Love You Dead

70 Monday 9 March

As soon as he had ended the call, Grace sat thinking, Sandy temporarily put to one side. Two Brighton residents dead from snake bites within one week of each other. And the same kind of snake. His naturally suspicious mind was telling him this might not be a coincidence, however much it seemed to be.

He started jotting down thoughts. Then he picked up the phone and asked DS Guy Batchelor to come to his office.

A few minutes later, with the burly detective, reeking of tobacco smoke, seated in front of him, he said, ‘Guy, I may have to be absent for a couple of days. I’d like you to give these actions to the Operation Spider team.’

‘Of course, boss. What do you need?’

‘Firstly, I want you to find out everything you can about a Jodie Carmichael, previously Danforth, with an address in Alexandra Villas, in the Seven Dials area of Brighton — I’ll be getting the details imminently. Find out who she is, and what her background is.’ Then looking down at his notes, he continued, ‘Have someone speak to that expert from London Zoo. I want more specific information about venomous snake bites.’

Batchelor pulled out his notepad and began to write.

‘I want to know everything about this snake — where it lives, what countries you can find it in, how venomous it is, what the antidotes are, if it’s ever kept as a pet, what does it look like, how big it is, would you need a licence to keep it, how could you import it into the UK, what conditions would it need to be kept in if you did have such a snake in England.’

Batchelor nodded, writing furiously.

Grace went on. ‘What would the bite symptoms be, how quickly would you need treatment if bitten, and is it always fatal?’

‘Got all that, sir.’

‘Good man.’

‘Leave it with me.’

‘Good news regarding your promotion, Guy. Hopefully you’ll stay with the team. It would be useful for you to spend the next few days as an Acting DI, whilst Glenn and I are both away.’

Batchelor looked delighted. ‘Thank you, sir, I won’t let you down.’