Peroxide Homicide by Matthew Malekos

Author:Matthew Malekos [Matthew Malekos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780719812057
Publisher: Robert Hale
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Sunday 9 October, 12.45 p.m.,

Oldham, Greater Manchester

Detective Inspector Roberts had been more than happy to continue to let Dr Laos drive her car for the duration of their afternoon appointments. He sat comfortably in the passenger seat, occasionally playing with the automatic CD selector. He found her music interesting. In his own car, he was lucky to get the radio’s auto-scan function to work. His aerial had been partially snapped off by a drive-in car wash several years back and he had tried fixing it himself with the help of some sellotape and an old metallic coat hanger. It had been a standing joke among his colleagues ever since.

Now, as the two drove onto the A62 across the nine-anda-half mile distance from Manchester’s inner city to the outlying suburb of Oldham where they were due to meet the chemist that Karen had spoken about previously, Detective Inspector Roberts reclined back in the passenger seat, listening to The Cure’s ‘Charlotte Sometimes’.

‘So,’ he began, ‘tell me about this chemist we are about to meet.’

Karen lowered the volume on her stereo.

‘Her name is Joan Jackson. I’ve known her since I was a child – she’s a friend of my mother’s. But, more to the point, she is an excellent industrial chemist who I have worked with professionally on several cases.’

‘A friend of your mother’s?’ came Roberts’ obvious question, one which Karen would have rather avoided as it might lead to other, more uncomfortable topics.

Nonetheless, she had started trusting him and decided to indulge his curiosity.

‘Yes, she was my mother’s best friend throughout her marriage to my father. I practically grew up considering her an aunt and her children were more like siblings than my own brother.’

The words crossed her mind, along with other more unsettling thoughts. I haven’t spoken to my own brother in years. The occasional Christmas card here and there and little else.

Roberts saw that Karen was deep in thought and decided to change the subject back to one more related to the case.

‘So why is an industrial chemist working as a high-street pharmacist?’

His question was certainly pertinent.

‘It was her choice,’ replied Karen. ‘She’s close to retirement age and decided to move from the pressures of working for the massive pharmaceutical industry about four years ago. She trained in medicinal chemistry in London back in the 1960s. She moved up to Manchester after she completed her PhD thesis on the metabolism of chemical structures in the human body.’

She checked Detective Inspector Roberts’ face to ascertain whether he was still with her. He was. He would have to be, given all he has seen, she found herself thinking.

‘So that’s why you knew she would be the perfect person to tell us all about benzodiazepines and hydrogen peroxide?’ asked Roberts.

‘Exactly,’ replied Karen. ‘She has more expertise in her head than a hundred textbooks. She has worked in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and organic chemistry. She is one of the most celebrated chemists of her era.’

Strange that she’s now working in a pharmacy in Oldham, thought Detective Inspector Roberts.

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