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Chapter 136

‘Veryclever,’ Beck said after Poe had finished.

‘We couldn’t make a major announcement, obviously,’ Poe said. ‘If we went too big you’d have smelled a rat. It had to be something subtle, something only a handful of scientists would understand.’

‘So you invented something about the AS9 protein?’

‘Professor Doyle knew you’d always considered the scientific community wrong in their assumption about disruption in non-inheriting patients.’

‘Did you understand any of what you’ve just said, Sergeant Poe?’

‘I don’t need to. I work with people who do.’

‘It was Professor Doyle who put the article together?’

‘She wrote it in such a way that it supported your hypothesis, but made it look like Chapin-Hag Industries didn’t really understand what they’d stumbled upon.’

‘What about the peer review process?’ Beck asked. ‘Articles like this aren’t published in medical journals without going through a rigorous process.’

‘Yeah, we thought that would convince you,’ Poe said. ‘And that bit was easy. All we did was ask them nicely. Said we were setting a trap.’

Or that’s what we will be saying, Poe thought. Bradshaw had planted the article in a couple of minor medical journals after she had sneaked into their systems. After the editorial process, but before the magazines went to the printers. She had offered to do the same in the major journals, but Doyle had said lower profile magazines were more convincing. They would fit better with what they were trying to achieve – a small lab that had failed to grasp the significance of its discovery.

‘What about this place?’ Beck said. ‘Did you ask them nicely too?’

‘Professor Doyle knows the owner. They used to work together and she asked if we could use their premises out of hours.’

‘And Bill Hershaw?’

‘One of my colleague’s legends,’ Poe said. ‘She keeps a dozen or so running at any one time. They have social media profiles, work and medical histories, addresses and credit cards. Enough for her to build a convincing identity in a day or two. She fixed it so Bill had worked at Chapin-Hag Industries for four years. A day before the articles appeared in the journals, me and my beard and my thick glasses and my silly peaked cap started doing the nightshift here.’

‘I imagine you think you’ve won, Sergeant Poe?’

‘This isn’t a fucking game,’ Poe snapped. ‘People have died.’

‘Bad people.’

‘And good people.’

‘Professor Doyle’s father? A necessary sacrifice, I’m afraid, but the cost of human advancement has always been paid in blood. Did you know that the best anatomical drawings in the world are found in thePernkopf Atlas? It’s still used by surgeons today and it was written by a Nazi doctor. He dissected the corpses of executed prisoners and teams of artists created the images.’

‘I don’t care about any of that,’ Poe said. ‘It’s time to go. You’ll get your day in court soon enough. Although, a word of advice, Freddie; when you do, don’t compare yourself to a Nazi in front of a jury – we still don’t like them in this country.’

‘Are you ready to start negotiating?’

‘I’m not negotiating, Frederick.’

‘Of course you are,’ Beck said. He waggled the repurposed bug fogger to remind Poe what he was holding. ‘I want a vehicle, and until I feel safe you’re staying by my side.’ With his spare hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of plasticuffs. The loops were already prepared. He threw them on the floor. ‘Please put these on, Sergeant Poe.’

‘I won’t be doing that.’

‘No?’

Beck put his thumb over the nozzle. Looked Poe in the eye and said, ‘How about now?’

‘Feel free,’ Poe said. ‘Excuse me?’

‘You heard me.’

‘Do you know what this is?’

‘Your blueprints were very clear.’

‘So, you know if I press the nozzle the can’s contents will empty in seconds. I won’t be able to stop it. This isn’t a bell that can be un-rung.’

‘Will you quit your yapping then and press the bloody thing,’ Poe said.