‘This was before he called Martin Hendry at the Guardian?’
‘Yes.’
‘So George clearly did think that using old vaccine stocks was a bad idea.’ said Steven.
‘Surely it must have been something more than that to have made him go to the papers,’ said Jane.
‘A very bad idea?’ suggested Steven.
‘But why?’ said Jane.
‘Why indeed?’
TEN
‘What do you think?’ asked Jane as they drove back to her house.
‘I think the vets’ associations were probably right. There was something wrong with the vaccine and George knew it. But if that were the case why would the government even consider using it again?’
‘Maybe they didn’t know?’ suggested Jane.
‘Now there’s a thought,’ said Steven. ‘The government didn’t know but your husband and Donald Crowe did?’ After a few moments he dismissed the idea. ‘But they were a research outfit; they wouldn’t have had anything to do with anything the troops were being given.’
‘Maybe they really were trying to design a new vaccine and wanted to try it out on the troops?’ suggested Jane.
‘Giving soldiers an untried and untested vaccine along with other inoculations, you mean? Highly unethical,’ said Steven.
‘Might explain George’s nightmares,’ said Jane as they swung into the drive. ‘Especially if there was something wrong with it?’ she added.
Steven shook his head and said, ‘Even if that were true and they had experimented with a new vaccine there would be no question of them doing the same thing all over again almost twelve years later, so why was George so alarmed at the story in the paper?’
‘There must have been something wrong with one of the other vaccines,’ said Jane.
‘That only George and the research team knew about?’ added Steven.
‘Yes,’ said Jane.
Steven thought then shook his head again. ‘We’re still not there,’ he said. ‘Doubts about the vaccines the troops were given have been expressed many times,’ he continued. ‘They must have been subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny over the years and nothing has ever been found to be wrong with them.’
‘Mmm,’ said Jane.
‘On the other hand…’ Steven paused as he thought about Gus Maclean and his efforts to find the cause of his illness and the thing which, according to him, had caused the death of his wife and daughter. He’d come up with nothing but his conviction remained undimmed. ‘I wonder,’ he said.
‘You’re having second thoughts?’ asked Jane.
‘I was just thinking that there’s no evidence for life anywhere else in the universe but that doesn’t mean to say…’
‘That there isn’t any,’ said Jane.
‘Right. It just means that we haven’t found any.’
‘So you think it’s possible that there was something wrong but they just haven’t yet found out what?’ said Jane.
‘I have to phone Sci-Med,’ said Steven.
‘I’ll make some coffee,’ said Jane, leaving Steven alone.
Steven used his mobile and had to wait a few moments to be put through to the admin officer assigned to his case.
‘I’ve got some news for you,’ said a woman with a pleasant Irish accent who introduced herself as Maureen Kelly when she came on the line. ‘Someone re-formatted the hard disk on the laptop you left with us. We couldn’t retrieve any files, I’m afraid.’
‘I feared as much,’ said Steven. ‘Any news from the Scottish Police about the post mortem on Martin Hendry?’
‘Strangely, they still seem to be treating his death as suicide. What do you want to do about that?’
‘Nothing at the moment,’ replied Steven.
‘You’re sure it was murder?’
‘There were slight marks on his wrists consistent with having been tied up,’ replied Steven.
‘Maybe the pathologist put them down to something else?’
‘Or maybe someone leaned on the pathologist,’ said Steven.
‘As a matter of interest, did you find any software for the laptop in Hendry’s cabin?’ asked Kelly.
‘No, why?’ asked Steven.
‘When the killer reformatted the disk, he or she would have wiped everything off it — including the standard software — and yet it had Windows XP and Microsoft Office on it, and appeared to be a normal laptop that just hadn’t been used for anything recently.’
Steven saw what the girl was getting at. ‘You mean the killer must have re-installed the software to hide the fact the disk had been wiped — and therefore the motive for murder?’ he said.
‘And then removed the software disks along with the ZIP disk you said was missing. If it’s of any use we can tell the exact date and time they carried out the re-install procedure. Maybe the police would be interested in that.’ The comment sounded like a mild rebuke.
‘I’d rather you didn’t tell them for the moment,’ said Steven. ‘It suits me to have the opposition think that I know less than I do.’
‘It’s your call.’
‘Did you get the stuff on Martin Hendry I asked for?’
Kelly read out an address in Manchester and Steven wrote it down.
‘He lives — lived — with his partner, a girl named Lesley Holland. The Manchester Police have been informed of our interest. They’ve arranged for a search warrant to be made available to you if you request it. Anything else?’
‘I need to talk to someone at Porton Down about the vaccines used on Gulf War troops.’
‘Last time or this time?’
‘Last time, and not some PR person; I need to speak to someone who knows what they’re talking about.’
Steven found Jane sitting at the kitchen table. He sat down opposite and she poured out his coffee without making eye contact. He thought she seemed quiet and said so.
‘I was just thinking,’ she began hesitantly. ‘If George was murdered because he was going to tell all about this vaccine business, surely it must mean that…’ She paused as if having difficulty saying it. ‘That the government were responsible for his death?’ Her eyes were now as wide as saucers.
‘Scary thought,’ said Steven.
‘You’re supposed to say, “No, Jane, that’s ridiculous.’
‘No, Jane, that’s ridiculous,’ said Steven in a flat monotone.
Jane looked at him and said in a small quiet voice, ‘But it isn’t, is it?’
‘There’s a level of government that operates without the knowledge of government,’ said Steven.
‘What on earth does that mean?’ demanded Jane.
‘I only discovered this myself when I came up against it a couple of years ago.’
‘They tried to kill you?’
‘”They” did but who “they” actually were is still a matter of some conjecture,’ said Steven.
‘I don’t think I understand,’ said Jane.
‘Let’s see,’ said Steven. ‘It goes something like this. Man A at the top tells man B — a subordinate — that he has a problem. Man B tells man C and man C says he’ll see what he can do. Man C mentions it to man D who in turn employs man E, whom none of the others have ever heard of or he of them, to solve the problem on the understanding that if anything goes wrong he’s on his own. Man E does the job and is paid from slush funds. The problem goes away and man A at the top is very happy but, of course, has no idea how it all came about.’
Jane looked aghast. ‘But that is immoral in the extreme!’ she exclaimed.
‘Moral is not an adjective that often finds itself beside government,’ said Steven.