“If he’s charged with the cigarette racket, he’ll lose his seat on the council and won’t be able to stand as a candidate.”
“Isn’t that bullying, Callie?”
Even though Kate had a twinkle in her eye that told Callie she wasn’t serious, Callie gave it some thought.
“No, it isn’t. He’s the one who is breaking the law and thinking he can ride roughshod over everyone else. I’d just be exposing the truth.”
“And tell me, dear friend of mine, just how exactly are you going to do that?”
Callie had to concede that it was a good question. A very good question indeed.
* * *
It was a question that Callie spent a lot of time thinking about during the rest of the evening. Her one link, David Morris, had disappeared off, goodness knows where, and Callie could hardly blame him after the beating he had received.
The shop where she had seen Morris buy cigarettes was open but they were hardly likely to be selling the cigarettes again with the Trading Standards people already breathing down their necks. She couldn’t understand how they had failed to find any stock when it was raided.
Unless they had been tipped off. But by whom? And how did they know the raid was going to take place?
Callie knew that Trading Standards was part of the council, was it too great a leap of the imagination to think that someone in that department tipped off Councillor Claybourne? The more Callie thought about it, the more she believed it was possible, and even likely. The trouble was, she couldn’t just go to the head of Trading Standards and say she thought one of his team was corrupt. For all she knew, he, or she, could be the one.
She was going to have to find another way of implicating Claybourne in his illegal activities, and maybe, Callie conceded, that was a job for the police.
* * *
“I might not be investigating the people smuggling anymore, but I do still have two murders on the books,” Miller complained.
Callie patted his hand soothingly.
“I know, and they obviously take precedence over a little matter of council corruption.”
“Of which you have no proof whatsoever.”
“Which is exactly why I need your help, or the help of one or two of your team.”
“I can’t just go loaning out my team to an investigation that isn’t even official. Do you have any idea how much paperwork I have to fill in before I so much as ask one of them to leave the room?”
“Okay, when I said I needed the help of one or two of your team, I wasn’t meaning me personally. I meant that the investigation into the smuggled cigarettes needed them.”
“But that’s not my case. It’s Trading Standards’.”
“And they aren’t going to solve it if someone is helping Claybourne.”
They seemed to be going round in circles.
“The best I can do is tell the Super we’re looking into a possible leak in Trading Standards and maybe put together a sting operation.”
Callie grinned.
“But only if it is simple.”
She leant back, still smiling.
“And I can’t guarantee he will go for it; in fact, I can almost guarantee he won’t.”
“But he might.”
“Only if I don’t mention Claybourne and keep your name out of it. So, do me a favour, Callie, don’t go anywhere near him or any of his cronies. You hear me?”
Callie nodded.
“I promise. Scout’s honour and all that.”
He left and Callie uncrossed her fingers. She never had been a scout.
Chapter 27
Callie was surprised to see Anna Thompson in the waiting room when she went back to do her evening surgery. She looked tearful and Callie went straight over to her.
“Anna, what’s the matter?”
Anna could only manage a sob in reply.
“Come into my room and tell me what’s happened.” She gave an apologetic shrug to the receptionist, who would have to field complaints about her running late, and led the teenager into her consulting room.
Callie busied herself getting a glass of water and some tissues for the girl, giving her time to get herself under control. When Anna had blown her nose and taken a gulp of water, Callie sat down and spoke to her.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“My friend, my best friend, Louise, she’s in hospital, and I’m worried about her.”
Callie could see where this conversation was going.
“And does she have asthma?”
Anna nodded.
“But she hasn’t been using her preventer inhaler, like you?”
Anna nodded.
“Callum said we’d put on weight if we used them, but Mum says that’s not true.”
“It isn’t. The dose of steroid you get in one of those inhalers is tiny because it goes straight to where it’s needed.”
“Oh.” Anna seemed to understand.
“So, this Callum, what made him say that?”
Anna shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
“Dunno.” She resorted to a teenager’s favourite response when they believed to answer truthfully would get them in trouble.
“I think you do know, Anna. And I think you need to tell me. Think about your friend Louise and the other two girls who have already ended up in hospital. One of them died.” Callie didn’t like frightening the girl, but she really needed to get to the bottom of this before there was another death.
“He said we was helping them,” Anna blurted out. “He said it was just because doctors wanted to save money that they wouldn’t let us use the blue inhalers all the time.”
“The blue inhalers are cheap as chips, Anna. It’s the others that are more expensive. The reason we don’t just give out the blue ones is because of exactly what has happened to your friend and what I have been warning could happen to you. You could have an acute asthma attack and the hospital won’t be
