“Then we should know the whole story when they catch them,” said Sarah.
Lafferty nodded.
“But what could McKirrop possibly know that would be worth killing him to keep it quiet?” asked Sarah.
Lafferty shook his head. “I’m not sure,” he said. “Perhaps there were other people in the cemetery that night? People who McKirrop never mentioned. Or perhaps there’s something else that we haven’t even thought about yet.”
“But there has to be a connection with HTU if that’s the reason McKirrop was murdered.”
“I suppose so.”
“I’m scared,” confessed Sarah.
Lafferty could see that she was. “Have you voiced your suspicions about McKirrop’s death to anyone in HTU?” he asked.
“No, you’re the only person I’ve told.”
“Good, then no one knows you suspect,” said Lafferty.
“Logan knows that I was searching for the missing X-ray,” said Sarah.
Lafferty frowned. “But not why?”
“No.”
“Then I suggest that we do and say nothing until the police have come up with the four men. If they discover a strong enough motive for killing John McKirrop perhaps you won’t need the X-ray after all. Make sense?”
Sarah nodded and said, “It does. I’m grateful to you for listening to me. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have shared this with someone.”
Lafferty smiled. “I think you’ve just told a Roman Catholic priest that confession is good for you.”
When Sarah got back to the residency she found an air of excitement about the place.
“What’s going on?” she asked Paddy Duncan when she met him in the corridor.
“You haven’t heard the news?” he asked.
“What news?”
“Cyril Tyndall has come up with a vaccine against Herpes infections. It’s reported as being a hundred percent effective and Gelman Holland have been licensed by the government to manufacture it. It should be available for general use by the end of the year.”
“That’s wonderful news, but what about trials and safety evaluations? Surely they can’t just put it into production,” exclaimed Sarah.
“All done,” said Duncan. “The trials were conducted in secret with government approval.”
“But why in secret? And why would the government approve of that?”
“This is exactly the kind of research that the government wants to encourage,” smiled Duncan. “Gelman Holland backs Cyril Tyndall with money and resources. Cyril comes up with the goods. The government smoothes the way ahead for them, keeps bureaucracy to a minimum, cuts red tape. Everyone benefits and the tax payer’s contribution has been much less than usual for medical research. The propaganda value in something like this for the government is enormous.”
“But why the secrecy?” asked Sarah.
“Such sweet naively,” teased Duncan. “Do you realise how much money there is to be made with such a product? No scientist does anything these days without talking to his lawyer and the patents office. Some people are even trying to patent the human genome.”
“So this is not a traditional vaccine then?”
“No,” agreed Duncan. “That’s the really exciting thing. This isn’t a traditional vaccine at all. Cyril Tyndall has taken a new approach to the problem and come up with a high-tech solution to recurrent infections. He’s used the techniques of genetic engineering to identify the DNA trigger mechanism in human cells which sets off dormant Herpes virus.”
“Brilliant!” said Sarah. “He must have found a repressor binding site for the virus.”
“You sound as if you know about it?”
Sarah nodded and said, “I got interested in the subject at medical school when we were studying phage lysogeny in bacteria. It struck me that the same thing might go on with the Herpes virus.”
“Tell me more,” said Duncan.
“Well, you know if you get an infection like a cold sore it appears to heal and clear up but in fact it lies dormant within you until it’s set off again by sunlight or stress or whatever?”
Duncan nodded and said, “Once you’ve got it, you’ve always got it.”
“Exactly. Well, the theory was that the virus was kept dormant by a repressor substance until something happened to destroy or inactivate the repressor. When that happened, the virus was free to replicate and cause the infection all over again. It sounds as if Professor Tyndall has identified the DNA trigger that does this and come up with a way of keeping the virus permanently inactive. Do you know if it only applies to Herpes simplex?”
“No, that’s the beauty of it,” said Duncan. “It’s said to be equally effective against the sexually transmitted for that’s been sweeping the States, and against Herpes zoster. No more shingles. A complete cure.”
“This could put Cyril Tyndall in line for a Nobel prize,” said Sarah.
“That’s what everyone’s been saying. And not only Cyril. Murdoch Tyndall’s name is on the paper as well. Quite a family affair.”
“Are you sure?” asked Sarah.
“Absolutely. It’s in today’s edition of Nature. There are four authors and Murdoch is one of them.”
“But Murdoch Tyndall isn’t a virologist,” said Sarah, quite puzzled at the revelation.
“Maybe he made some kind of intellectual contribution,” suggested Duncan. “Or maybe it’s just a case of brotherly love. Cyril wanted his brother to share in a great moment in medicine.”
“The research councils take a dim view of honorary authorship,” said Sarah.
“The research councils take a dim view of a lot of things that no one else pays any attention to,” Duncan replied.
Sarah smiled and said, “I suppose you’re right. Anyway, the main thing is that we’ll have the vaccine.”
“And your boss will be in a good mood,” added Duncan.
“I hadn’t thought of that little bonus.”
“I think the hospital is planning some little celebration in the meantime. Who knows, we dogsbodies may even be invited to it.”
“That would be nice. I’ve never met Cyril Tyndall.”
Duncan looked surprised. He said, “I thought you would have, working for his brother and all.”
“Apparently he keeps himself very much to himself.”
“There might be something about the vaccine on the news — shall we take a look?”
Sarah agreed and they went along to the common-room where a dozen others had gathered excitedly for the same reason. The vaccine story was mentioned third in the headlines. There were loud cheers at the naming of the university and hospital, although there were no pictures either of the Tyndall brothers or the hospital. Instead stock footage of the city was shown.
“I guess they didn’t have time,” said Duncan.
The national news came to an end and was followed by local news. People began to drift away but Sarah heard Duncan say, “God, what a mess,” as she was heading for the door. She turned round to see pictures of a burnt-out car surrounded by firemen still playing their hoses on it. Four young men had lost their lives when the car they were travelling in had apparently burst into flames. No other vehicle had been involved and police were still trying to establish the cause of the fire.
John Main was about to go to bed when the phone rang. He hesitated before picking it up, fearing that it might be his sister or mother in law. He had not returned any of their calls for the past two weeks. He waited until the answering machine had put out its message and the bleep had signalled the caller to speak.
“Hello, Mr Main. This is Inspector Lenny at Lothians and Borders Police Headquarters. I’d like you to get in touch with us at your convenience, sir.”