Killing for Keeps Read Online Free PDF Page B

give us something we can work with, a vague idea of who
we’re looking for.’ Having already seen the footage, she was doubtful.
    Delegating other tasks, she turned lastly to DS Brown. ‘Andy, see if you can pinpoint where the Range Rover went after it left Silverlink. Raise an action for any joyriders in the area:
they may be potential witnesses or suspects. As soon as we get confirmation of the vehicle licence plates, I want you to hunt down the registered keepers. Hank, Lisa, come with me. I need you at
the hospital.’
    T hey reached the Royal Victoria Infirmary a few minutes before ten and set about questioning staff. Kate concentrated on the SHO who’d found the body and consultants
who’d been on duty at the relevant time. Hank took the receptionist, porters and ancillary staff, while Carmichael tackled the triage team. Two hours later, they met up in the
relatives’ room the hospital’s medical director had set aside for them to use.
    They had each drawn a blank.
    Kate nodded as Lisa pointed to a Thermos flask that had been left on the coffee table, a handwritten note beside it: Help yourselves. Nothing, it seemed, was
too much trouble for the staff of A & E.
    Pity they hadn’t paid the same level of attention to their patients.
    The room was soulless, far too warm to be comfortable, and staged – an administrator’s idea of showing respect to those in distress. Neutral walls vibrated with a million sobs, much
like the waiting room at the city’s crematorium where Kate had supported more families of homicide victims than she cared to remember in the years she’d been a murder detective.
    Slumping down on the tan sofa, she dreaded the hours ahead. Delivering multiple death messages on the same day wasn’t unusual. Conveying two separate non-accidental deaths to the same
family was unprecedented. The words ‘shoot the messenger’ loomed large in her head.
    Accepting a drink from Lisa, she waited for her to sit back down before speaking. ‘So,’ she said. ‘Shall I go first?’
    Lisa and Hank were nodding.
    ‘OK, the SHO, Valerie Armstrong, pronounced Terry Allen dead at five thirty-five, half an hour before his brother suffered a similar fate at Silverlink. According to the attending
pathologist, Terry had been dead approximately two hours.’ Taking a gulp of coffee, Kate set the cup down on the floor beside her feet. ‘The doctor claims she had no idea who the
patient was until the police were called. I gather he wasn’t seen on arrival by the triage team?’
    ‘That’s correct,’ Lisa said.
    ‘Hank? Is that your understanding?’
    ‘Yup. He wasn’t booked in at reception either.’
    ‘How come he was missed?’ Kate asked. ‘He was in no condition to walk in unaided, lie down on a trolley and cover himself up. So how did he get here? More importantly, who
brought him in?’
    ‘Only one nurse admitted to seeing him lying on the trolley,’ Carmichael said. ‘Poor girl thought he was asleep. She’s blaming herself. Thinks she may lose her job over
it. She assumed he’d been assessed and was awaiting transfer to a ward. Apparently there was pandemonium last night, including a fatal RTA involving a bus with a number of elderly passengers
on board. They were working flat out, boss.’
    ‘That’s also backed up by the receptionist’s log,’ Hank said. ‘There were multiple casualties. Can’t have been much fun.’
    ‘Did any uniforms view the CCTV?’ Kate asked.
    Hank was shaking his head.
    ‘Then we need to do that.’ Picking up the internal phone, Kate dialled zero and asked for the security office. A few seconds later, a man answered, identifying himself with his first
name only: Frank. Switching to speakerphone, Kate identified herself by name and rank and, to add weight to the call, as a member of the Murder Investigation Team. ‘I’m in the building.
I need to take a look at your CCTV right away.’
    ‘I was expecting that,’ the man said.
    ‘Really?’