‘Will you back me up?’
‘Yes,’ replied Dewar. ‘Not because I think it’s an attractive idea but because I think you’re right, there’s no other way. The big question will be, can the police manage it on their own or are we talking military help here?’
‘We’ll see what Tulloch has to say.’
‘What time’s the meeting this morning?’
‘Finlay said he’d try to get everyone here for nine thirty.’
There was no point in going back to bed. Sleep would be impossible and the dawn wasn’t that far away. Dewar decided he would go over to the isolation unit at the Western General at eight.He wanted to talk to Sharon Hannan. He called a taxi at seven thirty.
George Finlay looked exhausted. He’d been up all night with the new admissions. Grey stubble showed on his chin and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.
‘There were too many relatives and close contacts to put up in the unit so the Public Health people sent out decontamination teams to their houses and apartments; they’ve taken them back there and given them strict instructions that they were to remain indoors until further notice.’
‘Sounds sensible,’ said Dewar. ‘But will it work?’
‘There will be problems,’ conceded Finlay. ‘Social Services are going to contact them today to provide help and support during a period equal to the incubation time of the disease.’
‘Do they know what the disease is?’ asked Dewar.
Finlay shook his head and said, ‘I thought up a suitably complicated medical term for the condition which, so far, people have been accepting. They’re assuming it’s some awful new disease.’
‘You need sleep,’ said Dewar.
‘I’ll get my head down for a few hours after the meeting,’ said Finlay. ‘What are you doing here anyway at this time?’
Dewar told him about wanting to speak to Sharon Hannan. ‘How’s her husband doing?’
‘On a downhill slide,’ said Finlay. ‘Kelly will die soon and Hannan won’t be that far behind by the look of him.’
Sharon was eating cornflakes when Dewar knocked on her door and entered.
She smiled, pleased to see a familiar face, albeit one that had only recently become familiar. ‘How’s Tommy?’ she asked. ‘You won’t bullshit me like the nurses.’
‘He’s pretty ill,’ admitted Dewar. ‘But at least he’s in the right place. The doctors and nurses will do all they can for him.’
‘Can I see him?’
‘Maybe later. Could I ask you some questions, Sharon? It won’t take long and it might help a lot.’
‘What sort of questions?’ Sharon replied, looking suspicious.
‘First let me say, my only interest is in stopping this awful thing happening to anyone else. I’m not concerned with guilt or blame or criminal charges. I really don’t give a damn if any laws have been broken. I just have to get at the truth. I have to understand what happened. Okay?’
Sharon nodded.
‘I promise you that anything you tell me will go no further than this room. ‘Have you ever heard of a place called, the Institute of Molecular Sciences?’
Sharon shook her head. ‘No, never.’
‘It’s part of the university.’
Another shake of the head.
Tommy never mentioned it? Or anything about being at the university with Michael Kelly?’
‘Never.’
‘I know they’re no angels. Have either of them broken into any place in the last month?’
Sharon’s eyes grew sharp.
‘I meant what I said,’ Dewar reminded her. This is between you and me, nobody else.’
‘A newsagent’s shop. They did it about three weeks ago. Do you want to know where?’
‘No,’ replied Dewar quickly. ‘Tommy told you about this?’
‘He had lots of fags in the flat. He was getting rid of them down the pub. I asked him about it. He told me.’
‘Anything else?’
Sharon hesitated. Dewar suspected there was more to come. He waited patiently, not wishing to pressurise her.
‘Before he got the sack from his job, Mike Kelly helped some guy recover drugs from a stash he had hidden away somewhere. He stole some from the guy when his back was turned. He gave Tommy some.’
‘Kelly stole drugs from a dealer?’
‘I don’t know if the guy was a dealer; I suppose he was but that’s what Tommy told me anyway.’
Dewar thought for a moment. Maybe that was why Denise Banyon had jumped down his throat when he’d asked where Kelly had got his drugs. Stealing from a dealer could be a fatal mistake. ‘Anything else I should know about, Sharon?’
‘Nothing big. The pair of them have been doing odd straight jobs like and not telling the social security but everybody does round here.’
‘What sort of things?’
‘The usual. House removals, bit of rubbish clearance, Tommy painted a fence for a woman along Trinity way, that sort of thing.’
Dewar nodded and said, ‘I want you to think carefully again about the university. Are you absolutely certain that it never came up in conversation at any time between Tommy and Michael Kelly.’
‘I’m positive,’ replied Sharon. I’m sure I would’ve remembered.’
Dewar smiled and called a halt to the proceedings. ‘Okay, Sharon. If you do remember anything else, tell one of the nurses to contact me and I’ll come and see you,’ said Dewar. ‘In the meantime, enjoy your breakfast.’
Dewar returned to the Scottish Office and called London. It was ten past nine. He drummed his fingertips on the desk while he waited for Macmillan to come on line.
‘Sorry about that. I’ve just been talking to Geneva on another line,’ said Macmillan. This was followed by a pause that made Dewar expect the worst. He wasn’t disappointed.
‘The vaccine’s not coming,’ said Macmillan.
Dewar felt as if time had suddenly stopped. He tried convincing himself he had misheard what Macmillan had said but it had been plain enough. ‘You’re can’t be serious,’ he said.
‘I’m afraid I am,’ confessed Macmillan quietly. ‘The WHO acted on your earlier report that the Iraqis were making serious attempts to get their hands on live smallpox virus. At a joint meeting with a UN advisory body, they acceded to an Israeli request for stocks of vaccine to be administered as a precaution. It’s all been used.’
‘Jesus Christ, where does that leave us?’
‘They’ve been frantically trying to locate other stocks; that’s why they’ve been playing hard to get.’
‘How’d they get on?’ asked Dewar sourly.
‘They’ve come up with some but it’s in the United States. It’s going to take three, maybe four days to reach you.’
‘We don’t have that; there were seven new cases last night. We can expect many times that today.’
‘I’m sorry. Everyone’s doing their best. WHO have instructed the National Institute at Bilthoven in the Netherlands to recommence vaccine production. They hold the vaccinia seed virus. They’ll be up and running within two weeks.’
Dewar’s impulse was to say something rude but he stopped himself. It wouldn’t have done any good and his silence proved just as eloquent.
‘I know, Adam, it’s a bloody mess but we’ll just have to get on with it. Any luck with the source of the outbreak?’
‘None at all.’
‘Keep trying.’
People had arrived for the meeting when Dewar went downstairs. Mary Martin congratulated him on his success at The Bell. ‘We didn’t have any luck there at all.’
‘I just bumped into the right person,’ said Dewar. He still felt numb at the news from London.
Wright read the worried look on his face and came over. ‘Something wrong?’ he asked in a whisper.
‘There won’t be any vaccine for three, maybe four more days, maybe even longer the way our luck’s going,’ Dewar whispered.
‘Christ Almighty. What the fuck are they playing at?’ hissed Wright.
Dewar told him about the stocks being used. Wright rubbed his forehead as if completely bemused by the fickleness of fate.
‘I think we’re all here,’ announced Finlay, bringing the meeting to order. ‘I think everyone knows we now have nine cases in total and can expect more today; the fear is, many more. We’ll be admitting new cases to one of the unused wards at the Western and a second is being prepared. As Dr Wright pointed out earlier, they’re not ideal but needs must when the devil drives. The works department have done their best to partition them and install extra sinks and drainage and we’ve managed to find enough vaccinated nurses to staff them.