The Memory of Blood(97)

She scanned through the disc and found what Bryant had written. He mentioned the case in reference to an entirely separate matter—a mentally ill man who had killed a number of women in London pubs. That investigation had been solved and closed, so why had he mentioned Porton Down at all?

Then she saw it, a small reference number directing her to an addendum at the end of the chapter. She went in to see Bryant.

‘You shouldn’t have come in today,’ Bryant said. ‘Your poor face.’

‘I’m fine. It looks worse than it is. Arthur, what is Project Genesis?’

Bryant’s aqueous blue eyes sought focus as he remembered. ‘It was a bioscience initiative. I always felt it was linked with the deaths of some technicians.’

‘The drownings—you think the MoD had something to do with them?’

‘Let me put it this way: The deaths could have been avoided. I think they were probably suicides, but they were caused by the stress of the situation. You have to remember that an awful lot of people worked there under conditions of absolute security.’

‘But why would they all pick the same method of death?’

‘I talked about that with our old pathologist Oswald Finch at the time. He reckoned many scientists see drowning as a painless, clean method of taking one’s life. The whole thing came to our attention because of a man named Peter Jukes. He was project leader for chemical and biological security at the MoD’s Wiltshire laboratory. He was found dead in suspicious circumstances. I requested his notes from the Home Office, but the Defence Secretary refused to acknowledge that there was a case. Supposedly Jukes had been suffering from depression and had long been recognised as a security risk. It was said he drowned, but there were anomalies in the case. At the time, military contractors were desperately trying to spend out the year-ends of their budgets before the axe fell on their departments. Project Genesis was closed down.’

‘What were they trying to do?’

‘I can’t remember the details—what we heard was mostly rumour—but it was something involving gene splicing. The management had been exaggerating their progress to the MoD, and it turned out that their technology wasn’t quite as advanced as they’d led everyone to believe it was. So the unit was shut and the staff dispersed.’

‘Then I have some bad news for you,’ said Longbright. ‘I think someone’s opened it back up again. You mentioned the Porton Down case in your notes.’

‘You think that’s what they were after?’

‘You flagged it yourself. You showed your hand by contacting the MoD. That’s why Oskar Kasavian has been trying so hard to close us down all this time. He’s desperate to discredit you. He’s been monitoring us. And then he discovers that an outsider—a well-connected writer and editor, to boot—has the information. The situation was containable so long as it remained inside the Unit, but suddenly he discovered a leak. Anna Marquand probably ran fact-checking enquiries from her computer. I’m willing to bet that Mrs Marquand’s so-called carer copied Anna’s hard drive and then wiped it.’

‘You think Kasavian acted on his own initiative to kill the story?’

‘It looks that way. He mustn’t know that we know. We need the advantage over him.’

Bryant ran a wrinkled hand through his side tufts. ‘Okay, let’s get through the party. I’m not a woman.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Can’t do two things at once.’

Longbright left him studying the spreadsheet Banbury had created from the activity at the Kramers’ party. As she walked away, a chill ran across her back. Things are coming to a head, she thought. There’s danger here for all of us. Nobody is safe now.





‘The London Dungeon. This is your grand idea, is it?’ said Land, looking up at the swinging sign that dripped with painted blood. The rain was pounding down on the deserted pavements, as hard and heavy as the spray from a thousand showerheads. Bryant had ducked under the cover of the doorway. He peered around the corner like an exhibit planning an escape.

‘I thought it would appeal to their sensibilities,’ he replied. ‘Plenty of Ella Maltby’s gruesome tableaux inside.’

‘And hardly any light. What if you do catch one of them out and he makes a break for it? How are you going to find him?’

‘There are only two exits. We’ll have Meera and Colin, and Jack and Fraternity positioned in front of them. We’re putting them in guards’ uniforms. Nobody will even notice them.’

‘This is the most deranged thing I have ever let you do,’ said Land wearily. He checked his watch. ‘They’ll be here in a few minutes. Well, I suppose we’re committed now. Show me how this is going to work.’