The History Suite (#9 - The Craig Modern Thriller Series) by Catriona King

some of the residents complained that she’d been harsh with them, and they weren’t people who normally complained about anything.”
    “What sort of harsh?”
    Gormley face clouded. “We have some elderly ladies who need help dressing. Rudd was rough and rushed them. She dug her nails into one, which I’m pretty sure was deliberate, and she left bruises on another’s arms.” She furrowed her brow. “They’re the things I found out about, God knows what else she did. I told the agency that I wouldn’t have her back.”
    Liam nodded. Cruelty might have been motive for murder if a relative had found out. “What about my first question; did Cooke and the Prof know about each other?”
    Gormley shook her head. “I honestly have no idea. But it’s a small place and if I knew what Rudd was doing I can’t imagine that the men didn’t.”
    Suddenly her eyes widened and Liam knew something had just occurred to her.
    “You’ve just thought of something, what is it?”
    The sister shook her head hastily but Liam stared insistently into her eyes. “What?”
    Gormley sighed and shook her head. There was a sadness about it, as if what she was about to say was a betrayal. Her voice dropped.
    “Adrian…Dr Cooke…he’s a bit of a waster but he’s a good doctor, he really is. He cares about his patients.”
    Liam leaned forward, straining to hear her words. “OK, he’s a good doctor. But?”
    “But…he had a problem…last year.” She rushed to add. “He got help for it, I know he did.”
    Liam was unyielding. “What did he need help for, Sister Gormley?”
    Hazel Gormley’s next words were so soft that Liam asked her to repeat them. He heard them loud and clear the second time.
    “Drug abuse. But he got help, I know he did.”
    Liam’s voice became stern. “What sort of drugs?”
    She shook her head. “He was using a mixture. Cocaine mainly and…”
    “And?”
    “He’s very physically fit.”
    She tightened her lips, signalling that she would say no more. She didn’t need to; the very fit Dr Cooke had obviously been using steroids. Mixed with cocaine and a two-timing girlfriend it was the perfect recipe for rage. Murder was just the next step.
    ***
    The C.C.U. 12 p.m.
     
    “Right, what have we got? Davy, you first, then Annette, then Liam. Fire away.”
    Davy began, running through the CCTV or lack of it, on and off the unit. “There’s nothing inside Reilly S…Suite at all, just cameras outside the door leading to the car park and tennis courts...”
    Nicky’s husky voice cut across his words. “Tennis courts! What is this place, a holiday camp?”
    Davy smiled. “Pretty much. OK, so I decided to check the cameras for three hours before and after the murder and I’ve s…shots of everyone who came and went. Could you all I.D. them with the staff?”
    Everyone nodded.
    “Great. OK, so the front door of Reilly S…Suite; that leads to the linen room area, Newman Ward and the rest of the hospital. I’ve got some faces there. The tricky part is trying to work out who, if anyone, from Reilly left by either the front or back door and then entered the linen room area. W…We have no cameras there so I’ll have to pull the CCTV from the s…street outside Reilly’s back door and the rest of the hospital inside. Even that will only tell me who headed back towards the linen room and at w…what time; it won’t tell me where they’d been.”
    Craig nodded. “True, but if there’s a time gap between heading in that direction and re-appearing at Reilly we can narrow it down and ask people to account for their time in the gap.”
    Davy nodded and pushed his hair back from his face. Craig winced, seeing that the once solitary piercing on his earlobe had been joined by two more on the helix. He just hoped he wouldn’t play with them while he was around; people pulling at their piercings made him nauseous. The analyst saw what Craig was staring at and playfully moved a finger towards his ear. Craig