By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) (2 page)

Donovan had the look of a man whose authority was rarely challenged.  He was finding it difficult to process such a direct and aggressive approach from someone much younger than himself. MacNee thought that it was as much the perceived disparity in their salaries as in their ages that made his attack incomprehensible to the American, but this was his turf, not Donovan's.

'Yeah, sure.' Donovan said, indicating the open door to his office.  'Why don't you step this way, Inspector?'

Colin was a little disappointed not to be able to hear anything sarcastic or patronising in the use of his rank.  The American had, apparently, decided to play it straight.

'Mr Donovan...'

Donovan interrupted. 'Please call me Bernard' - stress on the second syllable - 'Inspector.'

This time there was an edge, an attempt, Colin thought, to establish some kind of complicity between them.

'I'll stick to Mr Donovan, sir, if you don't mind.'  This was becoming some kind of comedy of manners, so Colin turned sharply to the purpose of his visit.

'I'm investigating a probable murder, Mr Donovan, and I need your co-operation.  We have a body found in this hospital, which your company manages on behalf of the National Health Service.  He was neither a patient nor a member of the hospital staff.  We think it unlikely that he was a relative or a member of the general public.  I need to know what contract or visiting staff you had on site on Friday.  And I need to know whether or not they are all accounted for.'

Donovan smiled indulgently, much as a nursery school teacher might when a toddler asked for a sweetie.  ‘I would like to help, Inspector, I really would.  But we at Hedelco have protocols respecting the privacy of our staff and of information regarding them.  I can’t simply ignore them without first seeking approval from head office.’

‘Mr Donovan, please tell me, without regard to your so-called protocols, if you have the information I need.’

‘Quite possibly, Inspector, but that does not mean I can make such data widely available.’

Colin MacNee was struggling to maintain his composure.   This man seemed to think that he was in an episode of
Law & Order
rather than at the sharp end of a real murder enquiry.  ‘I’ll take that as confirmation that the information is available to you, Mr Donovan, and I will make one more formal request that you hand it over to me.  If you refuse, I shall do two things.  Number one:’  Colin was quite deliberately using American phraseology. ‘I will arrest you for obstructing my enquiries.  Number two:  I will immediately seek a court order for the release of the information.   I need hardly tell you that will lead Hedelco, already not the most popular organisation in Scotland, to sustain some real damage to its reputation.  Your choice.  You have fifteen minutes.’

With that, DI MacNee left Donovan’s office, but not before he had thrown his card on to the desk.

*

As soon as they stepped off the helicopter on to Vermont One, DCI Fiske and her colleagues were issued with high visibility jackets, heavy duty, non-slip boots, and hard hats.   They had been met by the Offshore Installation Manager, the most senior member of the crew.   He introduced himself, in an accent that was Scottish but not Aberdonian, as Alex Randall, and then took them to his office, a cramped space with walls covered in diagrams, rosters, meteorological charts and a couple of family pictures.

As she sat down, on one of the four hard chairs that looked to have been brought in specially, Vanessa asked, ‘Does everybody have to wear this gear, especially the hard hat, all the time?’

‘Except when they are in social, recreational or sleeping areas, yes.  Why do you ask?’

‘Because when the body was found there was no sign of a hard hat.  And it was in an operational area.   Any idea why that should be?’

‘None at all, Inspector.  Harvey Jamieson was an experienced offshore engineer who knew the rules. If he knew he was going into an operational area, he would have been wearing his hat.’

Fiske noted the conditionality of Randall’s answer.  ‘So, if he did know, he would have put on his hat and your people would have found it, either still on his head, or nearby.  Unless it had been removed.’

‘I suppose so.’

‘And if he didn’t know, we would have to conclude that he found himself in an operational area unexpectedly. If he had been forced to go there, for example.’

‘Maybe.  I have no idea why he was there.  He had already done his checks on that inspection chamber a couple of days ago.  If he had wanted to re-examine something there, he would have gone fully equipped.’

