Pember gripped the cooler bag closer to his chest and strode across the room to the security door. Punching in the code, he exited reception and padded down the corridor towards the lab, but not before swiping Samantha’s hole punch on the way out.
They relayed the morning’s findings to Wallace, and at some point Blake and Lily appeared in the lab. They didn’t say much, only sat in the corner and watched them work. Pember caught Blake’s eye from time to time, but it was difficult to communicate when they were all wearing masks.
Just as Pember was taking a final set of swabs from the knife shards, Duncan whistled and tapped the desk. “Motherfucker was right,” he said.
“Who?” Pember replied, standing next to him.
Glancing at the screen, he saw a number of spikes in the readings taken from the Robert Green’s stomach contents.
“Motherfucking Mark Matthews was right. We have a lovely little cocktail of tequila, blue curacao, some kind of apple sours and lemonade. Oh, and a handful of dry roasted peanuts. A quick Google search confirms that it is in fact a Lapis Blast.”
Blake stood up at that. “I’ve heard of it,” he said, turning to Lily. “Who’s serving it in High Enfield?”
Lily cleared her throat and tugged at her mask. “I think we can rule out most of the working-class pubs on the outskirts of town. The only thing you’ll get in there is a pint of Stella and a punch to the face for your troubles. There’s a couple of places closer to the uni that have started calling themselves ‘bars’ instead of ‘pubs,’ trying to make everyone believe they’re fancy. The Dog and Duck, Beezle’s, the Nock and Ore. Should I go on?”
Blake shook his head. “I want you to go to every bar and pub in town, find out who was serving it the night he died.”
Lily nodded, typed something into her phone and walked out.
“And the knife?” Blake continued, looking at Pember. “Can you find out the make and manufacturer from the little that you have?”
Pember let out a breath. Whilst he was fairly confident in his abilities, he wasn’tthatgood. Wallace placed a hand on his shoulder and stepped forward. “Not in this lab. You could get a ballistics analyst to look at it, but the wait time for the National Crime Agency is about four weeks. You’d be better off getting a surgical specialist to look at the victim’s wounds, but ultimately all it’s going to tell you is whattypeof knife caused the injury. If you want to match the sample to the weapon, you’ll have to find it.” He shook his head and turned to Pember. “Were there any other notable injuries around the stab wounds? Hilt marks or the like?”
Pember shook his head. “None. He had far fewer stab wounds than the first and they were much shallower. Messier, too.”
Wallace hummed. “Which might imply Robert Green was still up and fighting when the first couple of blows hit. The attacker didn’t or couldn’t use their full strength to stick the knife in him.”
Blake rapidly made notes in his black notebook. “Could you get everything into a report for me by the end of the day?”
Wallace tutted, and Blake glanced at Pember, who raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms.
Blake sighed. “Please?”
CHAPTER 18
PULLING THE RUG
Pember
By the timethe end of the day rolled around, Pember was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open. Maya came striding into the canteen, her long black hair cascading down her back in ringlets. Slapping Pember across the shoulder, she pulled up a seat next to him.
“Hey, we’re meeting at seven tonight. Tokyo Treasures, yeah?”
Pember groaned, holding his head in his hands. “I don’t really feel like going tonight, May. Today’s been a bit… much.”
She huffed and yanked his hands away. “Oh come on. What else are you gonna do? Sit at home with the old bint, crocheting and watchingCountryfile? A few drinks, sushi and company with other omegas will do you the world of good.”
Pember was about to say that staying home and watchingCountryfilewith Val sounded like a bloody great idea, but Maya’s expectant expression made it extremely difficult to say no.
Giving her a tired smile, he nodded. “Okay, but I’m not staying late. And don’t call her abint. She’s a lady.”
Maya beamed at him. “Sure, sure. And that’s what they all say. Once you’ve got a few in the tank you’ll be well on your way.”
“If you say so.”
Later that night, Pember sighed and stared up at the No Shifting sign as it swayed idly in the evening breeze. He’d asked Blake to dog-sit for a few hours, which had quickly turned into a doggy sleepover when they saw just how excited Bailey and George had been at the prospect of sharing a basket.
Pember smiled to himself, picturing them on a little doggy date, complete with spaghetti over candlelight.
