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Brett took a taxi to work on Friday morning. He was planning to leave work and go straight to the station to get the train to London for his university reunion. He didn’t fancy leaving his car at work overnight on Friday and besides, he’d then have to go and collect it on Saturday. He was dressed smartly in a well-cut suit, light blue shirt and silk tie. He wanted to look the part at his dinner that evening. He’d thought about staying in London overnight but couldn’t really justify charging it to the company and hotel rooms were extortionate so as the trains ran until midnight he would just come home.
He arrived just before 8 a.m. and was greeted by the security guard Mark.
‘Good morning Dr Chandler, not got your car this morning, in the garage is it?’
‘No, I’m going to London straight from work so it’s easier to get a taxi.’ Brett felt slightly annoyed at having to justify how he had arrived in work, and he detected a slight smirk when Mark asked if his car was in the garage, no doubt hoping to hear it had broken down or needed some work doing on it.
Brett continued past reception after this exchange but was halted when Mark called after him.
‘Just one more thing,’ Brett turned round to look at Mark, his face expressionless.
‘I wondered if there’s any more news about Nick, Nick Thomas. Heard that he was mugged, awful. I’ve tried his phone but I guess it was stolen and the SIM card cancelled, that’s why I can’t get through.’
‘I heard yesterday that he’s doing OK, he’s been badly beaten up, but he might be out of hospital by the weekend,’ and Brett continued to head for the stairs.
‘Oh, well thanks, I’ll try his number again over the weekend,’ shouted Mark.
Mark had been shocked to hear about the mugging, he’d heard it first on the local radio before he realised that he was connected to the victim. He couldn’t get his head around it, why had Nick been in that part of town? Nick and he had been out for a drink recently and they’d chosen somewhere in the town centre, he’d got the impression Nick would never entertain going to somewhere as dodgy as that. It just didn’t add up. He’d heard that Zac the newcomer had been with him, that explained his black eye and grazes on his face. Mark had a horrible feeling that it was connected with the suspicions they’d discussed.
He checked his watch and noticed it was just coming up to 8 a.m., and at that moment the receptionist Jenny arrived. So after a short chat, Mark picked up his walkie-talkie and fastened it to his belt and left through the main door of BioQex. As he was leaving a car turned into the car park, it looked like Zac’s. The driver’s window was down and he could see Zac was still sporting a black eye. He put his hand up and waved.
As he walked across the car park to join the footpath which meandered through the science park he noticed a car driving rather slowly. It approached the entrance to the BioQex car park but didn’t turn in. Perhaps someone who was lost. He wandered over to see if the driver needed directions. The science park was a bit confusing in its layout until you got used to it. As he approached the car, the driver gunned the engine and sped off. What was all that about thought Mark? As the car headed into the distance, Mark made a mental note of the registration, then entered it into his phone. He’d also noticed it was a black four by four but not the actual make or model. It was an odd time to be casing the place for a robbery, in broad daylight. It might be something completely innocent but speeding away when a security guard approached was rather suspicious behaviour none the less.
**
Brett arrived at his office to see Bob McKewan talking to Amanda.
‘Oh, here he is now,’ he said, getting up and heading straight for Brett. Bob always managed to imply that Brett was a bit of a late starter despite the fact that it was only just 8 a.m.
‘Morning, Bob, how can I help?’ asked Brett, trying not to let Bob get to him.
‘Oh, it’s nothing really, just wanted to check with you that you thought everything was clear in the package of info on compound 896. It’s looking really good don’t you think?’
‘Yes, fantastic, thanks for that.’
‘Well I’ve made a start on the summary we might want to release to the press, I’ve emailed it to you but here’s a paper copy as well. We might be ready to go with this in about a month’s time so I’ve put some projected timescales on it. Happy to add anything else you might like. Also, we might want to schedule another meeting for investors, what do you think?’
‘I’m not sure, leave it with me, we need to get Frank’s input into this from a financial point of view.’
‘Fair enough, we can always meet up again next week.’ Bob turned to go back to his own office then stopped. ‘My word you are looking smart today? What’s the occasion?’
‘Oh, I’ve got a dinner in London this evening, old university get together,’ replied Brett. Once again he felt he was spending this morning justifying his actions.
‘Well enjoy, best get on now,’ said Bob, walking away with his heavy-footed gait. He always managed to finish any conversation with those last few words.
**
Over at the hospital, Nick had just finished his breakfast. The student nurse had just arrived to do his blood pressure and temperature checks. Nick had lost count of the number of times they had been measured.
‘Do you think I’ll be discharged this morning?’ asked Nick.
‘Well it’s not for me to say, the doctor will be doing his rounds and he’s the one who can tell you,’ she said, smiling.
‘What time will that be?’
‘Usually before lunch but he’s got a lot of wards to go round and it just depends whether there have been any emergencies.’
‘Oh, I see, but if he says it’s OK then I should be OK to go before lunch?’
‘I doubt it, we have to sort out all your discharge paperwork, your painkillers, letter for your GP, and so on, it can take a while.’
‘Oh,’ replied Nick, sounding very depressed.
‘You got a hot date?’ joked the nurse, ‘I think you need to just go home and rest and take it easy,’ she added.
‘Well, thanks anyway,’ added Nick finding it hard to raise a smile.
He was really hoping to get away today. Polly had said she needed to go into work today, she would come in if the hospital were discharging him but if it was at the end of the day there was no point in her just waiting around at the hospital. Her department was a bit understaffed at the best of times so she really needed to put in an appearance. Nick had been secretly hoping that she might accompany him home then go to work in the afternoon and he would take a taxi to work. He was desperate to get his hands on the final pieces of his investigation. He was worried though, what if Zac had found the data and disposed of it. He would just have to find some way of running the samples again, but how could he do that with people fussing about him being in work. The good thing about Friday was that most people left early, perhaps he could go in about 5 p.m. and run his important samples. He would incur the wrath of Polly but once she found out what it was all about she would have to forgive him.
He also hoped that by tomorrow he would have a replacement phone and be able to reactivate his phone number which had been suspended for the moment after Polly had reported it stolen. He’d felt rather cut off from the world although now he had his tablet with him and thankfully the hospital had free Wi-Fi. He kept checking the local news sites for details of his mugging. The mugging was reported without his name specifically being mentioned and the police were still asking for any witnesses who had not yet come forward.
**
Zac planned to pop out of work at lunchtime and pay a few hundred pounds of the cash into his bank account. He was having a relaxing day. Amanda had just been along with news from Polly that Nick had passed a comfortable night and was doing well. There was hope that he would be discharged sometime today but she couldn’t say when. She thanked people for the get well cards which had arrived at the flat this morning, hopefully, Nick would be able to open them at home later today. She said not to expect him back at work for at least a week though as he’d need quite a while to recover.
Zac smiled at this news. He felt that Nick’s days at BioQex might be severely curtailed. It was so pleasant working there without his beady eye on him all the time. Not only that he couldn’t concentrate on his actual job with living a double life. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. All the chemicals connected with his “other job” had now been either returned to the storeroom or disposed of. He checked all his samples meticulously and there were none left. All intermediate compounds had been washed into waste solvent containers and sent for incineration. He was clean. Everything was above board and it was a good feeling. Even his brother had noticed a lightening in his mood, so Zac had made up some story about solving a difficult problem at work and how it had removed a lot of pressure on him. Ez was no scientist and seemed happy with the explanation. They were going to go out for a pizza at the weekend to celebrate and Ez was seeing some of his friends on Sunday. An episode closed he thought and not to be repeated. It was a means to an end and he had what he wanted. Time to move on.