‘So… Either he went there voluntarily, fully equipped, and the hat was removed after he died.  Or he was coerced and went there without it.   If the former, he was followed.  If the latter, he probably knew his murderer.  We need to examine his effects, Mr Randall, to see if his hard hat is among them.’

*

Bernard Donovan considered whether to try to stall Colin MacNee for a bit longer, but a quick reflection on his relationship with his bosses in America convinced him that an arrest and a court order would do him more harm than the unauthorised release of information in the course of a murder enquiry.

MacNee was still in the outer office when Donovan called him back.

‘In the circumstances, Inspector MacNee, I think I am prepared to take local responsibility for the release to you of the information you require.  It will take about a half-hour to assemble it.  If you would like to wait, I’m sure that Sharon will provide you with a hot beverage.’

‘Thank you, Mr Donovan, but I have to go to the crime scene.  You have my mobile number.  You can call me or text me when the information is ready and I’ll come and get it.  It’s likely that it will raise questions that I’ll need you to answer.’

The staff toilet where the unidentified body had been found was still decorated with crime scene tape and guarded by a female PC.  The scenes of crime officers and the forensic team had done their work and their report would be on Colin’s desk when he got back to HQ. He was under pressure from hospital management, albeit at a less exalted level than Bernard Donovan, to allow the toilet to come back into use, but he needed to have a last look at it before authorising the removal of the tape.

He wanted to think about how the unidentified victim had got to where he had been found.  It seemed likely that he had been killed in the toilet.  There was no evidence of any kind of scuffle in the corridor outside and no signs of the body having been dragged into the toilet. These conclusions were tentative because the relentless focus on cleanliness and infection control that had characterised hospitals since the near-epidemic of MRSA meant that the corridors, including the floor, had probably been cleaned more than once since the body was left in the toilet cubicle.

Colin went back into the corridor to see if anyone going into the toilet could have been seen, other than by anyone passing by.  It looked as though the nearest CCTV camera was about a hundred metres away, where the corridor got to the hospital’s main stair well.  The value of any footage it had recorded would depend on where it was focused.  The most likely target was the lifts and stairs rather than the corridor, so if the dead man and his assailant had been caught on camera, it wouldn’t have been as they went into the toilet.  Not useless, but less valuable than a direct shot of their arrival at the crime scene.

Two wards were entered from the corridor between reception and the staff toilet and both had half-glass doors.  It was possible that the dead man had been seen walking towards the toilet and someone might recognise him from a photograph.  Colin hoped not to have to use a
post mortem
picture, but that would depend on whether he was a contract worker and whether Hedelco had a photograph on file.

*

Harvey Jamieson’s effects were in his cabin, neatly hung up in the small wardrobe or stored in the drawers beside the bed.  There was no high visibility jacket or boots because he had been wearing them when the body was discovered.  There was no sign of a hard hat.

‘Would he have brought his own hat or would he have been issued one when he arrived?’ Vanessa asked.

‘These guys like to travel as light as possible, so he would have been issued with his safety gear when he got here, just as you were.’  Randall said, as he double-checked under the bed.

Vanessa looked at the small desk in the corner of the room and said, ‘We’ll have to take that laptop, Mr Randall.  Standard procedure with a suspicious death.  We’ll return it when our forensic IT people have examined it for anything that might help with the investigation’.

Randall looked concerned.  ‘But it’s not his property, Chief Inspector. It belongs to Ebright Offshore Drilling. It’s likely to contain commercially sensitive information. I don’t think I can let you remove it from company property.’

‘I’m afraid you don’t have a choice’.  Vanessa had already checked that the laptop was powered down.  She unplugged it and dropped it into the large evidence bag that DS Hamilton had pulled from her backpack.

One of the SOCOs was collecting all Jamieson’s effects while the other prepared to seal off the room. It would have to be forensically swept, but the first priority was to examine the inspection chamber where the body had been found.

‘When was the last change of personnel on the rig? My understanding is that offshore workers typically work two weeks on and two weeks off, with a quarter of staff changing each week. Is that right?’

The significance of the question wasn’t lost on Randall, and it showed on his face.  ‘Yesterday afternoon, about an hour or so before the body was found.’

