Free Lethal Outbreak by Malcolm Rose

major body.’

SCENE 22
    Thursday 17th April, The early hours
    Lexi liked working through the night. At night Crime Central wasn’t cluttered with majors. Almost everyone was an outer. Most of the scientists were conducting forensic tests. A few were meditating in quiet rooms and quiet corners. No one interrupted the cleansing of their minds. No one made jokes about sleeping on the job. Lexi’s fondness for the night-time shift didn’t make her a separatist. She liked being with her own kind, but she also valued the input of majors – at least from the ones that were good at what they did. Sometimes, she felt, a job would be given to a major to keep the numbersequal when an outer would have been a far better choice.
    She peered down the microscope at a few of the shiny flecks of paint from the graffiti at the sports stadium and took a few close-up shots. At first sight, the shavings looked similar to a lot of glossy silver paints, but she knew that the light reflecting from each type gave a distinctive range of wavelengths. She used microspectrophotometry to record the signature colours.
    Revealing the chemical composition of the paint would tell her more. She prepared a piece for X-ray analysis. Afterwards, she burnt a few of the fragments and analysed the gases by chromatography to identify the resin and pigments. She finished her examination with infrared spectroscopy to confirm the organic constituents.
    Then, armed with the exact colour and the chemical components of the paint, she began a search through databases to see if she had enough information to find its manufacturer. She also sent her results to the Paint Research Department to see if specialists could provide any extra help.
    After her second meditation of the night, with her mind especially sharp, she pinpointed the source of the silver paint. Her data matched a specializedproduct designed to give a mirror-like chrome effect to almost any surface. It was used mostly by motorcycle enthusiasts. Shortly after her conclusion, an expert at the Paint Research Department contacted her with the same result.
    Most road vehicles had become driverless years ago. But not motorcycles. They’d kept their reputation as the ideal way for free spirits to travel. Motorcyclists still weaved in and out of traffic, speeding along congested roads, tackling tracks too rough or narrow for cars. Somewhere out there was a free spirit that Lexi and Troy would like to interview.
    Lexi also requested a trace on Dominic Varney’s phone. It didn’t take long. The mobile had been stationary at his house on Sunday evening.
    She looked up details on the pharmaceutical company that Dominic had infiltrated last year. It specialized in drug treatments for infectious diseases. And at once, Lexi drew in a breath. She searched the company’s website for details of its facilities. She smiled when she found what she wanted. To develop cures for contagious bacteria and viruses, their researchers had BSL3 and BSL4 laboratories.
    Lexi sat back. Maybe her partner was onto something. Undercover, Dominic Varney may wellhave learned the skills needed to work in a high-security laboratory.
    Bringing up her spreadsheet on her monitor, she altered Dominic Varney’s entries. Tracking his mobile phone had not provided him with a strong alibi for Sunday and his undercover work may well have set him up to enter the Shallow End site and gain access to the crime scene.
    She sent her results to Troy Goodhart’s life-logger.

SCENE 23
    Thursday 17th April, Early morning
    As soon as Troy saw Lexi’s overnight results, even before breakfast, he arranged to meet her outside Precious Austin’s house. ‘To catch a worm,’ he said on the phone, ‘you’ve got to be an early bird. Bring your evidence bags and something to scrape paint.’
    Waiting for his partner by the front garden, Troy watched bees investigating the wallflowers and primroses. When Lexi arrived, she asked, ‘What’s on your