Hamelyn’s smile widened and he inclined his head in mock regret. ‘I’m afraid I can’t talk to anyone, not even the police about my clients. Confidentiality – but you know that of course.’
‘That doesn’t apply if the clients are dead, Mr Hamelyn. Of course, I’m sure you know that.’
Hamelyn blinked rapidly, his face paled a little and a slight tightening of his brow indicated that his Botox was wearing off. ‘They’re dead? Both of them?’
‘Murdered.’ The word shot from Gus’s mouth and hung in the air between them.
Hamelyn gave a reasonable show of being shocked – within the confines of his chemically smoothed face, that is. ‘Murdered? But what’s that got to do with my clinic?’
‘Well, so far it’s one of the avenues of investigation that we’re following because it links the two women with you.’
Hamelyn got to his feet spluttering and Gus was pleased to have discombobulated the man. He couldn’t stand superior arseholes and had no time for the niceties with those sorts of folk.
‘You can’t possibly think I have anything…’
Gus waved his hand in much the same way Hamelyn had earlier. ‘Sit down, Mr Hamelyn. We’ve got a lot to discuss – unless of course you’d prefer to accompany us to the station?’
‘No, no. No. Of course, I’m still confined by confidentiality and would need a waiver from the sperm donors – the partners or husbands to give you any information.’
Gus tossed two sheets of paper on the desk. ‘One from each of the murdered women’s partners – although, it appears that in Mr Brookes’ case he wasn’t the actual donor – you used an anonymous donor from your bank.’ Gus smiled. ‘And we all know that donors waive their rights as parents when they donate. I got the necessary papers signed on the way here as I thought you might pull the confidentiality card.’
‘I’m not pulling any card I can assure you, DI McGuire. I have legal obligations to fulfil.’
Gus nodded. ‘I need copies of these two women’s files and I need all your staff profiles emailed to this address, complete with the security checks you did on each – of course that will be confidential – we are the police after all – upholders of the law and all that.’
Thinking he’d got off lightly, Hamelyn nodded, desperate to get them out of his office, but Gus wasn’t done. ‘Then, I need you to talk through’ – Gus gestured toward Compo – ‘with my IT expert DC Compton, the legally obligated security that you have in place in terms of data storage for all your records.’
Exhaling, Hamelyn placed a phone call requesting the information and then faced a half hour interview being grilled by Compo regarding the clinic’s data security, while Gus watched on in amusement as Compo tripped up the CEO repeatedly and finally declared the firm’s security unfit for purpose.’
Gus nodded and smiled. ‘I think we’ll need to revisit another time, once you’ve had a chance to update the security as my partner has advised.’
Standing, the two of them nodded and left Hamelyn’s office without shaking hands – that was one good thing about Covid 19, Gus didn’t need to shake hands with dick-heads and snobs.
Once back in the car, Compo turned to Gus, beaming. ‘Loved that, Boss. Loved bringing that tosser down a peg or two.’
Gus grinned. He’d enjoyed himself too and seeing Compo shine had made his day. ‘That’s great, Comps, just one thing. I’m not the boss on this one. Alice is – try to remember.’
He chortled. ‘For the sake of your shoulder, if for no other reason.’
Nodding, Compo rubbed his shoulder. ‘Her fingers are bloody sharp and pointy. She’s stronger than she looks.’
‘Yep, Comps. In more ways than one, our Alice is one strong woman.’
‘GuuuuuS …?’
The way Compo had elongated his name told Gus the lad had something important to ask.
‘YeeeeS?’ Gus imitated Compo’s inflection.
‘I could do a check and see just how easy it would be for someone to crack into the clinic’s patient files. Might even be able to tell who’s been accessing those particular women’s files and if it’s someone different from their named medical practitioners, it might tell us something.’
Gus thought for a second. He should really run it past Alice. She’d say yes, he was sure of that, but then that would leave her liable if the proverbial shit hit the fan. Whereas if he sanctioned it and it went awry, he’d be the one to face the music and Alice could deny all knowledge. Decision made, he nodded. ‘Yep, do. But don’t tell Al.’
They were nearly back at The Fort before Gus asked the question that had been on his mind for most of the journey. ‘You any further forward with that little job I set you?’
‘I’ve put the wheels in motion, Gus. Your grandmother doesn’t appear to be recorded as being in the prison system in Scotland. Which seems unlikely if she killed her child. Maybe she’s in the psychiatric system – I’m working on it. I’ll let you know as soon as I know owt.’
Gus wasn’t sure how to handle the tension that overtook him at Compo’s innocent use of the word grandmother. Somehow he wanted to distance himself from her, but she was his bloodline and that made it hard. If not for her, he wouldn’t have his lovely wee mum, on the other hand, if not for the way she behaved, they probably wouldn’t be in the situation they were in right now. And his mum would, hopefully, have had a much better childhood. Not for the first time, Gus wished he had a better way of dealing with shit!
Chapter 39
Bradford
Leaving Compo to report back on their interview with the fertility clinic CEO, Gus decided he needed to stretch his legs and, as he was hungry, chose to walk down Oak Lane from The Fort to his friend Mo’s café. In a world of his own, thinking about his mum and the
