Volume 2, Chapter 13

It is the evening and Smithers is at home in a flat in St. Mary’s Bay pondering the ‘body in the University’ case. He has finished his microwaved Indian meal and is nursing a single malt.

I am intrigued by this case. It’s a shame I’m so busy with the current meth investigation that I can only give it half an eye. I could delegate it to Cheryl I suppose but I have plenty for her to do following the meth distribution network and, anyway, I want to take the lead on this myself. Liaising with Maria is a plus, which is surprising as SIS interactions can be awkward. Of course, she’s attractive and if I were 10 years younger … No, cancel that thought but it is true she is comfortable to work with. She displayed confidence in the way she insisted on speaking to Inka and then in interrupting the interview. That was the right thing to do. It would have been a waste of effort for us to treat Inka as a suspect, in our minds at least, when she is totally in the clear. But Maria didn’t try to impress or override me. She just laid out what she needed to. More would have been nice but she cut to the chase.

Inka Makkonen is a very different character, unguarded at moments and, for that reason, believable in a general way. I assume she is an SIS agent or is being recruited or perhaps she is a consultant. In any event, she was clearly in Merrick’s room for a purpose and not the one she told us about. I expect the SIS will share information in due course but in the meantime the ball is in our court to identify the body and locate Merrick. I have already got the team onto that. We should get a cause of death in the morning. It could turn out to be natural causes but I don’t believe given Merrick is an SIS person of inter

I wonder what Maria’s connection with Inka Makkonen really is: an element of the personal I reckon but I could be wrong. The combination of the professional and the personal can be difficult. Well Maria is in town and I will talk to her tomorrow, hopefully with some news. We’ll see how it goes.

It is Thursday morning and Smithers is at work early. Details of the meth investigation are only slowly falling into place. Mid morning, Cheryl comes to see him with some news.

“Chief, we’ve got some progress on the ‘body at the University’ case. The cause of death, tentatively, is heart failure. There could be more to come. His name is Federico Bruno and here is a copy of the main cards in his wallet. And we know where Merrick is, in the Southern Cross Hospital in Brightside. He had a hip replacement yesterday and so wasn’t easy to contact. He can be interviewed at 3 pm if we wish. I expect you would like to talk to him. Would you like me sitting in on the interview?”

“Confirm the interview for 3, but I think I would like to offer our SIS friend the opportunity to sit in on it so won’t need you.”

“You don’t mean Inka Makkonen, do you?”

“No, her friend, Maria, who came to pick her up. She is still in town.”

“Very good, sir, I’ll set up the interview with Merrick,” responded Cheryl with possibly just a flicker of a smile.

Smithers gives Maria a quick call and suggests she come in at midday, if she is free. He wants to talk over the information so far, as well as inviting her to join him in the interview.

I am kept busy most of the morning with the meth investigation, which is inching ahead. There is a meeting at 1 o’clock with the top brass where I will have to report progress. I am not looking forward to that. Maria is waiting for me when I appear at ten past twelve. I need some lunch and suggest she joins me in the cafeteria. She is happy to do that and asks the obvious questions when we sit down. She is very happy to join the interview. I know exactly how I want to play the interview, keeping her in the background but observing. I don’t pussyfoot around and just lay it out. I’m doing her a favour really, allowing her to keep a low profile, but some don’t like to be told.

Maria is very happy with the plan, keeps on topic and doesn’t feel the need to chitchat. She also seems to know that I could do with ten minutes to get my head into the right space for my next meeting and takes her leave promptly. But as she leaves she asks,

“Have you ever acted on the stage?”

Where did that come from? That’s left field for someone so focused. I have never been asked that before. The usual question is,

“Do you play poker?”

I am told I have a poker face. Never mind. Focus on the next meeting.

The meeting with my superiors goes as well as could be expected, that is, not very well but I box on. It is a pleasant change to see Maria again and drive to the hospital even though we are slightly pushed for time.

I find Merrick puzzling. It seems to me that if he had something to hide he wouldn’t agree to an interview in hospital a day after an operation under general anaesthetic. But there is something going on here. He is calm, in fact too calm. I put my questions to him in a friendly way and he responds in a cooperative manner. We aren’t learning all that much from him, though we are confirming his connection with Frederico Bruno and rounding out the picture of why he was there in the office.

Maria comments afterwards that he seemed, initially at least, not very upset about the death of his friend and colleague. That was what I thought too. Someone you know well dies in your office when you are in hospital. That would trigger some significant emotion in most people surely, even on the assumption that the death was by natural causes. Perhaps yesterday’s anaesthetic and the ongoing pain medication explain the surprising calm. There is nothing to follow up at the moment. We await a more detailed report from the autopsy.