The Judas Tree: A DI Redding Novel by Andrew Hawthorne

Author:Andrew Hawthorne [Hawthorne, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Carter and Claire were sitting in the incident room discussing how they were going to deal with Mrs Donaldson. It was clear that they both had different ideas about how to approach it. Unlike Carter, Claire was reluctant to confront the woman face-on; they still had no evidence against her and although a financial motive had now been firmly established, she believed that it was not enough to bring Mrs Donaldson in for questioning.

Carter listened to Claire’s argument and then conceded. “Okay, so what do you suggest that we do?”

“Well, if Mrs Donaldson was involved in her husband’s death, she must have had some help. She couldn’t lift his body and hang it from the tree on her own. She’s just not strong enough.”

“So, you’re thinking that she might have a lover who helped her,” Carter mused.

“Yes, so let’s interview the cleaner and the gardener and find out who she’s been seeing recently. You never know, perhaps one of them will have seen or overheard something important.”

Carter considered this and nodded. “Okay, we’ll do it your way for now, but if we uncover any hard evidence, I want her in.”

Claire smiled. “Brian’s going through the rest of the forensics from the scene of the crime. Maybe there’s something there that will help.”

“Maybe, but...” Carter was interrupted by the ring of his mobile phone. He checked to see who the call was from before answering and whispered to Claire. “It’s McAlpine.”

Carter swiped the green arrow to accept the call and immediately put it on speaker so Claire could hear the conversation. “Hello Dr McAlpine. What do you have for me?”

“Hello, Chief Inspector. I’ve received the lab reports and have some interesting findings to report,” replied McAlpine, who then paused for dramatic effect.

“Well, don’t keep me waiting. What is it?” snapped Carter.

“It turns out that I was right—our distinguished MSP was poisoned before he died.”

“Right. What kind of poison?” asked Carter.

“That’s what is so interesting about this case. We found traces of a substance called viscumin in his bloodstream and digestive system.”

“Viscumin?” asked Carter. He looked up at Claire, who looked just as puzzled as he did.

“Yes, it’s found in mistletoe and is very similar to ricin.”

“Ricin!” Carter exclaimed. “Bloody hell, don’t tell me the Russians are involved!”

“I said it was similar to ricin,” he said, correcting Carter. “It works the same way as the toxic chemicals in ricin, but its origin is very different—Viscum Album, otherwise known as European Mistletoe, is very common in these parts.”

“So, anyone with access to mistletoe could have poisoned him?” asked Carter.

“Well, not really. You see, in order to extract the highly toxic viscumin from the plant, you would need to have a good knowledge of plants and most likely have some knowledge of biochemistry.”

“Right, well that should narrow down our list of suspects,” said Carter.

“Glad to be of help,” said McAlpine. “I’ll send the full toxicology report over to you in a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” replied Carter and hung up the call. He looked at Claire.

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