‘Why am I not surprised?’ DCI Fiske said wearily.  ‘Brilliant timing, and no accident, I’d guess.  I need a list of everyone who left the platform yesterday, together with all the personal and contact information you have.  If you don’t have the details, I need to know immediately who has.  I also need a list of those who were here yesterday and stayed aboard, together with all personal details. They’ll all have to be interviewed, starting tomorrow, as soon as I can get some uniformed officers here.’

*

Bernard Donovan texted Colin MacNee about twenty-five minutes after he left to go to the crime scene.  The message said that he had the information and that MacNee would want to see it urgently.

'As well as the permanent Hedelco staff here,' Donovan said, 'We had four people on site from Head Office.  I've located and spoken to three of them, two of them are still in Aberdeen, the other was at Heathrow en route back to Washington.  But nobody can find the fourth, Peter Keller.  I think he may be your man.'

Colin took out his iPhone and passed it to Donovan. ‘Is this him?’

The picture of the dead man had been sent to Colin’s phone by the pathologist.

Donovan lifted an iPad from his desk and handed it to MacNee. The colour image was of very high quality and Colin had no doubt that it was the same man. 

'What was he doing here?'

'He's - was - what we call a Process Monitor.  Part of a team that goes round the various facilities that Hedelco manages and assesses the efficiency of the way we deliver our product.'

Colin tried not to show his distaste for Donovan's corporate jargon.  Some time, if an opportunity arose, he might tell him that health care was a service, not a product, but for now he needed to collect as much information as he could about Peter Keller, whom he had seen, where he had been, in the four days leading up to the day of his death.  And he needed to know exactly how he had died.

CHAPTER TWO

On Sunday evening, a couple of hours after getting back from Vermont One, Vanessa phoned the MacNees’ to speak to Janet.  Her call was answered by Emma, the MacNees' elder daughter, eight years old, and a great fan of Vanessa.

'Hi, Vanessa!  Daddy said you'd been up in a helicopter and you landed on an oil rig.  Was it really, really exciting?'

'I'll let you into a secret, Emma.  I was terrified about going up in the helicopter. Neil called me a wimp!  But I loved it.  I'll tell you all about it when I see you. I'm coming to look after you when your mummy and daddy go out for their anniversary.  Is your mummy there?'

'Vanessa!  How are you? Home safe?'

'I'm OK.  Feeling a bit foolish about being scared of the helicopter, but I've done it now. I need to see you, Janet, in your professional capacity. Tomorrow, if possible.'

'You really ought to go to your own doctor.  Any reason why you shouldn't?'   Janet was aware of an embarrassed, eloquent silence. 'Oh, Christ, Vanessa.  You've been here for the best part of a year and you've never bothered to register with a doctor?'

'I know, I know.  Haven't got round to it.  I'm really very fit and healthy and I could have seen the MO in an emergency.  Will you see me? Please.  Better still, will you take me on as a patient?'

'One thing at a time.  I'll fit you in at the end of afternoon surgery.  About 4.45?'

'Thanks.  See you then.  Can I have a word with Colin?'

Vanessa and Colin had a brief chat about their meeting with Esslemont the next morning. 'He's not going to be happy about running two separate murder investigations at the same time.'  Colin said.

Vanessa laughed. 'I heard about a top executive years ago who had cards printed to be sent out to customers.  They read: "Thank you for your letter, which has not been selected for reply." Maybe the DCS could introduce a similar triage system when there's too much serious crime. Speaking of triage, how are things at the hospital? Going well?'

'American managers who like to keep everything confidential because they think they own the NHS.  They've been giving Duncan and Stewart the runaround. I may have to bang the table a bit tomorrow.'

'Funnily enough, I had to remind the rig manager about our powers of evidence gathering.  He tried to use company ownership as a reason to prevent me taking possession of the dead man's laptop.  They're an American company, too.'

'Let's try to meet up for a drink some time this week,' Colin said. ‘Right now, I'm being harassed by two small but very powerful girls.'

