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worked in Leicester, but there's no
    way he'd have anything to do with stealing drugs.'
    'Doctor--'
    'And he's got something of a cast-iron alibi as far as Alison Wil etts is concerned.'
    Thorne shut the door. He was listening.
    'Jeremy Bishop was the anaesthetist on cal at the Royal London A and E the night Alison was brought in. He treated her. Do you remember? I told you I knew him. He told me about the Midazolam.'
    Thorne blinked slowly. Dead Susan. Dead Christine. Dead Madeleine.
    'Come on, Tommy, you must have something to go on?'
    He opened his eyes. She was shaking her head. She'd
    seen the date on the piece of paper. 'I'm sorry, Detective
    SLEEPYHEAD 45
    Inspector, but much as you dislike Detective Constable Hol and...'
    Thorne opened his mouth and closed it again.
    '... it's a waste of time to send him to Leicester. The man you're looking for is certainly clever, but there's no guarantee he ever worked at Leicester Royal Infirmary.'
    Thorne dropped his bag and sat down again. 'Why am I starting to feel like Dr Watson?'
    'August the first is rotation day. Normal y it would be a reasonable assumption that in order to steal a large quantity of drugs from a hospital you'd have to work there. Yes, hospital staff are overstretched and occasional y inefficient, but as far as dangerous drugs are concerned there is a procedure in place.'
    Thorne's favourite word again.
    'But on rotation day, things can get a bit lax. I've worked in hospitals where you could walk out pushing a bed and carrying a kidney machine on August the first. I'm sorry, but whoever took these drugs could have come from anywhere.'
    Susan. Christine. Madeleine. 'Something, 7bmmy. A lead. Something...'
    Thorne took out his phone to cal Tughan back.

    It was Helen Doyle's first round of drinks, but already she was worrying about how much she'd spent. A few designer bottles and a couple of rum and Cokes and it was three times what she earned in an hour.
    Sod it. It was Nita's birthday and she didn't do this very often.
    She loaded the drinks on to a tray and looked across to where her mates were sitting at a corner table. She'd known 46 MARK BILLINGHAM
    three of them since school and the other two for almost that long. The pub wasn't busy and the few people in there were probably pissed off with the noise they were making. On cue the gang began to laugh, Jo's high-pitched cackle the loudest of al . Probably another one of Andrea's filthy jokes...
    Helen walked slowly back to the table, the other girls cheering when she put the tray down and diving on to
    their drinks as if they were the first of the night. 'Didn't you get any crisps?' 'Forgot, sorry...' 'Dizzy bitch.'
    'Tel her the joke...'
    'How much fucking ice has he put in here?'
    Helen took a swig and looked at the label on the bottle. It didn't actual y say what was in it. She'd got through plenty already. Hooch, Metz, Breezers. She was never real y sure what she was drinking, what the booze was, but she liked the colours and she felt fashionable with the slim, cold bottle in her hand. Sophisticated. Nita drained half of her rum and Coke. Jo emptied the remains of a pint of lager and belched loudly.
    'What do you drink those for? It's like pop!'
    Helen felt herself blush. 'I like the taste.'
    'It's not supposed to taste nice, that's the point.'
    Nita and Linzi laughed. Helen shrugged and took another swig. Andrea nudged her. 'Like you know what!'
    There was a groan. Jo stuck two fingers down her throat. Helen knew what they were talking about, but part of her wished they wouldn't. Sex was pretty much al Andrea ever talked about.
    'Tel us how big his cock was again, Jo.'
    SLEEPYHEAD 47
    The strippergram had been Andrea's idea and Nita had seemed to like it. Helen thought he was real y fit, al covered in oil, and he made her go very red, but the poem about Nita hadn't been that good. She could tel that he'd been as embarrassed as her when Jo grabbed his crotch, and for a second he'd looked real y upset.