By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free
Author: Alan Alexander
as a reason to prevent me taking possession of the dead man's laptop. They're an American company, too.'
'Let's try to meet up for a drink some time this week,' Colin said. ‘Right now, I'm being harassed by two small but very powerful girls.'
*
The post mortem reports on the two bodies came in early on Monday afternoon. The cause of death for Keller, the hospital body, was unexpected and unusual, and when Colin MacNee read it he knew that this was going to be a complicated and probably extended investigation. It was a long and detailed report, covering the external condition of the body, the state of the internal organs and of the brain, the contents of the stomach, and evidence of old injuries and surgical procedures.
However, there was a key passage that would determine the direction of MacNee’s enquiries.
My conclusion is that the immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest precipitated by intravenous lethal injections to the left arm. Toxicological analysis suggests that the deceased had been injected with the following drugs, probably sequentially and in the order given below:
· Sodium thiopental/pentothal
· Potassium chloride
These are two of the three drugs commonly used in jurisdictions where lethal injection is the statutory form of judicial execution. They are used in many jurisdictions, including several states of the USA, and China.
Sodium thiopental (sometimes known as pentothal) is an ultra-short acting barbiturate, often used for anaesthesia induction and for medically induced coma. A 5gr dose will cause unconsciousness in 10 seconds.
Potassium chloride stops the heart and the intravenous lethal injection dosage is conventionally 100mEq (milliequivalents).
Death would have occurred within ten minutes of the administration of the second injection.
The deceased had also sustained a blow to the head. This may have induced concussion to an extent that would have facilitated the lethal injections.
As soon as he finished reading, MacNee called DC Stewart Todd into his office and showed him the report. Todd looked shocked, but he knew immediately what he would be asked to do. He had to find out how, and where, the murderer might have acquired enough pentothal and potassium chloride to kill.
*
The cause of Harvey Jamieson’s death on Vermont One was more straightforward. He had multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a height of more than six metres and it was likely, as the medics on the rig had guessed, that he had sustained a blow to the back of the head before he fell. Bruising on the torso was consistent with trauma caused by hitting a hard, horizontal object – probably the guard rail – in the course of the fall.
The pathologist was unwilling to say definitively which of Jamieson’s injuries had killed him, but it was clear that his death had not been accidental. Time of death was estimated as between 1500hrs and 1900hrs on Friday afternoon. The final helicopter shuttle, taking rotating crew off the platform, had left Vermont One at 1800hrs.
When she finished reading the report, Vanessa called DS Sara Hamilton into her office.
‘How are you getting on with locating the crew members who left the rig on Friday?’
‘Randall gave me a list of names and contact details. They keep them on the rig in case of accident or illness. There were twenty names, and Aisha and I are working our way through them. So far, we’ve located and spoken to sixteen of them and we’ve told them that we may need them to be formally interviewed. They’re all over the place, though, mostly in Scotland, but a couple in the north of England and one in Bristol. I’ve got somebody checking to see if any of the names come up in criminal records.
‘What about the four that you haven’t located?’
DC Aisha Gajani knocked on the open door and Vanessa beckoned
'Let's try to meet up for a drink some time this week,' Colin said. ‘Right now, I'm being harassed by two small but very powerful girls.'
*
The post mortem reports on the two bodies came in early on Monday afternoon. The cause of death for Keller, the hospital body, was unexpected and unusual, and when Colin MacNee read it he knew that this was going to be a complicated and probably extended investigation. It was a long and detailed report, covering the external condition of the body, the state of the internal organs and of the brain, the contents of the stomach, and evidence of old injuries and surgical procedures.
However, there was a key passage that would determine the direction of MacNee’s enquiries.
My conclusion is that the immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest precipitated by intravenous lethal injections to the left arm. Toxicological analysis suggests that the deceased had been injected with the following drugs, probably sequentially and in the order given below:
· Sodium thiopental/pentothal
· Potassium chloride
These are two of the three drugs commonly used in jurisdictions where lethal injection is the statutory form of judicial execution. They are used in many jurisdictions, including several states of the USA, and China.
Sodium thiopental (sometimes known as pentothal) is an ultra-short acting barbiturate, often used for anaesthesia induction and for medically induced coma. A 5gr dose will cause unconsciousness in 10 seconds.
Potassium chloride stops the heart and the intravenous lethal injection dosage is conventionally 100mEq (milliequivalents).
Death would have occurred within ten minutes of the administration of the second injection.
The deceased had also sustained a blow to the head. This may have induced concussion to an extent that would have facilitated the lethal injections.
As soon as he finished reading, MacNee called DC Stewart Todd into his office and showed him the report. Todd looked shocked, but he knew immediately what he would be asked to do. He had to find out how, and where, the murderer might have acquired enough pentothal and potassium chloride to kill.
*
The cause of Harvey Jamieson’s death on Vermont One was more straightforward. He had multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a height of more than six metres and it was likely, as the medics on the rig had guessed, that he had sustained a blow to the back of the head before he fell. Bruising on the torso was consistent with trauma caused by hitting a hard, horizontal object – probably the guard rail – in the course of the fall.
The pathologist was unwilling to say definitively which of Jamieson’s injuries had killed him, but it was clear that his death had not been accidental. Time of death was estimated as between 1500hrs and 1900hrs on Friday afternoon. The final helicopter shuttle, taking rotating crew off the platform, had left Vermont One at 1800hrs.
When she finished reading the report, Vanessa called DS Sara Hamilton into her office.
‘How are you getting on with locating the crew members who left the rig on Friday?’
‘Randall gave me a list of names and contact details. They keep them on the rig in case of accident or illness. There were twenty names, and Aisha and I are working our way through them. So far, we’ve located and spoken to sixteen of them and we’ve told them that we may need them to be formally interviewed. They’re all over the place, though, mostly in Scotland, but a couple in the north of England and one in Bristol. I’ve got somebody checking to see if any of the names come up in criminal records.
‘What about the four that you haven’t located?’
DC Aisha Gajani knocked on the open door and Vanessa beckoned
Readers choose
Kemmie Michaels
Stuart Woods
Mark Richard Zubro
Randy Wayne White
William Faulkner
Gemma Halliday
Chris Carter
Vonna Harper
Dara Nelson