Dead in the Water

“You’ll give Detective Inspector Dorkin a ring will you?”

The mention of Dorkin had a remarkable effect on Speight. His mouth gaped and he stared at Mullen in alarm.

“Pals are you?” Mullen said, confident that he was back in charge of the situation. “Only you didn’t seem so pleased to see him the other night in the Cape of Good Hope.”

Speight licked his lips and looked around helplessly. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Mullen smiled. His right hand was still on Speight’s door, preventing him from getting into his car. His left hand, however, had retrieved his mobile from his pocket and powered it on again.

“Here, if you like I can show you a photo.” It was a bluff, but Mullen doubted that Speight would call it.

“Or perhaps you’d prefer to see this one,” he said, and he turned the phone so Speight could see it.

“What the devil?”

“It’s you and a woman. Don’t you remember you bumped into her at the bus-stop on the way home? Very chatty and smiley. I’ve got two or three others.”

“Look, what’s your game?”

“On the surface they are innocent enough I admit. A casual meeting with a young woman from the office — or maybe she’s from the dentist’s surgery?” Mullen paused. He could see he had scored a direct hit with that one. “Except that if an anonymous friend were to send those to your wife and suggest that you were having an affair with her, I guess it might sow seeds of doubt in her mind.”

“That’s blackmail.” Speight’s anxiety was palpable. “And it’s not true.”

“And you’re not telling me the truth are you? Fragments of it maybe, but not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So I’m just doing what I have to do in order to find out exactly how it was that Chris and Janice died. If you’re straight with me, I’ll delete the photographs from my phone here and now and you’ll never hear from me again. And nor will your wife. That’s a promise.”

Speight looked at him. Mullen reckoned that under the suntan he had to be as white as a sheet. “I’ve not lied.” It was the whine of a cowed dog. Mullen knew he had got Speight where he wanted him.

“I wonder what the Reverend Diana Downey would call it?” Mullen saw the surprise on Speight’s face. “You do know Diana, don’t you Dr Speight? Chris went to her church. So did Janice. I expect you know that too. Rather a lot of coincidences if you ask me.” He paused, but only to see the effect of his words on Speight. Then he plunged on. “I expect your friend Diana would talk about sins of commission and sins of omission. But it’s the sins of omission I’m interested in, Charles. What have you omitted? What is it you’re not saying? Or maybe I should ask what it was that you and Dorkin were talking about in the Cape of Good Hope before you flew out of there like a bat out of hell?”

“I need to sit down.”

Mullen considered this. The fact was that Speight didn’t look anxious any more. He looked scared shitless. “Keys?” Mullen held out his hand, took the electronic key from Speight and then allowed him to sink into the driver’s seat. Mullen stood and waited, wedging the door wide open with his body and ready to move fast if Speight did anything unexpectedly stupid.

“Rohypnol,” he whispered at last.

“What?”

“It’s a date-rape drug.”

“I know that.”

“Janice had it in her bloodstream.”

“Are you saying she had been raped?”

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; “No. Not at all. Obviously when I discovered the drug in her system, I checked. There was no sign of recent sexual activity at all.”

“Was there alcohol in her system?” Mullen’s mind was starting to go to places where he really didn’t want it to. But he had to ask.

“Not a lot. Maybe a large glass of wine.”

“But enough to make her extremely unsteady when combined with rohypnol?” You didn’t have to be a forensic pathologist to know that alcohol and rohypnol were a devastating mix.

He nodded.

“Anything else?”