called Christopher Goodson. He’s one of their part-time delivery drivers.’

‘I assume you think Paul Burdis is the most likely suspect?’

‘Actually we don’t,’ Flynn said. ‘To dispense medication Beck would have had to forge a pharmacy degree and then hope Temple didn’t check if he was registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.’

‘The cleaner then?’