system security was broken I would suggest that by continuing to make tests, you could be putting even more men at risk.’
Gleitmann stirred his coffee thoughtfully. ‘I’m afraid I can’t agree with you there,’ he said flatly. ‘If you want to put a halt to the Program, I think you’ll have to take it up with the Home Office.’
Jake shrugged. ‘Very well then.’
The professor’s long dark face took on an exasperated sort of look.
‘Chief Inspector,’ he said pompously. ‘I don’t think you can have considered the substantial investment that a project like this represents. There are other ramifications beside the rather more manifest one of individual security. Need I remind you that this is a private facility? Any governmental association here results from a purely contractual obligation. I have a duty to my shareholders as well as to the patients. The financial, not to say political, implications of what you’re proposing - ’
Jake brought him to a halt with the only traffic signal she could still remember from her Hendon training. Several gold bangles shifted noisily on her strong, slim wrist like a tiny tambourine.
‘I have considered these factors,’ she said. ‘And I say to hell with them.’
Doctor St Pierre leaned forward across the table and clasped his wrestler-strangling hands. Jake considered that he was not the obvious army type. A bulky strong man, he wore his dark hair cropped labour-camp short and his beard Karl Marx bushy. Rimless glasses enhanced an appearance of some intellectuality. He looked like a well-read Hell’s Angel. She wondered if such an obviously masculine personal image might not mean that St Pierre was gay. He smiled and when he spoke it was with a slight defect, as if his moustache was interfering with the manipulation of his lips.
‘Will that be in your memorandum to the Minister?’ he asked.
Gleitmann butted in before Jake could reply. ‘Your brief, as I understand it, Chief Inspector, is merely to determine the source of our security breach. Is that not so?’ He wasn’t looking for an answer. ‘That hardly seems to cover something as important as the continued operation of the Program. I suggest that you stay within your original brief. Naturally we shall afford Detective Sergeant Chung here all the help we can. We’re as anxious as you are to clear this thing up. But anything more than that - ’ He shrugged eloquently. ‘I’m sorry, no.’
‘As you prefer,’ said Jake. ‘However I would like to speak to each of your counsellors.’
‘May I ask why?’
‘So as not to waste any time I’d like to work on the assumption that the security breach occurred externally. Moreover that it was somebody who had himself been tested VMN-negative who was responsible. Let me explain. As I understand it, the Lombroso Program determines those men who may eventually suffer from a serious aggressive disorder. At least for the moment I’d like my investigation to proceed on the basis that one such VMN-negative male has done just that - developed a serious aggressive disorder - and that it is directed against those others like himself. It may be that one of your counsellors can recall an individual who may have exhibited a significant level of hostility towards the Program and its participants.’
‘You do appreciate that all men testing VMN-negative are given codenames by the computer,’ said St Pierre. ‘Even if one of our counsellors could remember such an individual as you describe, it would only be by that codename. I can’t see how that would help you.’
‘Nevertheless I should still like to question them. Or do you have objections to that as well?’
St Pierre combed his beard with both sets of fingers and then cleared his throat. ‘No objections at all, Chief Inspector. I’m just trying to save you some work, that’s all.’ He glanced at his wristwatch. ‘Perhaps I could show Sergeant Chung the Paradigm Five now.’
Jake nodded at Yat who
Gleitmann stirred his coffee thoughtfully. ‘I’m afraid I can’t agree with you there,’ he said flatly. ‘If you want to put a halt to the Program, I think you’ll have to take it up with the Home Office.’
Jake shrugged. ‘Very well then.’
The professor’s long dark face took on an exasperated sort of look.
‘Chief Inspector,’ he said pompously. ‘I don’t think you can have considered the substantial investment that a project like this represents. There are other ramifications beside the rather more manifest one of individual security. Need I remind you that this is a private facility? Any governmental association here results from a purely contractual obligation. I have a duty to my shareholders as well as to the patients. The financial, not to say political, implications of what you’re proposing - ’
Jake brought him to a halt with the only traffic signal she could still remember from her Hendon training. Several gold bangles shifted noisily on her strong, slim wrist like a tiny tambourine.
‘I have considered these factors,’ she said. ‘And I say to hell with them.’
Doctor St Pierre leaned forward across the table and clasped his wrestler-strangling hands. Jake considered that he was not the obvious army type. A bulky strong man, he wore his dark hair cropped labour-camp short and his beard Karl Marx bushy. Rimless glasses enhanced an appearance of some intellectuality. He looked like a well-read Hell’s Angel. She wondered if such an obviously masculine personal image might not mean that St Pierre was gay. He smiled and when he spoke it was with a slight defect, as if his moustache was interfering with the manipulation of his lips.
‘Will that be in your memorandum to the Minister?’ he asked.
Gleitmann butted in before Jake could reply. ‘Your brief, as I understand it, Chief Inspector, is merely to determine the source of our security breach. Is that not so?’ He wasn’t looking for an answer. ‘That hardly seems to cover something as important as the continued operation of the Program. I suggest that you stay within your original brief. Naturally we shall afford Detective Sergeant Chung here all the help we can. We’re as anxious as you are to clear this thing up. But anything more than that - ’ He shrugged eloquently. ‘I’m sorry, no.’
‘As you prefer,’ said Jake. ‘However I would like to speak to each of your counsellors.’
‘May I ask why?’
‘So as not to waste any time I’d like to work on the assumption that the security breach occurred externally. Moreover that it was somebody who had himself been tested VMN-negative who was responsible. Let me explain. As I understand it, the Lombroso Program determines those men who may eventually suffer from a serious aggressive disorder. At least for the moment I’d like my investigation to proceed on the basis that one such VMN-negative male has done just that - developed a serious aggressive disorder - and that it is directed against those others like himself. It may be that one of your counsellors can recall an individual who may have exhibited a significant level of hostility towards the Program and its participants.’
‘You do appreciate that all men testing VMN-negative are given codenames by the computer,’ said St Pierre. ‘Even if one of our counsellors could remember such an individual as you describe, it would only be by that codename. I can’t see how that would help you.’
‘Nevertheless I should still like to question them. Or do you have objections to that as well?’
St Pierre combed his beard with both sets of fingers and then cleared his throat. ‘No objections at all, Chief Inspector. I’m just trying to save you some work, that’s all.’ He glanced at his wristwatch. ‘Perhaps I could show Sergeant Chung the Paradigm Five now.’
Jake nodded at Yat who
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