Read Online By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) by Alan Alexander - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Alan Alexander
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Bernard?'
'It could mean inspections by the Health and Safety Executive and Healthcare Improvement Scotland, which means the goddam government. They can slap improvement orders and fines on us. And that would cost money. Cy wouldn't like that.'
'Bet your life! He's already concerned about profit margins here. Are we looking at losses?
'Not unless the inspectors come in.'
'OK. Let's make sure they don't. Who else knew about Keller??
'My top team knew he was here. He may have spoken to some of them.'
'How much do the police know?'
'Not much. They know he was a inspector and he had found some things that concerned him.'
'The press? The health board handles that side of thing, I believe? In future, refer all enquiries to me. I'm going to do some digging around to find out what's going on.'
*
At about the time that Eisner was leaving Donovan's office, the Chief Constable's staff officer took a call from the office of the First Minister in Edinburgh.
'Good afternoon, Inspector. Paul MacIver, Special Advisor to the First Minister. The First Minister would like a word with the Chief Constable. When would it be convenient for her to call?'
CHAPTER FIVE
At the team meeting at 0830 hrs on Thursday morning, DCI Fiske was joined in Conference Room 5 by Esslemont, Colin MacNee, Sara Hamilton, and the three DCs who had been attached full time to the investigation: Duncan Williamson, Stewart Todd and Aisha Gajani. ‘Dongle’ Donaldson had been persuaded out of his hideout and was introduced all round, and the pathologist who had conducted the post mortems had agreed to be at the end of a telephone line if any questions arose about cause of death, time of death or related matters. DI Andy Hanna, on secondment from Strathclyde Police Fraud Squad would arrive later.
‘Right,’ Vanessa said, ‘We need updates on the main lines of enquiry. I’m tempted to say that shouldn’t take us long, because were getting nowhere fast, but I’m never defeatist.’
As the slightly uncomfortable laughter subsided, she turned first to DS Sara Hamilton. ‘Sara. You and Aisha have been following up the nearest thing we’ve got to a lead, Thomas Nuttall, or whatever his real name is’.
‘Newcastle Police talked to people at the store where his clothes and ID were found and the cashier remembered him. She was surprised when he asked to borrow scissors to cut the labels off the clothes he’d bought so that he could wear them. He paid cash – nearly £150 – and she didn’t notice at the time, but remembered when prompted, that he wasn’t carrying anything when he left. The shop was busy and she let it go. The barcode scanning system gave us a pretty detailed description of what he bought and we think we’ve got him on CCTV. Not a particularly good image, but better than nothing. We’ve circulated his description and photographic are trying to enhance the image so that we can put that out as well. Network Rail are sending over DVDs from the CCTV at Aberdeen and Newcastle stations and we’re checking with the bus companies as well. It’s all a bit labour-intensive, boss, so we could do with some more bodies.’
‘More bodies is the last thing we need, Sara, but I know what you mean. I’m using uniform to go through the hospital videos, so they may be able to do the rail and bus footage as well. As most of you will know from the file notes, it’s almost certain that Thomas Nuttall is not his real name. We believe that he has appropriated the identity of a Thomas Nuttall who died about a year ago. This makes Jamieson’s death look planned, as was Keller’s. Your opportunistic killer doesn’t go around with syringes and lethal drug cocktails. So we’ve got two planned killings. Enough coincidence, already.’
Esslemont pursed his lips: not a man for
'It could mean inspections by the Health and Safety Executive and Healthcare Improvement Scotland, which means the goddam government. They can slap improvement orders and fines on us. And that would cost money. Cy wouldn't like that.'
'Bet your life! He's already concerned about profit margins here. Are we looking at losses?
'Not unless the inspectors come in.'
'OK. Let's make sure they don't. Who else knew about Keller??
'My top team knew he was here. He may have spoken to some of them.'
'How much do the police know?'
'Not much. They know he was a inspector and he had found some things that concerned him.'
'The press? The health board handles that side of thing, I believe? In future, refer all enquiries to me. I'm going to do some digging around to find out what's going on.'
*
At about the time that Eisner was leaving Donovan's office, the Chief Constable's staff officer took a call from the office of the First Minister in Edinburgh.
'Good afternoon, Inspector. Paul MacIver, Special Advisor to the First Minister. The First Minister would like a word with the Chief Constable. When would it be convenient for her to call?'
CHAPTER FIVE
At the team meeting at 0830 hrs on Thursday morning, DCI Fiske was joined in Conference Room 5 by Esslemont, Colin MacNee, Sara Hamilton, and the three DCs who had been attached full time to the investigation: Duncan Williamson, Stewart Todd and Aisha Gajani. ‘Dongle’ Donaldson had been persuaded out of his hideout and was introduced all round, and the pathologist who had conducted the post mortems had agreed to be at the end of a telephone line if any questions arose about cause of death, time of death or related matters. DI Andy Hanna, on secondment from Strathclyde Police Fraud Squad would arrive later.
‘Right,’ Vanessa said, ‘We need updates on the main lines of enquiry. I’m tempted to say that shouldn’t take us long, because were getting nowhere fast, but I’m never defeatist.’
As the slightly uncomfortable laughter subsided, she turned first to DS Sara Hamilton. ‘Sara. You and Aisha have been following up the nearest thing we’ve got to a lead, Thomas Nuttall, or whatever his real name is’.
‘Newcastle Police talked to people at the store where his clothes and ID were found and the cashier remembered him. She was surprised when he asked to borrow scissors to cut the labels off the clothes he’d bought so that he could wear them. He paid cash – nearly £150 – and she didn’t notice at the time, but remembered when prompted, that he wasn’t carrying anything when he left. The shop was busy and she let it go. The barcode scanning system gave us a pretty detailed description of what he bought and we think we’ve got him on CCTV. Not a particularly good image, but better than nothing. We’ve circulated his description and photographic are trying to enhance the image so that we can put that out as well. Network Rail are sending over DVDs from the CCTV at Aberdeen and Newcastle stations and we’re checking with the bus companies as well. It’s all a bit labour-intensive, boss, so we could do with some more bodies.’
‘More bodies is the last thing we need, Sara, but I know what you mean. I’m using uniform to go through the hospital videos, so they may be able to do the rail and bus footage as well. As most of you will know from the file notes, it’s almost certain that Thomas Nuttall is not his real name. We believe that he has appropriated the identity of a Thomas Nuttall who died about a year ago. This makes Jamieson’s death look planned, as was Keller’s. Your opportunistic killer doesn’t go around with syringes and lethal drug cocktails. So we’ve got two planned killings. Enough coincidence, already.’
Esslemont pursed his lips: not a man for
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