‘Sorry, I’m just trying to put pieces on the board in the right order.’
‘And?’
‘Let’s go through it... we think that Barrowman has discovered something big but Dorothy doesn’t know about it.’
‘Agreed.’
‘The same goes for the anonymous people you work for, but both are happy with what Barrowman did come up with, something which Dorothy sees as part of an overall understanding of what makes people tick.’
‘Agreed.’
‘The UK security services tried to block funding for Dorothy’s group and were particularly interested in Barrowman and what he was doing to the extent that they kidnapped him from the police, possibly because they have people working on the same thing.’
‘If you say so.’
‘Dorothy’s group continues trying to unravel the mysteries of what controls our genes and how, but there’s also a background agenda to prove or disprove what their two dead colleagues came up with before they died.’
‘And who may have been murdered to prevent these findings being made public,’ Tyler added.
‘So where does that leave us?’
‘Puzzled.’
Steven raised an eyebrow.
‘Don’t get me wrong, epigenetics is an exciting field, but it’s in its infancy. It will be one thing establishing which genes are subject to switching but quite another figuring out the details of how it works and how we can influence and eventually control it. I’m sure Dorothy and her co-workers are going to come up with a lot of interesting findings along the way but it’s going to take a long time before the Americans’ findings are confirmed or not.’
‘Point taken,’ said Steven, ‘and maybe that suits Dorothy, but of course, lucky breaks sometimes happen... which brings us to Barrowman.’
It was Tyler’s turn to look surprised. ‘Do you think he knows how it all works?’ he exclaimed.
‘I think he learned something from Lawler that puts him way ahead of the field. Lawler was his lucky break, one that made his previous work almost irrelevant — he was happy to share all his other results, but went to enormous lengths to keep the Lawler discoveries to himself, presumably until such times as he could claim all the credit and go down in scientific history.’
‘I still can’t figure where your employers are coming from,’ said Steven. ‘They fund research anonymously and then sit back monitoring it. Why?’
‘After what you’ve told me,’ said Tyler cautiously, ‘suppose... just suppose... they are the same people who were behind the murder of the two Americans...’
‘Wow, talk about biting the hand that feeds you...’
‘You know the old saying, keep your friends close and your enemies even closer?’ said Tyler.
‘Go on.’
‘If Dorothy’s two post-docs were murdered to stop them making their findings public, maybe the murderers thought that the same findings might surface again albeit from a different angle.’
‘So, they fund them in order to keep an eye on things?’
‘And to put a stop to things if they feel the time is right.’
‘Well, Machiavelli has nothing on you, doctor,’ said Steven, ‘but funding an entire research group is not done with small change. We’re talking big bucks here.’
‘Which limits the field,’ said Tyler.
‘To whom?’
‘People with big bucks.’
‘If you keep this up, we’re going to get our own radio show,’ said Steven, ‘I’m thinking US intelligence. UK intelligence blocked initial funding for Dorothy, maybe US intelligence took a stronger line?’
‘A depressing thought.’
‘The intelligence world is a very depressing place,’ said Steven.
‘You sound like you know it well?’
‘Our paths have crossed.’
‘Do you think MI5 are hiding Barrowman?’ Tyler asked.
Steven shook his head and told him about Barrowman’s ‘little joke’ with the card.
Tyler was shocked. ‘Jesus,’ he murmured. ‘Is that why you’re carrying?’ He nodded towards Steven’s left shoulder, causing him to adjust his jacket. ‘Don’t worry, the weapon’s not visible. I take it you don’t do this often enough to warrant the attention of your tailor?’
‘Quite,’ said Steven. ‘John Macmillan is convinced Barrowman has been given shelter by person or persons unknown. I wasn’t so sure, but just when I was beginning to think he might have committed suicide, he phones a friend in Edinburgh, asking him to forward a packet he’d been keeping for him.’
‘Scary stuff... Tell me about this packet.’
‘There’s a good chance it contains the data on Barrowman’s work with Lawler.’
‘Where was it sent?’
‘Good question, John Macmillan was seeing the Home Secretary this morning with a view to finding that out.’ Steven told Tyler of the PO box number problem
It was agreed that Tyler would concentrate on trying to find out more about who was funding the Lindstrom group and Steven would let him know if and when Jane Lincoln had been back in touch.
Steven walked back to the Home Office feeling uncomfortable that U.S. intelligence could have been involved in the deaths of the two young scientists. This was not because he didn’t think intelligence services could resort to murder when there was plenty of evidence to the contrary — a CIA plan to murder the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro with an exploding cigar, A Bulgarian agent using the deadly poison, ricin via a scratch from the tip of an umbrella, Russian radio-active polonium being added to tea for a London assassination — but more the thought that intelligence services could be interfering in front-line scientific research. In his book, the search for truth should be above and beyond whatever else the human race got up to. Ivory towers should be sanctuaries for the gifted few capable of asking the right questions and seeking out truth to expand human knowledge. Dream on Dunbar. He took solace from the thought that the only reason for bringing up possible US intelligence involvement was the large amount of money required. There was absolutely no evidence that they were... for the moment.
‘The police have been trying to contact you,’ said Jean when Steven got back to the Home Office.
Steven took out his mobile and turned it back on. ‘I’ve been having lunch with Neil Tyler,’ he explained. ‘We were discussing the probable murder of Dorothy Lindstrom’s two American post-docs.’
‘Oh no,’ Jean whispered, ‘Not good... and the news from the police isn’t going to help.’
‘Do you want to tell me first?’
‘It’s Lucy Barrowman, she’s been attacked.’
Steven was shocked. ‘What? But she’s staying with her parents down in Eastbourne,’ he protested.
‘Apparently such things happen even in Eastbourne,’ Jean replied, ‘The house was subject to a break-in while they slept. Poor girl, after all she’s been through you’d think life would give her a break.’
Steven called the police to be given details of the sexual assault carried out on Lucy Barrowman while she slept in her parents’ home.
‘I take it she wasn’t under police protection?’
‘That was withdrawn when she left hospital and we thought Barrowman had gone to ground.’
‘Was it him?’
‘Mrs Barrowman says not.’
Steven didn’t ask for details, his mind was reeling from the awful news.
‘There was a second casualty,’ the policeman continued. ‘Her father woke up and disturbed the intruder. He was just pushed out the way but suffered a heart attack shortly afterwards. Both are in hospital. We’ll keep you informed.’
Steven put down the phone just as John Macmillan came in to the office.
‘Bad news?’ he asked after seeing Steven’s face.