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Polly had been at her desk for about half an hour when her phone rang.
‘Polly Thomas, good morning,’ she answered.
‘Hello, this is Rebecca Levinson, from oncology. I sent you an email the other day.’
Polly scrolled down her inbox and retrieved the saved message.
‘Yes hi, I’ve got it here. So sorry you received that awful leaflet.’
‘Yes, well, it was a shock. I’ve had another one this morning. It’s a bit less offensive but it’s some promotional material for Britannia First and it details their march in the town centre. Also, I noticed one of their larger posters on the student notice board in the reception of the medical school. I didn’t do anything about that as I suppose the students have to make up their own minds. It does shock me though that this sort of propaganda is becoming rife.’
‘Well, of course, it’s shocking. Once again I’m so sorry you have been targetted personally. Do you know for certain that you are the only member of staff in your department who’s received one?’
‘I’ve had a quick check around. A couple of my Asian colleagues also received them. It doesn’t seem to be blanket leafleting, some of us have been chosen specially.’
‘So that suggests it’s the far-right rather than anti-Israel or anti-Zionists at work then?’
‘Yes, this time it does. Have you heard back from Rachel Goodman, she’s the president of the Interfaith Society?’
‘No, I’ve not heard from her.’
‘I asked her to find out within the society how many people had been targetted.’
‘OK, well, I’ll make a note of it and thank you for bringing it to my attention. Please will you encourage your other colleagues to report their mailings? We have sent numerous messages but we need to make sure all incidents are reported for statistical purposes.’
‘Of, course, I’ll send out another departmental email.’
‘OK, well, bye Rebecca, thanks again.’
Polly ended the call and sighed. This didn’t look to be a transient event which was going to blow over quickly. It was getting worse by the day and it was hard to see how they could easily bring it under control.
**
Adam could feel some tension in the air when he went back into the laboratory. Joe seemed to be avoiding his gaze.
‘Do you mind if I switch the radio on?’ asked Adam.
‘Go ahead, it doesn’t bother me,’ replied Joe.
Adam was grateful of the background noise. It was better than trying to hold a stilted conversation.
Just at that moment, Pat came back into the lab and turned down the volume on the radio.
‘Guys, have you got a minute?’
The team stopped what they were doing and turned around to listen to Pat.
‘It’s nothing serious, don’t look so worried. It’s just that I thought we ought to have a lab evening out, a pizza, drinks, something like that, well, anything really, bowling? Whatever you fancy. What about Friday?’
There was a general noise of approval, then Adam spoke.
‘Sorry, I’m away this weekend, I can’t get out of it. Thursday would be OK, or next week?’
‘How about Thursday? We could just have a few beers as it’s a bit short notice. What do you think?’
‘No problem if you get the first round?’ joked Joe.
The others laughed.
‘OK, you decide the venue and let me know,’ said Pat, heading out of the lab.
Somehow that brief interruption seemed to have diffused the tension in the atmosphere.
‘So, where do you fancy, guys?’ said Seth.
‘No good asking me,’ said Adam, ‘I’m still getting to know the area.’
‘Seth, what about the Clocktower?’ asked Hannah, ‘I’ve been there before, it’s reasonable, not too pricey and quite smart.’
‘Fine, by me. Joe?’
‘I’ll go by your suggestion, like Adam, I’m a newbie around here.’
‘Right, let’s go there, say 7.30 ish?’
There was general agreement and people started to get on with their work. Hannah went off to collect some data and Seth went out of the lab to let Pat know that they’d reached a decision.
‘So, off anywhere nice this weekend, Adam?’ asked Joe.
‘Back to London, a family thing.’
‘Oh, party, wedding?’ continued Joe.
‘My sister’s fortieth birthday.’
Joe seemed surprised and was mentally calculating the age difference.
‘Yes, my sister is quite a bit older than me, I’ve a brother who’s thirty-six this year and then there’s me. I think I must have been a mistake!’ he joked.
‘So is it a big do then?’
‘Quite big. About fifty people I should think.’
‘Well, I hope you have a good time,’
‘I’ll try. Hope there will be lots of wine. That should help me cope with any annoying relatives!’ joked Adam. ‘Anyway, how about yourself?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Do you have much on this weekend?’
‘Not really. I’ve not a lot of spare cash. Persford is more expensive than Leeds. Even though I share it’s still a bit expensive.’
‘How’s your love life at the moment then?’
‘Non-existent. My girlfriend dumped me recently. I’ve yet to find the woman of my dreams.’
‘Sorry mate. Hope you didn’t think I was being nosey?’
‘No, it’s OK. I’m just feeling a bit sorry for myself,’ he paused. ‘So, where are your family then?’
‘North London, Finchley, do you know it?’
‘No, never been there. Is it nice?’
