“My God,” replied Gaffney. “What’s going on?”
“Well, I can’t tell you much more at the moment, but I’m afraid I have to go back to the office, and we’ll have to rearrange our dinner date – so sorry about that.”
“Of course, I understand – but please let me know how the woman gets on. She was called Peters, so far as I can remember.”
“Yes, Marina Peters – and I’ll keep you in the picture, but I’ll appreciate that you don’t pass this on until I find out more facts.”
They ended the call, and Hardy went to find his wife to tell her that the dinner party was cancelled and that he had to return to the office to deal with a crisis situation. She tried to find out more details from him, but he was now in a hurry and drove away to the Police HQ as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, the doctor on the scene had decided that the paramedics should carefully move Marina to the Portsmouth hospital as soon as possible; he then called his specialist colleagues at the hospital about what to expect. The team carefully wrapped the patient in protective sheeting brought by the police decontamination squad and carried her out to the ambulance, watched now by the very concerned neighbours who had been evacuated from their flats. Also, there were several of the local press watching and shouting questions, and two police constables who made sure they all kept their distance. Sergeant Bullock simply confirmed to the reporters that it was, indeed, Marina Peters who was being taken to hospital and that the Chief Constable’s office would provide a statement as soon as possible.
While the ambulance was on its way, the Portsmouth doctors spoke to their opposite numbers in Salisbury, and they agreed that although the Ricin powder was a poison unlike the nerve agent Novichok, there were enough similarities in the treatment regimes to compare notes regarding the approach to such a serious and potentially dangerous procedure. Once she was in the isolation section of the hospital, the trauma team, also in protective gear, began attempting to clear Marina’s airways and lungs of the white poison – but her condition was deteriorating rapidly.
Meanwhile, the police officers at the Southsea flats told the anxious residents that the emergency had been created by the discovery of a dangerous substance in Miss Peters’ flat on the second floor. They said there was no confirmation yet of the precise nature of the substance, but that as a precaution, it was necessary to vacate their properties while a decontamination process was carried out.
The specialists from the police emergencies unit arrived and carried out detailed checks around Marina’s flat and the adjoining areas to assess the extent of the problem. The chatter among the residents and the reporters immediately made comparisons with the activity in Salisbury a few months earlier, and within an hour, the Chief Constable’s office issued a brief statement to the press:
“This is to confirm that Miss Marina Peters has been discovered seriously ill at her flat in Southsea. It is Miss Peters who was involved in the recent investigations regarding a Russian agent who arrived in Portsmouth on board the RSS Admiral Essen. She has been taken to Portsmouth hospital where she is receiving specialist attention for probable poisoning. We are currently investigating all the circumstances and have taken the precaution of evacuating the adjacent flats while tests are carried out.”
Then Chief Constable Hardy had a phone call from Tom Spencer at MI5. “The birds have flown,” he said. “The Border Control at Heathrow have just told us that those two Russians you saw in Portsmouth actually flew out to Moscow on the scheduled Aeroflot flight this morning. I suspect that it was the woman’s phone call to her father yesterday that was picked up, and so they knew she was on her way to Portsmouth and would find the nasty surprise they had left in her flat. I think you have a case of suspected murder on your hands.”
29.
WHO POISONED MARINA?
Early the next morning, the Chief Constable had a call from the hospital to confirm that yes, it was a case of Ricin poisoning and that despite their best efforts, Marina had died. Her parents had arrived at the hospital during the night but had not been able to speak to their daughter. The hospital had also carried out tests on the two ambulance crew members who had brought her in, and they were both taking antidotes and would be off duty for a few days. The police officers who went to the scene would also be checked by the hospital as soon as possible.
A very saddened Terence Hardy had quite a few calls to make to follow up this news, and he set about it right away – informing the Navy, MI5, the Coroner’s office and his own officers. Then he decided he needed to call a news conference for 9 am, which was set up by his PR department.
There were half a dozen local reporters there to hear his news.
“It is with great regret that I have to tell you that Miss Marina Peters died this morning in Portsmouth hospital”, he began. “She was taken there yesterday afternoon after collapsing at her flat in Southsea. I am sure I do not have to tell you about the circumstances during the recent weeks relating to Miss Peters. But I can confirm that she died as a result of Ricin poisoning, and we are treating this as a murder inquiry. We evacuated the neighbouring flats to ensure that there is no contamination as a result of the Ricin which was discovered in Miss Peters’ flat. As I am sure you know, Ricin is an extremely dangerous poison. Our CID officers are carrying out investigations in conjunction with Scotland Yard and MI5, and I will give you more information in due course. Meanwhile, the Coroner has been informed, and an inquest will be opened in the next few days.”
The Chief Constable took questions, but he could add very little at this stage. No, he could not yet say how the Ricin had come to be in the flat. Yes, her parents had come down from London during the night to be at her bedside. No, Miss Peters was not the subject of any further police inquiries relating to her association with the Russian spy. And finally: “Are the Russians suspected of carrying out this murder, and is there any connection between this incident and the recent Salisbury Novichok incidents?”
He replied, “It is too early to talk about suspects, but I can tell you that the doctors at Portsmouth hospital did talk to their counterparts in Salisbury last night in case there were some common elements in the treatment regime.”
The next morning, the Portsmouth City Coroner, Robert Leveson QC, opened an inquest at the Guildhall and adjourned it for three weeks.
Following the brief inquest and the police statement, the Russian spy story came alive in Portsmouth again and over the following days, it was fully covered in the press and on radio and TV. Speculation inevitably pointed fingers at Russian involvement in Marina’s death, but facts were hard to come by. Who had poisoned Marina, how and why? The story of Marina’s interlude with the CIA in Florida was leaked in London and led to further inquiries and interviews in the States. In Moscow, reporters tried to discover more about the GRU agent who had posed as a Russian naval officer, but since the dramatic spy swap, he was being kept out of sight.
It was still a news story that had everything – a murder victim, Russian spies, the CIA – everything, that is, but facts.
It was the last week of November before the inquest into the death of Marina Peters was resumed. The first witness to appear before the Coroner was Victor Peters, who confirmed that he was the father of Marina Peters and that he had seen her frequently since she moved from London to work in Portsmouth three years ago. She had visited him and his wife in Putney on the day she died, before catching a train to Portsmouth. She had appeared to be in good health after a holiday in Canada. The Coroner thanked him and offered condolences to the family.