*

The
post mortem
reports on the two bodies came in early on Monday afternoon.   The cause of death for Keller, the hospital body, was unexpected and unusual, and when Colin MacNee read it he knew that this was going to be a complicated and probably extended investigation. It was a long and detailed report, covering the external condition of the body, the state of the internal organs and of the brain, the contents of the stomach, and evidence of old injuries and surgical procedures.  

However, there was a key passage that would determine the direction of MacNee’s enquiries.

My conclusion is that the immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest precipitated by intravenous lethal injections to the left arm.   Toxicological analysis suggests that the deceased had been injected with the following drugs, probably sequentially and in the order given below:

·      Sodium thiopental/pentothal

·      Potassium chloride

These are two of the three drugs commonly used in jurisdictions where lethal injection is the statutory form of judicial execution.   They are used in many jurisdictions, including several states of the USA, and China.

Sodium thiopental (sometimes known as pentothal) is an ultra-short acting barbiturate, often used for anaesthesia induction and for medically induced coma.  A 5gr dose will cause unconsciousness in 10 seconds.

Potassium chloride stops the heart and the intravenous lethal injection dosage is conventionally 100mEq (milliequivalents).

Death would have occurred within ten minutes of the administration of the second injection.

The deceased had also sustained a blow to the head.  This may have induced concussion to an extent that would have facilitated the lethal injections.

As soon as he finished reading, MacNee called DC Stewart Todd into his office and showed him the report.  Todd looked shocked, but he knew immediately what he would be asked to do.   He had to find out how, and where, the murderer might have acquired enough
pentothal and potassium chloride to kill.

*

The cause of Harvey Jamieson’s death on Vermont One was more straightforward.  He had multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a height of more than six metres and it was likely, as the medics on the rig had guessed, that he had sustained a blow to the back of the head before he fell.  Bruising on the torso was consistent with trauma caused by hitting a hard, horizontal object – probably the guard rail – in the course of the fall.

The pathologist was unwilling to say definitively which of Jamieson’s injuries had killed him, but it was clear that his death had not been accidental.   Time of death was estimated as between 1500hrs and 1900hrs on Friday afternoon.  The final helicopter shuttle, taking rotating crew off the platform, had left Vermont One at 1800hrs.

When she finished reading the report, Vanessa called DS Sara Hamilton into her office.

‘How are you getting on with locating the crew members who left the rig on Friday?’

‘Randall gave me a list of names and contact details.  They keep them on the rig in case of accident or illness.  There were twenty names, and Aisha and I are working our way through them.  So far, we’ve located and spoken to sixteen of them and we’ve told them that we may need them to be formally interviewed.  They’re all over the place, though, mostly in Scotland, but a couple in the north of England and one in Bristol.  I’ve got somebody checking to see if any of the names come up in criminal records.

‘What about the four that you haven’t located?’

DC Aisha Gajani knocked on the open door and Vanessa beckoned her in.

‘Hi, Aisha.  What have you got?’

Aisha was a recent recruit to CID, the first woman in her Glasgow Pakistani family to have gone to university and the first woman from her local community to join the police. She helped Esslemont tick his diversity boxes, but no allowances had been made in taking her on.   She had spent three years on the beat in Fraserburgh before applying for CID. She was tough, more experienced than her youth suggested, and very bright.

‘I’ve still not spoken to four of the guys who left the rig on Friday. Three of them I’m not worried about.  Their names and addresses check out and I’ve spoken to partners or flatmates. So I expect them to phone back.  If they don’t, I’ll keep trying.  But there’s one that’s a problem.  His name is Thomas Nuttall and the address and phone number on record are in Wallsend, near Newcastle.  The number is unobtainable, so I checked it and, apparently, it doesn’t exist.  Or at least it’s never been allocated.  Nothing from his mobile, either.  I got on to Northumbria Police in Wallsend and asked them about the address.  It used to exist, but it was demolished two years ago.  The site was to be redeveloped, but the recession put paid to that.’

