Shadow Selves (The Jack Carston Mysteries Book 4) by Bill Kirton

Author:Bill Kirton [Kirton, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bill Kirton
Published: 2012-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

‘Tell you what,’ said Carston. ‘Next time we get a murder, the first thing we do is round up all the doctors.’

Ross looked up from the report on Mrs. Rioch which had come through that afternoon and which he’d already read fairly thoroughly.

‘This another theory of yours?’ he said.

Carston was looking out of the window. He turned and leaned back against the sill.

‘They know more ways of killing people and getting away with it than Vito Corleone,’ he said.

‘What d’you mean, getting away with it?’

‘I had a cup of coffee with a few of them after the operation. McKenzie introduced me to some of them. You’d think they’d have been fazed by it a bit. I mean, we’re investigating two suspicious deaths at their place but they start listing umpteen ways of murdering somebody without getting caught.’

‘So one of them’s in the frame for Hayne and Mrs. Rioch, then?’

‘Doubt it. None of that lot would ever be suspected; they’ve thought about it too much.’

He pushed himself away from the window ledge and went to sit down. Ross dropped the pathologist’s report onto his desk.

‘Nothing exotic about Mrs. Rioch, though. Suture failed again,’ he said.

Carston nodded.

‘If it wasn’t for Hayne’s overdose, it could just be equipment failure. Despite them insisting all the bloody time that it can’t be.’

‘Did you ask them about heating the sutures?’

Carston shook his head.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Didn’t want to forewarn anybody.’

‘So somebody there could’ve done it.’

‘Yes. If you’d been there, you’d’ve seen. They fancy themselves as being watertight but people can walk in and out of the room where they keep the operating stuff whenever they like. Anybody could’ve had a few packets of dodgy sutures in their pocket and just dropped them with the rest. One second, that’s all it’d need.’

A memory hit him.

‘In fact, I’m bloody sure that’s it,’ he said.

‘Why?’

‘Somebody got rid of all the ones that were in that room. Apparently, when the nurse came looking for them first thing this morning, there were none there.’

‘Yes, but you said the hospital had them taken away for analysis.’

‘No, that was later. Another lot. This was unofficial. Somebody just ditched them. Got rid of the evidence.’

His mind was racing now. Suddenly, the looseness and impossibilities of the case had fallen away. He picked up his phone and punched in a number.

‘This is better,’ he said. ‘A bit of malice aforethought.’

A click on the line warned him that he was connecting to an answering machine. He listened to the message and jotted down the number of a mobile which it gave. As he redialled, he said, ‘I just want a quick word with Brian McIntosh.’

McIntosh took a while to answer the call.

‘Hullo, Jack,’ he said, when Carston identified himself. ‘Up to the elbows in it here, I’m afraid.’

Carston didn’t ask what ‘it’ was.

‘Sorry Brian. Just a quick word about this report on Mrs. Rioch. Jim and I were talking about sutures. D’you reckon what happened with her was the same thing that happened to Professor Hayne?’

‘Same in what way? I mean, it was sutures both times.

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