Chris Collett [DI Tom Mariner The Worm in the Bud (epub)

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.‘This database was one of the items that was left.They could have already successfully destroyed what they intended to.’‘So that’s it?’ Anna was crushed.‘All this stuff is irrelevant after all?’‘Well it may be helpful to you.But I can’t see how it will help us find Eddie’s killer.’‘I’m not really sure if it will be much good to me,’ Anna said, finally conceding defeat.‘As you said, without titles for any of the fields, there’s no way of knowing what the remaining data could be.It’s impossible to tell what the units are for these numbers, let alone what they represent.I’m sorry.I seem to have wasted your time, too.’Mariner smiled.‘Not entirely.It means we’ve effectively ruled out another possibility.’‘Would you like a coffee or something?’ Anna said, quickly, partly because she didn’t want him to leave yet.‘Okay, thanks.’Anna got up to put the kettle on.Mariner picked up the envelope.‘This was all Eddie sent you?’‘That’s it.Oh, unless you count a shoebox full of old letters he left with our solicitor.They went back years, and were addressed to my dad, not Eddie.I left them where they were.’Mariner was staring thoughtfully at the computer screen.‘If you’ve got Jamie, it shouldn’t be that difficult to work out what the rest of this means,’ he said.Anna came back to the table with the coffee.‘Is there any point?’‘Eddie must have thought so.’Anna shrugged.If he really wanted to, she’d let him get on with it.‘Let’s start from what we do know.We’ve got your mother’s initials, Jamie’s initials, Jamie’s date of birth, then a number, 2.1.How old was Jamie when you found out he had autism?’‘Older than that, much older, in fact not really until he went to school, even though Mum had been up at the doctor’s with him every other week for years.Everything was put down to colic or teething, or the terrible twos and, she was told he’d grow out of it.It wasn’t until he was about five or six that autism was even mentioned.’ She looked across the page.‘In fact this next column is more likely to refer to that.’ The fourth column said simply March 1977.‘It would make Jamie almost six.That was more like the time he was diagnosed.’‘Okay, that’s good.It would account for the variation across the other kids, too.Presumably they were diagnosed at different ages.So what is this 2.1?’ Jamie’s rating appeared lower than many of the others, which were anything ranging between four and nine.What could it be measuring if not time? Quantity? But of what? Measurement?Height? No, too small.Suddenly Mariner thought of Greta’s tadpole.‘What about Jamie’s weight, when he was born?’‘He was seriously underweight,’ said Anna.‘Tiny.You should see the photographs.’‘So it could be that.’‘I suppose it’s possible.’ She sounded doubtful, but Mariner pressed on.‘Let’s go with that for now.Okay, so we’ve got some names, dates of birth, birth weights, dates of diagnosis.’‘So what? It still doesn’t tell us why all these people are on the database, except that all these people might be diagnosed autistic on those particular dates.’‘Which still doesn’t tell us why it was important enough for Eddie to go to all this trouble.’ Mariner picked up the envelope.‘You’ve been through this information?’‘Yes, it’s about drugs, but the only common factor seems to be that none of them is particularly safe.The only one that doesn’t appear to have endless awful side effects listed is this one, Pinozalyan, but that’s because there’s hardly any information about it.’ Anna showed Mariner the short paragraph.‘This is all there is?’ he asked.‘Yes, I tried the Internet, but there was nothing.And when I went to ask Dr Payne about it this morning, he’d never heard of it either.Mark, my friend’s partner, is a GP.He said he’d look into it for me, but he hasn’t come back to me yet.’‘Pinozalyan,’ Mariner read.‘A relaxant.Prescribed for the treatment of insomnia.Acts as a depressant to hormone serotonin, which controls levels of arousal and anxiety.So that would be useful for treating someone like Jamie, wouldn’t it?’‘You bet.Anything to calm him down and help him sleep more would be a miracle drug.’‘And there’s no mention of side effects?’‘That’s what makes it unique.’‘But your doctor hadn’t heard of it?’‘No, he was pretty dismissive actually.But then he did have a packed waiting room this morning.’Mariner was saying the name over and over to himself, frowning as he did so.‘You’re spending too much time with us,’ remarked Anna.‘It just has a familiar ring to it, as if I’ve heard it somewhere before.Pinozalyan, Pinozalyan.’‘No Sally-Ann,’ murmured Jamie, suddenly, from where he lay on the floor.Mariner and Anna stared at each other.‘Oh my God,’ said Anna.‘God,’ repeated Jamie.Mariner tried it again.‘Pinozalyan,’ he said.‘Sally-Ann,’ the echo bounced back at him.Mariner shuffled through the papers.Impramine,’ he said out loud.Nothing.‘Ritalin.’ Silence.‘Pinozalyan.’Jamie shook his head irritably, ‘No Sally-Ann.’Mariner looked at Anna.‘Well, that has to be more than coincidence.’‘He must have heard Eddie say it.’‘And why would Eddie say it? Because it was of some significance.Maybe Eddie had stumbled across a drug that would help Jamie that has no side effects.What exactly did the doctor say when you asked him about it?’ Mariner asked, showing a renewed curiosity.‘Just that he hadn’t heard of it.’‘But did he ask what it was, or how you’d come across it?’Anna thought back to her brief meeting with Dr Payne [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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