‘Sounds as though Mr Nuttall, if that’s his name, doesn’t want to be found.  Good work, Aisha.  You carry on with that.  See if Randall, or his head office, can help.  Sara…’

Aisha interrupted. ‘Sorry, Boss, this may be nothing, but I Googled the name Nuttall, and one of the areas where it’s concentrated is Aberdeen.   More than 1600 people, in and around the city.’

‘Right. It may be coincidence, but we should be ready to follow up if none of the other lines of enquiry produces anything, so see what the operators of the rig have on him, and we’ll take it from there.’

Vanessa turned back to DS Hamilton.  ‘How are uniform getting on with the interviews on the rig?’

‘Nearly finished, I think.   It’s forty people, but the interviews are pretty short and we managed to get four PCs out there.  It’s overtime for them and most of them were up for the adventure. They’ve all got iPads, so we should have their interview notes quite quickly.  I’ll have a quick scan and let you know if there’s anything significant.’

‘Thanks, Sara.  Ordinarily, I’d give you a hand with that, but I’ve got an appointment away from the office that I can’t miss.  Should be back by six o’clock, though.   Will you still be here?’

‘My boyfriend’s picking me up at seven.  Quick pizza and a film.  So I’ll be here till then.’

*

The
post mortem
findings on Keller were serious enough for DI MacNee to report it to his immediate line manager, DCI Fiske. He caught her just as she was finishing discussing with Hamilton and Gajani their progress on the Jamieson murder.

‘Christ, Colin, this looks like a professional hit rather than an opportunistic mugging gone wrong.  The killer probably removed the personal identification to delay the investigation. Have you spoken to the pathologist.  Is he absolutely sure?’

‘Not only have I spoken to him, I’ve been to see the body.  The bruises to the head are very clear, but the needle pricks to the vein had to be pointed out to me.  There was a small amount of blood encrusted around them that’ll show up on the photos, but it was swabbed off during the PM and the marks were very clear.  The pathologist says that when he saw the blood on the arm, and the needle marks, he decided to get a tox report quickly, so he sent the blood samples to the lab and then completed the PM.  That’s how the results appeared in his report.  Good thinking on his part, I thought.’

‘Indeed’.  Vanessa looked thoughtful for a moment.  ‘We’ll need to go to Esslemont with this.  And he’ll want to brief the Chief, if he can drag him away from buffing up his c.v.’  Everybody knew that the Chief Constable was applying for the top job in the new combined Scottish police service that the Scottish government, against all professional advice, had decided to set up.

‘I’ll see if I can set something up for early this evening.  Say, six o’clock.  That OK for you?  I just think that this is so out of the ordinary run of murders that people outside North East Constabulary may begin to take an interest.  And we need to keep the details out of the public domain.’

‘The Press Office, which is to say Harry Conival, is working on a press release.  Or two press releases.  They can’t decide whether to issue a statement about both murders, or one on each.  I doubt whether anybody there has had to deal with two suspicious deaths simultaneously, any more than we have.  What do you think, Boss?’

‘My instinct is to treat them separately, just as we would have done if they had happened a couple of days apart.  Some of the hacks might ask if we think there’s any connection.  But we can play a very straight bat to that.  And we don’t need to have a press briefing – yet – so they won’t be able to push us too hard.’

Colin knew that Vanessa’s recent experience with the press hadn’t been entirely positive.  They had put her under some pressure during the Balmoral murder case by digging into her private life.  And she had come out of that case with a nagging doubt about whether she could trust Harry Conival.  But he was the duty press officer and she had no credible reason to ask for him to be replaced. She had also decided, first appearances notwithstanding, that he was pretty good at his job.

‘I’ve got to go.  I’ve got an appointment’.  She nearly said ‘with your wife’, but didn’t, just in case Janet hadn’t mentioned it.  ‘Could you let the press office know we want two press releases?  I’ll see you at six and we can approve them then.’

*

Vanessa looked up from an old copy of
Hello!
as Janet MacNee came into the waiting room.

'Hi, Vanessa.  Come through.'

As Vanessa sat down in the consulting room, Janet closed the door and asked, 'So what can I do for you?