Crisis

Mildrew and Jackman looked at each other and then at Morris who shrugged his shoulders. ‘We were unaware of this,’ said Jackman. There seems to have been a breakdown in communications somewhere.’ His look to Morris indicated where he thought it lay. ‘Perhaps Inspector Morris will place the call for you.’

Morris moved to an adjoining room and returned a few moments later to say to Bannerman, ‘Mr Allison is on the line, sir.’

Bannerman closed the door behind him and picked up the receiver.

‘I understand you are in a spot of bother, Doctor,’ said Allison.

Bannerman never thought he would be pleased to hear the sound of Allison’s voice, but he was. He told him about the sheep brain and about his having requested a chemical toxin analysis on it.

‘But what did they find?’ asked Allison. ‘What’s all the fuss about?’

‘They won’t tell me and I won’t tell them where I found it, so we’re sitting here, looking at each other.’

‘Perhaps I should speak to them,’ suggested. Allison.

‘I’d be grateful.’

Mildrew spoke to Allison in private, then returned to the room and indicated to Bannerman that Allison wanted to speak to him again.

‘Bannerman, I suggest that you cooperate fully with Mr Mildrew and his colleagues,’ said Allison.

‘Without question?’ said Bannerman.

‘Yes.’

‘No way,’ said Bannerman, flatly. ‘I’ve not come this far to be fobbed off like this. I want to know what was in the sample.’

‘I thought you’d say that,’ said Allison. ‘I warned Mildrew you might. Mr Mildrew is prepared to tell you more but first you will have to sign the Official Secrets Act.’

‘Ye gods! What next,’ exclaimed Bannerman.

‘If you lab boffins had got this right in the first instance, none of this would have been necessary,’ said Allison and put down the phone abruptly.

‘Well thanks a lot,’ said Bannerman to the dialling tone.

‘Sign where I’ve marked it,’ said Jackman, handing Bannerman a copy of the Official Secrets Act.

Bannerman signed without comment and pushed the form to one side.

The brain sample you presented last night contained traces of a chemical called NYLIT,’ said Mildrew.

‘Nylit,’ repeated Bannerman. ‘Never heard of it.’

‘We would have been surprised if you had.’

‘Where does it come from?’

‘This is the cause of our interest, Doctor,’ said Mildrew. ‘NYLIT is not a by-product of any chemical process, as so many toxins are. It was a specific component of a biological weapon developed in 19 … some time ago.’

‘A weapon?’ exclaimed Bannerman.

‘It was one of a chain of compounds developed by our defence establishment.’

‘And it’s a powerful mutagen?’

‘Among other things, yes.’

‘So how the hell did it get into a sheep in the north of Scotland?’

‘That’s what we intend finding out, Doctor, with your help of course.’

‘I’ll give you all the information I have,’ said Bannerman.

It was after ten in the evening before Bannerman got back to the hotel. He was exhausted, having told Mildrew and Jackson every single detail he could remember about the investigation in Achnagelloch and Stobmor.

‘I’ve been so worried,’ said Shona. ‘What did they want?’

‘The sheep were exposed to a powerful mutagen,’ said Bannerman.

‘Where did it come from?’

‘We don’t know, but the best guess at the moment is that some canister was washed up on the beach at Inverladdie and through time it leaked and contaminated the ground. Grazing sheep which were incubating the Scrapie virus at the time were affected by it, and the rest you know.’

That still doesn’t explain how Colin Turnbull came to be affected,’ said Shona.

‘No it doesn’t,’ agreed Bannerman but there was a more pressing question on his mind. He was again considering why the brain sections taken from the dead men at Inverladdie had shown such perfect signs of classical Creutzfeld Jakob Disease when the sections from the poisoned sheep showed no brain degeneration at all? He feared that the answer to that must lie with the people responsible for the pathology on the dead men, Lawrence Gill who was dead and Morag Napier … who was not.

It was late and Bannerman did not want to voice his suspicions to Shona. Despite the fact that it was he who had finally worked out the puzzle he was smarting over his earlier certainty about the involvement of the Invermaddoch nuclear power station. He seemed to have been so wrong so often in this affair that he decided he would keep his thoughts to himself for the moment. He would go into the medical school in the morning and try out a little test of his own. He still had the samples of sheep brain. He would let Morag go ahead with the animal tests she had promised to do.

Bannerman had just left for the medical school when the phone rang and Shona answered.

‘May I speak to Dr Bannerman please?’ asked a female voice.

‘I’m afraid he’s just gone out. Can I give him a message?’

This is Morag Napier at the medical school. I wanted to remind him about the sample he said he would bring in for animal inoculation.’

‘I think he’s on his way to see you now, Dr Napier, with the news.’

‘What news?’

‘Apparently the sheep were affected by some poison on the land, but Ian will tell you all about it himself when he gets there.’

‘That sounds interesting, thank you,’ said Morag Napier.

‘Hello again,’ said Bannerman as he entered Morag Napier’s lab.

‘Good morning,’ smiled Morag. ‘You’ve brought the sample?’

Bannerman took out a small bottle containing sheep brain. ‘Here you are. Can I watch you do the inoculations?’

‘If you like,’ said Morag. She took the bottles over to a fume hood and switched on the extractor fan. It accelerated slowly into life and settled down to a steady hum.

Morag, now gloved and gowned, transferred the contents of the first bottle into the heavy glass reservoir of an emulsifier. She added sterile saline solution and fitted the cap which housed a sharp metal blade mounted on a long shaft that reached to the foot of the bottle. She clamped the reservoir to its platform and made the motor connection to the upper end of the shaft. She then switched on the power and the blade started whirling inside the glass, emulsifying the brain into a smooth, injectable solution.

Morag inspected it by eye and then gave it another couple of minutes. She then loaded the contents of the reservoir into two sterile plastic syringes. She fitted needles to both and said, ‘Shall we go down to the animal lab?’

There was still a vague smell of burning about the animal laboratory despite the fact that it had been completely reconstructed since the fire. It mingled with animal smells and that of fresh paint in an unpleasant cocktail which made Bannerman wrinkle up his nose as they went in. He noticed that Morag used her own key. There was no one inside.

‘I thought I would do six mice,’ said Morag.

‘Good,’ said Bannerman watching her every move.

‘I wonder, would you get me the experiment register from the office?’ asked Morag.

Bannerman went to the office but as soon as he turned the corner he turned back to look at what Morag was doing. He saw her take out two filled syringes from a drawer below the bench and replace them with the two she had brought down from upstairs.

‘Is that how you did it last time?’ asked Bannerman from behind her.

Morag jumped, but regained control quickly. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said.