Blood Symmetry by Kate Rhodes

boyfriend chucked me.’
    The air in the small room resonated with ill feeling. For once Angie fell silent, clearly more interested in observing the nurse’s reactions than asking questions. Fitzgerald seemed so upset by her redundancy that the events might have happened yesterday, rather than a year before. When I quizzed her about her alibi, the nurse claimed that she had been filling out a job application at home at the time of Riordan’s abduction.
    Angie reserved her comments until we reached the landing. ‘Not Clare’s number one fan, is she?’
    â€˜She took away her dream job. Moira seems to blame Riordan for her relationship failing too.’ When I gazed down from the landing, a bird’s-eye view of the compound of the Royal Free was visible two blocks away. Confronting her former workplace every time she stepped outside must be keeping the nurse’s anger alive.
    â€˜Do you think she’s upset enough to hurt someone?’ Angie asked as we trotted back down the stairs.
    â€˜It’s possible, but this could be part of a series. If it is, we need to know if she’d met Lisa Stuart and John Mendez.’
    â€˜I’ll do some digging.’
    Angie said a quick goodbye before racing back to her car. I set off for the FPU at a slower pace, mulling over Fitzgerald’s comments. Despite her bitterness it seemed unlikely that a nurse would have her former boss abducted simply because she’d been sacked, but it threw a new light on Riordan’s behaviour. It sounded as if she could be tyrannical, making enemies among those she ruled, yet able to impress her seniors.
    B urns was waiting for me at Butler’s Wharf at nine that evening, sitting outside the Brewhouse, gazing vacantly ahead, as though he lacked the strength to stand.
    â€˜Feed me,’ he said. ‘Then get me drunk and seduce me in the back of a cab.’
    â€˜All that in one evening?’
    We ended up in a Turkish restaurant on Borough High Street, eating grilled halloumi, followed by marinaded lamb, with a bottle of house red. I sat beside him in the narrow booth, a candle guttering on the table.
    â€˜Tell me what’s happened.’
    He took a slug of wine. ‘My lot have been chasing those names you found, but it’s not conclusive. Mendez’s attack looks like an opportunistic mugging – knife wound to the heart, phone and laptop stolen. Lisa Stuart was last seen cycling home from work, around ten p.m. None of her credit cards have been used since. She’s probably dead but hasn’t been found.’
    â€˜There must be a link, Don.’
    â€˜The three of them trained at different hospitals. Mendez and Stuart both worked at Bart’s, but not at the same time. They didn’t attend the same conferences or training courses. We’re looking at their social lives: hobbies, sports clubs, holidays. So far, nothing matches.’
    â€˜Three blood doctors being attacked in one city in a ten-month period can’t be a coincidence.’
    â€˜Thousands of violent assaults happen here every year.’ Burns shrugged. ‘What did you think of the nurse Riordan sacked?’
    â€˜Angry as hell, but that’s not enough to make her a credible suspect. She seems too isolated to be able to convince anyone to help her drag Clare into the getaway car.’
    â€˜She was at Bart’s the same time as Lisa Stuart. Angie’s looking into it.’
    â€˜I need to see the primary evidence in Mendez’s and Stuart’s crime files.’
    â€˜The archive’s delivering it bright and early Sunday morning.’ His frown deepened. ‘Denise Thorpe pitched up at the station today, wanting access to the Riordan boy. The woman’s relentless.’
    I thought of Clare’s friend’s odd house with its view across the cemetery. ‘That’s understandable. If Lola went missing, I’d want Neve with me. She’s under a lot of