Free The History Suite (#9 - The Craig Modern Thriller Series) by Catriona King

Anyone else?”
    “A male nurse. He was strong enough to have done it but neither of us got the vibe.”
    Craig trusted Liam’s instincts but the nurse still needed to be checked. “Give his name to Davy anyway. OK, thanks Liam. There’s at least another day’s interviewing on Reilly Suite, so get Joe Rice down tomorrow to help speed things up.” He turned towards Annette. “Anything useful from Hannah Donard?”
    Annette shook her head. “Just confirmation of when she found Rudd, the position of the body and the fact that she feels survivor guilt. She did say something interesting about the linen trolley though.”
    “Go on.”
    “Well, apparently it was always kept in the linen room because it’s so heavy; in case it fell on someone, especially a child.”
    “Do many visit the E.M.U.?”
    Even as Craig asked the question he knew the answer was yes. He’d visited his grandparents in hospital when he was young.
    “Yes. And if it fell on one of them they’d be badly hurt. Donard said the porters must have left it outside the room, being lazy.”
    “OK, check that out and Davy can pull the CCTV for you.”
    Davy shook his head. “S…Sorry chief, I can’t. There’s CCTV pretty much everywhere in the unit but there. The linen, s…sluice and clinical rooms are in an uncovered area.”
    Craig was astounded, not because of the linen room but because of the drugs in the clinical room lock-box. “There’s no security where they keep the controlled drugs?”
    Davy smiled cheekily. “I didn’t say that. There’s CCTV inside the clinical room, just not in the area outside.”
    “It’s an omission that makes choosing the linen room as a kill site look deliberate. It also points to someone who knew the unit well; who else would have known about the lack of CCTV?” He waved Annette on. “Did you get any impression of Donard’s relationship with the deceased?”
    “It seemed cordial, judging by her use of her nick-name, Ellie. You don’t call someone you hate by a pet name.”
    “Good point. Anything more?”
    Annette shook her head and looked to Carmen for anything she’d forgotten. Carmen’s soft burr made Ken turn towards her and Nicky smile; she hadn’t forgotten her bet that she could get the two of them together someday.
    “I agree with everything Annette said. Donard seemed fond of Eleanor Rudd and I’m sure something was going on between Rudd and Dr Cooke.”
    “Good. OK, Davy, what have you got?”
    Davy sat forward with his hands clasped between his knees. It was a new posture for him and it didn’t look very comfortable; somehow Craig doubted the try out would last.
    “I pulled the CCTV from Newman W…Ward and the main hospital corridor leading to the unit, but I’m struggling to get the tapes from Reilly S…Suite. The sister says it’s the residents’ home, so we may be looking at a w…warrant there.”
    Craig nodded; he’d thought it might happen. “That’s a last resort. See what you can get without it.”
    “OK. Then basically there’s nothing so far.” Craig’s face fell. “I’ve viewed the tapes from W…Wednesday morning through to when you entered the E.M.U. yesterday afternoon. All there is to s…see is people going about their work. I tracked Eleanor Rudd’s movements and the last sighting of her was when she headed towards the linen room area at around ten o’clock on Thursday morning.”
    “Where was Rudd going, Davy? It can’t have been to the linen room if Hannah Donard was sent there an hour later.”
    Davy nodded, knocking his long hair across his face. He pushed it behind one ear and continued. “The clinical room. S…Sister Norton had sent Rudd there to check the inventory.”
    Craig sighed. “So no-one noticed when Rudd disappeared for an hour – inventory can take all day.” He continued briskly. “OK, so Rudd was sent to the clinical room at ten and found dead in the linen room at eleven. That fits with John’s findings of her being dead less