The Infirmary (DCI Ryan Mysteries prequel)(64)

“Sebastien Draycott, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Isobel Harris, Sharon Cooper and Nicola Cassidy. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”

Draycott drained of all colour.

“I want my solicitor,” he managed.

“That’s your right,” Ryan said, and led him towards the exit.





CHAPTER 27


“Ryan? In my office.”

When he stepped inside Gregson’s office, his superintendent surveyed him with a critical eye.

“Jesus. You look even worse than I feel.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“What’s this I hear about you arresting Draycott?”

“What about it, sir?”

“Don’t give me the run-around,” Gregson warned him. “He’s been on telly, for God’s sake. He’s known, Ryan, a Fellow of the Royal College—”

“He’s also a fraud,” Ryan ground out. “I don’t care how many times he’s been on Channel 4 giving his tuppence-worth about cardiothoracic surgery. He’s admitted to serious offences including theft of prescription drugs and I’ve referred it to the General Medical Council for investigation which was, I suspect, what Sharon Cooper intended to do before she died.”

“She knew about it?”

“Yes, sir. She had a file on him. There’s an established drugs ring in operation between the hospital and the Dental Hospital, and Draycott knew about it. A complaint was made about him operating under the influence and the hospital tried to hush it up.” Ryan lifted a shoulder. “It’ll be down to other divisions to decide whether to press charges but, at the very least, I expect him to be suspended and ultimately struck off.”

Gregson blew out a long gust of air and then his face broke out into a smile as he thought of all the positive press that could come of it. It was hard luck on the hospital but that wasn’t his problem.

“Good work,” he said. “Are you sure he’s our guy?”

Ryan looked at Gregson in surprise.

“Oh, I’m sure he isn’t, sir.”

There was a two-second delay before Gregson erupted.

“What the bloody hell are you playing at?” he roared. “There’s a man’s reputation at stake!”

“Draycott ruined that all by himself.”

Gregson leaned his hands on the desk and watched his hopes of a victorious press conference go up in smoke.

“What makes you think it isn’t him? Why arrest him if you know he’s not our man?”

“He would never have agreed to the search so readily if he knew there was something to find. I saw the shock on his face when we found those keys, sir. He had no idea they were there.”

“You’re saying they’re a plant?”

“Yes, sir. They fit Nicola Cassidy’s front door and her mother has confirmed she recognises the key ring. Draycott was out of his office all day but people still go in and out. Easy enough for someone to slip inside and stash the keys somewhere incriminating.”

“You can’t mount a case against someone on the strength of some keys,” Gregson nearly shouted.

“I’m well aware of that. But this takes Draycott out of the equation for up to seventy-two hours, if we can manage to hold him.”

“The magistrate will never allow it,” Gregson argued.

“They might, if you weigh in.”

“And why should I do that?”

“Because I expect him to strike again, very soon, and I need to be sure it isn’t Sebastien Draycott. He might be many things but, if I’m right, a killer isn’t one of them.”

Gregson drummed his fingers against the desktop, following Ryan’s train of thought.

“And we have no way of knowing who?”

Ryan swallowed, finding his throat painfully dry.

“Not yet, sir, but we’re narrowing the field. If somebody wants us to believe Draycott is a killer, then we need to force the issue. They’ll have to choose between their better judgment, knowing the man is in police custody, and their overriding need to sate themselves.”

“You’re talking about somebody’s life hanging in the balance, Ryan.”

“It gives me no pleasure to say that, sir.” It nearly killed him, knowing he could do nothing to stop it. “We don’t have the manpower to set up surveillance for every person who falls within the frame. There are too many of them. But we’ll go over the results of the fingertip search, today. We’ll seek voluntary DNA samples and compare them with what we found at the first two crime scenes. We have the hospital pharmacist in custody alongside Draycott and we’ll question them both. We’ll continue to check every alibi. We won’t stop.”

Gregson looked up at Ryan with sudden pride.

“I know you won’t stop,” he said, quietly. “But, sooner or later, you’ll have to.”

Ryan’s body swayed, as if it had heard him.

“I know that, sir. Just not yet.”

*

The interview suite had never been so busy. Aside from the usual rounds of drunken assault and petty crime, the corridors rang with the sound of medical staff giving their version of events. While MacKenzie and Lowerson turned their attention to the hospital pharmacist in the hope of extracting her client list, Ryan and Phillips faced Sebastien Draycott and his solicitor across the metal table of Interview Room A. They might not believe he was the man they were seeking but it was a foolish detective who failed to exhaust every line of enquiry.