Ken McClure: The Lazarus Strain

‘What?’ exclaimed Lees.

Giles noticed the sudden change in Lees’ demeanour and found it intriguing. ‘At my request,’ he added. ‘I asked Dr Cleary to do this in order to establish as quickly as possible what the escaped animals might be carrying.’

‘Well, that will no longer be necessary,’ snapped Lees. ‘Will you show me to Professor Devon’s office, please?’

Lees and Giles found Cleary sitting at Devon’s desk reading through a pile of papers. Giles introduced Lees and Cleary got up to shake hands. Lees did so perfunctorily and said, ‘I don’t think we need trouble you any longer, Doctor. I’ve told the inspector what he needs to know.’

Giles noticed that Cleary was embarrassed at being dismissed like some errant schoolboy. He said, ‘I told Mr Lees that I had asked you to do this. Did you have any luck, Doctor?’

Cleary looked at Lees and then at Giles. Lees knew that Giles was looking for verification of what he’d already told him but chose not to say anything.

‘Tim appears to have been working on… flu virus, Inspector,’ said Cleary.

‘So I understand,’ smiled Giles, although he had noted the pause in Cleary’s reply. ‘I apologise for putting you to all that trouble but I hope you both understand that it was imperative for us to know what danger the public might be facing.’

‘No trouble,’ said Cleary

‘Of course,’ said Lees.

As they left Devon’s office Giles and Cleary came across the forensic team removing Devon’s body from the premises. They paused to allow the white-suited pall bearers to pass by.

‘I still can’t believe it,’ said Cleary, still clearly upset. ‘I suppose you must see a lot of this, Inspector?’

‘Not exactly like this, sir,’ said Giles. ‘This is a bit special.’

‘What did they hope to gain? People are hardly going to flock to the animal rights cause when they hear about Tim’s murder, any more than they were a few weeks ago when they stole the corpse of an old lady in Staffordshire. They’re just sick, these people.’

‘You may well be right,’ said Giles. ‘Extremist organisations always attract the sick and the inadequate. The cause doesn’t really matter too much to them and in this case, the tail may have started wagging the dog.’

‘A frightening thought.’

Giles and Cleary watched as a dark coloured van with blacked-out windows took Devon’s body away.

Giles cleared his throat and asked, ‘I take it you didn’t find any indication that the professor might have been working with any other virus, did you sir? I mean it was just flu?’

Cleary seemed to take a long time to answer but when he did it was just to say, ‘No, Inspector, just flu virus.’

‘Good,’ said Giles. ‘Then we can all sleep safely in our beds…’

‘Yeees…’

‘But?’

‘No buts Inspector, of course we can. About the animals…’

‘What about them, sir?’

‘What will you do?’

‘The public have been warned not to approach them and to report any sightings to the police. After that we’ll leave it up to the usual agencies to bring them in, RSPCA, PDSA. Don’t suppose monkeys’ll fancy Norfolk too much with the nights getting colder… but then I suppose they’re smart enough to start looking for a billet indoors should the need arise…’ Giles watched for a reaction from Cleary.

‘Better warn the public to lock all doors and windows,’ said Cleary.

‘Really, sir?’ said Giles.

Cleary looked at him. ‘They can give you a nasty bite, Inspector,’ he said but he knew he’d been tested.

‘Were all the monkeys infected with… flu virus, sir?’ Giles asked.

‘As far as I could make out; it was a six animal experiment. Four animals had received Tim’s experimental vaccine and had then been injected with flu virus — challenged, we call it — one had received the vaccine alone and the remaining animal, the virus alone.’

‘What was the purpose of the last two?’ asked Giles.

‘They’re what we call control animals,’ said Cleary. ‘One was a vaccine control to make sure the vaccine itself did not cause illness and the second was a virus control to demonstrate that the live virus was in fact alive and could cause infection. You always need controls to validate an experiment.’

‘I see, sir. Is there any way of knowing which animal is which when they are recovered?’

Cleary looked doubtful. ‘I think not,’ he said. ‘We wouldn’t know which cage an animal had come from and they wouldn’t have labels round their necks. Mind you… Smithy might be able to tell.’

‘The man who fed them?’

‘Yes, the Professor’s notes state which animal was given what by name — they all had names, you see. Smithy might be able to recognise them when they’re brought in.’

‘Good,’ said Giles. ‘That might be useful.’

‘I don’t often feel queasy in my job,’ said Marjorie Ryman. ‘But I’ll have to admit to it this time. For sheer, bloody minded cruelty this takes the biscuit.’

Giles looked down at the body on the table and screwed up his face.

‘I mean, I can see the point of humiliating the man by stripping him and putting him in a cage like an animal. To a lesser extent I can even understand the thing with his eyes — although not with bleach — because of what’s gone on in animal experiments in the past. But the systematic mutilation of his body with a scalpel by the looks of it… I fail to see the point they were trying to make.’

‘Pure unadulterated sadism,’ said Giles. ‘I take it you were right about the cause of death? You usually are.’

‘Yes, it was the cannula through the heart.’ She held up the long, hollow needle that had been found in the cage beside Devon. ‘I was rather hoping I wasn’t because I hoped he’d died before they got round to that but no, it looks as if he was alive throughout the rest, God have mercy on him.’

‘Thanks Madge,’ said Giles. He found he had little heart for any further conversation.

‘What now, sir?’ asked Sergeant Morley.

‘Home. We grab a few hours while our colleagues bring in every animal rights bozo they can lay hands on and the whole county goes on monkey watch.’

‘What do you tell your wife when you’ve had a day like this?’ asked Morley as they walked across the yard.

‘I don’t,’ said Giles. ‘We have an agreement. After fifteen years she can tell by my face what kind of day I’ve had and what size of a gin is required. She puts it down on the table and I say, “Thanks love” and that’s the end of it. We talk about other things, inconsequential things like the meaning of life and the origin of the universe.’

‘And that works?’

‘Tonight she’ll be leaving the bottle.’

David Elwood grunted as he manoeuvred himself into bed, hampered by having one arm in a sling. His wife pulled up the blankets and made a fuss of tucking him in. ‘How’s the pain?’

‘It’s fine; the pills are dealing with it.’

‘Fancy some hot chocolate?’

‘That would be nice, dear.’

‘Telly on?’ asked Mary, pausing by the portable television, which stood on top of a chest of drawers at the foot of the bed. ‘ Panorama’s on. Mind you, it’s just about finished but I think there’s a spooky film after it.’

‘I think I’ve had enough spooky nonsense for one day,’ said David.

‘Perhaps we both have,’ said Mary. ‘I only hope they catch these swine. What they did to that poor Professor was just plain evil.’

‘World’s full of fanatics these days.’

Mary left the room and returned a few minutes later with two mugs of hot chocolate. She placed one on each of the bedside tables before going over to the window to draw the curtains. Something caught her attention in the garden and she held back the curtains with both hands while she pressed her nose to the glass.