Read Online Dying to Know (A Detective Inspector Berenice Killick Mystery) by Alison Joseph - Free Book Online

her phone, and glanced at it. ‘What changed in this man’s life? It all seems so stable. Whoever wanted to kill him, it must have been triggered by something.’
    ‘The wife?’
    Berenice gave her a look.
    ‘OK, not the wife. The physics,’ Mary said. ‘This ground-breaking experiment?’
    ‘They all sound tight-knit.’
    ‘They’ve had death threats.’
    ‘We need to look into that.’
    ‘They don’t take them very seriously,’ Mary said.
    ‘That’s the seaside for you.’ Berenice put her phone into her bag. ‘Any talent?’
    ‘Talent? We’re talking scientists.’
    ‘Some of them must be OK.’
    ‘I think my radar went dead as soon as I came South,’ Mary said. ‘It ain’t quite party city out there.’ She got to her feet. ‘Am I allowed to go home to Mum too?’
    ‘What, seriously?’
    Mary looked down at her. ‘Mum is three hundred miles up the M1, as is yours. No roast chicken for me.’
    ‘Nor me.’
    Mary passed Berenice her jacket. ‘How about the pub, then? Steak and chips? Or are you going home?’
    Home, Berenice thought. Cold white rented formica and a shabby floral carpet. ‘Steak and chips sounds great,’ she said.
    They walked along the corridor together. ‘Boots not too warm, then,’ Mary said.
    ‘There was rain forecast,’ Berenice said, as they walked out into the sunny afternoon.
     
     

     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Liam Phelps leaned back against the scruffy common-room armchair, crossed his legs awkwardly in front of him.
    ‘It’s just not the same,’ he said.
    ‘Without Murdo, you mean?’ Elizabeth set two mugs of coffee down in front of them.
    He tapped on the edge of his packet of cigarettes. ‘It was his experiment. And now it’s all going weird, and I keep thinking, if he was here, he’d have an explanation. As it is, every time I look at the results I just feel…’ He pulled out a cigarette and looked at it.
    ‘You know you’re not allowed,’ she said.
    ‘I know.’ He put the cigarette back into the packet. ‘I mean, one would expect B-mesons – ’
    ‘They can’t be.’ She sipped at her mug of coffee. ‘Though, I don’t know what else they are.’
    ‘If it’s true, it means that we’ve – ‘
    ‘ – we’ve made anti-matter that survives for seconds. Minutes, even.’ She shook her head. ‘Except, we haven’t.’
    ‘No, of course we haven’t.’
    ‘And if this shows an axion pattern…’ she began.
    ‘That doesn’t make sense either.’
    ‘No,’ she agreed.’
    They sat in silence.
    ‘It must be weird for you,’ he said.
    She looked up at him. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It is.’
    ‘You’d only just come back…’
    ‘Not to him.’ Her voice seemed loud. ‘I’d come back to the lab. Not to him.’
    Liam shifted his long legs. ‘It’s not for me to intrude…’ he began.
    ‘I mean even if there is a funeral…’ She seemed not to hear him. ‘What’s to stop her just excluding me? I don’t think I can bear it.’ She passed her hand across her eyes, shook her head.
    The door opened and they both looked up.
    ‘Sorry, I’m…’ Iain Hendrickson was standing in the doorway. ‘I wasn’t sure if you…’
    ‘It’s fine - ’ Liam indicated the seat next to him.
    Iain was in denim, as usual. Liam wondered whether he’d ever seen him in anything else. It gave him a boy-ish, student-y look, in spite of his seniority, the touch of grey in his hair. He looked weary, sleepless, he thought, though probably we all look dreadful…
    ‘These charges,’ Iain was saying. ‘The whole standard model turned on its bloody head. We ought to be delighted, I suppose.’ He spoke with a soft Scottish accent. ‘Ground-breaking results. Those boys in Geneva being kept on their toes…’ He sat down next to Liam. ‘But of course, what we want as scientists, is to add to knowledge. We don’t want to take the whole damn rug out from under everyone’s feet so we all have to start again. And have you seen this?’ He pulled a piece