‘They gave me no warning whatsoever about the possible contents. On arriving home, I sought to examine one under a microscope. I punctured the skin. It did not respond to any conventional chemical testing until I brought out this—’
She started struggling to free an object from the deep pocket of her lab coat. ‘This is a very old Geiger counter. It measures radiation and I can tell you it went totally batshit-haywire when I tried it on a whim. Those chumps had presented me, with no warning whatsoever, with a radioactive substance. My counter is simply not sophisticated enough to measure the half-life or contamination, but it gave me enough to know there are major safety issues for anyone near these things. I immediately donned this inflata-suit and then buried them. You’re safe there. Is my suit not inflating?’
‘Not now,’ said Stevie.
‘Jesus Christ alive, I must move.’ The professor stared at them, locked in position, as if expecting a question at least.
‘Have you told them?’ Edward asked. ‘The police will want to know what you’ve found.’
‘Oh, they’ll find out all right. No one answered the phone, so I’ve sent ACC Thorne-In-My-Side a bloody email. Let’s see if she can break away from her busy schedule and open it. She couldn’t find the time to keep me or her colleagues safe from a dose of the green glow, so I don’t know if she’ll manage that, but who knows?’
Another pause.
‘Let yourselves out. Put it on the radio, I don’t care. I’m that pissed off.’
Now Edward wished he had not stopped Stevie recording it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Edward rang Aspinall on the move. It had only just occurred to him that some people were still completely unaware that anything was happening today in Sidmouth, much less that the biggest news story in the town’s history was about to slam into this quiet spot on the seaside like a sixty-foot freak wave.
‘I need the news studio and I need to broadcast into all the afternoon programmes,’ Edward said as soon as Aspinall picked up.
‘What the hell, why? No!’ was Aspinall’s immediate reaction.
Edward put his phone on speaker. ‘I’ve got information on the child’s death.’
‘What bloody child’s bloody death?’ swore Aspinall. ‘I’m off-base today.’
‘I don’t have time for this,’ said Edward.
‘You have time for the controller of the radio station or you won’t work another day there.’
Edward hesitated.
Aspinall came back in. ‘Remember you’re on a warning. Remember I’m having to find half a million quid to underwrite those ridiculous promises you made.’
As she stopped at lights, Kim mouthed: ‘Don’t fall out with him.’
Edward said: ‘A child died this morning. She was in the pizza restaurant after the motorbike rider attacked it. I think we can call it an attack now. I have a source. He was carrying a radioactive substance.’
‘Jesus wept! And the radiation killed her? Like a nuclear device?’ Aspinall, at the other end, was aghast. Edward could hear movement, as if he was exiting a building.
‘I think she put something in her mouth.’
Kim roared away as the lights went green.
Aspinall said, ‘Get yourself into the station now. I’ll meet you there. We’re about to do the biggest day’s work of our lives.’
When he hung up, Edward said: ‘Dammit. Wendy Wrigley.’
‘What about her?’ Kim asked.
‘She’s getting lost in all this.’
‘Can’t we just tell her what you found in the forest?’ Stevie asked. ‘Suicide by bolt.’
‘Well, I was going to check something first with Jordan Callintree. He’ll have crime scene photos on file. I just wanted to be sure we chose the right bit of forest,’ said Edward, ‘but after this I don’t think he’ll ever speak to me again.’ He added, almost to himself: ‘This is the biggest scoop of my life.’
