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Back at the police station Detective Andy Walters was about to resume the interview with Nick. He’d been called out of the room by one of his Detective Constables, Shani Patel, a diligent officer who was showing huge promise.
‘Boss, I’ve contacted BioQex and they are sending over the CCTV footage for the last week for the entrance area of the company and the car park area. It only actively records when there’s movement and you said we should focus on times early in the morning or later in the evening as that’s when it’s most likely someone accessed the building to remove the bulk material.’
‘That’s right Shani, excellent. I want you to get a colleague to help you and start to go through it, it’s a boring job but we might just spot something important. I’ve just had a call from Inspector Harris to say that although they think there was evidence of the drug in the lab they didn’t find any bulk, so someone’s already got it out on to the streets.’
‘Will do, sir. One more thing, not sure whether this is relevant. I thought I’d just look at anything which has been logged with reference to BioQex in the last month, break-ins, vandalism, that sort of thing.’
‘Good idea, anything?’
‘Well one morning recently, sorry, forgot the exact day, I can check the details, a security guard reported a car acting suspiciously in the vicinity of BioQex car park. When it was approached it sped off. The guard managed to get details of the registration.’
Andy’s interest was suddenly piquing, ‘and?’
‘Stolen plates sir, they don’t match the make and model.’
‘Shit,’ said Andy.
‘Yes, but it’s not all bad news, the car’s make and colour match that of the car which was seen driving away at speed the night of Mr Thomas’ assault.’
‘Now that is interesting, not sure where it takes us, but there must be a connection. Make sure you log all this, excellent work. Good luck with the CCTV footage. Now I’m going to see whether Mr Thomas has anything else to say to me.’
**
Brett had managed to make contact with Piers who was now back from his off-site visit to the firm of accountants they used. He and Frank had been to discuss what their tax liability was likely to be next year and to discuss any ways of reducing it. They were both appalled by the events of the afternoon. They thanked Brett for handling it so professionally in their absence. Brett had been scouring the local news sites and there was already a report, Breaking News, that police had been spotted at BioQex, including a dog handler and it was only a matter of time before they started to put two and two together. Brett had a few minutes to himself before Billie would be joining him, she’d phoned to say that the lab was just being sealed and she was about to escort the police off the premises.
Could it really be that Nick, Mr Nice guy, Mr ordinary and domestic, busybody and person determined to act in the interest of the public good could have been leading a double life and manufacturing street drugs? When had he managed it? He seemed to just work normal hours. Brett’ s office overlooked the main entrance and he’d often noticed him leaving around five or six in the evening, and arriving between eight and nine. It just didn’t seem feasible.
There was a knock at the door.
‘Come in,’ shouted Brett, it was Billie.
‘Sit down Billie, thanks for handling all that, I thought you were the best person to oversee the closing down of the lab. Can I get you a coffee, you look like you need one?’
‘Oh, yes, thanks,’ replied Billie.
She was shell-shocked, hot and sweaty. This afternoon had been surreal, like something from a TV drama. What sort of company had she joined she’d been asking herself. Had she completely misjudged her direct report, Nick?
‘Piers and Frank are back now, we need to come up with a response to this and a strategy as to how we move forward. Also, what do we do about one of our labs being closed? I’d like your input so are you OK to stay and help us with this?’
‘Oh, yes, sure I’d be happy to help,’ replied Billie. She felt quietly honoured to be part of the high-level discussions but it did nothing to eradicate both her revulsion and anger at what it seemed Nick had done.
**
Matt Pearson former CSO of BioQex was looking after his son Toby. It was one of Toby’s non-nursery days and Matt was exhausted. His wife Emma was back at work part-time and Matt was considering his next career move so was taking some time out to consider his options. This morning they’d had a few rounds of hide and seek before Matt got thoroughly tired of it. Toby was under the impression he had to tell his father where he was hiding, thus Matt found it hard to keep up the pretence and to feign excitement each time he found him. Thus the park had been used as a distraction and provided a welcome incentive to leave the house. As the weather started to turn chilly they then went off to an indoor play centre for an hour before lunch. After lunch, they’d looked at some books and had done some number learning. They then took Toby’s scooter out for a while down to the little park nearby and also fed the ducks. It was now approaching 5.30 p.m. and would soon be time for Toby’s tea. Matt just couldn’t conceive how people managed to be a childminder full time for a living. It was a good thing this wasn’t for five days a week, he would be in hospital with exhaustion. Thankfully Toby was also tired and had asked to watch some Cbeebies, so Matt was enjoying a few minutes checking emails and looking at the news on his phone.
He kept up with the Persford news each day and was shocked when the website opened up with a breaking news story concerning BioQex. Police had arrived at there this afternoon, a convoy of several vehicles and a dog handler. Matt couldn’t believe what he was reading. A dog handler, what were they looking for? He checked Twitter, nothing so far. This was serious news for a small company. Although Matt no longer worked there he still hoped it would continue to be successful. He’d worked with some good colleagues there. He decided to phone Nick, he always knew what was happening, they’d texted a few times since he’d left but not made the effort to meet up in person. He checked the time, there was a good chance Nick had left work now, he would phone. There was no response from his mobile so he called their landline.
‘Hello,’ came the response from the phone in their flat.
‘Polly, hi, it’s Matt Pearson here, I’ve just seen the news about BioQex, it sounded serious, just curious to know what’s happening?’At that point he heard sobbing, he had trouble making out what Polly was saying. ‘Polly, are you OK, what’s the matter?’
‘They’ve arrested Nick, it’s awful,’ and she continued to weep.
‘What?’ shouted Matt, so loudly that Toby jumped and looked around.
Matt went out into the hallway, keeping the door partly open so he could see Toby.
‘I don’t understand, why has Nick been arrested? What’s happened?’
‘I don’t understand either, they say he’s been using the lab at BioQex to make street drugs. P something, I can’t remember. They came and arrested him today, took his phone, laptop, and they found some samples here and data from the drug. It’s a nightmare. I’m going mad here.’
‘Polly, slow down a minute. I can’t take this in.’
‘And he was beaten up last week, ended up in hospital, head injuries, could have died, he just went out for a drink with a colleague, went to a rough pub, I’ve no idea why. He was set upon, he only came out of hospital on Saturday afternoon and now he’s down at the police station.’
‘Polly, this is awful, now I don’t for one minute believe Nick is guilty, there must be some sort of mistake. Has he got a solicitor?’
‘I don’t know, I hope so. They won’t let me see him. Told me to stay at the flat and they would phone later.’
‘OK, well listen. When they do phone, you must find out whether he’s got a solicitor. If not let me know straight away. I’ll give you my mobile number. My wife Emma is a solicitor and she works for a very good firm, they will send someone over there if you need them. I’ll phone Emma now to put her in the picture.’
‘Oh thanks, Matt, that’s such a comfort, I’ll let you know what they say when they phone. I’ll find some paper and write your numbers down. Thank you so much.’
Matt ended the call and rejoined Toby in the lounge. Someone had set Nick up for this and he was determined that the truth would be discovered. He almost felt like phoning the police now, but he would speak to Emma first, she was the lawyer, she would know what was the best approach.
