Fatal Last Words

Sixteen

‘This job can be really glamorous at times, Sarge,’ said Kylie Knight, as she surveyed the contents of the first rubbish bag that Ian McCall had opened and spread on a table in a storeroom behind the Speigeltent Bar, commandeered for the purpose.

‘It’s not the movies, Constable,’ he conceded, ‘that’s for sure. Now, before we start, are you happy that you know what we’re looking for?’

‘Yes.’ She held up a tiny hypodermic needle, enclosed by a safety cap. ‘One of these.’ She put it back on a corner of the table and picked up a full insulin capsule. ‘And one of these, only empty.’

‘Where did you get them, Ray?’ McCall asked DS Wilding, who stood beside him.

‘The insulin, if that’s what it is, came from Glover’s fridge. His daughter took me to his house. He carried a supply of the wee needles in the pouch that held the injecting pen. There were ten of the capsules, in sealed packs. The others have gone to the lab.’

‘What for?’

‘So we can determine whether they really do contain insulin. Did Sammy not tell you?’

‘No. He’s been keeping things close to his chest. All he said was that we needed to recover the things that Glover used last night, and that since they weren’t found near the body, the assumption was he’d chucked them in the bin; hence Kylie and me up to our oxters in all this crap. You are going to help us, Ray, aren’t you?’ he added, as an aside. ‘Are you telling me that the guy shot himself with the wrong stuff? What? Was he doing heroin? Was the diabetes just a cover?’

‘No, nothing like that; he was diabetic all right. Look, Sammy will brief you when we’ve got the whole story to tell, at least a bit more than we have now. Meantime, I’m sorry, but get digging. I’d love to help, but this shirt was a birthday present from Becky, and it’s straight out the wrapper.’

‘Christ, Wilding,’ McCall sighed, ‘you’re as quick as ever with an excuse for getting out of the dirty jobs.’

‘If you like, I’ll see if I can bring in another couple of uniforms. It’ll be difficult, mind, with the Hearts game at Tynecastle this afternoon, but if you reckon you can’t handle this on your own. .’

‘Fuck off.’

The DS smiled and left them to their malodorous task, and walked back to the yurt. It had become their headquarters, Randall Mosley having moved the author facilities to the sponsors’ hospitality pavilion on the west side of the site. He took a seat at the small reception desk, which he and Pye had commandeered. As he settled into the chair facing the double door, half of it opened, and the inspector stepped inside. ‘We’re out of here,’ he said. ‘Professor Joe wants to see us again, over at the morgue.’

‘What for? I’ve had enough of that place for today.’

‘He says he’s got something to show us. He says he knows exactly how Glover died, and that we’ve been barking up the wrong tree. Not that I’m surprised.’ He paused. ‘Have those two started the sift?’

‘Yes, just.’

‘Good, for we really need to find what’s in there. We’re also going to need help later on. I know it’s Alice Cowan’s day off, but I hope she doesn’t have any fancy plans for it.’