“But you thought to look.”
“To be fair, Commander Trevellyan did. I thought he was insane, at the time. It never would have occurred to me.”
“So what happened? Some unidentified group had stolen some caesium, needed somewhere to store it, heard about our break in, and figured the room at St Joseph’s would be free? That’s ridiculous.”
Melissa shrugged.
“It is ridiculous,” I said. “And it’s not what happened.”
“Where did the canister come from, then?” Chaston said.
“St Joseph’s, itself. It was stolen from the hospital.”
“No. Four canisters were stolen, and they were all recovered.”
“That’s what you were meant to think.”
“It’s true. We have CCTV footage. Scientists’ reports. And hospital documentation. All the material was recovered. It’s a proven fact, Commander.”
“What if there were two thefts? One covering the other.”
“What does that mean?”
“Let me show you.”
I waited until Arthur Hardwicke was watching, then pulled two pound coins out of my pocket and place them on the table.
“See these coins?” I said. “They’re my containers of caesium. They’re safe in my vault. Now, Melissa, could you pass me a piece of paper, please?”
Melissa looked dubious, but she did as I asked.
“This is actually an official hospital document,” I said. “It confirms the total number of coins. It says there are two. OK so far?”
Everyone nodded.
“Oh no,” I said, sliding the two coins away with my right hand. “Look - the caesium is being stolen. And the CCTV camera in the hospital garden – the one in the garden, notice, not the one outside the vault door - is recording the fact that both coins have been taken.”
I slid the coins a little further, and covered them with my right hand.
“Now where could they be?” I said. “No one knows. The thieves have made a clean getaway. But wait. The Security Service intervenes, and brings them both back.”
I lifted my right hand and slid the coins back to where they’d started.
“Here they are, safe and sound,” I said, picking up the piece of paper again. “Let’s just check with the records. Yes - both the coins accounted for.”
I picked one of them up and bit it gently with my front teeth.
“Now the scientific analysis has been done,” I said. “And they haven’t been tampered with. So, we definitely got back everything that was stolen.”
I slid them across the table to Chaston.
“And from now on, we’ll keep them at our back-up site,” I said.
Chaston looked at me and scowled.
“What does that prove?” he said.
“That you were looking in the wrong place,” I said, lifting my left hand and revealing a third coin. “What about this one?”
“Where did it come from?” he said.
“I stole it a while ago and kept it with the others. But then, a fireman accidentally took a chunk out of my door with his axe. I knew there’d be an inspection, and I couldn’t risk being caught with the extra when the technicians showed up to do the inventory. So I needed a diversion. And quickly.”
“OK, stop. You’re theory doesn’t hold water. The third coin couldn’t have stayed there the whole time because we know the raiders completely cleared out the vault. I already told you, we have photos.”
“I know. But there’s something you didn’t see. While everyone was distracted by the four guys on the tape who carried off the exact amount that was supposed to be there, I put my fifth guy to work. He took the other suit and used it to hide the balance of the caesium - the stuff I’d stolen some time before - until the vault had been checked and photographed. Then he put it back.”
Chaston was leaning forward now, and I could see he was chewing on his lower lip.
“How much of this is fact?” he said. “And how much is guesswork?”
“It’s mainly guesswork,” I said. “But can you think of a more likely explanation?”
“Not off the top of my head.”
“I think a more important question is, how did they do it?” Melissa said. “The earlier theft. Assuming there was one.”
“Well, nothing was physically taken at that time,” I said. “The theft was basically done on paper. They changed the amount of caesium people expected to be there, not the amount that was actually there. So, the key must be the way the records are kept.”
“OK. So, if someone changed the records, we should be able to trace that.”
“I would hope so. I’ve had experience with inventory falsification before, and what usually happens is that fraudulent entries are hidden behind real events. You told me St Joseph’s is some kind of hub for other hospitals, where they concentrate the contaminated waste, or am I making that up?”
“No. That’s right. I told you that.”
“Which means the most vulnerable moment would probably be when the deliveries were being made. My guess would be, someone didn’t record everything that came in.”
“How often?”
“I don’t know. It could have happened once, with a whole batch. Or it could have happened over and over, with a tiny bit skimmed off each time. Although that way, they’d need someone to suit up and transfer it into their extra container, which might complicate things. It would depend on who was cooking the books for them, I suppose, because they’d want as few people involved as possible.”
“Do you believe the first attack on the vault was unconnected, then, Commander?” Hardwicke said.
“No sir,” I said. “I don’t believe it was some kind of precursor, as we originally thought. It was the catalyst. It made the second attack necessary. But this in turn was not designed to remove any caesium. It was undertaken to cover up the fact there was too much.”
“And this excess quantity was acquired through some kind of false accounting?”
“Yes sir.”
“Of which you’ve had previous experience in unraveling?”
“Some, sir.”
“Good. In that case, I’d like you to look at how this strange form of theft was carried out. And more importantly, by whom.”
“Of course, sir.”
“Now Trevellyan, given the other news we uncovered yesterday, and the imminence and scale of the threat, one might expect this task to carry a lower priority. One would be mistaken. You understand why, I take it?”
“I do, sir. The way in which the second attack was launched reveals not just a knowledge of hospital practice. It requires knowledge of MI5 procedures, as well.”
“Good man. But wait. There’s more. If your theory is correct, it completely negates our assumption that we have tabs on all the caesium in the country. More could have been stolen through the same method. It could be in terrorists’ hands already. They could be strapping it to a bomb as we speak. So. It’s imperative that we find out who did what, when, and with how much. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Wainwright will help you. Now. Let’s return to the other matter. The threat. This informant stated that the result of the planned attack would be to bring down the government. Is that correct?”