Free The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery by Patrick C. Walsh Page B

times but couldn’t. Angela finally came around but was groggy for quite a time. She described the man to her friend as being in his thirties or early forties, balding and having an American accent. Mary.’
    Mary Sullivan stood up and took over.
    ‘While talking to one of Mandy Stokes’ friends she also mentioned an American man who’d been one of her clients. She remembered Mandy being furious about being offered some white pills by him which she threw away. She thought he was trying to fob her off with aspirin or something. This friend of Mandy’s, she calls herself Divine but her real name is Elizabeth Eversley, said that Mandy had told her she’d seen this American again. He was walking down Church Street talking to two young men who she said looked like students. One of them called him ‘Professor’. Mandy also said that, although he dressed younger, he must have been around forty, that he was losing his hair at the front and also that he’d been circumcised.’
    Mary sat down and Dan Carter took over again.
    ‘Okay, we’ve contacted the university and they’ve got several staff members from North America, two Canadians and three Americans. Two of them are women which leaves us three. They’ve sent me the photos from their staff IDs and out of the three only one is balding and his name is Asher Grinberg, a professor working at the Business School. Martin has checked with our US colleagues and the professor has some previous for drugs but only minor stuff when he was a teenager. If these pills he’s giving out like Smarties are the hibernation drug or have contributed in some way to Henrietta Lewinton’s condition then we may have just have cracked the case. If not then we need to know what he’s pushing and, if it is a class A or something hazardous, we need to get him and his pills off the streets. I’ve been given the green light to go ahead with a raid on Mr. Grinberg’s flat, however, Martin’s found out that he’s attending a university theatre production this evening so I suggest that we delay any action until early tomorrow morning.’
    Dan looked at the expressions on his team’s faces. They all looked more than up for it.
    ‘Adil, arrange for the Support Unit to meet us here at four thirty and I’ll brief them. Everyone else I’ll need you here at four for your briefing. I’d suggest, unless there’s something urgent you need to do, that you get straight home and get some sleep. See you tomorrow.’
    Dan went straight to Mac.
    ‘That doesn’t include you of course Mac.’
    ‘I’d still like to be here for the briefings if that’s okay?’
    Mac knew his condition meant that his raiding days were over but he was still surprised that it irked him so much.
    ‘Of course. Did you find anything of interest today?’
    Mac shook his head.
    ‘Nothing definite but we’ve got some top medical people asking around so you never know.’
    ‘What do you think of the lead?’
    ‘Looks like a good one, especially liked what you said about ‘contributing’ to Henrietta’s condition. It’s always possible that she took two or three things that, perhaps by themselves might not have been so harmful, but together sent her into that weird coma. What are your thoughts on Mr. Grinberg? Do you think he’s our driver?’
    ‘Probably not. I’m not sure if stealing cars is on the Business School curriculum but what if he gave Henrietta something that caused or contributed towards her condition? Perhaps her pimp found her, thought she was dead and was trying to dump the body.’
    Mac nodded, he had to concede there was an outside chance he might be right.
    ‘And what about the other five girls?’
    ‘That’s where any theory involving the professor probably falls down. He may have been peddling something but it wasn’t heroin and if the girls all died of massive heroin overdoses then, no, I don’t fancy him for that. Could it be that Henrietta’s case and the other five girls aren’t linked