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It was after 9 a.m. when Zac turned into the car park at BioQex. He’d had a frustrating journey to work, he was later than usual so he got caught in the schools’ traffic and general rush hour mayhem. It was all made worse by the fact that the storm last night had taken out a couple of sets of traffic lights and as they were at main junctions the traffic police had stepped in thus causing horrendous tailbacks. The car park seemed rather emptier than usual so presumably, he wasn’t the only one who was having a bad journey to work.
However, when he arrived he needn’t have worried as he discovered that access to the labs was denied as the storm last night had taken out some of the electrical circuits. They had lighting and air conditioning but that was about it. No extraction on the fume-hoods meant it wasn’t safe to do any work in the laboratories, no data could be run as there had been some sort of power surge and there had been some damage to one of the machines. In short, they were in bad shape. Electricians were on their way and they were hoping to have some things up and running by lunchtime, but in terms of the analytical equipment they would need to get some specialists in and they couldn’t guarantee to get here until later in the day, possibly tomorrow morning. The storm had affected other companies in the area apparently and electricians and technicians were at full stretch.
Not even the internet was working at the moment as the power surge had affected the main router but Stefan Bucolski was confident that it should be back up and running by lunchtime. A message had come through from Brett to tell everyone that unless they wanted to stay and read scientific papers or work on some reports that didn’t require access to the server at work they could leave the site and come back at lunchtime to see how things were progressing.
Most of the staff thought this was a brilliant idea and Brett was credited with being extremely generous in making this gesture. For Zac, it meant a reduction in stress levels for a while as he realised that Nick’s investigations would have to be put on hold. He half wished that he could invite him out for drinks this evening but he’d had a text back from Cole to say he’d organised some support as he called it for Wednesday evening and any earlier wasn’t a possibility. He impressed the importance of ensuring he could persuade Nick to agree to a night out on Wednesday. A refusal wasn’t an option.
For Nick, the power cut was a serious blow to his plans. He had gone to bed last night feeling he was well on his way to discovering the identity of the sample in the amber jar. What a hammer blow it had been to find the equipment was out of action, why do things always happen at the most inconvenient time he asked himself. There wasn’t anything he could do here so he decided to go off down to the gym for a while, he felt exhausted but perhaps a few miles on the treadmill and some weights might wake him up a bit and take his mind off things.
Perhaps things this afternoon would be getting back to normal but he wasn’t hopeful, usually, things took longer to fix than anticipated. He had considered asking whether he could take his sample over to the contract company where he had a friend called Gio who had done some work for them before. But it would look odd if anybody asked him what he was doing and he had to make up a story about his work being mega urgent. Billie would doubtless want to know what he was up to. Also if he was over there using their equipment then Gio would probably be hovering around and what if he saw the data. He was no fool and might spot what it was and realise it was very different from the sort of molecule he’d been involved with before. Having thought this through he decided patience was the best and least risky option.
**
Over in Bank Street, the duty solicitor James Bagshaw had arrived and he, along with Wayne, Sergeant Peters and another uniformed constable were gathered in one of the rather shabby interview rooms. Wayne lounged back in his chair, trying to look relaxed, occasionally tipping the chair back to balance it on the back legs whilst he held on to the edge of the table. Sergeant Peters gave the usual introductions and read the usual spiel about anything he didn’t mention which he later relied upon in court and she switched the tape recorder to record.
‘What were you doing in Persford town centre on Monday evening?’ she asked.
‘Having a quiet drink, then I was mugged,’ he replied, pointing at the large dressing on his head.
‘When my officers attended the scene they found some foil packages which they assumed to contain illegal drugs.’
‘Nothing to do with me, they must have been dropped,’ said Wayne confidently.
‘Those packages are currently being tested forensically and dusted for fingerprints and I think there is a distinct possibility we will find your prints on them,’ said Donna confidently. ‘You will then be charged with possession with intent to deal illegal drugs,’ she said and stared directly at Wayne. He made no comment but was looking slightly less confident by now. His solicitor continued to make notes on his yellow legal pad.
‘I don’t need to remind you that you are not a first offender, there’s hardly anything left you’ve not tried, illegally that is,’ she added.
‘I think you should stick to the matter in hand,’ said the solicitor, ‘rather than indulging in defamation of character,’ he said sternly.
Unfazed by the solicitor’s intervention Donna continued, ‘I’ve been looking at your record, you are currently serving a suspended sentence for handling stolen laptops. If you can be shown to have been dealing or possessing drugs, of whatever category, you will be looking at a prison sentence,’ and she raised her eyebrows at Wayne. He remained silent but had stopped swinging back on his chair, he was listening intently.
‘Who is your supplier?’
