Death to Pay Read Free Page A

of.’
    ‘Two years with Doctors without Borders in Goma in Northern Congo can have a very serious effect on your sensibilities. This is pretty basic stuff in comparison to the aftermath of a Mai Mai raid on a village. The first few times I got sick and despaired of the human race. Then I just got down to the work of cataloguing the depravity.’ She turned to the photographer. ‘You finished yet?’
    The photographer sighed, packed up his gear and headed toward the door.
    ‘First thing tomorrow morning on my computer,’ Wilson said as the photographer passed him. 
    ‘We’ll have her shipped to the Royal Victoria,’ Reid said. ‘I’ll try to schedule the autopsy for tomorrow morning, and I’ll get a tech on the job of identifying the blunt object. Don’t send one of your more squeamish colleagues. It could be messy. Now I’d appreciate it if you’d piss off. There’s a lot of bone and brain fragments to collect. I’m sure you have something more useful to do.’
    So much for the flirting, Wilson though as he made his way back into the hallway. Maybe Moira should have seen that conversation. On second thought maybe it was better that she hadn’t.
     

CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
    Billy Rice was still in A and E at the Royal Victoria Hospital when Wilson and McElvaney arrived.
    A young Pakistani doctor holding a clipboard met them at the entrance to the ward area. ‘Someone sprayed his face with what was probably Mace, but we can’t be sure what the composition was because it has all evaporated. However, Mace would be a good guess considering the state of his eyes. They’ve been burned, but they’ll recover. He was so inebriated when he arrived that we had to put him on a drip. There’s a mark on his head where he received a blow. It wasn’t a heavy blow, and I don’t think it was inflicted purposely. It’s probably the result of a fall. There are two marks on his neck and some localised burning. I would estimate that he was hit with some kind of disabling weapon like a Taser. I’ve seen similar marks in Pakistan.’
    ‘A Taser, are you sure,’ Wilson asked.
    The young doctor nodded.
    ‘What would the effect of being hit by the Taser be?’ Moira asked.
    The doctor looked at Moira. ‘I thought that you people were trained on this stuff.’
    ‘Humour me,’ Moira said.
    ‘Different people have different reaction to being Tasered. However, I assure you that it’s definitely uncomfortable. Some people compare it to touching a live electrical outlet except that it’s not localized to the point of contact. It has a more full body effect where muscular control is limited for the duration of the cycle charge. It is normally described as ‘muscle lock up’ because you’re generally unable to move. The whole effect is not about pain but incapacitation in order to keep someone down and away from you. The pain generally goes from mild to moderate depending on the charge from the weapon.’
    ‘But it’s impossible to obtain a Tazer in Great Britain,’ Moira said.
    ‘They can be bought in most of the US states,’ the doctor said. ‘You can even go on Youtube and learn to build your own. It doesn’t take a genius to put a few proprietary items together, and you have the added advantage that you can add a bit of zing to the customised weapon.’
    ‘And was Mister Rice hit with something having a little extra zing?’ Wilson asked.
    The doctor thought for a moment. ‘Difficult to say. The fact that he was already heavily intoxicated would not have helped. That and the blow to the head could have kept him out a little longer than normal. I’m sorry, but I can’t be more exact than that.’
    ‘So what’s his condition?’ Wilson asked.
    ‘In general, his injuries are fairly light. He should be discharged sometime tomorrow.’
    ‘Good then there’s no problem in interviewing him,’ Wilson said.
    The doctor shook his head and pointed at the last cubicle.
    Wilson pulled aside the curtain to the cubicle