Gallery Whispers

35

'I'm afraid your informant was exaggerating, officer.' There was a patronising tone to the man's voice for which Stevie Steele did not care, but he let it pass. Derrick Strang had been in the operating theatre when the detectives had gone to seek him out, and so Mackie had called up a patrol car to take him back to St Leonards, leaving the sergeant to cool his heels in the Clinical Director's outer office for over an hour, drinking coffee and making small talk with his middleaged secretary.

'Dr Gopal is not missing from his post,' said the surgeon, 'at least not in the sense you mean. He's on leave; to which, incidentally, he is more than entitled. There's not a doctor in this unit who works harder than Surinder does.' He stripped off his white coat and hung it on a hook behind the door, then leaned back, throwing his arms above his head, forearms together, stretching the muscles of his back and shoulders.

For the first time he smiled, and became less formal. 'Sorry about the exercises; I've just done a hip replacement on a very large man.

Lay people don't appreciate it, but orthopaedic surgery is very demanding physically, on the surgeon as well as the patients. By the time we're ready to retire, most of us need new parts ourselves.' He touched the tip of his nose with his fingertips, then pulled his elbows back, sharply.

'What's all this about, anyway?' he asked The detective shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Mr Strang; I can't tell you that, not until I've spoken to your colleague.'

'Is it a professional matter? Is it something I could help you with?'

'No, it isn't. We just need to talk to Dr Gopal, that's all. We believe that he may have information which is relevant to a current investigation.

When did he go on leave?'

'Last Monday, or rather, Tuesday morning, if one wanted to be pedantic about it.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean that he called in on Tuesday and asked me if it would be all right if he took three weeks' leave, with immediate effect. I told him that would be okay, that I would arrange cover for his list.'

Steele made no attempt to hide his surprise. 'Did you ask him why he couldn't give you notice?'

'Of course. He said that he was burned out, and I accepted that. It happens to hard-working young doctors, you know.'

'Policemen too,' the detective murmured. 'I must try that one on my superintendent some time.'

He looked up at Derrick Strang. 'Where does Dr Gopal live?'

'Edinburgh. That's all I know. Our personnel people will have his address on file. I'll ask my secretary to get it for you.' He opened the door, and leaned into the outer office for a few seconds.

'Are you close colleagues?' Steele asked. 'Do you know each other well?'

The Clinical Director shook his head. 'I wouldn't say that. We have a cordial relationship, but it's purely professional. Surinder is a member of my team, and he does very good work. He's a very conscientious young man, as I've said, and a pleasant person into the bargain, but we rarely socialise away from the hospital, other than at the Christmas lunch and the Burns Supper.

'Nothing racial about that, by the way,' he added, hurriedly. 'Golf is the main out-of-hours activity among the clinical staff, but young Dr Gopal doesn't play the game.'

'How long has he been with you?'

Strang eased himself into his chair, facing the detective. He scratched his chin. 'Let's see. He's been with me here since we opened; before that around eighteen months at the PMR: two and a half years, give or take a month. Before that he worked up at the Western, as a junior on Nolan Weston's staff.'

Steele managed to maintain a casual tone. 'Is that Professor Weston?'

'That's right; Chair of Surgical Oncology, at Edinburgh University.

Surinder thought about specialising in that area, but he decided that the future lies in orthopaedics. He's right too; the trend in cancer is away from surgery, whereas in our field we have all sorts of new ground being broken.

'Ten years down the road, sergeant, we'll be transplanting a lot more than organs; that's a certainty.' He raised his right hand and extended the index finger. 'We can do these now, but that's only a start.'

As he spoke the door opened. Strang's secretary came into the room and handed him a note. The consultant took it and passed it to Steele.

'There you are, sergeant: Surinder's address. Maybe once you've spoken to him you can tell me what the mystery was all about.'