Free Scaredy Cat by Mark Billingham Page B

case?'
    �lbm?'
    'Right... sorry, Nick. Have you got a copy of the [.eicester/London matches handy?'
    Tughan grunted, scrol ed and double clicked. The printer on the far side of the office began to hum. Thorne had actual y been hoping that Tughan might have had a hard copy lying about.
    It would have been quicker to walk across to his own little goldfish bowl and fetch the copy on his desk, but he couldn't begrudge Tughan his little triumphs of efficiency. He begrudged him virtual y everything else, and the feeling was entirely mutual.
    'Fhorne stared at the list. Half a dozen doctors who had been on rotation at Leicester Royal Infirmary at the ime of the Midazolam theft and now worked in local hospitals. Anne Coburn's information about the significance of the date had somewhat dampened any enthusiasm for ths line of enquiry, and the discovery of Helen Doyle's body had rightly demanded everybody's attention, but
    78 MARK BILLINGHAM
    Thorne stil sensed that it might be important. It was possible to look at the date of the drugs theft as significant in quite the opposite way. Might not the kil er (if indeed it was the kil er) have chosen that date to make it look as if he might have come from anywhere when in fact he was working at the hospital? Besides, they were stil working through the far bigger list of al doctors currently on rotation local y so they'd have to get round to this lot eventual y.
    Jeremy Bishop's name was second on the list.
    Thorne was aware of what could only be described as a smirk on Hol and's face as they rode the lift down to the car park. 'Isn't he Dr Coburn's friend?'
    'She knows him, yes. And his alibi certainly checks out theoretical y, yes.'
    Jeremy Bishop had unquestionably been responsible for treating Alison Wil etts in A and E.
    'But Alison Wil etts was taken to the Royal London for a reason,' Thorne explained, as if talking to a child. 'I want to check exactly when Bishop came on duty in relation to when she was brought in.'
    The smirk stayed on Hol and's face. He knew al about Thorne's visit to Queen Square. Was he visiting Alison Wil etts or the doctor who was treating her? He was wel aware that they could have hecked out Bishop with a phone cal or, at the very least, sent somebody else.
    Thorne felt no compulsion to explain himself to Hol and any further. As they stepped out at the ground floor and walked towards the car, he tried to convince himself that Bishop's friendship with Anne Coburn, about whom he was thinking more than he should, wasn't the
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    main reason he was keen to eliminate him from the enquiry as quickly as possible.
    As he tucked into a late breakfast, he thought about how tired Thorne had looked at eight o'clock that morning arriving at work. He'd watched him from the greasy spoon opposite as the policeman leaned against his car for a moment before plodding towards the door. He hadn't considered Thorne the plodding type at al . That was why he'd been so delighted when he discovered that he was on the case. That, and the other obvious reason. Thorne, he'd decided, was definitely dogged. And stubborn. These were qualities he required. Plus, of course, the capacity for being too clever for his own good. He certainly needed that. Al in al , Thorne was perfect. But it had troubled him to see Thorne looking so worn out. He hoped that the fatigue was just physical and that the detective inspector wasn't burning out. No, he was justifiably exhausted after the... demands of the night before. They'd found her quickly. He was impressed. So Thorne had had a rough night. That made two of them.
    One out of five. Down from twenty-five to twenty per cent. He'd known straight away, of course. He'd made the necessary phone cal then gone about his business, but it was obvious within a minute or two that she'd let him down. Stupid drunken sow. His. heart, which had been pounding with the oncoming rush of the dash to hospital with another one for the machines, had quickly slowed