Chapter 10
‘OK, Professor Doyle,’ Nightingale said, ‘everyone who needs to hear this has managed to put themselves in front of a computer somewhere.’
Poe and Flynn watched Doyle nod in the jerky stop-motion way everyone did on videoconferences. Cops across the county would be watching the same thing.
‘I know you’re all very busy so I’ll get straight to it,’ Doyle said. ‘I’ve found an anomaly: both female victims had minuscule traces of midazolam in their blood work.’
‘Which is?’ Nightingale said.
‘It’s a benzodiazepine commonly used to induce general anaesthetic.’
‘They were asleep when their fingers were removed?’ Nightingale asked incredulously.
Doyle shook her head. ‘Definitely not. The amount I found indicates it had all but worn off. Whatever the reason for the anaesthetic, it wasn’t anything to do with their fingers being removed.’
‘What the hell is going on?’ Nightingale said after Estelle Doyle had left the videoconference. ‘Why does he put his female victims to sleep? What does he do to them while they’re asleep? And why does he wait until they’re awake to mutilate them?’
She paused.
‘They weren’t rhetorical questions!’ she snapped.
‘Sadist?’ someone said.
‘Only explains why he mutilates,’ Nightingale said. ‘Come on, people, we need ideas.’
If it weren’t for the laptop’s fan, the silence would have been absolute.
‘Anything,’ she insisted.
More silence.
‘Hashtag BSC6 then? Are we closer to figuring out what that means?’
The only reason Poe had expected more silence was because he didn’t know Bradshaw had just joined the videoconference.
‘It’s supposed to look like a social media tag, Superintendent Jo Nightingale,’ she said, ‘but if it is, it’s sui generis.’
Poe couldn’t see her – when Doyle had left the videoconference their computer screen had switched to Nightingale – but he’d recognise her voice anywhere.
‘Who is this, please?’ Nightingale said.
‘Matilda Bradshaw,’ she replied. ‘I work with Detective Sergeant Washington Poe and Detective Inspector Stephanie Flynn of the National Crime Agency.’
‘Ah, you’re the analyst. Well, ma’am’s just fine, Matilda.’
‘OK, Detective Superintendent Jo Nightingale.’
Nightingale rolled her eyes.
‘Tell us what you have, Matilda.’
‘I get called Tilly.’
‘Tell us what you have, Tilly. What does sui generis mean?’
‘A hashtag is used on social media to draw attention to, or to facilitate a search for, a message or keyword. I’ve searched and there’s nothing on any of the major platforms. It is therefore sui generis. One of a kind. Unique.’
‘Perhaps our High-Tech Forensic Crime Unit will have more luck.’