‘Well, it’s very built up obviously. The picture of suburbia.’
‘So, are you from a long line of eminent scientists then?’
‘Ha, not exactly,’ laughed Adam. ‘My Dad was hoping I’d take over the family business but I wanted to break free. They are a bit, well, a bit controlling, let’s say.’
‘So what is the family business?’
‘My Dad started a recruitment agency and head-hunting business. He finds talent for lots of the finance companies in London. He was a banker himself many years ago but lost his job in the crash in 1987 so he decided to have a change. He had quite a few jobs before starting his own business.’
‘I see, explains the car then,’ said Joe, his mood hardening somewhat.
‘Explains what?’
‘Well, you’ve got nice wheels, I guessed you were from a wealthy family.’
‘Do you have a problem with that?’
‘No, of course not. It’s nothing to do with me. I’m pleased for you. It’s nice of them to help you out, with the car I mean.’
‘I worked in my holidays and saved up a lot of the money. They didn’t just give me the car.’
‘I didn’t say they gave it you,’ said Joe. He sighed. ‘I know I sound a bit jealous, it’s just that my car is on its last legs and I’m a bit down at the moment, my Dad’s been made redundant. It’s going to be hard for him.’
‘That’s tough mate. My Dad got a shock in the eighties but he managed to bounce back. I hope something turns up for him. What does he do?’
‘Engineer. He’s got skills, it’s just well, all businesses are cutting back these days.’
Adam didn’t really know what else to say. He felt a bit like he was treading on eggshells. He decided to change tack slightly.
‘What do you think of the guys in the storeroom?’ he asked.
‘The storeroom? You mean the main one?’
‘Yes, I was in there the other day and a guy came in, Eddie I think the others called him and he seemed a complete git.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Oh, well he was shouting his mouth off about immigrants, that sort of things. He was slagging off minority groups. A typical example of bigotry.’It wouldn’t surprise me if he was a member of Britannia First or something similar.’
‘Well, he’s always been OK with me, so I can’t really comment. He’s a bit gobby though. I heard the other guys moaning about him. Does more talking than work from what they said.’
‘I had a laugh when the other one, Bernie, I think, set about him with a newspaper. He was hitting him over the head with it. Reminded me of Laurel and Hardy!’
‘I wish I’d seen that,’ smiled, Joe.
‘I hope he takes note of the campaign to stamp out that sort of thing here or he might find himself out on his ear. It would serve him right.’
The dialogue was interrupted by Hannah. ‘Take a look at this, guys,’ she said, waving a printout in front of them. ‘Am I brilliant or what?’
Adam and Joe gathered around and once more the focus was on the science. Seth joined them and suggested that Hannah would have to buy a round to celebrate her success in the improved isolation procedure for her reaction.
**
By 5 p.m. most of the support staff manning the stores and other services had left, now the chemists had to fend for themselves. At one time the stores were manned until 7 p.m. but due to pressures on budgets that had been changed. Instead, each laboratory was issued with a key so that if any supplies were needed urgently the scientists could access the stores. Most people doing practical work tried to plan ahead and take advantage of the delivery service to save them having to traipse up and down corridors.
That evening someone had decided to make a trip to the storeroom. Since 5 p.m. he’d been getting more and more anxious about the task ahead. He’d taken the storeroom key one lunchtime and had nipped into town to get another one cut. Unlocking the door he quickly went inside and relocked it, leaving the key in the lock. Should anyone try to unlock the door they would have trouble getting the key in. That would give him sufficient warning to cover his tracks.
Eddie went into the back of the stores and removed a large bottle of acetone solvent from the shelves. From his carrier bag, he removed two empty glass litre bottles which had once contained mineral water. He carefully poured acetone to fill up the bottles and recapped them tightly. There was only about half a litre of solvent left in the larger bottle so he poured it down the sink, ran the tap and placed the bottle on the trolley ready for disposal the next morning. His hands were sweating and he wiped them on his lab coat. He placed the bottles back inside the plastic carrier, tied the neck and then put the package inside another bag.
Now he had to get the booty out of the building. He didn’t want to be spotted carrying a plastic bag down the corridor so he covered it with a lab coat as if he were taking it to the laundry bin. After locking the storeroom, he walked to the end of the corridor where there was an exit to the office area. He quickly dropped the lab coat in the laundry bin and hung his own up on the hooks on the wall. He slipped through the door into the office area from where he could make his way to his locker and retrieve his rucksack. He felt momentarily guilty but it wasn’t as if it was anything expensive and it wouldn’t be missed. He told himself that there were probably thousands of pounds being creamed off from university budgets every day and were never discovered. This was small fry in comparison.
As he unzipped his rucksack his fingers were all fat and clumsy and he struggled with the fastenings. Finally, the bottles were safely stowed inside and he could now relax and begin his evening.