‘No comment,’ replied Wayne.
‘Your co-operation in this matter will cut you some slack with the prosecution service, we need to know who the big boys are, they are using you. Can’t you see that?’
‘No comment,’ replied Wayne.
‘Take him back down to the cells,’ instructed Sergeant Peters. ‘Don’t go away, we will speak to you later,’ and she made the necessary remarks to the tape and stopped the recording.
**
By lunchtime, the electricians had managed to get the extraction system working again so it was safe to go into the labs. Stefan the IT expert had reset the internet router and the company server was working again so it was business as usual as far as desk work and record keeping. However, the analytical equipment was still out of action and they had no firm commitment on when the technicians would arrive. Everyone apart from Nick was being pragmatic about it, nothing could be done it was just one of those things. Inwardly Nick was seething, he felt he was so near and he was being thwarted right at the last minute. But he had to have evidence, he’d never been in this situation before. He went through the possibilities. What should he do if his suspicions were correct? He needed to write it all down so he wouldn’t get flustered. He needed to talk it through with someone he trusted, it was no good marching straight into Brett and presenting his case, he would just laugh at him, that was assuming he was even free to speak to him. Also, he needed to do it in such a way that Zac wouldn’t be suspicious. It had to be accomplished as if Nick was just carrying on with his normal day. Nick thought that the best option would be to tell Billie, after all, she was his supervisor and from the short time he’d known her he did feel he trusted her, she seemed a genuine sort of person. Also, they often had to discuss work plans and so on. If they went off to a meeting room to talk through progress nobody would suspect.
Although there was some laboratory work they could do it was limited as there was no possibility of getting any data so weren’t able to assess how their reactions were progressing. Naturally, science was progressing at a more relaxed pace and some people took the opportunity to catch up on paperwork. Zac seemed quite laid back throughout all this, he wouldn’t be working late tonight thought Nick. Towards the middle of the afternoon, Zac wandered casually over to Nick.
‘Nick, have you got a minute?’ he asked.
‘Sure, not exactly busy this afternoon,’ joked Nick.
‘No, quite. The thing is I’ve been wanting to speak to you since the get together we had on last Friday,’ he added. Nick looked a bit puzzled but continued to listen.
‘I was a bit sharp with you on Friday evening. I realised you were only being friendly and trying to get to know me,’ Zac was turning on the charm now. ‘After all, it was you who should have been stressed with me, you were the one who’d had all the hassle of organising the evening and so on.’
Nick just shrugged and waved away Zac’s comments muttering something inaudible.
‘So, I want to make it up to you, buy you a drink, then we can have a proper chat, what do you say? Wednesday would be a good night for me.’
‘Well, er, I, yes, I suppose so, I mean thanks, that’s good of you, I was worried I’d really upset you,’ said Nick, feeling a bit lost for words at this complete change in Zac’s personality. He wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of an evening with Zac who seemed to change depending on which way the wind was blowing. Was he up to something? Nick didn’t know but he’d not had much alternative other than to accept, Zac had put him on the spot and he didn’t want to raise suspicion by refusing, he had to keep things ticking along until he could make his final move.
‘Yes, Wednesday, that should be fine, where do you want to meet up? Not the Friday night venue though, I thought it was a bit pricey didn’t you, although we weren’t paying of course,’ and Nick laughed nervously, he felt he was babbling a bit, it was just that Zac seemed to have wrong-footed him slightly.
‘Well, I’ve been thinking about that, there’s a good pub over on the edge of the town, past the university, you follow the river then over the ring road and it’s not far from there.’
Nick frowned slightly, that was a long way out and wasn’t that going out to that rather rough area, Millfield or something, he couldn’t quite remember what it was called, he’d never been out that way.
‘What’s this placed called then?’ asked Nick.
‘The Wheelbarrow,’ replied Zac.
‘Oh, well I hope it’s good if it’s such a long trek. I’ll meet you there then. I’ll probably get the bus into town and then walk. Better make it 8 p.m. if I’ve got to get all over that way.’
‘That’s great, someone told me it’s got a good atmosphere and the beer’s cheap!’
‘OK, it’s a date, tomorrow evening then. And thanks, we can have a good chat about things, time we got to know each other. There’s hardly been any time to do that since you started to do that,’ added Nick then stopped as he realised he was going on a bit, and sounding nervous. There were a few moments of awkward silence, then Zac spun around on his heels and headed back into the lab.
Nick’s eyes followed him. Well, that was a strange moment he thought to himself. Did Zac suspect him? He was playing it very cool if he did. They were like two boxers sizing each other up before a fight. Zac’s aim was probably to find out what Nick knew. He would have to keep his cards close to his chest.
