Free Square Snapper (Detective Inspector Burgess) by Deborah Middleton Page B

landing the shipment of contaminated heroin. As I understand it, we have a description of a man we believe committed the two murders. If we can locate and interview him, then we may get a lead to someone who is higher up the food chain. Furthermore, we’ve been in contact with detectives from Miami’s Dade County Police and they appear to have part of the same batch of heroin on their streets. They have reported that over forty addicts this week alone have died from poisoning. They are working night and day on this case. With them on board, I think we can probably solve this without the necessity of involving Scotland Yard… at least, for now.”
    “Good.”
    The Premier turned to the Minister for Health. “What can we do to prevent more deaths on island?”
    “Not much, I’m afraid, Premier, except to educate the public about the threat to their lives, if they choose to use heroin. We’ll be distributing fliers at the Somerset Cricket Club, Crown & Anchor tents, restaurants and night clubs. We’ve already distributed in the schools and the charities are all on board with fliers in their premises.
    The Bermuda Drug Council is already counselling its clients and we have asked all heroin users to bring in their stash to them on a no names basis. A sort of drugs amnesty, so to speak, to get the stuff off the streets. The Emergency Department of King Edward’s is also doing the same. We’re not going to bother to analyse it, just collect and destroy it all, whether contaminated or not.”
    “Okay, that makes sense. Maybe some good might come of this. We’ll get a lot of hard drugs off the streets and maybe some of our youth will take this as a wake up call and stay away from the stuff. What damage control can we do on the tourism front?”
    The Minister for Tourism shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We’re working on it, Premier. It’s not a good situation for us and right in the middle of high season. This is a record year for tourism and we also have a lot of visitors coming in from Miami and cricket fans from the Caribbean. The last thing we need is more deaths, particularly visitor deaths. The U.S. State Department has already put us on its list of dangerous destinations. We cannot afford to have this drag on for much longer, especially since Cup Match is this weekend and there’ll be a lot of partying. Our public relations agencies in the U.S. and Europe are monitoring the press over there and we will try and do our best to mitigate any damage. It’s a first for us, I have to say, but we are in crisis communications mode and will do our best to keep Bermuda in the spotlight for the right reasons and allay any fears. After all, if you are a bona fide tourist, this should not affect you in any way, shape or form. If you’re a heroin user, then that’s another matter. I think it’s a question of keeping the press on side, rather than allowing everything to degenerate into a free for all. Speculation and rumour can take on a life of their own.”
    “Well, as politicians we’re all very aware of that.” The Premier looked glum.
    Next, the Premier called on the Director of Customs to talk about the measures in place at the airport and docks. More sniffer dogs would be on duty and the Bermuda Regiment had been called in to assist. Together with Marine & Ports, the police were trying to patrol the shore line and members of the public had been encouraged to call in with any suspicious activities, such as boats running without lights or signal lights flashing from offshore to onshore and vice versa. It’s not easy, we don’t have a fleet of patrol boats and there are so many coves and beaches that it’s hard to cover the coastline.”
    “Okay.” The Premier had heard enough. “What I think we need to do is hold a press conference. Put together what you want to say and run it by the Government Department of Communications. Let’s meet in the Cabinet Boardroom at three o’clock and be ready to talk to