52
More rational to use the stairs beforehand, than stay around for the lift.
At the admissions desk, the female volunteer focused with a smile this time.
"How is she?" She inquired with revived energy.
"She's gone!" I responded, trying to see beyond her and outside the clinic. "Did you notice anyone strange?"
"What do you mean?"
"Someone picking up a patient, still draped in their hospital garment."
Her hand clutched her throat.
"There was a woman," she declared. "I didn't look at them. I became preoccupied…"
Her tone faltered off as she realised the repercussions of what she was revealing.
"Did you see where they went?"
"No, sorry."
She stared with round-eyed in fear.
"Did she go in a car, taxi, ambulance?"
"An automobile," she murmured. "Took her. The woman drove. She demanded you recommend the patient switched from the ward as her life was at risk."
"Who? What motor?"
"A fancy one," she responded.
"Colour?"
"Aquamarine."
"Can you describe the woman?"
"Mid-forties, and charming."
Sheena Ryder.
Without thanking the volunteer or saying goodbye, i left the hospital, not knowing where I was heading. Or where they took Clarissa.
A police car, sirens blaring, lights flashing, appeared flying up the swerving road heading towards A&E. Fitzgerald was behind the wheel.
"Jesus, you leave a trail of bodies wherever you travel."
I climbed in beside him.
"Where are we going?"
"The DEFRA property."
"The Ministry deems it under forty-eight-hour lockdown," he announced, "no admission from the mainland."
"Typical. Still need to get over there."
"Are you thinking of explaining what's going on in my village?"
"This began with the trawler sinking."
Fitzgerald's car whispered along the wet roadway.
Trees lining the lane cartwheeling backwards into the pitch blackness behind us.
It appeared simpler to speak than to sit there, going insane with fear. Besides, Fitzgerald showed support despite his family being in danger.
"The trawler delivered the Pendimethalin to the Russians."
"Why?"
"To help their deceitful ploy of destabilising Ukraine and alternative neighbouring nations," I said.
"Bastards!"
"The chemical threatens to shatter Ukraine's wheat crop and their ability to ship their merchandise to the EU and the UK."
"Doesn't sound legitimate to me?"to
"It isn't. The sanctions against Russia, since the invasion, are still in place."
"Damn!" Fitzgerald said.
"But struck a problem. The Russian sub, they were providing Pendimethalin with, got captured in the trawler's nets, and dragged it under the surface, taking the chemical and the men with it."
I wavered on arrival at an intersection. Impenetrable spots in both directions. The Detective took tremendous care turning left at the junction.
"Determined to regain the Pendimethalin, the commander of the sub sent two submariners ashore to pose as birdwatchers."
"A bit risky."
"Their job was monitoring the harbour, ensuring there were no over-inquisitive fishermen searching for the trawler and its load."
"Which accounts for the Reverend's description."
"Yes, but as usual the Russians didn't recognise powerful passions moving to the fore."
"Which was?"
"Love and vengeance."
"I don't follow."
"Gavin Hoyte, killed the birdwatchers."
"What? It makes no sense."
"Yes, it does. Anger over the death of his brother. It was necessary for him to investigate what Justin was doing."
"And he murdered those two Russians with his own knife?"
"There is one missing from the block in his kitchen, and for filleting fish."
"Bloody boy, why didn't he come and tell me?"
"Not just angry. He got scared as well."
We were getting closer to Cape Ore. The motor, with its siren turned on, providing twice the normal acceleration limit, dodged in and out among the thinning evening traffic. Fitzgerald was a professional motorist, and he read how extreme he and the car could go on without murdering us.
Fitzgerald's palm led to his jaw.
"By the way," he began, "you could have drawn that blow when you punched me."
I peered at him.
"I did."
A law enforcement sign with a rotating warning light alerted a mishap along the road. Beyond the next corner, a 4x4 was on its side in a ditch.
My heart missed a beat.
He stopped the car, and beckoned one of the police officers over, who kept traffic moving past the scene of the accident.
"Sergeant Fitzgerald," he announced in an abrupt tone, "what happened?/
"Nissan came off the road at a fair lick. When I arrived, I helped the motorist, and her companion out. She was still in a hospital gown. I put them in my automobile and told them to wait, why I called the ambulance. Low and behold. The driver got in the front and swiped it!"
"Did they say what took place?"
"She claimed her back wheels seized on the wet road. She struggled to slow, and when she lifted her foot off the pedal, lost control and finished up in the ditch. She mentioned she was taking her sister to the medical establishment in Cape Ore, maybe…" His tone faltered off with uncertainty.
"Now you're realising we have no medicinal centre in the village, you moron!"
"No, sir." The young man said, eyes glaring over the roof of Fitzgerald's car. Remained at attention. "I'm sorry."
"Which direction did they go?"
"That way."
"Is it too much to ask whether you can recall the registration?"
"AY22LTZ."
"What!"
He repeated the number and then wound up the window and we were away.
"Tough on him, weren't you, Sergeant?"
"Was I?"
"If he had seen much else, or attempted to stop them, he'd be pushing up daisies."
"Yes, you are right. Anyhow, continue with your hypothesis."
I explained how I worked out Sheena organised the break-in by smuggling two Russian submariners into the Defra compound in containers.
Concealed in the complex, they murdered the chief of surveillance, Neil Morris, and principal expert Dr Inga Luzhny.
The burglars, keeping to her precise orders, discharged the effluent, creating the foot-and-mouth epidemic, a diversion for the main purpose.
"Pendimethalin!"
The car radio crackled.
It was the inexperienced policeman from the site of the accident. He explained to Fitzgerald that the fuel tank of his pinched automobile was low, and he was in progress to fill it up when he arrived at the hazard.
"I don't understand, why did Sheena Ryder swipe a law enforcement vehicle? It will stick out as a sore thumb."
"You said yourself that officials closed the spit," I suggested.
"Yes, that's right."
"It is the only transportation that can gain access."