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Chapter 17

Flynnhanded Poe a tablet.

‘This was delivered to Harrison Cummings’s constituency office yesterday,’ she said. ‘One of his staff opened it. We believe it’s from the same person who murdered Kane Hunt.’

On the tablet was a photograph of a typed poem. Poe read it out loud.

You strange, astonished-looking, angle-faced,

Dreary-mouthed, gaping wretch.

What is it you do?

How do you vary your vile days and nights?

‘It’s a fragment from a poem called “To a Fish”,’ Flynn said. ‘It was written by Leigh Hunt back in the 1800s.’

Poe read it again. ‘What’s that underneath? Looks like it’s been initialled.’

‘It’s not an initial,’ Flynn said. ‘If you swipe right you’ll see a blown-up photograph.’

Poe did. Flynn was right – it wasn’t someone’s initials; it was a hand-drawn symbol.

‘Is there a cryptographer we can run it by?’ he said.

‘No need. It’s the Japanese number two,’ Flynn said. ‘Tilly recognised it immediately – she knows how to code in Japanese.’

‘Of course she does,’ Poe said, winking at Bradshaw. ‘Anything else?’

‘Just like Kane Hunt, the poem was accompanied by a pressed flower.’

‘Same type?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘This one was from a plant called,’ she checked her notebook, ‘Houttuynia cordata. Its common name is fish wort. It’s native to South-east Asia.’

‘Do we have a theory?’

‘Tilly thinks he’s planning to use the toxins in the fugu fish to poison Mr Cummings.’

‘Obviously we don’t want this to happen,’ Chief Superintendent Stewart said.

‘The fugu?’ Poe said. ‘The pufferfish the Japanese consider a delicacy?’

‘That’s right, Poe,’ Bradshaw replied. ‘I’m surprised you know about it.’

‘It was on an episode ofThe Simpsons. Homer ate some. I watched it when I was in the army.’

Bradshaw rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, well, tetrodotoxins found in the intestines, ovaries and liver of certain species of fugu fish can have a median lethal dose of up to 906 micrograms per kilogramme.’

‘That’s bad, is it?’

‘A microgram is amillionthof a gram, Poe. Put it another way, poison from certain species of fugu fish is potentially twelve hundred times deadlier than cyanide. The amount needed to kill an adult male would be so small you wouldn’t be able to see it unaided. And it works quickly, usually within fifteen minutes.’

‘Something this poisonous must be highly regulated?’ Poe said. ‘I assume you can’t just waltz into an Asian supermarket and buy a fugu?’

‘The Japanese eat ten thousand tonnes a year, but it’s banned in the UK and the EU,’ Bradshaw confirmed. ‘I’ve undertaken some quick research and it seems there’s a private supper club in London that serves it.’

‘So the poison would be tough, but not impossible, to get hold of. Could this be a copycat? You said the poem and the pressed flower were revealed on live television. Could we simply be dealing with a crank?’