saw lines of type far too small to decipher. Replacing them he started to close the car door and as he did so, he sensed rather than saw a movement beneath the seat.
Cautiously he stooped and peered under. A pair of bright small eyes peered fearfully back. He reached down and a tiny paw clutched at his outstretched finger. Gently he drew out a tiny monkey which could have been the one he'd seen Ambler injecting on their first meeting.
It must have crept into the car when the woman abandoned it at the first gate.
'Good move,' said Wield. 'You almost made it.'
Suddenly it wriggled out of his grasp but didn't try to escape. Instead it jumped onto his shoulder and wrapped its arms round his neck, nuzzling at his ear.
Wield glanced around. No one in sight. He went quickly to his own car and opened the boot.
The little animal protested when he prised it free from his shoulder and set it down on an old travelling rug.
'You prefer a cage and hypos on the hour, you just say so,' he said sternly.
The monkey went quiet and snuggled down into the rug.
'Right. I'll see you later,' said Wield gently closing the boot.
As he went back inside he heard a distant ambulance bell.
In the medical room he found Jane Ambler also wearing a TecSec uniform and looking reasonably well, considering what she'd been through. DC Novello was sitting watchfully at her side while the looming figure of Dalziel blocked the light from the window.
She looked pleased to see him. With Dalziel doing his Hannibal Lecter at the Health Farm impression, she'd probably have looked pleased to see King Kong.
'I want to thank you,' she said weakly.
'My pleasure,' said Wield. 'Listen, luv, all this stuff you did to get your own back on Batty, I want you to know I've been there, I understand what you were feeling.'
As he spoke he moved to put himself between the woman and the Fat Man.
'I reckon the court could understand that too,' he went on. 'Spur-of-the-moment revenge, anyone could do it. But taking them negatives, that's a bit different.'
He held up the envelope.
'That could look like you were going to try a bit of blackmail,' he said. 'And once the court gets a sniff of premeditation
'I just wanted to frighten him,' she said.
Wield dug his finger into his ear as if he hadn't quite caught the remark.
He said, 'Of course if you'd been uneasy for some time that something not quite right was going off at ALBA, and you decided that as this was probably your last chance to get hold of the evidence, it was your duty as a good citizen to make sure these negatives came into our hands…'
He could see her like a chess champion working out all the moves and their implications. He moved slightly to one side to reopen her view of Dalziel, which was a bit like Kasparov drawing an opponent's attention to the presence of a KGB bodyguard with his hand on his gun butt.
It clearly concentrated the mind wonderfully.
She said, 'OK. This is the way it was. David Batty and I were very close. It was his idea, he started it, but I admit I was happy to go along. He's a good-looking guy and I was flattered, young research assistant making it with the department chief. But eventually I started getting worried by some of the things he let slip about some aspects of our work.'
'What aspects?' said Wield.
'Our main project ever since I joined has been work on a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. You should understand that the first company to make a break-through there is guaranteed billions. There are always plenty of rumours flying around and word started to get out that Fraser Greenleaf were way ahead. David was really narked about this, particularly as the researcher I'd replaced had been head-hunted by FG about eighteen months ago. Of course he was legally tied not to communicate anything he'd been working on here, but it's almost impossible to enforce that, and David had convinced himself that FG's breakthrough, if it came, would really be ALBA's.'
She paused.
'So?' prompted Wield.
'So a few months back, in the summer, suddenly the direction of our research took a dramatic change,' she said. 'I couldn't see why. It didn't follow naturally out of what had gone before. And when I asked David why…'
She paused again, then looking past Wield to Dalziel she said, 'I want it to be clearly understood that I have no firm knowledge of anything, only some guesses based on hints dropped by David Batty during the course of our… work. Unless I'm convinced you understand and accept this, I don't think I have anything more to say.'
'I think mebbe you've said enough already,' said Dalziel, giving her a hungry grin.
She grinned back and said, 'Not under caution, I haven't. And I certainly won't sign anything. Or give evidence in court. Not unless I see it in black and white that it's clearly understood that I am entirely an innocent party in all this.'
'All what?' enquired Dalziel.
'How should I know, being entirely innocent?' she replied.
She was, acknowledged Wield, a real gladiator.
Suddenly Dalziel's hungry grin turned to Santa Claus beam.
'Nay, lass, tha's so squeaky clean it makes my eyes hurt just to look at you. Never fear, I'll stand up and tell the court you're the Virgin Mary. So what did Dr Batty answer when you asked him about the new research?'
'He took some photographic negatives out of his desk, waved them in the air and said, 'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, and so do I!' He was a bit drunk at the time.'
'And what did you understand by this?'
'That somehow he'd got information from somewhere about someone else's research.'
'But you'd no idea how or whose?'
'None whatsoever. All I knew was that after he fired me, if I didn't take this last chance to get hold of those negatives, I might never find out the truth. I was of course going to hand them over to the authorities at the first opportunity.'
'Which is right now, lass. And don't think we're not grateful,' said Dalziel.
The door opened and Pascoe came in.
'Ambulance is here, sir.'
'Grand. You fit enough to travel up front, miss?'
'I think so. Why?'
'Then we can get them to put Jimmy Howard in the back, saves a double journey,' said Dalziel genially. 'Got to watch NHS finances these days, haven't we? Novello, you go with the lady. See she's taken care of.'
The door closed behind them.
'There goes a real piece of work,' said Dalziel not unadmiringly.
'Why? What's happened?' said Pascoe.
They told him. He said, 'So you reckon these negatives are photos of Fraser Greenleaf research papers, taken during the Redcar raid?'
'I'd put money on it. One way to find out. We'll get 'em printed then ask someone from FG to take a look. Have we got hold of Captain Sanderson?'
Pascoe shook his head.
'They just called in to say that there's no sign of him at his flat or at TecSec HQ.'
'Bugger,' said Dalziel. 'I'd have liked to finger his collar before he got wind that owt's gone wrong. What about Batty?'
'Blank there too, sir. Thought the simplest thing to do was ring his home and tell him a few of the animals had got loose and invite him out here, but all I got was his wife who said she didn't know where he was. Didn't sound as if she cared much either, though I got the impression there was someone there.'
Wield coughed and said, 'Could be that Mrs Batty's chucked her husband out. Could even be that Captain Sanderson's round there, comforting her.'
